Unico

This article is about the manga/anime franchise. For other uses, see Unico (disambiguation).

Unico
The cover for Unico volume 1 from the Osamu Tezuka Manga Complete Works edition.
ユニコ (Yuniko)
Genre	Comedy, fantasy
Manga
Written by	Osamu Tezuka
Published by	Sanrio
Magazine	Ririka
Demographic	Shōjo
Original run	November 1976 – March 1979
Volumes	2
Anime film
Unico: Black Cloud and White Feather
Directed by	Toshio Hirata
Produced by	Shintaro Tsuji Valentín Pimstein
Written by	Masaki Tsuji
Studio	Tezuka Productions
Licensed by	Televisa
Released	April 5, 1979 (Japan) February 18, 1980 (Mexico)
Runtime	25 minutes
Anime film
The Fantastic Adventures of Unico
Directed by	Toshio Hirata
Produced by	Masao Maruyama Tsunemasa Hatano Valentín Pimstein
Written by	Masaki Tsuji
Music by	Masahiko Sato
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	Televisa NA Discotek Media
Released	March 14, 1981 (Japan) September 27, 1982 (Mexico) May 12, 1983 (USA)
Runtime	90 minutes
Anime film
Unico in the Island of Magic
Directed by	Moribi Murano
Produced by	Masao Maruyama Tsunemasa Hatano Ernesto Alonso
Written by	Masaki Tsuji
Music by	Nozomi Aoki
Studio	Madhouse
Licensed by	Televisa NA Discotek Media
Released	July 16, 1983 (Japan) November 10, 1983 (USA) January 30, 1988 (Mexico)
Runtime	90 minutes

Unico (ユニコ, Yuniko) is a manga and anime character by Osamu Tezuka. Unico is a baby unicorn with white fur, a pink mane, and little cinnamon bun-shaped ears, who was born with the very special gift of making all living creatures lighthearted and happy.

His friends in the various manga and anime incarnations of his story include Beezle, the young Devil of Solitude from Scottish Mythology (part of Celtic Mythology); Chao (or "Katy" in the English anime), a naive little kitty who longs to be a human girl, and to learn magic from a real witch; a spunky little Sphinx (in the second film), and a warm-hearted girl named Cheri.

Summary

Originating from the Sanrio Lyrica magazine that ran from 1976 to 1979, the story is about an innocent young (boy) unicorn who possessed a special ability to bring happiness to anyone near him. This magical unicorn concept was naturally aimed at younger audiences, however it grew into larger popularity and is recognized today as a classic retro anime.

The story began in ancient Greece with a young mortal girl named Psyche. She was the first friend to Unico, and was apparently so beautiful that the goddess Venus became jealous. The goddess attributes Psyche's beauty to her happiness and decides to remove the magical creature. A series of trickery takes place and leads to the kidnapping of poor Unico. Once the goddess Venus has Unico, she calls upon the second star, Zephyrus, later known as the "West Wind" in the film adaptation. The West Wind is commanded to take Unico through space and time, to the Hill of Oblivion with no memories of Psyche.

In the 1981 film adaptation "The Fantastic Adventures of Unico" the gods believe that only they should have the ability to control others' emotions and decide that Unico must die. However, the gods feel that punishment may be too harsh and instead choose to send the West Wind to capture Unico and take him to the Hill of Oblivion.

The West Wind takes pity on Unico and declines to follow the gods' commands. The gods are furious when they learn of the West Wind's defiance, and send the Night Wind to capture Unico. This is when the real adventures begin...

To protect Unico from the gods, the West Wind must continually transport the little unicorn. Whenever Unico makes friends and brings happiness to others, the gods are alerted to Unico's whereabouts, so the West Wind appears to spirit him away, yet he is unable to say goodbye to his new friends. Once again his memory is taken and a new adventure begins again...

Media

Manga

Unico appeared in several comic strips by Tezuka, with an ecological message. Tezuka's original manga was serialized in Sanrio's "Ririka" (Lyrica) magazine from 1976 to 1979, and was re-published by Shogakukan in 1984 in a learning magazine for children.

Anime

Unico: Black Cloud, White Feather

In 1979, the same year the manga ended, Unico made his animated debut in Kuroi Kumo Shiroi Hane (Black Cloud, White Feather), an ecologically-themed pilot film (for a proposed anime television series) which was soon released directly to video. Unico meets a young girl named Chiko in Canada who is ill because of the pollution from a nearby factory, and becomes determined to save Chiko's life in order to cure her by destroying the factory. Unico was voiced in this film by Hiroya Oka and Rocío Banquells in the Spanish dub in 1980.

The Fantastic Adventures of Unico

Although the TV series was not picked up, Unico soon made it to the silver screen in two feature-length anime films produced by Sanrio and Tezuka Productions with animation by Madhouse Studios.

Unico's first movie, titled The Fantastic Adventures of Unico in English and simply Unico in Japan, was released in Japanese theaters on March 14, 1981, in Mexico on Canal de las Estrellas on September 27, 1982, and direct-to-video in the United States by RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video on May 12, 1983. This musical film, narrated by singer/songwriter Iruka, directed by Toshio Hirata, written by Masaki Tsuji, and with animation by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, presents the back story of Unico's banishment by the gods and his subsequent travels, as well as his friendships with Beezle (to whom he grants his own horn) and Chao/Katy (to whom he grants the wish of becoming a human girl).

Beezle the Devil (known as "Akuma-kun," or "Little Devil," in the original version) initially rejects Unico's overtures of friendship, but comes around when he realizes how lonely he really is. After Beezle saves Unico from drowning, the two begin their friendship in earnest, but then the West Wind comes to take Unico away so he will not be discovered.

The next creature Unico encounters is Chao (Katy), a black-and-white cat who dreams of becoming a witch. Katy and Unico befriend a lonely old woman, whom Katy mistakenly believes is a witch and will teach her some magic as well as transform her into a human girl. When Unico changes Katy into a girl, Katy at first believes that the old woman did it, until Unico proves it was his doing by changing her back into a cat; but Unico, seeing how selfish Katy has become, refuses to change Katy back to a girl, until one day when Katy saves the old woman from drowning. Katy then becomes entranced by a man posing as a lord (Danshaku in Japanese, Baron de Ghost in English). He invites her to his castle, gets her drunk and attempts to seduce her. Unico follows, rescuing Katy (with help from Beezle) after transforming into a majestic white winged unicorn and destroying the demonic monster that the "lord" had transformed into. Afterwards, the West Wind comes to take Unico away again, and Katy moves in with the old woman.

This movie includes several songs, most of which were performed by the movie's narrators, Iruka in the original version, Joan-Carol O'Connell in the English dub, and Rocío Banquells in the Spanish dub; however, Chao/Katy's recurring theme song, Chao no Kuroneko no Uta (The Song of Black Cat Chao), was sung by Chao's voice actresses, Kazuko Sugiyama in the Japanese version, Robin Levenson in the English dub, and Liliana Abud in the Spanish dub. The movie's other songs include Unico no Teemu (Unico's Theme), Hontou wa Subishikute/Lonely (Beezle/Akuma-kun's image song), and Majo Neko Chao (Witch Cat Chao)/Katy The Kitty Witch, all sung by Iruka, O'Connell or Banquells. For the U.S. release, all of the songs were dubbed into English along with the spoken dialogue, except for the ending song over the closing credits, which is an instrumental in the English version. Unico was voiced by Katsue Miwa in the original version, Barbara Goodson in the English dub, and Helena Rojo in the Spanish dub.

Unico in the Island of Magic

Moribi Murano (often miscredited as "Mami Sugino") directed the second movie, titled Maho no Shima e ユニコ 魔法の島へ (To the Magic Island) in Japanese and Unico in the Island of Magic in English, which was released to Japanese theaters on July 16, 1983, five days before the release of the first Barefoot Gen movie, which used many of the same production staff. It was also released direct-to-video in the United States by RCA Columbia Pictures Home Video on November 10, 1983, and on Canal de las Estrellas in Mexico on January 30, 1988.

This film essentially picks up after The Fantastic Adventures of Unico with the West Wind dropping Unico off in a new location where the gods will be unable to locate him. The story begins with the West Wind erasing Unico's memory of the past events and he is left to once again fend for himself. Unico runs into a Heathcliff-like cat named Melvin Magnificat who is the apparent boss of the forest which Unico has stumbled upon. Later, Unico meets a kind-hearted young girl named Cheri (also spelled "Cherry", voiced by Sumi Shimamoto). Cheri's older brother, Toby (in Japanese, "Torubi", voiced by Shuichi Ikeda), is working for the evil Lord Kuruku (in Japanese, "Kukuruku"), who plans to turn all living creatures, animals and people alike, into unusual zombie-like beings called "Living Puppets" to be his slaves. Toby's job is to change people into Living Puppets and then lure the Living Puppets to Kuruku's fortress on Nightmare Island off the East Coast of Sweden in exchange for learning more of Kuruku's magic. His plan is to obey and serve until he learns enough to be the master, but fails to protect Cheri twice. Toby also takes on Melvin Magnificat ("Yamaneko" in Japanese) - who hates Unico because Unico "intruded" in "his" forest (the forest in which the West Wind left Unico) - as his assistant. After Cheri's parents and neighbors all get turned into Living Puppets, she and Unico team up to stop Kuruku.

Seeking advice from the Trojan Horse, Unico and Cheri learn that Kuruku is a puppet who was mistreated by his owners and discarded. He washed up at the Ends of the Earth - where all unwanted "junk" ends up eventually - and was brought to life with the power of 200 years of sunlight exposure, determined to take revenge on the human race. With help from the Sphinx's daughter (voiced by Noriko Tsukase; named "Marusu" in Japanese but not given a proper name in the English version), Unico - who realizes that Kuruku is really just a lonely, friendless creature - is able to break Kuruku's spell, but since Kuruku's hatred was the only thing that kept him alive, Kuruku dies, reverts to puppet form, and Cheri keeps him as a toy. Soon afterward, the West Wind finds Unico and spirits him away once again to avoid detection by the gods.

As with the first movie, the second movie's ending song (Do-Re-Mi-Fa Lullaby performed by Emiko Shiratori) became an instrumental in the Spanish and English dub. Katsue Miwa in the original version and Barbara Goodson in the English dub reprised their roles as Unico in this film, while Verónica Castro played Unico in the Spanish dub.

Saving Our Fragile Earth: Unico Special

A 2000 Japanese animated short starring Unico that was a Japanese/Chinese co-production. Unico is voiced by Aracely Arámbula in the Spanish dub, while Akiko Yajima voiced the character in the original Japanese version.

Voice Cast

The Fantastic Adventures of Unico

Character	Original	English	Spanish
Unico	Katsue Miwa	Barbara Goodson	Helena Rojo
Night/The Night Wind	Ryouko Kitamiya	Louise Chamis	Silvia Derbez
Chao/Katy	Kazuko Sugiyama	Robin Levenson	Liliana Abud
Beezle	Junko Hori	Cheryl Chase	Irma Lozano
Baron/Baron DeGhost	Makio Inoue	Dave Mallow	Sergio Jiménez
Narrator	Iruka	J.C. Henning	Rocío Banquells
Elder/Old Woman	Taeko Nakanishi	Louise Chamis	Ignacio López Tarso
West/The West Wind	Chieko Baishô	Diane Lander	Susana Dosamantes
Gods	Ichirō Nagai Jōji Yanami Isamu Tanonaka Kōji Yada	Jan Rabson Ron Gans Ardwight Chamberlain Michael Sorich	Unknown
The Devil of Solitude	Unknown	Ardwight Chamberlain

Unico in the Island of Magic

Character	Original	English	Spanish
Unico	Katsue Miwa	Barbara Goodson	Verónica Castro
West Wind	Chieko Baishô	Diane Lander	Christian Bach
Sheri/Cheri	Sumi Shimamoto	Maureen O'Connell	Laura Flores
Kuruku/Lord Kuruku	Fujio Tokita	Jan Rabson	Carlos Bracho
Tolby/Toby	Shûichi Ikeda	Etienne Bannliett	José Alonso
Yamaneko/Melvin the Magnificat	Ichirô Nagai	Michael Sorich	Sergio Jiménez
Marusu/Spinx's Daughter	Noriko Tsukase	Lara Cody	Ana Martin
Trojan Horse	Ryûji Saikachi	Ron Gans	Chespirito
Sheri's Father/Cheri's Father	Kazuo Harada		Ricardo Blume
Melvin's Lackey 1	Kenichi Ogata	Jan Rabson	Unknown
Melvin's Lackey 2	Eken Mine	Ardwight Chamberlain
Sheri's Mother	Kotoe Taichi	Unknown
Roller Dragon	Unknown	Ardwight Chamberlain
Baby Demons		Cheryl Chase

Home media

Unico has a loyal fan following in the English-speaking world as well as in Japan, and this is largely due to the 1981 and 1983 theatrical features, which were dubbed into English and received Stateside exposure through VHS release in the mid-1980s and airings on The Disney Channel.

The rights to all Unico manga and anime transferred from Sanrio to Tezuka Productions after Tezuka's death in 1989; unlike Sanrio, Tezuka Productions has no American distribution arm, hence the reason why it took 25 years for the two movies to be licensed for an official North American DVD release.

Discotek Media released both films on DVD, with both the English and Japanese audio tracks in April 2012. The 1979 Unico pilot film had never been released outside Japan at all until 2012, when it was featured as an extra on the "Unico in the Island of Magic" DVD release. It was later released on double feature DVD on April 29, 2014, alongside Amazing Nuts!, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, and Mazinger Z.

These are also the first Sanrio films to be presented in Bilingual for the 1981 and 1983 theatrical features.

Digital Manga Publishing successfully funded a Kickstarter to publish the manga in full color in English.

Other appearances

Unico makes some cameos in episodes of the Black Jack TV series adapted from the Black Jack manga.

Unico also made an appearance in the Game Boy Advance game Astro Boy: Omega Factor, where he gives Astro Boy the ability to have a warm and tender talk with Dr. Tenma, his father. Unico also appears in the Astro Boy manga in a comic book. In the story, he was Dr. Foola's inspiration for a new robot: a mechanical unicorn.

Unico can also be seen in a brief cameo in Columns GB: Osamu Tezuka Characters for the Game Boy Color.

The Unico films (pilot, Fantastic Adventures, and Island of Magic) were produced by Sanrio, so some of Sanrio's characters such as Hello Kitty, Tuxedo Sam, and the Little Twin Stars make cameo appearances in the films.

On February 18, 2021, Tezuka Productions and Kemono Friends collaborated to add Unico into the Japanese mobile game "Kemono Friends 3" as a DLC special DLC character. The titular character was given a humanized design and was depicted as a female.

Reception

On Anime News Network, Shaenon K. Garrity called it "a good-looking manga", saying the "artwork looks like a comic-book version of the prettiest Disney movie never made".

See also

• List of Osamu Tezuka anime
• List of Osamu Tezuka manga
• Osamu Tezuka's Star System

Further reading

• Clements, Jonathan; McCarthy, Helen (2012). The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917. Stone Bridge Press. pp. 689–690. ISBN 9781611725155.

External links

• Unico In The Island Of Magic (English Fansite)
• Unico English Language Credits