Colors in Jungle Emperor Leo

Jungle Emperor Leo is a 1997 made movie adaption of Osamu Tezuka's manga by the same name. The movie covers the last arc of the manga.

Jungle Emperor Leo gets compared to Disney's The Lion King a lot and is mainly remembered as "the movie/series Disney ripped off".
This movie deserves much more than that, so I am going to skip that drama completely and instead I will be talking about the great color choices some scenes have in the movie.

The movie starts with very bright and happy colors. Even if there's rain, the clouds are not dark. 

The animals celebrate Leo's children, Lune and Lukio. There seem to be no worries, only peace and joy.

Very soon after, night falls. Humans have entered the forest. Leo has heard a gunshot but nothing has happened yet. But the forest is dark, something bad is coming. It's the calm before the storm.

The very next day, the humans go after the animals and even end up setting the savannah on fire.

Leo is a leader that prefers to resolve conflict peacefully but you can feel his anger and hurt. The burning savannah is his rage itself.

Leo decided to forgive the humans and his goodwill is soon rewarded as he finds out a human doctor has saved his son. There are flames no more, brighter green colors have returned. 

After his first meeting with a human, Lune daydreams of the human city. He is young and naive, which is shown in his childish utopian view he has of humans. The sequence is like a rainbow, it's only filled with bright colors. The contrast is huge to the dull earthy colors Lune is surrounded in the waking world.

Lune ends up leaving his home in the jungle behind in hopes to fulfill his dream to live in the human paradise. The whole screen is painted by a passionate red color by the setting sun. 

Lune's dreams and expectations soon get crushed when he finds his way into a circus and finds the ugly side of humans. The edges of the screen are a sad dark blue color but the source of Lune's horror are literally in a spotlight. But even the only light in the room is a dull yellowish-gray color.

Even after the humans are no longer hunting the animals, a new problem has appeared.

A sickness is rampaging in the jungle, claiming more and more victims each day.

Leo's partner, Lune and Lukio's mother Lyra passes away. 

The sunset looks very different from the one we saw when Lune set on his journey. This time the sky dyes everything with a pinkish and purple color.

Leo is mourning Lyra's death while gazing at the dark cloudy sky. A ray of light is shining through the dark grey clouds when Leo is talking about how he will raise their children well. 

Leo has just finished begging Lyra to watch over Lune and Lukio when her daughter collapses. Lukio now also has the same sickness that claimed her mother. The ray of light is gone and the darker clouds are filling the sky. 

Leo is shouting his desperation and sorrow to the ominous dark night sky. Only the moons seem to listen to him. The Jungle is black and empty in the background and his stone castle looks cold and gray in the moonlight. Leo is losing all hope.

Leo has to make a difficult decision when the same doctor that once saved his son Lune offers to cure the animals. One of the rules of the jungle is to never accept humans, but the animals also realize that if they do not accept the human's offer, they sentence themselves to death. The scene is yet again filled with gray tones but this time the atmosphere isn't as suffocating, the colors used are lighter. In the end, Leo decides that his child's and subject's wellbeing is more important than the laws of the jungle. 

The human medicine works and Lukio is cured. All the colors return when the animals of the jungle are filled with hope. The color scheme is the total opposite of the one in the previous set of scenes. But at the same time, the scenes do not reach the amount of color that was shown at the start of the movie. 

Things take a dark turn again when Leo decides to be a guide for the doctor and his companion as a thank you for saving both of his children. The group makes a dangerous trip up to the mountain and even against all odds manage to acquire the rare stone the doctor was after. Leo realizes that without food, water or shelter, none of them will survive the trip back to the jungle. After losing his eyesight, Leo decides to sacrifice himself, whishing for the doctor to eat him and use his pelt for warmth.

The grey tones are back again. Everything is bleak, neither the snow or Leo is pure white in color. There is no more hope for the jungle emperor, and Leo roars for the last time.

The jungle is filled with life and color once again, and this time as strong as they were at the start of the story. It's the beginning of a new era, Lune and Lukio have inherited their place as the rulers of the jungle. The movie ends on a bittersweet note with the young Lune who just returned back home from his journey, looking up to the sky with the Doctor. Still unaware of all the horrors that happened when he was away, he gazes at the clouds that form a silhouette of his now-deceased father.