History WesternAnimation / TheLionGuard

* CerebusSyndrome: The first half of the show is pretty lighthearted, and although it has some dark and emotional moments, the Guard is always able to save the day, even after [[spoiler:Scar gets resurrected for a while. The entire series takes a dramatic turn for the darker once Kion meets Scar in person, with the Guard increasingly being subject to the villains either winning or at a deep price. Season 3 completes this by having Scar and Ushari be defeated for good, but it comes at the cost of the Guard having to go to the Tree of Life, a journey that they do not return from, at least not before Kiara's first hunt.]]

* {{Chickification}}: When this show plays the DamselInDistress card with Kiara, Zuri, and Fuli, there's at least an argument to be made that they're kids. When ''Nala'' needs to be rescued? By her own son? From ''five'' young hyenas? That's a little more egregious. Especially since Nala in the final battle was right in the thick of it, and was willing to fight in the second battle in Film Two, and also in RealLife, hyenas will only attack a lioness if she is alone (with ''male'' lions, that's a different story). With Makuu, it's more realistic, since crocodiles have killed lions when they enter water.

** This is also the first Disney Junior show to have a clear romance arc, as Kion is left torn over his desire to go home and his love for Rani. It also, notably, has the first on-screen marraiage in a Disney Junior show.

* DeusExMachina: Kion's roar is all too often used as this. Hopelessly outnumbered or outmuscled by your enemies in a fight? Use the roar. Trapped in a dead end canyon by flood water that's about to drown you and all your friends? Use the roar. [[spoiler:Lured to the BigBad's lair and about to be pushed off a precipice into lava by his evil minions?]] Use the roar.

** Janja prefers to attack with sheer numbers. When he was faced with an even fight in "Can't Wait To Be Queen," he fled. In Janja's defence, the Lion Guard is packed with super-powers, so it's not exactly an even fight.

** There is no prior mention or hints to Simba and Nala ever having a son in Simba's Pride and yet this show, set between that films first and second act (which has an unspecified time skip of at least a few years ) and features one as the main charecter, Kion.

** Kovu is stated to have been alive during Scar's reign. He was never seen during the third act of the original film nor would he still be cub-sized like he is in the show since he was implied in Simba's Pride to be the same age as Kiara, who was born a long time after Scar had died.

* AbusiveParents: Downplayed, as this is a kids show and Simba is not particularly cruel to his children. That being said, he is still thrusting a massive responsibility onto his youngest son when he is only a child, without properly preparing him beforehand. Said responsibility, leading the Lion Guard, also involves Kion having to be placed in many, many dangerous and often life-threatening situations that Kiara herself is otherwise kept away from. That being said, he is otherwise a decent parent to his children.

* HeroLookingForGroup: Kion's first task as leader of the Lion Guard.

* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: The original movie made it clear that the Outlands aren't just a place where the hyenas happen to live -- it's ''their'' land and they're technically free to do whatever they like there. While this still holds true, Kion and the guard trespass on a fairly regular basis. The hyenas are always shown to be in the wrong for acting accordingly. Plus, it's not helped by the fact that Kion once got in trouble with Pua for trespassing.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Thanks to Joshua Rush and Max Charles approaching puberty, their characters' voices each sound notably different at some point during the series.

The series stars Simba's son, Kion. ''The Lion Guard'' follows Kion as he assembles the members of the "Lion Guard". Throughout the movie and the series, the diverse team of young animals learns how to utilize each of their unique abilities to solve problems and accomplish tasks to maintain balance within the Circle of Life, while also introducing young viewers to the vast array of animals that populate the prodigious African landscape. As all this is going on, Kion deals with the responsibilities and burdens that comes with being leader of the Lion Guard, seeking to take his own rightful place in the circle of life - that is, if he can confront the legacy of the Guard left behind by his predecessor, his late uncle Scar.

It was renewed for a third season in March 2017, which was announced as the final season in April 2019. Production ended on July 19 of said year. The final season takes place [[SimultaneousArcs during]] ''Simba's Pride'''s second act, which explains where Kion and the Guard were during the film's events. The series ended on November 3, 2019.

!!This movie and series provides examples of:

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: In ''Bunga the Wise'', due to a couple of situations that Bunga is able to save mostly through improvisation, and due to a incompletely heard remark by Rafiki, the other animals start to believe that Bunga is the wisest animal in the Pride Lands. This of course goes completely to his head, and he starts to dispense terrible advice and act high handed with the other members of the Guard. When a real crisis develops because one of his quick fixes fails spectacularly he is dumbstruck, and it falls to the rest of the Guard to save the day.

** Kion tells Jasiri "asante" after she leads him back to the Pridelands. While "asante" is swahili for "thank you," it's also the name of a young hyena befriended by Kopa in a tie-in book for the first film.

* BrokenAesop:
** We're told that the villains of the series are bad because they buck against the Circle of Life by hunting and killing even when they don't need to. Unfortunately there are multiple times when they ARE hunting because they need to, or simply taking an opportunity. Although in the case of certain villains like Janja or Reirei or Makucha, they are presented as intruders hunting outside of their territories and thus they would cause disorder for the Circle of Life. But that's no excuse when the Guard take on Makuu who is a local predator (though to the Guard's credit, he WAS a troublemaker at that point).
** The team spends a lot of time saving prey animals, often from predators, when two out of five members of the team are active predatory carnivores. Presumably believing in the Circle of Life means Kion's steak dinner love him back.
** In "Never Judge A Hyena By Its Spots" Kion stops believing that all hyenas are bad and it's just Janja and his crew. But it's really only okay as long as they're scavenging the remains of other predators' kills, when throughout the series it's obvious that Janja and his Clan are capable hunters. It's cemented in "Janja's New Crew" where Cheezi and Chungu stop being evil the very instant they stop being competition for dinner.
** "The Imaginary Okapi" episode's song is Beshte reassuring said Okapi that he will be safe in the Pride Lands, where all animals "graze in peace, unafraid of harm." Beshte is glossing over how two of his pals - plus their families - are predatory carnivores. Not to mention Okapi is now also in danger of the hyena clan that sneaks in every once in a while to hunt -- and as a jungle animal, lacks the ability to hide in the open grasslands.
** "The Wisdom of Kongwe" delivers a lesson in patience when Fuli escorts the tortoise Kongwe to Pride Rock to discuss recent developments (the appearance of Scar's ghost) with Simba. We're meant to see Fuli as in the wrong for wanting to get back to Pride Rock as soon as possible, getting frustrated over Kongwe's habit of stopping and examining random things like flowers. Trouble is, Simba specifically said that he wanted to speak with Kongwe as soon as possible - a perfectly reasonable request given the new threat at hand. Which, in turn, makes it perfectly reasonable for Fuli to tell Kongwe to quit screwing around and get a move on.

* AbusiveParents: Downplayed, as this is a kids show and Simba is not particularly cruel to his children. That being said, he is still making his thrusting a massive responsibility onto his youngest son when he is only a child, without properly preparing him beforehand. Said responsibility, leading the Lion Guard, also involves Kion having to be placed in many, many dangerous and often life-threatening situations that Kiara herself is otherwise kept away from. That being said, he is otherwise a decent parent to his children.

* {{Catchphrase}}: The snooty-sounding zebra has "Panic and run, panic and run!"

* * RealLifeWritesThePlot: Thanks to Joshua Rush and Max Charles approaching puberty, their characters' voices each sound notably different at some point during the series.

* WouldHitAGirl: All of the male members of the Lion Guard have no problem attacking females when required to. As shown when Kion tackles Reirei in "The Kupatana Celebration", Beshte headbutts two of Zira's lionesses in "Lions of the Outlands", and Ono knocks Mpishi out of the sky by diving into her in "Ono and the Egg".

* DarkReprise: Sisi ni sawa is sung again in the Season 3 opener as Scar uses it as a form of ridicule for Kion's naivete, along with attempting to corrupt him.