Just to prove this thing.. I had Kimba shown at Morphicon.
That show that was on NBC is the biggest load of CRAP *EVER*. It is so bad! Lion King does have some striking resemblances to it, but *hell no*. It is NOT a remake or a ripoff.
The Lion King is a tribute to Hamlet. NBC's Kimba is a tribute to CRAP.
I've got the videos to prove it.
I wonder if I might think it's less crappy if I saw the original Japanese series that wasn't produced for America. (Yes, Osamu was commissioned to produce some of Kimba JUST for NBC)
In fact, when the Lion King came out, there was this big thing about "oh it ripped off Kimba". I watched a news magazine special about it once. They interviewed the creator of Kimba and he said "I am very flattered that you would even COMPARE Disney's Masterpiece to Kimba."
So the way I see it, if the author doesn't seem to think he was ripped off, he wasn't. He wouldn't even think about suing. Don't you think he WOULD have by now?