Board Thread:Lion Guard Discussion/@comment-22872543-20190902090013/@comment-43439434-20190903193610

[copy-pasted this from a youtube comment i made on a tlg related video]

The main issue I find with Kion/Rani, Fuli/Azaad, and even Binga/Bunga is that, while biologically accurate, in the Lion Guard different species are equated to different races (Si Si Ni Sawa is an anti-racism song, and is about a lion and a hyena learning to get along, a rather clear metaphor for race, for example). In fact, the one of the main themes of The Lion Guard is that Kion is species-inclusive, thus why he chose to start the guard with animals of ALL different species (which makes Vitani's guard ESPECIALLY stupid, but I digress). By not having ANY of the main characters end up in a cross-species relationship, they are disavowing interracial relationships, and practically saying that you HAVE to date your own race. Kids are rather impressionable.

Binga, actually, is a rather clear example of this. While their song was adorable, she is LITERALLY just a gender swapped Bunga (Binga? Really?!). She had no narrative significance, and was just there to give Bunga a love-interest, again, of his same species.

Why Fuli/Kion (or even Jasiri/Kion) would have worked much better narratively is that it ties in to the themes of accepting differences, not to mention that Fuli is so loving and caring towards him throughout the whole show. Kion would have gone off the deep end several times without her there to calm him down, and she even speaks to other characters several times (Anga and Makini, mainly) about her concerns for his well-being.

....Also, Kion and Rani are WAY WAY WAY too young to get married ;;v;; They should have at least left it open-ended in the romance department.