Kimba the White Lion/Characters

List of characters and their tropes from Kimba the White Lion. Expect spoilers!!

Kimba/Leo

• Actual Pacifist -> Character Development -> Martial Pacifist
• Badass Adorable: And how!
• The Beast Master: He sometimes summons other animals to help him fight.
• Berserk Button: Attack his friends or mock his parents, and you'll learn the hard way why the hunters fear him.
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Bilingual Bonus: Kimba is a corruption of Simba, which means lion in the Swahili language.
• Blue Eyes
• Break the Cutie: The first episode was basically this for him.
• Cats Are Mean: Inverted.
• A Child Shall Lead Them
• Cute Bruiser
• Conveniently an Orphan: Deconstructed; while being an orphan gives Kimba every excuse to go on fun and exicting adventures, he is also the new ruler of the jungle that his father that he never had and has a "Well Done, Son" Guy relationship once ruled. The conflicts between Kimba's attempts to turn the jungle into a utopia, and Panja's older rules results in several headaches for the hero.
• Furry Ear Dissonance: His ears look more mouse-like than lion.
• Ideal Hero
• Idiot Hero: Although he's not so much of an idiot as he is simply naive, reckless, and tends to overlook things.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Leans towards this.
  • Subverted when he gets older and in the 1989 series.
• Invincible Hero: Subverted in most versions (including the 60's dub). Kimba is portrayed as a pretty strong leader and fighter but struggles in believing in himself when others doubt him, and sometimes his emotions and wild nature get the better of him despite his attempts to stay strong.
  • Also avoided entirely in the 2009 feature length TV special where Kimba started out as cowardly and severely lacking in survival skills.
• Kid Hero
• Killer Rabbit
• King of Beasts
• Leeroy Jenkins: While Kimba can stratigize when he wants to, he prefers charging head first rather than thinking about solutions.
• Lightning Bruiser
• Martyr Without a Cause: At times.
• Meaningful Name: Leo in the Japanese-version.
• The Messiah
• Nature Hero
• Panthera Awesome
• Red Oni: To Kitty.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Super Strength
• Warrior Prince
• "Well Done, Son" Guy
• White Furred Pretty Boy
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Kimba is absolutely determined to create a new, kinder jungle at any means. Even if it means forcing the carnivores (and thus himself) to give up meat entirely.
  • In the 1989 series, Kimba's struggle between idealism and reality is a crucial theme.
• The Wise Prince

Roger Ranger

• Token Human

Kitty/Lyra

• Badass Damsel
• Blue Eyes
• Blue Oni: To Kimba.
• The Chick
• Conveniently an Orphan
• Damsel in Distress: She does maybe three things for herself. Kimba always has to rescue her...
  • Made worse in the movie. As it covers the second half of the manga, Lya/Lyre/Kitty's main role is to die. In the original this was heartbreaking and unexpected, without prior knowledge of the events though it comes off as "Mildly sad, but no big deal" as the uninitiated to the series' mythology know almost nothing about her.
• First Love: For Kimba.
• Panthera Awesome
• Ridiculously Cute Critter
• Spell My Name with an "S": Her other names include Leah, Laia, Raija, Raiya, and Raya.
• Victorious Childhood Friend

Dan'l Baboon

• Cool Old Guy
• Everything's Better with Monkeys
• The Good Chancellor
• Old Master
• Parental Substitute: Acts as a father figure to Kimba.

Bucky/Tommy & Pauly Cracker/Coco

• Butt Monkey: Bucky
• City Mouse: Pauly was once the pet of a hotel owner before living in the jungle.
• Deadpan Snarker: Pauly Cracker
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Pauly Cracker
• Nice Hat: Bucky sometimes wears a straw hat.
• Plucky Comic Relief
• Punny Name
• Those Two Guys
• The Ditz: Bucky

Claw/Bubu

• Cats Are Mean
• Dirty Old Man: If his lust towards Kitty is anything to go by.
• Evil Overlord
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a scar over one of his eyes.
• It's All About Me
• Panthera Awesome

Cassius/Toto

• Cats Are Mean
• The Dragon: To Claw.
• Manipulative Bastard
• Panthera Awesome
• Smug Snake

Tom and Tab

• Fat and Skinny
• Goldfish Poop Gang
• Harmless Villain
• Those Two Bad Guys

Viper Snakely/Hamegg

• The Atoner: Subverted hard in the manga. Just when he is about to give up hunting and retire for the sake of his daughter, he finally earns a crumb of sympathy from the audience... and then proceeds to lose it entirely as we learn what his job was before he became a safari hunter-- specifically that he was an SS Officer posted in an internment camp. It stings worse when you find out the person blackmailing him, is a former captive of said camp, who simply won't let him retire until he helps obtain the moonstones.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
• Dastardly Whiplash: Has a small one.
• Evil Poacher
• Lean and Mean
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: His dub-name.
  • Meaningful Name: He's a snake alright...