Disney Plagarise The Lion King Storyline

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This story has been circulating the net for years now, but I was thinking of sharing it with you guys. Remember the Lion King? The animated cartoon from Disney? Kimba the White Lion by Osamu Tezuka was released in the 70’s, where else The Lion King from Disney was release in the 90’s, considering the fact that both are 20 years apart, what are the odds that both of the storyline are somewhat identical, not similar but identical in almost every aspect.

Even the names “Simba” and “Kimba” comes so near, Disney deny that they steal the storyline from the Japanese artist, but that doesn’t matter because animated buffs believe that Disney ripped off Kimba to create The Lion King. Here are the scene by scene comparison, what say you? Coincidence?

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Comments

  1. ruth

    on September 18th, 2007

    I understand where your coming from but things like this are happening all the time, there are meny forms of “snow white” and that was from ages ago befone books! and i’m sure this is just the same
    that story just inspired walt disney and it just shows that he liked the story, the artist should be PROWED! if Walt had stolen the names aswell then THAT would have made it COPYWRITE but he didn’t but i do agree that Walt was in the wrong and should have at least said where he got the idea from

  2. stef

    on September 29th, 2007

    The ideas may be the same but look at the impact Lion king has given off, people still watch it today it was even brought back from the disney vault on to a special edition disc…I love anime but Kimba the white lion is something i have never heard of ever, besides even if i did see it Lion King would still be the best, and don’t call me some stupid kid who doesn’t know better and don’t post idiotic comments on my website.

  3. vdog

    on September 30th, 2007

    Type your comment here.
    Walt Disney has a much better imagination than whoever wrote Kimba the white lion. Besides, there was this random movie, written by the Japanese, and they had a mouse who looked somewhat exactly like Mickey Mouse! So, It’s only fair that we have the Lion King.

  4. ASHLEY

    on October 22nd, 2007

    KIMBA IS A RIPP OFFFFF

    I LIKE SIMBAD BETTER

  5. Michelle Taylor

    on November 15th, 2007

    I believe Disney loves to rip off anything they can. However, they have a double standard: NO ONE is allowed to copy their “original” ideas. It does not matter if the Lion King had a better impact, was animated better and given a “more fleshed out” storyline. The fact is that the giant corporation obviously stole it (and got away with it) and they have been denying this plain, bald FACT for years.

    “don’t call me some stupid kid who doesn’t know better” is a classic comment I hear from folks who defend Disney. Stupid? No. Misinformed? YES. Just because you haven’t ever heard of Kimba doesn’t mean it didn’t exist. It existed BEFORE the Lion King.

  6. Tor

    on November 16th, 2007

    Go be a lawyer and do something about it. Honestly, if they haven’t been sued already, then they obviously must have been smart enough not to infringe on any copyrights.
    Oh no, one person wrote something, and then another person came along and redid it and…a hit was born!
    Haven’t you ever heard, “What hurts the most” by Rascal Flatts? Jo O’Meara from S Club 7 wrote that. It sucks, but she was hardly noticed whereas they made it famous.
    That’s the world, kids. If you really have that much spite against Disney, then don’t buy their products, and be more informative to people who do. They don’t promote drugs, nor violence nor a whole lotta other bad things like the vast majority of other big bad companies do.
    At least complain about something that’s really negative.

  7. stef

    on November 17th, 2007

    Stupid. no. Misinformed. no. I love Disney… and its Osamu Tezuka fault if it wasn’t copyrighted.

  8. MARY!!

    on November 19th, 2007

    EW i am scared to watch Kimba idk why. Anyway Kimba look like a freakin mouse! Hes cute though.
    can someone yell me what kimba is about please!!!!

  9. Charles Jannuzi

    on November 24th, 2007

    Plagiarism is one thing, violation of copyright and trademarks are somewhat different issues.

    If Disney animators turned to Tezuka Osamu’s brilliant body of work for inspiration, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN DELIGHTED. Afterall, early classic era Disney was a constant source of inspiration to Tezuka.

    A Disney animators also turned to people like Miyazaki Hayao, too. And he seemed to have been inspired by the creators of ‘Ginga Tetsudo’, a really visually wonderful animated feature from the early 80s.

    But saying the Lion King violates a copyright would be like saying any mouse character is a violation of the Mickey Mouse copyright.

    It is true, though, that Disney is a big corporation with predatory instincts.

    I wish they had got recognition for when they were a creative studio. The last time that was the case was late 70s and early 80s, when they turned out high budget flops like Black Cauldron, Dragonslayer, Black Hole, and Tron. But cult classics can have more influence on the people who make films than bigger hits.

  10. Lugia

    on December 11th, 2007

    seriously, i’m pro anime and not pro disney, neither am I anti-disney. This was done years ago and I should say that kimba should get more recognition. Theres no reason to fight over what you like because this is the world.

  11. Eiri

    on December 12th, 2007

    Yes, yes, no one can deny that there are so many striking similarities and yes I can openly say that it can’t all be coincidental. If you kept touch with the scandal, you’d know there are several facts that point to plagarism…HOWEVER, if you are familiar with BOTH stories, there are also a number of differences that could just as easily defend Disney’s The Lion King. I’m not taking sides; because as stated, there’s no way to truely be sure. And half of you commenting shouldn’t speak so matter-of-factly about the issue. As for the names, Kimba and Simba; There’s no true meaning behind the two that can justify plagarism because it’s only natural that a lion, an African mammal, have an African name; in this case, the Swahili word for “lion”, Simba. Now as for Kimba, the name was originally going to be Simba. But, since “Simba” was considered untrademarkable, they changed the “S” to a “K”, and came up with the name “Kimba.”

    The point I’m trying to make with their names is that it’s a reasonable enough coincidence. You wouldn’t accuse one movie of plagarism because of an Asian character that happenes to have the same name, Lin, Cho, or Lee, ect. as another Asian character in another movie. Same with any cultural oriented characters, whether they be Hispanic, French, Arabic, ect.

    So don’t read into scandals, especially where there is still no solid proof.

    “Innocent Until Proven Guilty”
    ~ Kenneth Pennington

  12. THE SEXYNATOR

    on December 13th, 2007

    I think that Lion King DID NOT PLAGIRISE
    they might have been inspired, and do a few small things from it, but thats it, if u want to see a REAL copy rite look at family guy off of the simpsons, or american dad off of both

  13. Sapphire-Blackrose

    on March 20th, 2008

    Are you Disney fans blind AND deaf? Look up Kimba and The Lion King and check the dates with which they were released to the public. Kimba came out 20 years before The Lion King. And don’t say that Osamu Tezuka didn’t copyright Kimba, because NO artist creates something and leaves it un-copyrighted! That’s plain stupidity. I was a huge fan of Disney, I loved their movies and some of them i still do…but i can’t respect them the way i did when i was kid because of the truth behind those movies I watched. The Lion King was one of my all-time favorites…until I also watched Kimba…I was appalled at the similarity of the two, and i researched it further before coming to my conclusion. With the fact that Kimba is an older piece, and the Lion King project was started not 12 years after Kimba was released, it was hard to think that The Lion King was an original design, not to mention..if you ACTUALLY watch BOTH pieces, the story is almost EXACTALLY the same. So no, Disney is in the wrong with this one, they’re just so damn rich that they think they can get away with it. I’m an artist myself, and I made sure to keep ALL sketches and originals of all of my work so that should I get ripped off by a large company I have proof of ownership, plus I have everything copyrighted. Thing is, it shouldn’t have to be this way. I’m disgusted with Disney. They even ripped off a fellow deviantart friend of mine with a new kid show! His characters have been stolen and remade for little kids! He’s had these charcters for 7 years!

  14. Heather

    on March 23rd, 2008

    i love the lion king i am now 20 and still love it i first watched lion king when i was 5 and reading what everyone has wrote has just inspired me to find and watch kimba

  15. Jackson Crawford

    on March 29th, 2008

    The Lion King and Kimba have ENTIRELY different storylines. Just because some of the animation is similar, does NOT mean that the whole thing was indeed stolen. In fact, The Lion King was ACTUALLY based on William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Just watch any version of Hamlet, and you’ll understand. Hamlet (Simba) is heir to the throne of Denmark (The Pride Lands), until his evil uncle Claudius (Scar) steals away Hamlet’s throne, kills his father (Mufasa), and marries his mother (Sarabi). Hamlet falls in love with Ophelia (Nala), and with the help of Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo (Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa), they defeat Claudius (again, Scar), however, at the end they all die. Of course, in Disney’s version, the only one who dies is Scar. I think that Walt Disney was a complete genius to make such a classic so modern and understandable. Therefore, The Lion King is definitely NOT based on Kimba. Did I solve everyone’s problem?

  16. jess

    on March 30th, 2008

    I believe the fact that disney has taken his idea from kimba but why you guys should battle about this ??? THIS is stupid , even more stupid than disney ”OMG copy other ” I just dont care as long as i like the lion king ! I realized that Disney copy MANY MANY thing and even in is own movies ( have you ever noticed ? )some disney movies that were total shit have many time been some kind of ”remake ” in other of their movies …I couldnt tell wich right now because i cant remember XD but i have noticed this…and it doesnt make the lion king some junk for me. I still love this movie but i cant say that Disney is really original oh no …

    But the thing is that Disney is and will ever be the best to do cartoon even in the 90 the lion king look as if it was done in the 2000 and + and no one can say im wrong ….anyway….

    So that what i got to tell about this …And please excuse my english …I’m french

    -Jess-

  17. Nat

    on April 2nd, 2008

    Honestly coming from someone who works for the Walt Disney Company, this is rediculous. This debate will never stop and you “children” are the reason it won’t stop. Honestly, if you want to see something done then sue the writers of The Lion King NOT THE COMPANY.

  18. Brit

    on April 11th, 2008

    Most of you are being stupid and idiodic there is no proof that Walt Disney copied kimba the white lion. first of all just because the lion king has some similarities to kimba doesn’t mean the hole thing was copied. You can’t go by a few pictures that look the same and 2 names that almost sound the same and and think about Bambi that movie is almost like the lion king but instead of the father that dies it’s the mother. So are you people now going to say the Bambi was also copied from kimba I DON”T THINK SO.

  19. Taylor

    on April 20th, 2008

    Disney’s early movies are all copied from storied that originally existed.
    Snow white, sleeping beauty, the little mermaid, peter pan, peter and the wolf, and much more,they were all books. Nobody says much about those, and Disney makes it clear that they got their ideas from a book or play.
    What they do is they take the story, clean it up, and add/ remove parts to make it “child friendly”.
    Then, they copyright the new story that they made from the old one. For example: The little mermaid.
    The original story goes that a little mermaid falls in love with a prince, saves him from a ship wreck, makes an agreement with the see witch, and goes to see the prince. Sound familiar?
    But in the story, the mermaid saves the prince from the wreck, and leaves him on the shore, and when ANOTHER girl comes along, she takes him from the shore, and he thinks that she saves him. So he ends up marrying her. The agreement that the mermaid made with the sea witch was that in exchange for her legs, she would cut out her tongue, because her voice was most beautiful of all, and when she walked, she would feel as though she was walking on a hundred blades, and her feet would bleed with every step. And in the end, the mermaid kills herself. There’s SOO much more to the story that makes it different from the movie, (I suggest google-ing the original story and reading it) but the overall summery is identical.
    Disney could have done something similar with the lion king!

  20. jordan

    on April 23rd, 2008

    you are right about kimba being made first but i still think that the lion king is one of the greatest films ever made so it should be left alone.

    not evereything is identical about these movies. look at the characters they are all different

  21. Deller

    on April 26th, 2008

    Lion king did not copy them…Just because a few scenes look the same does not mean there the same… Nuff said..

  22. lion lover

    on May 3rd, 2008

    I think that they are both very good movies and have you ever thought that maybe the person who wrote Kimba wanted Disney to make a similar one or that Disney hadn’t acctually known about Kimba in the first place? And wanted to make a movie about lions?(I would to)So you can’t really blame Disney, can you? and besides both of them are good and both of the creators of the movies still get money(Including Kimba)and do you have to make such a big fuss over it? Disney worked really hard and i don’t think they’d work so hard if they had just copied it? no, i don’t think so! So why can’t we just settle down?

    P.S.I love both movies and won’t let this go on!Think about it Disney made Pooh Bear(how cool was that when you were all little?)
    well now thats that settled time to go to see my lions

  23. Chris Leydon

    on May 9th, 2008

    I’m surprised no one’s noticed this yet… The Lion King is actually based upon William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” - same story line… If anything the Japanese anime ripped off a 400 year old play…

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