Spotlight: A Closer Look at Unico: Hunted

Last month, the newest spellbinding tale of Unico was released, and I wanted to explore it further. One thing I’d like to go over with readers is the wonderful elements presented in this book that may not be apparent to some. Yes, on the surface, Unico is simply a fantastic tale about a unicorn dealing with various issues, but there’s a little more going on, especially in Unico: Hunted. This post explores highlights of the new book, with an emphasis on its relation to the original Unico series by Osamu Tezuka. While Unico: Awakening also had some elements, Unico: Hunted arguably introduces more.

※ Before I begin, I want to remind everyone that there may be minor spoilers, especially if you have not read Unico: Hunted or the original manga.

Characters

While Unico: Hunted is based on the “Black Rain and White Feather” chapter, this series gives more depth to the story and characters, making anyone reading the books want more. We’re introduced to a few original characters in the second volume, and I wanted to focus on them.

Iver is the newest antagonist entering the Unico series, and he’s pretty cool looking. We get to learn a bit of his past, but like other characters we’re introduced to, it’s only a teaser. I assume that as the series progresses, we’ll learn more about Iver, but his introduction into the series brings a force to be reckoned with. He’s a massive creature and skilled hunter who will be a recurring character as part of the overall plot. Like me, the reader will want to know what really happened between him and Venus, as well as what will become of him.

Halian is another character I really enjoy. He’s the Prince of the Underground Fey and is helping keep his people safe. He’s knowledgeable about the past and future and helps Unico and his friends. The original manga featured an unnamed fairy prince who lived on an island far from humans that tries to help Chiko. Unlike the prince in the original story, Halian and the Fey are more anthropomorphic than human in design. This choice works well for this version of Unico because it’s illustrating its universe’s unique attachment to nature. There are natural elements, plants, animals, and more within the cosmos. Halian and the others feel more connected to the overall world, especially when dealing with humans and the celestials.

Down below you’ll see an example of the fairy prince from the original manga. Other than his interesting clothing choices, he still looks more humanlike despite being part of nature.

Grandpa Yoji and Starrow are part of Osamu Tezuka’s Star System. This means they reappear in several of Tezuka’s works in various forms. Grandpa Yoji is known as Dr. Ochanomizu, who first appeared in Ambassador Atom (aka Captain Atom) in 1951. He rebuilds Atom and acts as a guardian figure, showing him the ways of human and robot kind. Dr. Ochanomizu was also in the original 70s and 80s Unico manga series, so it’s nice to see him returning. As you can tell, he’s playing a similar role in the new Unico as Chiko’s grandfather. Starrow is Dr. Kiriko from the Black Jack series. He first appeared in Black Jack in 1974 and is often the antagonist in several series. This time he appears to be helping West Wind.

I’m pretty sure these two will not be the only characters from Tezuka’s Star System we’ll see in the new series. Both the 70s and 80s manga of Unico featured several characters such as Melmo, Phoenix, Bukko, Donguri, and even Osamu Tezuka himself. Who might show up in the new manga, I wonder?

Colors and Mood

Let’s talk about the colors used to depict various elements in Unico: Hunted. In some of my previous posts, I gushed about the colors in Unico: Awakening and how they were being used. One doesn’t need to have studied any form of art or color theory to know that colors can evoke various emotions and moods. In Unico: Hunted, we certainly have darker tones being used, but for the key setting of the story, the overtone is green. Since Unico is in a polluted city, the green and other muddied colors help create a sense of toxicity. The air is dirty; the water is foul. It’s not a healthy place to be. The original manga made the city look pretty polluted as well, but used more black and brown shades.

During the beach scene, the color palette is blue and joyful. They feel clean and calm, and the darkness surrounding the characters has lifted for a moment. Everyone is happy and relaxed. This gives a breath of fresh air even to readers as we can feel the characters’ relief. The beach scene is also a reminder to these characters (and maybe the readers) that it’s possible to have something like this in their lives. It’s possible to enjoy a non-polluted and overly controlled world. The beach adventure is brief, but even that gives the characters hope.

Now, the Underground Fey has more lavender tones, creating a beautiful and whimsical feel. The giant fungus and glowing spores are a fun touch, and the Fey have certainly made it their home. Unlike celestials and other creatures throughout the universe, the Fey are attached to the earth, and I feel the visuals help create a magical underground world for them. The readers will enjoy this fantasy realm and the characters in it, and will certainly crave more.

Similar to the new series, the original manga also offered a magical fairy realm that was beautiful and playful. The fairies represented the spirits of plants, fruits, and animals, and I feel the Fey from Unico: Hunted still show this with their wolf-like appearances and the Underground. If you’re familiar with any type of fey folklore, you’ll understand that it doesn’t matter what the creatures look like; many of them are shapeshifters, but they’re almost always attached to nature. Their world is magical and unknown to us, which I feel is presented well in Unico: Hunted. I hope we get to see more of the Fey.

Easter eggs and references

When adapting older franchises into new works, you’ve probably noticed they often include elements from the original source material. This is a great way to engage with a variety of fans, especially the older ones. These can be references or Easter eggs that the newer generations might not notice or understand, and that’s okay. A young child watching The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) probably didn’t get all those references because they didn’t grow up during the 80s and 90s. It’s no different with Unico. Because Osamu Tezuka created Unico back in 1976, there’s almost 50 years’ worth of history that one could use. Plus, one can also utilize Tezuka’s massive character library along with Unico by using the Star System.

When reading Osamu Tezuka’s works, it’s fun to spot characters making appearances. Unico: Hunted continues this tradition, but some fans, especially younger ones, might miss some of these. I’ve already talked about characters, so let’s look at some other hidden things present in the second volume.

One of the first Easter eggs I noticed while reading was from the second film, Unico in the Island of Magic. The film, released in 1983, showed Unico and his friends trying to stop the evil wizard Kukurukku (aka Lord Kuruku) from turning everyone into living puppets. In the scenes with Chiko’s room, there are a few surprises around her toy chest, which has Kukurukku, Tolby, and a living puppet. These three characters are pretty well known to those who watched this movie. This is a nice homage to the film, of which Tezuka helped pen the script. It was never part of the original manga series, but Tezuka really wanted to develop a wonderful story with these characters.

During a scene with everyone eating, you’ll spot a plate with a few Hyoutantsugi on it. This is another well-known character that appears randomly throughout most of Tezuka’s work. It’s also cute that the head seems to already have a bite mark on it. When you see most Hyoutantsugi, it’ll have a bandage in that area as you’ll see below.

The dessert and food at the celebration scene also look familiar to those who have read the original manga. In “A Hometown Visit” chapter, Unico’s family are eating food created by replicorns. The replicorns were given the job of making and feeding the unicorns by the gods, and they make a gelatine from the fruits and vegetables on Olympus. It’s surrounded by a variety of fruits and other foods. While the Unico: Hunted version looks more of a layered pudding than gelatine, there’s an odd resemblance. This may show another connection to the Fey and other beings throughout the universe.

In the original series, the gelatine is a huge tower that Unico’s parents fly their children to the top of. The family has a never-ending buffet, and the tower of gelatine never goes down. There’s even a little joke off to the side stating that it looks like the infamous scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) where the spaceship appears over Devils Tower in Wyoming. Osamu Tezuka actually flew out to Los Angeles to watch the film (and Star Wars) before it was out in Japan and really enjoyed it. (It’s also interesting to note that Devils Tower was the United States’ first established national monument. Oh, ho ho!)

Final thoughts…

There is much more to this volume that I would love to go over, but I feel it’s better to actually read Unico: Hunted than simply check out my rambles. There are plenty of wonderful scenes throughout the book that I didn’t even touch upon that I hope readers pay attention to. Character interactions and relationships, the battles, the list goes on. The series shows the difficulties for everyone involved. That fear, happiness, and sadness are always brief and changing. The manga does not shy away from showing these emotional elements, and there are brilliant scenes because of it.

As I type this up, Unico: Hunted is still a bestseller on Amazon, sitting at the #1 spot in Children’s Manga. I’m always happy to see the series doing well and expect this to continue until the conclusion. I hope others will appreciate the work that goes into Unico and enjoy the magic that the series brings.