Acta est fabula, Plaudite!

rainbow09:

This seems to be a fate shared by all Leomon of the Digimon franchise: why the heck do all Leomons have to die? Adventure, Tamers, Savers, even Xros Wars, there’s always a Leomon to pass away somehow.

Why do they have to share this fate? I think this is most likely Toei’s tribute to Osamu Tezuka.

                                

If you are a fan of the manga genre, you probably heard of him. He’s knows as “the manga God” and November 3rd (the day he was born) is a national holiday in Japan, the Manga Day.

Osamu is still considered a genius who developed the manga genre as we know it. He admired Walt Disney’s style and did his best to develop japanese animation on his own. He helped to found Toei Douga (today known as Toei Animation) before he decided to found his own independent anime studio, Mushi Production.

Osamu’s most famous works are probably Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy) and Jungle Taitei (Jungle Emperor).

                          

Jungle Taitei tells us the story of a lion called Leo.

Leo’s father is Panja, who’s known to everyone as a brave strong white lion who protects the jungle and its animals from the men’s threat. One day, some hunters try to get rid of him by capturing his love Eliza and forcing him to save her. Panja dies trying to do this and a pregnant Eliza is put on a ship, destined for a zoo.

Leo’s born on the boat and Eliza tells him everything about his father. She knows a storm is coming so she decides to send Leo back to the jungle by forcing him to leave the ship. She dies when the boat is hit by the violent storm, but Leo manages to learn how to swim and saves himself.

Lots of stuff happen to Leo. He’s raised by humans, he grows up, he’s set free, he shows the animal kindom he’s Panja’s son, he fights against the evil lion Bubu, he saves his friend lioness Lyre, he learns about understanding and peace, he becomes the jungle’s new king, he marries and has 2 cubs with Lyre. In the very end, Leo’s story is a tragic one. He sacrifices himself for the sake of a human friend, in the middle of a dangerous snowy mountain, giving him his flesh to eat and fur to warm. Leo dies as a true symbol of bravery, peace and loyalty.

If you want to watch how Leo dies, click here (this is the dub; the japanese voice acting is really suberb, it made me cry my eyes out…)

Maybe you know this anime/manga by its dub name… Kimba the White Lion? The same animation who inspired Disney’s The Lion King. Osamu’s grandchildren created a heck of a fuss about plagiarism, though they lost the cause in court. Many fans feel Disney betrayed Osamu, considering how he used to love Walt Disney’s films. Personally, the way Osamu valued peace and understanding in his works (due to the World War II tragedy), I don’t think he would be angry. Sad, maybe.

Kimba’s the dub name. The japanese name of the protagonist is Leo and that’s the origin of Leomon’s name. In Digimon, Leomon’s natural evoline makes him evolve to Panjamon, who is a white lion too. Panja being an obvious reference to Leo’s father, who bravely sacrificed himself to save Eliza.