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Jungle Emperor Leo Special Gets New English Dub
posted on by Alex Mateo
Digital Sound Magic announced on Twitter on Monday that it has produced an English dub for Jungle Emperor: The Brave Can Change The Future, the television anime special inspired by Osamu Tezuka's Jungle Emperor Leo manga. The special is available on the RetroCrush streaming service.
Karilynne Davies directed the English dub.
RetroCrush describes the story:
An updated take on Tezuka's classic Jungle Emperor series, this special follows Leo's life in the artificial "neo-jungle" and his friendship with Kenichi, son of the CEO of "Eternal Earth," who made the preservation of the animals possible.
The special debuted in 2009. The project marked both the 50th anniversary of the Fuji TV network and the 80th anniversary of Tezuka's birth. Goro Taniguchi (Code Geass) directed the special. Osamu Suzuki (writer for SMAP x SMAP, other variety programs, live-action Lovely Complex film) wrote the script. While the anime's plot is still inspired by Tezuka's original story of a young white lion's coming-of-age and adulthood, it incorporates elements of variety storytelling.
Tezuka's original manga ran in the monthly magazine Manga Shonen from 1950 to 1954. After the manga became a big hit, it inspired the 1965-1966 television series that came to America under the name Kimba the White Lion. Since then, there have been film remakes, a television sequel, and a television remake. The white lion Leo is also the mascot of the Saitama Seibu Lions baseball team in Japan.
RetroCrush is a free, ad-supported video-on-demand service available in the United States and Canada. The service has apps on iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku, Apple TV, and smart TVs, in addition to being available on browsers. The service launched in March with 12 titles, and added eight anime titles in June.
Digital Media Rights stated to ANN that its goal with the streaming service is to "serve as a community built for the consumption and discussion of the Golden Age of Japanese animation, (and some not so retro), from the perspectives of pop culture, fandom, art, internet memes & more."
The service plans to include a library of content that "hasn't had proper streaming releases outside of Japan."
RetroCrush's streaming partners include Discotek Media, TMS, NHK, Studio Pierrot, AMG, and Happinet, among others.
Thanks to Tyrell Landsberg for the news tip.
Sources: Retro Crush, Digital Sound Magic's Twitter account, Karilynne Davis' Twitter account
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