Jungle King Saro

Hello Kipling guys and girls! This is a South Korean Jungle Book spoof which is pretty much considered a forgotten show outside of its native South Korea. Unfortunately, fellow non-South Korean Gen Zeds just do not know much about it at all.

The show is named Jungle King Saro, which likely has the unfortunate distinction of featuring the palest Mowgli expy and variant known to mankind. Geez, what about the village natives? 

Is it a cash in on Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go? It surely was a cashgrab, but it totally ain’t a ripoff of both for legal reasons. Because of how much unintended colourism it contained, the show was filled with stereotypes galore. Also not helping matters is that, though it’s supposed to be a spoof, it is still more Disneyfied than even the Disney Jungle Book franchise, which itself partially inspired it! In order to make a fandom of nostalgia-driven Baby Boomer and Gen X parents, the show’s art style was inspired by those of both the Flintstones and Scooby Doo. 

The story began when two explorers and a toddler named Mir (later given the name of Saro) were in the jungles of northeast India. Unfortunately, the little boy was stranded because the parents forgot about him too fast. After being found by a pack of wolves, he joined them in their journey. 

A decade later, Saro becomes a preteen boy, helping out the chores with the show’s own expies of Bagheera the Panther and Baloo the bear, Manesh and Bogle. As Belial the Shere Khan expy is trying to eat him out, he’ll run for his life, along with Manesh and his mentor Bogle. They also embark on small adventures along the way, by making friends and rivals with local villagers, monkeys and the like. 

Seriously, the show’s a cringeworthy knockout which likely has seen a dvd release of both its own seasons in its native country. Then again, the series was a national hit, even if it’s otherwise a forgettable spoof of the Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling.