Below are listed Japanese
Kimba DVD (and LaserDisc) releases. These releases have only Japanese
audio track, without English subtitles. Also, the DVDs are in U.S.
NTSC format, and are region-2 encoded.
This isn't
the release of the "Jungle Emperor Leo" movie from 1966,
it is the release of a completely new movie. The story for this
movie was taken from the "Go ahead Leo"("Leo the
Lion") TV series, which means that here we are talking about
Leo(Kimba's name in the original version), Rya(Kitty's name in the
original version), Rune and Rukyo.
Duration:
99 minutes
Produced
by:Tezuka Productions, 1997
Released
on:
21/01/1998
Where
to buy it online? I didn't find any webpage where
this LaserDisc can be bought.
This isn't
the release of the "Jungle Emperor Leo" movie from 1966,
it is the release of a completely new movie. The story for this
movie was taken from the "Go ahead Leo"("Leo the
Lion") TV series, which means that here we are talking about
Leo(Kimba's name in the original version), Rya(Kitty's name in the
original version), Rune and Rukyo.
Duration:
99 minutes
Produced
by:Tezuka Productions, 1997
Released
on:25/10/2001
Where
to buy it online? It is available on
CD Japan's website; click here
to view and/or order. In addition to the movie, on the
same website you can order the CD
with movie soundtrack.
This is
not a remake of the original episodes, but the story of Kimba (actually,
just the first episode of the 1965 TV series) told in a totally
different way - completely without words. Instead of it, you can
experience a beautiful musical storytelling. The music in this movie
is made by Isao Tomita (composer of the musical score/background
music for the 1965 TV series) - he made it by rearranging his music
from the 1965 TV series. This music was released on LP in 1966 and
1976, and on CD in 1985 and in the 90s, before using it as the music
soundtrack for this movie.
The pictures in this movie are new and specially made for this music
and this occasion.
Duration:60
minutes
Produced
by:Tezuka Productions, 1991?
Released
on:
21/11/2001
Where
to buy it online? It is available on
CD Japan's website. Click here
to view and/or order.
This
is the official DVD release of the original 1965 Jungle Emperor
Leo (Kimba the White Lion) TV series which contains all 52 episodes.
It also contains the original cast of voices and music soundtrack.
The first
DVD-box set contains first 25 episodes, while the second one contains
the remaining episodes 26 to 52.
Number
of episodes: 52
Duration
of each episode: 25 minutes
Produced
by: Mushi Productions, 1965
Released
on: 21/11/2001 (box
1), 29/06/2002 (box 2)
However, I would suggest the
recently released Jungle Emperor Leo complete box (see
below) that contains all episodes from the 1965 "Jungle
Emperor Leo" and from the 1966 "Go ahead Leo!"
series and sells for a much lower price (circa $180 instead
of over $600 for previous DVD-boxes with the 1965 and 1966 series).
Although
it was made in Japan from 1988 to 1989 as a remake of and a sequel
to the original "Jungle Emperor Leo" and "Jungle
Emperor Leo - Susume, Leo!" series, it didn't have bigger releases
until this one. This was Osamu Tezuka's (author of Jungle Emperor
- Kimba the white lion) idea of making the completely new Kimba
series, which he didn't see finished and released because of his
unexpected death in 1989. These 1989 Japanese TV series were on
TV in Japan from 1989 to 1990 and in France in 1990.
The
first DVD-box set contains first 28 episodes, while the second
one contains the remaining episodes 29 to 52.
Number
of episodes:52
Duration
of each episode: about 20 minutes
Produced
by: Tezuka Productions, 1988-1989
Released
on: 25/07/2002 (box
1), 22/11/2002 (box 2)
"Jungle
Emperor Leo - Susume, Leo!" is the original name of what
was called "Leo the Lion" while it was broadcasted on
TV in the U.S. in 1984. It is the sequel to "Kimba the White
Lion", but Kimba is grown up here, and is called Leo (Kimba's
original name).
The DVD-box
set contains all 26 episodes on 5 DVDs.
Number
of episodes:26
Duration
of each episode: 25 minutes
Produced
by:Mushi Productions, 1966
Release
date: 21/05/2003
Where
to buy it online? It is available on
CD Japan's website (click here
to view and/or order).
However, I would suggest the
recently released Jungle Emperor Leo complete box (see
below) that contains all episodes from the 1965 "Jungle
Emperor Leo" and from the 1966 "Go ahead Leo!"
series and sells for a much lower price (circa $180 instead
of over $600 for previous DVD-boxes with the 1965 and 1966 series).
This DVD-box set contains 3 movies
by Tezuka/Mushi Productions: the 1966 "Jungle Emperor Leo"
movie (finally!), the 1964 "Astro Boy: The Brave in Space"
movie and a rare anime, 1965 "New Treasure Island".
This DVD release is important since
it is the first (official) release of the 1966
"Jungle Emperor" movie.
Total
duration: 220 minutes
Produced
by:Mushi Productions, 1964, 1965, 1966
Release
date: 02/04/2005
Where
to buy it online? It is available on
CD Japan's website. Click here
to view and/or order.
This is complete japanese Leo (Kimba)
DVD-box set released as part of the "Osamu Tezuka Anime (Animation)
World" series containing 15 DVDs with all episodes (from
the previous DVD releases) of the 1965
"Jungle Emperor Leo" and of the 1966
"Go ahead, Leo!" episodes.
The difference between the previous
DVD boxes and this one is the price ($180 for this box compared
to over $600 for the previous three DVD boxes).
Number
of episodes:78
(52+26)
Produced
by:Mushi Productions, 1965, 1966
Release
date: 21/09/2005
Where
to buy it online? It is available on
CD Japan's website. Click here
to view and/or order.