Jungle Emperor (Manga Shonen)

Deep in the heart of the African continent, a white lion named Panja rules the jungle. The Chief of the Donga tribe wants to be rid of his rival and so strikes a deal with the famed hunter, Hamegg and his trusty assistant, Kutter – if they can remove the threat of Panja, the Chief will offer up his strange crown jewel as a reward. However, even before the welcoming ceremony is complete, Panja attacks the village and leaves it in utter disarray. The next day, Hamegg leads the village men on a safari and captures a large number of animals – that is until Panja decides to step in and free his jungle subjects. Once again, Hamegg and his men are forced to retreat back to the village in shame. Believing that they will have at least one night of peace because of a sudden rainstorm, in the morning Hamegg and Kutter are surprised to learn that Panja has once again entered the village and has destroyed the Chief‘s sacred totem. With their lives now on the line, Hamegg crafts a plan to use a recording of Panja to capture his mate and use her as bait to lure him into a trap. Despite Panja’s valiant attempt, the plan succeeds and he’s slain and his mate is taken into captivity. As promised, for ridding the jungle of the threat of Panja, the Chief happily gives up his strange crown jewel. Hamegg and Kutter part ways at the dock as the lioness is loaded onto a ship bound for the zoo in London.

As the ship makes its way towards London, the crew receives a surprise – a tiny white lion cub named Leo is born. Although Leo is just a cub, not wanting her son to grow up in captivity, Leo’s mother encourages him to escape through the bars of their cage while he’s still small enough to do it, jump overboard, and swim for home in Africa. Although he’s terrified, Leo obeys. After a stormy night in the water, he’s rescued by Kutter on a raft, who tells him that his mother and the entire ship went down in the storm. Despite being kind to the young lion cub, Kutter realizes that hunger may soon get the best of him and, telling him that he’ll be safer if they part ways, sets the little lion on a small raft of his own. Although he’s scared, Leo calms down after seeing his mother in the stars. As luck would have it, a passing ship spots Leo, and, thinking he’s a small child, rescues him. Despite the captain’s reservations, the crew convince him to let the “cat” stay to catch mice on the ship. However, instead being scared, the mice throw a banquet for their royal guest. Of course, this causes havoc aboard the ship and Leo is blamed and thrown overboard – but not without a raft and some snacks. Worried about the Prince being lonely, a mouse named Jaques jumps overboard as well. As the float along, trying to decide where to go, they’re attacked by a killer shark. However Leo gets the better of him and, with his dying breath, the shark points them in the direction of Africa.