Lune is the son of Leo and Laiya, and is seen in 1966 show "Onward Leo!" (Leo the Lion) and the 1997 movie Jungle Emperor Leo. He is also in the second half of Tezuka's manga.
Personality[]
In "Onward, Leo!", Lune starts out a crybaby, but slowly he becomes more inattentive. In the manga and 1997 film, he’s a brave, bold & sweet cub with an interest with humans.
Appearance[]
Lune, except in the manga, has always been a nearly identical copy of his father, Kimba (Leo).
In Jungle Emperor (manga)[]
Lune appears to look like Panja in the manga due to the fact that Lune has no ear markings. In every other appearance, Lune is a Kimba look-alike with black markings on the ear tips. Coco was the one who came up with Lune and his sister, Rukio's names.
Lune is an adventurous lion cub and he’s curious about the human world after he was being told about his father's past. Despite being warned about the dangers of it, he decides to venture away from the jungle in hopes that he will discover what life is like among humans.
He arrives on a shore near an African coastline and gets tricked into signing a contract with Adam Dandy in that he’ll work exclusively for his circus, like a slave. He gets taken along with Pete (Rune's human friend) to New York to become Adam's star. As Lune is miserable for 10 months, he finds a way to get away from Pete's idea of dressing up as a girl but not before saving the circus animals from a fire started by Acetylene Lamp. Lune makes it home by riding on a log to find out that his father's hide with Higeoyaji (Dr. Mustache).
In Leo the Lion Cub (manga)[]
Rune is born in the three "Onward, Leo!" chapters of this manga with his sister, Lukio (Rukio). He celebrates New Years with his parents and learns how to make rice cakes for the first time when Leo mentions that he should to eat them when he was little. Rune stays in the jungle with his parents and goes on adventures with his father. He's gets in danger by a crocodile, helps his father bring rain back to the jungle, and communicates with a human named, Bongo.
In Leo the Lion (Onward, Leo!)[]
Rune is nicknamed, “Runey” or “Runi”, in this series. He has part in many adventures during the series. Rune has more episodes revolved around him than his sister, Lukio (Rukio). When Rune is first born, he often gets scared of his surroundings and fails to meet what his father, Leo, expects of him. After a while throughout the series as he matures, Rune learns how to be more lion-hearted like his father and becomes very adventurous at long last. He is often bullied by the elephant, Pagoola’s son, Bizo, unfortunately. Rune and his sister help tremendously in building a kingdom for his parents and for the protection of the jungle animals. In the last episode, Rune becomes one of the heroes by saving his father and Dr. Mustache (Higeoyaji) by taking him down Mt. Moon and back to safety.
In "Jungle Emperor Leo" (1997)[]
Lune's appearance in the movie is closest to his father by having brown eyes and black ear-tips. He is very similar in personality in the Jungle Emperor (manga). He is a reckless cub, trying to learn to fly and boldly exploring a downed airplane. He eventually runs away to meet humans, ending up in the circus where he meets Mary (yes, Mary from the Kimba series) and a mouse called Jack, that may or may not be the same one he befriended in "Onward, Leo!"
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- At the very end of the original manga (Jungle Emperor), it's revealed that Rune took the place of his father as protector of the jungle: he also took a lioness as mate and had 3 cubs.
- Rune's name was created by reversing syllables of the Japanese word, "Neru" (寝る), which means "go to sleep".
- The alternate transliteration of his name, Lune, means "moon" in French.
- In the 70s version of the manga only, Adam Dandy makes a promotional poster in New York in Rune's picture on it. On this picture, he has black ear-tips when he doesn't actually have any in the manga.
Resources[]
- None