Unico (ユニコ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Sanrio's manga magazine Lyrica (magazine) from November 1976 to March 1979 and collected in two volumes. The series follows the titular unicorn as he uses his magic to help friends from around the world across different time periods. The series was drawn in a western style, being published in full color and read from left to right. It has since been published in different collections and has been adapted into film and comics. A modern-day reboot of the series began publication by Scholastic under its Graphix imprint in 2024.
Plot
Unico is a young, innocent male unicorn who possesses a special ability to bring happiness to anyone near him. The story begins in ancient Greece with a young mortal girl named Psyche. She is the first friend to Unico, and is apparently so beautiful that the goddess Venus becomes jealous. The goddess attributes Psyche's beauty to her happiness and decides to separate the two. After kidnapping Unico in a pet contest, she calls upon the second star, Zephyrus, also known as the West Wind. The West Wind is commanded to take Unico through space and time, to the Hill of Oblivion with no memories of Psyche where he will wander forever. The West Wind takes pity on Unico, and decides to pass over the Hill of Oblivion and send him to different places in different time periods. Unico befriends the people he meets there and helps them achieve happiness, before the West Wind takes him away once more to avoid detection from Venus, wiping his memories in the process.
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. Upon learning of the West Wind's defiance, they send the Night Wind to capture Unico.
In the reboot series, Unicorns were born from "life's secret undercurrent", and the friendship between Unico and Psyche sends an inspiring force between people throughout time, angering Venus. After a long time of transporting Unico to different places, the West Wind follows a whisper promising to break the cycle, sending the unicorn to the modern day.
Characters
Unico (ユニコ)
- (1979 short film), Katsue Miwa (1981 and 1983 animated films), Matilde Vilariño (1984 Spanish dub for the 1981 movie), Rosa Romay (2010 Spanish DVD redub), Barbara Goodson (English dubs for 1981 and 1983 feature films), Akiko Yajima (2000), Rumiko Tezuka ("Dr. Pinoko's Forest Adventures"), Nana Mizuki (2010 TV audio adaptation), Ai Furihata (2020, Eshigami no Kizuna), Haruna Kawai (Kemono Friends 3), Hana Ayasaka (2025, Japanese promo for Unico: Awakening),
- A baby unicorn that has the ability to spread happiness to everyone. Due to angering the gods over his ability to spread happiness and love, Unico's memories are frequently erased by The West Wind and transported to different locations and time periods to avoid being detected by the Night Wind and other gods (Venus in the manga and reboot series).
- Unico is kind-hearted toward others, even the antagonists and villains he encounters in the original manga and other appearances in media. He gains special powers when someone truly loves him, such as extending his horn and using it as a weapon, flight, casting spells, and transforming into a winged unicorn. In the manga, he was the pet to Psyche, the Goddess of Soul who formed an intense love with each other. Unico and Psyche's love enrages Venus, who tries to separate them so she can regain her status, believing their happiness as the root of her beauty. When reuniting with his parents and siblings in the "Hometown Visit" chapter. Unico's parents reveal that he was their first child and that they let him stay with Psyche due to her caring for the unicorn.
Media
Manga
Unico was serialized in Sanrio's manga magazine Ririka (Lyrica) from November 1976 to March 1979. Consisting of eight chapters split between issues, its chapters were collected in two volumes published by Sanrio.[3] Kodansha published both volumes as part of the Osamu Tezuka Complete Works.
During the manga's original run from 1976 till 1979, Sanrio created three Unico picture books as part of Sanrio's Gift Book Collection which features characters exclusive to the book and has self-contained stories.
A second manga was serialized in the magazine Shougaku Ichinisei (First Grader) from 1980 to 1984 which is a separate continuity to the original manga. The series follows Unico's adventures with the boy Esuo, the dragon Ragon, and later Chao aimed at the elementary school demographic. 29 chapters were collected in 2 color columns in 1983 before all 40 chapters were collected in a single black-and-white volume in 1993 as part of the Osamu Tezuka Complete Works set.
In 2012, Digital Manga Publishing successfully funded a Kickstarter to publish the manga in full-color in English in Omnibus format.[4]
Reception
Writing for Anime News Network, Shaenon K. Garrity called Unico "a good-looking manga", saying the "artwork looks like a comic-book version of the prettiest Disney movie never made".[34]
See also
- List of Osamu Tezuka anime
- List of Osamu Tezuka manga
- Osamu Tezuka's Star System
Further reading
External links
References
- https://tezukaosamu.net/jp/mushi/entry/34741.html^
- https://www.akaihane.or.jp/english/^
- https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%83%A6%E3%83%8B%E3%82%B3-744824 Digital Daijisen Plus, Shogakukan, retrieved May 3, 2022^