Because of an FCC ruling in 1971 declaring networks could no longer syndicate programs they produced themselves, National Telefilm Asscociates (NTA) purchased the syndication rights for "Kimba" from NBC; this arrangement lasted until late September 1978. In the interim, however, two negative developments arose: (1) Mushi Productions, the animation company behind "Kimba," went out of business (bankruptcy) in June 1973; and (2) because of heightened "political correctness," some viewers were offended by the portrayal of a few human characters. With regard to Mushi's bankruptcy, however, NBC (carrying out orders from Japan) instructed NTA at the end of their "Kimba" syndication duties in 1978 to return all syndication prints, etc. of "Kimba" to NBC's New York offices; the prints and all other "Kimba" - related material were then stored away in NBC's warehouse "until further notice." In early 2005, however, after many years of waiting, Right Stuf Home Video secured the DVD rights to the entire "Kimba" series (presumably, the late Osamu Tezuka, an animator at Mushi who later formed his own Tezuka Productions company, held the rights to the "Kimba" characters after Mushi went under), and, to the delight of many fans, finally released all 52 original "Kimba" episodes - digitally remastered, of course - in an "Ultra" DVD collectors' box set in June of that year.
Although the series originally came out in 1965, episodes of the series were repackaged in 1996 to capitalize on the success of Le Roi lion (1994).