Unico

Unico is a children's series of manga and anime films based on the character of Unico, a baby unicorn who was born with the very special gift of making all living creatures lighthearted and happy. Developed by Osamu Tezuka, the manga consisted of two volumes running from November 1976 to March 1979 and published by Sanrio.

In the late '70s, Sanrio optioned the manga for anime adaptations. An anime pilot was created but rejected, and two films and a short were completed afterward (in 1981 and 1983 respectively for the films). The movies are The Fantastic Adventures of Unico (1981, directed by Toshio Hirata and written by Masaki Tsuji, both longtime Tezuka collaborators) and Unico in the Island of Magic (1983), later accompanied by the short Saving Our Fragile Earth. The two '80s films were animated by Madhouse (with Island of Magic hitting theaters at just about the same time as the same studio's Barefoot Gen), and later redubbed into English and run through the '80s on Disney Channel.

The story covered the adventures of Unico the unicorn who found himself facing issues such as environmental impact, friendship and teamwork. The back story is that the gods, who bear a grudge against Unico for his ability to make people happy, order the West Wind to banish him to death on the Hill of Oblivion. The West Wind, however, cannot bring herself to do it, and as a result must continually spirit the boy unicorn away from one place to another whenever the gods find out where he is. As a result, he not only loses the new friends he's made (usually without even the chance to say goodbye), but his memory is wiped clean each time.

Unico has also appeared in the Game Boy Advance game Astro Boy: Omega Factor, and Columns GB: Osamu Tezuka Characters for the Game Boy Color. Astro Boy and Hello Kitty also appear in Unico Canon.

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Tropes:

• An Aesop
• And I Must Scream: Any of the folks changed into puppets and used to build skyscrapers.
• Badass Adorable: Unico
• Beware the Nice Ones: Unico can kick some ass, despite himself.
• Blessed with Suck: Unico is born with the power to make all those around him happy - pretty awesome ability, right? Not if you have a panel of Gods who feel that they're the only ones should have it, and subsequently want you banished from existance for daring infringe on them.
• Catgirl: Not played completely straight, but Katy's the kitty to call.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: In both Japanese and English, Unico has almost always been voiced by a woman: Katsue Miwa in the '80s movies and Akiko Yajima in Saving Our Fragile Earth, and Barbara Goodson in the English dubs. The one notable exception is in the 1979 anime pilot, in which Unico's seiyuu, Hiroya Oka, was a prepubescent boy.
  • Also, Akumanoko/Beezle was voiced by a woman (Junko Hori) in Japanese.
• Cute Little Fangs: Katy in her cat form and Beezle have them.
  • And the Sphinx's daughter.
• Dub Name Change: Katy is Chao, and Beezle is Akuma no Ko (literally "kid devil"), in the original Japanese.
• Friend to All Living Things: So much so that the gods try to banish Unico for making everyone too happy. The girl Cheri on Island also counts.
• Green Aesop: The short, anyway. The movies don't really count.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: When he feels loved by those around him, Unico is able to turn into a full-grown unicorn, complete with the ability to fly. This allows him, in The Fantastic Adventures of Unico, to fly through the chest of a 50-story tall demon, killing him instantly.
• Heroic BSOD: Unico has one after Cheri gets turned into a puppet.
• Large Ham: Lord Kuruku, in an extremely disturbing sense.
• Let's Get Dangerous: Throughout "Unico in the Island of Magic", Kuruku seems like a playful (if creepy) type of villain. Then he gets pissed.
• Names to Know in Anime: Yoshiaki Kawajiri worked on the animation staff of both movies.
• Noble Demon: Beezle's very insistent on honoring his obligations; his dad raised him that way.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Unico. The films were made with Sanrio; what else did you expect?
• Say My Name: Holy crap. Both movies feature this and Big Word Shout. You can't go five minutes without hearing UNIICCCCCCCCCOOOO! or some other screaming.
• The Imp: Beezle.
• The Stoic: Toby.
• The Power of Friendship: Literally, Unico can do all sorts of things, but only for those he considers his friends. It also gives Unico the power to change into a giant, flying unicorn capable of drilling a supersonic hole through a fifty-story-high demon. Yeah. Not so harmless now, is he?
  • It also kills Kuruku, as mentioned above.
• The Power of Hate: Hate is the only thing keeping Kuruku animate.
• Villainous Breakdown: Kuruku, during the climax.