Jungle Emperor Leo

Starring:Sumi Shimamoto, Kappei Yamaguchi, Yoshiko Ohta
Director: Yoshio Takeuchi
Studio: Anime Works
Product Type: DVD

Description

At the foot of the mysterious Moon Mountain lives a white lion named Leo, ruler of the jungle. He and his family live peacefully among the other animals in a lush habitat with which they have been blessed. Humans have entered Leo's domain, shattering the peace in the relentless search for moonlight stones, a source of exquisite wealth. Overwhelmed by greed, they have little regard for the living creatures of the jungle. The animals, disturbed by the occupation of their rightful home, must resist the intruders.

Customer Reviews:

Sad, Disjointed, Beautifully Animated and it ain't for the kids.......2007-05-22

That PG-13 (not for children 13 and under) rating on the back isn't kidding! I haven't seen a children's anime this shocking since "Ringing Bell of Chirin", though that was a masterpiece, and this was the director trying to build the same type of shock value to the ending and falling short of teaching us a similarly valuable lesson. Don't believe the back of the box, either. This film branches off more than my family tree.

Both animals and humans alike are shot, a main character is stabbed and killed via suicide attack, a human dies from consuming a radioactive stone (eyes roll into back of head & head goes plop onto ground), and main characters grow ill and die, one painfully and dramatically. There is even a bit of swearing on part of the humans, and Leo yells angrily up at the sky scorning some unseen all-seeing supreme being for the woes that have befallen his jungle. The animation, though the DVD quality is glitchy at times, is beautiful however, but parents and fans of the original series will wonder if it was worth the dramatic changes. Deaths do not make a great film, and I think that formula could have been cut back for this. My thanks to the friend who gave me the opportunity to add this bizarre yet pretty film to my mature-children's anime to my collection.

*SPOILER WARNING*
The first scene is beautiful and serene with the birth of Leo And Lira's cubs which seems to last for a good ten minutes without voice actors, just visual feasting.

Cut to a seemingly out-of-place city scene with all the hustle and bustle of such a place, a completely human-inhabited world far from the last scene that left me feeling more than confused from the very sudden transition. The humans exchange words for a bit over a little red stone Ham-Egg has on his person (couldn't the creator have at least changed the silly names for this very serious adaptation of the series?)that he found in a stream near the Bajalou jungle, and it's decided that this jungle-roaming peddler will show a scientist named Dr. Lemonade (see what I mean?) where it's found. Getting to Africa's savannah, they run into a Dr. Moustache (really, the naming's pretty silly) who is hell-bent on protecting the jungle from potential poaching and intrusion. Ham-Egg couldn't care less and goes around shooting things through the rest of the film for kicks.

Somewhere in all this, Leo's son Lune (some spell it Rune) discovers a human's crashed airplane in the jungle and finds a music box that has him daydreaming about the human world (in a VERY cracked up and stylized five minute time-killer reminiscent of the Katie the Kitty Witch moment from Unico, for those who know of that film by the same guy), and while a storm rampages through the jungle, it seems more like he stows away rather than gets accidentally pulled out to see. There is no indication to the contrary. He gets picked up by a passing ship, sold to a circus, and starts living the big life while barely avoiding being whipped by the ringleader when Lune attacks him for whipping at an old tired elephant. This confuses him but educates him on the many kinds of humans and has him rethink his theory of being able to befriend all humans. This seems more a time-filler and deviates completely away from the main story. Everything else ties in a little, though there is a LOT going on in this movie. Actually, if you've seen the later episodes in the series where Kimba/Leo is grown up with the two cubs, this all occurs in different episodes.

Meanwhile, a horrible plague now sweeps through the jungle. It takes Lune and Lugio's mother, among many other animals. The Jamaican-talking monkey states "It's the plague, last time we nearly nost half the population, and there's no way to stop it." Leo is crestfallen, and Lira, get ready for this, dies horribly and painfully while telling her devastated mate and daughter how much she loves them and how they've made her life complete. Not a cartooney moment at all, and you'll be moved to tears from the performance. Leo's face is hidden as he sits silently to the side and listens to his daughter's cries. Note that in the original series, Lira lives... The next scene of them is of Lugio and Leo at Lira's gravestone with Lugio happily placing her mother's favorite flower's upon the grave. Leo prays to her that he'll watch over and raise their children well in her stead (unless he dies, that is). Then Lugio falls unconscious and has the "purple jelly disease" as well.

Dr. Moustache is later seen curing an animal because he knows of the disease, and going out into the forest, he encounters Leo. Because Leo recognizes him from a scene where he saved Lune from beneath a fallen tree during human roadwork, he trusts Moustache and brings his daughter to him to be cured. Apparently the animals can understand what the humans say, but not the other way around in this version, which makes a bit of Fantasy Sense: Humans can't understand animals because they don't wish to listen.

Lugio is cured, and apparently Moustache has enough of the cure in his little medicine box for every different animal in the forest. Hey, it's a cartoon, so we'll suspend the disbelief. He even saves a little bratty elephant boy when Leo convinces its father to let Moustache give it the cure. At first his father has to be talked into saving his son's life. "I will NEVER accept help from a human!" then "He's my only son, I hope you're right." This has the elephant, Panja, trust Leo's judgement later after an earlier conflict between them unrelated to the storyline, and Panja says he is proud to have Leo as his king (until someone successes him in a few days). Lune learns that the plague is in the forest at this point, and he escapes with help from a human girl from the circus and heads for home. He does not yet know of his mother's death.

Leo knows that Dr. Moustache and the scientist, Lemonade, are headed to the mountain called Mt. Moon to try to head off the expedition lead by Ham-Egg. If Hammy-boy gets the stones first, he'll use them for power, and if Lemonade gets them, he'll try to use them for the good of all mankind. Finding Lemon' and 'Stache partway to the mountain range, Leo motions that he's leading them in the right direction now that they're hopelessly lost, and they follow him the rest of the way. Ham-egg loses plenty of his men on his end, one falling off a cliff, another sinking to his fate in some quicksand. He shrugs and leads on, his men growing a bit anxious at his cold reaction, but they follow him to their deaths. He soon sees the two doctors far ahead of him and realizes that a white lion is leading them in the right direction using a quicker path, so he sneaks along.

The weather turns snowy when the travelers finally find Mt. Moon and begin scaling it. A woolly mammoth named Earth Mother leads Leo and his two human companions further up the mountain in the right direction, and they're attacked by dire wolves out of nowhere. For dramatic affect, I guess, they are the only animals in the movie not loyal or even communicative towards Leo. They attack Leo and Ham-Egg's group alike, and in the fray, Ham-Egg is attacked by a wolf and fires his gun, killing it and setting off an avalanche (odd for a relentless adventurer who knows what roots to live off of, but maybe he's never been on snowy terrain, but whatever, suspended disbelief). Leo and his two humans hide beneath Earth Mother, whose girth shields them, but Ham-Egg's men are all blasted off the side of the mountain. At this point Earth mother climbs out of the snow with the others and bids them farewell on their journey to the peak.

At the peak finally, the stones are nowhere to be found, but under moonlight they're discovered in a cave. A very happy moment for the humans is had when they thank the white lion for having saved humanity from an impending energy crisis, and they've beaten everyone to the stones. Just then Lemonade is shot in the back by Ham-Egg, who looks crazy with greed and approaches with his gun. Leo is enraged and more than attacks Hammy, biting down on his skull, and we see Ham-Egg all bloodied with an insane smile on his face. Whether it's from the wounds, the weather, the journey, whatever, Ham-Egg thinks it's a brilliant idea to eat these incredibly powerful, possibly radioactive stones. His eyes bolt into the back of his head, and he collapses, obviously dead to the viewers (no kids, I hope).

Lemonade lies gasping for air and insists that Moustache must carry his findings back to the civilized world then dies. The next scene is the mind-blower. Moustache struggles to get back down the mountain, but the rations only made for a one-way trip. He then realizes that Leo has been leading him on snow-blinded and can't travel any further. Heartbroken that his guide could die on account of him, he urges him to leave him there and hurry on ahead, cursing the stones and saying they've brought nothing but trouble to those that've sought them. Does Moustache not intend to tell the other humans that he found the stones, thereby saving the jungle from being destroyed by humans coming to mine the mountain? This is never covered in the movie.

At this point Leo shuffles a knife out of Moustache's pocket, and Moustache, confused, picks it up. Leo roars, and in slow motion, we see him stabbed as he pounces a quick-acting Moustache. Moustache begs "why?" Obviously, he can't hear Leo's voice about his dying wish, but we can. "You must consume my flesh and clothe yourself in my fur to survive and tell the humans what you've learned." I'll never forget it, and any children who watch this won't either. Let me restate that this is not a children's movie. The next few moments are a wordless and sad montage showing his mate and cubs all happy and alive. Note that in the series, Kimba/Leo never dies. This movie killed our lion...

The next scene is of Moustache waking up on a river raft. He's draped in Leo's fur and still looks quite fat/alive. He grips the fur and looks sadly up at the sky as his raft crosses paths with Lune on a floating log. Lune greets the man who saved his life in an earlier scene and jumps over to greet him. Pattering around on the bed of white fur, he stares up curiously at Moustache, who says he's going to tell him about his father's sacrifice and how he saved the world. If the stones are discovered, he saved the human world and destroyed his own home from human plundering when they come there to mine. If the stones's location are hidden, he saved the jungle world by keeping greedy humans out of the remote and untouched place. Either way, Lune, it seems, still doesn't realize he's an orphan because of the human expedition up the mountain, and we don't see him reunited with his sister, his last remaining relative.

The ending made me feel like closure was missing, and I really was expecting to see Lune reunited with Lugio at least. Hopefully he won't feel guilty about going off to adventure while his home was ravaged by all sorts of hell, and he'll realize he's sitting on what's left of his daddy. ;_;

One of the best animes ever!!.......2007-03-24

I first saw this at Christmas, because I got it as a Christmas present. I watched it and I was amazed, it's the greatest anime ever made yet. Unico is still a close second, another great anime, also by the same person, Osamu Tezuka - he's an amazing person!
I think the voices fitted the characters perfectly, and the animation and pictures were beautiful. There are some cels sold sometimes on ebay from this movie, and elsewhere. It's not a very recent anime, about 1997 but all the same, go check it out.
I've also seen the Kimba the white lion series (the 1966 one) every single episode and it's been really good. I have a lot of favourite characters! There were some funny parts like when Lune and Lukio discover the music box, when Tomy gets this stuff put on his tail to stop it from burning:
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAOWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" he screams then he jumps around the place shouting, "OW!! OW! OW! IT BURNS!" in a really funny tone.
They all scream and hide from the music box because it makes the chimey sound.
The movie is a little sad too, and it lives up to Osamu Tezuka's manga too (although I've never read it, I've seen some pictures from it on the internet, but that's it.)
Well, here's my little review, all in all, it's a perfect anime movie. It's really good and you won't regret it if you buy it.

This Movie is so cool!.......2006-08-09

This movie is sad but cute at the same time. What I like about this movie is that it's an anime film but is in english. Little kids 5 and under should really not watch it though.

SAD, NOT FOR YOUNG ONES.......2006-02-15

This movie is sad. Almost everyone dies, INCLUDING LEO. I am 9 and still had tears dropping. I would reomend this movie for kids 12+. Why?
In the bigging it was so sweet. Leo had 2 cubs and there was a huge celerbration. Then the mother and almost everyone starts a huge plaqe. The mother dies. Lokio gets sick. But then a nice man comes along and has a treatment. He tried it on Lokio and she gets better! The plaqe is stopped. Then some mean men come and distroy part of the jungle, looking for a special rock. The nice men try to stop them. Since Leo knew where it was to be found he led the nice men to the spot. But those mean men where sneaky and followed. Then when they reached the spot many die. First everyone one on the bad crew dies but the mean leader by an avalanch. The mean leader shot one of the nice men. Then some of the rock slipped and the mean man ate it. He choked and died. Then a storm started and Leo sacrificed his life for the remaining nice man-the one who stopped the plaqe. Leo's last words were, "You must eat my fleash and use my coat for warmth". Then Leo dies. Luna, the other cub becomes king of the jungle.

Sad and Good.......2006-01-20

This is a sad story. Leo dies! Leo is a lion which teaches The other animals how to get along. He dies by caring about a nice Human. It has a lot of deaths. His mate dies by sickness.Later his cild Lokio got it. She survied. His son Became boss after got the news was told to him that his dad died. He saw leo in the clouds. You might like "Jungle Emperor Leo.

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