YMMV / Jungle Cubs

• Demographically Inappropriate Humor: At the end of “The Coming of the Wolves”, Leah nuzzles Bagheera and Louie in gratitude for letting her and Akela stay at the ruins. The former seems a little too happy about it and plops to the floor.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • The ending of "Nice Tiger". Shere Khan reveals that he's been visiting his grandmother and helping her feel comfortable in her home. Hathi sees this and commends him for caring so much for his grandma, and Khan (who is usually a Jerkass with a slight heart of gold) feels good about this good deed.
  • The ending of "The Coming Of The Wolves" has the birth of Akela and Leah's pups, and the young parents make the Cubs godfathers for giving them shelter.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • This isn’t the only time that Jason Marsden voiced a pompous, semi-antagonistic young feline with stripes. For added points, the voice he uses for young Shere Khan is very similar to his Nermal voice.
  • Ned, one of Mahra’s boys, is voiced by Charlie Adler, who, a few years later, would become recognized for voicing another dim-witted baboon.
• Nightmare Fuel: The two hyenas that chase Bagheera in “The Humans Must Be Crazy” are surprisingly scary, in part due to their savage-looking designs, the vicious growls they make, and the fact that they are in no way anthropomorphized.
• Seasonal Rot: The second season feels very gutted of the moderate strengths the first one had. Issues include Flanderization of the main characters, having less focus on their friendship (which could count as unfortunate Character Development in canon), changes in voice actors (like with Bagheera and Hathi), more mundane plots lacking any adventure elements, and the other season one characters sans Arthur and Cecil going AWOL (with Winifred only getting a cameo or two) while introducing few noteworthy new ones, leaving a very Minimalist Cast. Season two also stops incorporating obscure Asiatic wildlife as well as references to the original novels or even the movie (apart from one reprisal of “Bear Necessities” in the last episode).
• So Okay, It's Average: It perfectly encapsulates the first season. It's hardly on par with the other, more imaginative and action-packed Disney animated shows from the 90s, being just a Slice of Life Spin-Off Babies of The Jungle Book, but it has pretty solid animation and voice acting, decent enough writing, and its fair share of heartwarming and/or funny moments. It also helps that the first season has numerous shout-outs to the original novels, like White Hood and the marauding red dogs.
• The Woobie:
  • Kaa. Much like his adult counterpart, he's constantly subjected to mockery and physical abuse, all Played for Laughs. Made worse by the fact that here, he's only a kid and hardly malicious.
  • Bagheera also has his moments. Especially when he gets pranked or pestered by Baloo and Louie, or feels inadequate compared to Shere Khan.
  • Hathi too, especially during the second season. He's a Nice Guy but constantly gets berated for his clumsiness or gets exploited for his kindness and generosity.
  • Mungo the mongoose, who gets ditched by his mother and left to fend for himself. You know a character is a woobie when they're first introduced sobbing their eyes out. Fortunately, the episode ends with him becoming more self-reliant and confident after saving Kaa from two cobras.
  • It's hard not to feel sorry for Akela and his mate Leah in "The Coming of the Wolves", as they escape from their tyrannical pack leader Kain (who also has a Villainous Crush on Leah) and get relentlessly hounded by him throughout the episode. Both of them acting and sounding very tired and browbeaten, akin to real-life abuse victims, only makes it worse. Luckily, they earn their freedom and end up befriending the cubs after Akela defeats Kain, resulting in Babies Ever After.

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