Spotlight: Who are those other characters in Unico: Awakening?

If you’re new to Unico and have only read the recent retelling, Unico: Awakening by Samuel Sattin and Gurihiru, then maybe you noticed a handful of other characters placed in the background of panels and pages. While seemingly random, some of these characters appeared in the original 1970s manga. The new manga cleverly includes them, though newer readers may be unaware. Unico: Awakening was originally a Kickstarter, so a lot of fans backing the new manga were already familiar with Osamu Tezuka’s work and would have recognized these characters. Now that Scholastic is publishing the new Unico series, there are plenty of new fans being introduced to these characters, so I thought it would be nice to review some of them.

I will note, if you have not read the original manga, and do not wish to know any possible spoilers, please don’t read on! At any rate, let’s look at some of these characters!

On the last page of the Prologue, you’ll see West Wind leaving with Unico on the top left panel. There is a young woman and a man standing in the snow, and these two are Alexander Romanov and Marschka from the “One-Night-Only Ball” chapter, originally published in Lyrica Magazine’s March 1978 issue. In this chapter, the young woman named Marschka must mug and steal to survive. Because she is a menace, the police are searching for her. Upon finding Unico, she warms and feeds him. Believing she showed him love, Unico wants to repay her. When asked if she’s ever had a dream, Marschka tells Unico that her dream is to fall in love and meet a man at a ball. Unico does his best to help Marschka, and she ends up meeting the police chief, Alexander Romanov, who is searching for her.

I won’t spoil the end, but it’s a wonderful chapter. For now, let’s check out some of the other art in Unico: Awakening.

Here’s the Unico “power up” scene. Not including the forest animals, several of the shards feature characters that have appeared in Unico: Awakening, but others who have not. Before Scholastic picked the manga up, I’m guessing these characters were included to have more Unico references, as well as to illustrate that Unico had already been to these places. In the image above, I’ve marked the characters and scenes as a quick reference.

Unico’s Mother and Father:
While Unico’s mother appears in the Prologue, her and Unico’s father appear in the shard in the above page. Unico’s parents first appeared in the May 1978 chapter, “A Hometown Visit,” where Unico reunited with his family for a day. Wonder if we’ll see them in a later volume?

Psyche:
Psyche appears in the Prologue and becomes close friends with Unico. This is also true for the original manga as well. Psyche is the goddess of souls and cares about Unico.

Alexander Romanov and Marschka:
From the Prologue chapter, we see these two in one panel and then again in the page above. As mentioned earlier, both characters originally appeared in the “One-Night-Only Ball” chapter. We know West Wind and Unico have been traveling a bit before arriving at Chloe’s location, so it’s fun to see these classic characters appearing in the new series. The big question I have is if they’ll appear again, or were they simply a previous stop for Unico?

Garappachi and Okuzu:
Garappachi and Okuzu do not appear in Unico: Awakening’s main story, but will appear in Unico: Hunted. They originally appeared in the “Black Rain and White Feather” chapter in June 1978, where Garappachi helps Unico save the sickly girl named Chiko. Since many Kickstarter backers are familiar with the original manga, readers could assume in Unico: Awakening that Unico has visited several places before landing in Chloe’s timeline. Including Garappachi and Okuzu in this scene might be due to Unico’s prior visit and relationship with them. Now that Unico’s story is continuing in Unico: Hunted with a retelling of the “Black Rain and White Feather” chapter, I’m curious to see how these characters will be involved in the main story.

Castle from “Rosaria the Beautiful:”
This is probably another nod to the original manga, but this castle resembles the one in “Rosaria the Beautiful” first published in February 1977. You can see the crenellations (the battlements of the castle) fit the medieval time the manga took place. Similar to other shards, this illustrates that Unico may have visited that timeline already.

Unico’s Younger Siblings:
You see these little guys in the Prologue with Unico’s mother. They also appear in the original manga chapter “A Hometown Visit” and the first movie.

Corn:
This is Unico’s older sister, and possibly another fan favorite for those who know about her. She first appears in the original manga chapter titled “A Hometown Visit,” along with the rest of Unico’s family. Again, does this mean we’ll see Corn in future volumes or has Unico already visited and forgotten her by the time Unico: Awakening takes place?

Marusu:
We saw Marusu in Unico: Awakening, but she appears hidden in that shard. Marusu is the name of the 1983 movie sphinx, while Piro is from the November 1979 chapter “The Tale of the Fangs of Athens.” While we know Venus has taken Marusu away from her mother and is using her, how will her story play out as the new Unico series continues?

Chloe:
Well, Chloe is Chloe, but she is based on Chao from the 1977 chapter “The Cat on the Broomstick.” She’s one of the main protagonists in Unico: Awakening, and she’s in the same vicinity as Unico at that moment.

Chiko:
Chiko doesn’t appear in Unico: Awakening‘s main story, but will appear in the next book, Unico: Hunted. She first appears in the June 1978 chapter “Black Rain and White Feather” along with Garappachi. Her design in the shard resembles the original manga, so this suggests this page was made before Unico was going to be a series of books. This could also mean Unico had already visited the people featured in the shards. Chiko is sitting in a grassy field with flowers, so it appears Unico has already helped her.

Sphinx:
While it’s cut off thanks to the word bubbles in this image, this shard has the Sphinx in it. This is Marusu’s mother, who originally appears in the November 1979 chapter “The Tale of the Fangs of Athens.” We see her in Unico: Awakening when West Wind stops to speak with her.

Toast:
Obviously, Toast is also in this scene assisting Chloe and Unico, so he’s there to help. He’s taken the place of Shimashima from “The Cat on the Broomstick” chapter, who was the kitty love interest of Chao in the original series, so I’m curious to see what Toast will do.

Kickstarter Backers in Unico: Awakening

Since Unico: Awakening started as a Kickstarter, there were 10 reward slots available that allowed the backer to be drawn into the manga. When Unico first arrives and is running through the city, you’ll spot a handful of people noticing or interacting with Unico. There are also others just doing their thing while we follow Unico and his friends. No, they’re not random people… those are the backers! They’ve been immortalized into the first volume of the new Unico series, which is pretty cool!

They omitted the backers’ names, presumably to protect their privacy, but I wanted to share this with those who missed the Kickstarter and only purchased the Scholastic version. Now you can reread Unico: Awakening and look for the backers! It’s sort of like the I Spy or Where’s Waldo books.

Some of the other promotional art shared during the Kickstarter included characters and scenes from the 70s manga, as you can see above. The new series will not retell all chapters, but spotting aspects of the original works is always fun and certainly honors Osamu Tezuka’s original manga. I look forwarding see who else appears in future volumes!