You’ll find synopses for each chapter or episode of the First Grader version of Unico on this page. While each one is short, there are 43 chapters. The chapters are listed below in chronological order, as they were originally published in Shougaku Ichinensei (First Grader) magazine. If I’ve written a “Spotlight” post focusing on a chapter, it is linked as well. These posts will have more information and photos.
| Issue | Title | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| April 1980 | Unico Appears ユニコとうじょう | Esuo is lonely and wishes to have a friend. He brings home different animals hoping to keep them. His mother refuses each time. One day, Esuo is sitting by himself when he notices an animal lying in the grass. It’s Unico! Feeling sorry for him, Esuo brings him home to nurse back to health. Unico feels better and tries to pay Esuo back for helping him, but Unico doesn’t understand Japanese well and comically misunderstands. |
| May 1980 | Spring Cleaning with a Koinobori こいのぼりで大そうじ | Tasked with the job of cleaning his room, Esuo asked for Unico’s help. At first, Unico is simply helping the boy clean, but there is too much junk, and they need to throw the garbage away. Unico spots a koinobori (carp streamer) and uses his magic to bring it to life and suck up Esuo’s garbage. It works a little too well, and the koinobori continues sucking up trash and everything else throughout town. When Esuo cannot find his gift money, they soon have a messier time! |
| June 1980 | Pet Pride ペットじまん | A couple of schoolboys make fun of Esuo for having an ugly pet (referring to Unico). One boy shows off his big bulldog and tells Esuo it can fight. When Esuo and Unico are not interested, the boy orders his dog to attack Unico. Unico quickly teaches the dog a lesson. The boy tells his father, who immediately confronts Esuo’s mother, telling her Unico is a dangerous animal. When the animal control officers show up and take Unico away, Esuo is devastated, but not for too long. Unico shrunk himself to escape and after being reunited with Esuo, they teach the kid a lesson by making the bulldog grow tusks/horns. This causes several problems, and everyone turns on the dog, but Unico saves the dog. The bulldog turns on his boy soon after. |
| July 1980 | Larger Tadpole 大きなオタマジャクシ | At school, Esuo is mistaken in thinking tadpoles turn into whales when they grow up. His classmates laugh at him, telling him that tadpoles turn into frogs. Esuo can’t accept this new information. He truly believes whales start out as tadpoles. Unico takes Esuo out to meet actual whales to ask them. One whale tells them that baby whales have always been whales since ancient times, and baby frogs have always been frogs. Esuo gives up, but a seagull swoops by to let Unico know about a massive frog called a “whale frog” on an island nearby. When the two arrive, they want to see the whale frog’s babies. The giant frog tries to eat Unico, but he’s able to escape and take one of her babies, apologizing and saying he’ll return it. When they brought the tadpole back to school, the kids wondered if it really was a baby whale! |
| August 1980 | Become a Firefly ほたるになろう | Esuo and his friends are trying to catch fireflies when Esuo captures one. The other two boys want a firefly as well, and they get into a small fight. Esuo asks Unico if he’d be able to make copies of the firefly, but Unico feels sorry for the little insect. Instead, he offers to cast a spell on the three boys so that their back ends can glow like a firefly. Now they’re running around at night pretending to be fireflies. Unfortunately, the light never turns off. This causes many problems for the boys, as their glowing butts blind others and attract other insects. Angry at Esuo, they blame him for all of their troubles and take the firefly Esuo had caught, telling him that maybe they’ll trade for a cicada. Unico used his magic to make the two boys act like cicadas, which are known for their obnoxious sound. |
| September 1980 | Ragon has Arrived ラゴンがやってきた | Esuo is visiting a friend’s home where the other boy is showing off a massive ostrich egg. Esuo tells the boy he’s seen something bigger, and the other boy doesn’t believe him. When he returns home, Esuo tells Unico how he wishes he had an egg bigger than an ostrich egg. Unico tries to make Esuo’s wish come true by flying out to find the largest egg he could. He succeeds and returns with a massive egg on his back. But something’s odd about it. When Esuo touches the tip of the egg, the egg cracks, and it’s the baby dragon Ragon! The baby dragon makes himself at home, but his parents soon arrive. They’re looking for the one who stole their egg. Ragon explains to his parents that he wants to stay in Japan. Now Esuo has another strange creature to take care of! |
| October 1980 | Ragon’s Cavity ラゴンのむしば | Ragon is eating a ton of sweets and ends up with a toothache. Unico has Ragon visit the doctor to see what is wrong. Ragon cannot control his fire-breathing when he feels pain and blasts the doctor. They run off, but the pain continues. Unico finds water to help Ragon, and it seems to do the trick. Unfortunately, there is a cabin, and Ragon spots a cake on the table. He sneaks in and starts eating it, but it makes his tooth hurt again. Suddenly, the owner of the cabin walks in with a shotgun. The two flee, but Ragon defends and bites the shotgun barrel. When he falls, he actually loses the rotten tooth. No time for celebration as the gun-wielding man is still there. Back home, it looks as though Ragon is taking care of his teeth, but Unico soon finds out that Ragon is rinsing his mouth out with oshiruko (red bean soup), a Japanese dessert soup. |
| November 1980 | The Great Sports Day うんどうかいで大あばれ | Ragon is very interested in what Esuo is sketching, but Esuo wants to focus. He tells Ragon he’s going to his school and not to follow him. This upsets Ragon, who throws a fit. Unico tells Ragon he’ll go with him to Esuo’s school, but it’s a big mistake. Ragon spots the big dragon float the kids built and gets excited. He blows fire from his nostrils and sets the float on fire, completely ruining it. The kids and Esuo are upset, so Ragon and Unico try to make a new one. It doesn’t go well, but Unico has an idea. When Esuo and his classmates walk with the float, the other kids at the school laugh. Then the float sprouts wings and flies up! It’s Unico hidden inside! The float drops an egg, and out pops Ragon! Esuo and his classmates win best float, but Ragon is too excited and destroys their reward by accidentally blowing fire on it. |
| December 1980 | Unico, to the Zoo ユニコ、どうぶつえんへ | Esuo and Unico visit the zoo, and Unico is made fun of by animals with multiple antlers or horns, but a rhinoceros sticks up for Unico. The zookeepers, though, spot Unico and notice right away that he’s a unicorn. They capture him, but Unico grows and breaks out of the cage. He tosses the zookeeper into the water, but the man explains that he’s trying to find rare animals to attract visitors to the zoo. He has so many animals, but visitors don’t seem to care. Unico feels sorry for him and flies off to find rare creatures. Soon, the zoo is now full of ghosts and monsters, and the regular animals leave. |
| January 1981 | The Snow Woman has Arrived ゆき女がやってきた | It’s a wintry day, but maybe a little too cold. Unico walks outside to find a Snow Woman sitting in the garden area. She just arrived from her hometown and invites herself into Esuo’s home. Unico tries to stop her, but she tells him they asked for her to come. Unico is confused at first but realizes Esuo asked Unico to make it cooler during the last summer, so he sent a telegram out to the Snow Woman. She arrived only now and immediately started making herself at home. This causes everything in Esuo’s home to freeze. Unico flies off to the Himalayas and finds the Abominable Snowman and brings him back to meet the Snow Woman. The two meet, fall in love, get married, and leave. Now they have to use Ragon to melt all the snow and heat the room. |
| February 1981 | Get into the Movie えいがの中へ入りこめ | Esuo and his friends are watching a movie on a movie projector when the boys get into an argument over what type of fruit is being shown on the film. Assuming his friends are wrong and he’s right, Esuo asks Unico to send him to where the trees are growing the fruit are. Unico says that’s impossible but sends Esuo into the film instead. While examining the fruit, a group of tribesmen appear and capture Esuo. They sell him to a woman running a cooking class, but Unico finally arrives to save him. They escape and head to the edge of the screen. The father of Esuo’s friend rewinds the film and makes the tribesmen run backwards, allowing the two to escape the movie. Unfortunately, one issue of Shougaku Ichinensei magazine entered the movie, and the tribesmen now have it. |
| March 1981 | Naughty Ragon いたずらラゴン | Ragon receives a package from his parents, and it’s a bunch of books and learning material on how to be a dragon. Unico tries to help him learn, but the little dragon is not interested. After several attempts, Unico reads a part that states, “Dragons protect people for justice” and finds a man who needs help to protect his desserts from a mouse infestation. Now Ragon can use his abilities! He tries to deal with the mice, but they’re too quick to stop him. The Mouse King shows up and tells Unico and Ragon that mice are the best animals in the world, but Unico tells him that may be so, but they still can’t fly. He then offers to use his magic to make the mice fly. Before the Mouse King can answer, Unico uses his magic, and the tails of every mouse move like a propeller, and they all float off. When the man and Unico walk down to where the food is stored, they find Ragon eating the food. |
| April 1981 | Let’s Bloom はなをさかそう | Esuo and his friends are playing baseball when one of them hits the ball high into the sky. Unico flies up to grab it and give it to Esuo, but his friends don’t think it’s fair. Esuo tells Unico not to fly up and catch the ball, but when the next one goes flying, it lands in someone’s yard. Both Esuo and Unico go over to retrieve the ball, and find an older man (Dr. Ochanomizu) sitting next to the tree with all the blooms falling to the ground. Esuo and Unico apologize to him, but the man isn’t too angry. He tells them that his dog is buried under the tree, and Unico flies up and uses his magic to make the tree bloom gain. A neighbor (Inspector Tawashi) sees this happen from his home and uses a fishing rod to capture Unico. He tries to force Unico to make his trees grow, but when Unico uses his magic, only noses grow on the tree. Each one sniffs and sneezes, annoying the man. |
| May 1981 | Let’s Build a Birdhouse すばこをつくろう | Ragon spots a swallow’s nest on Esuo’s home and wants to check it out. There are no eggs in the nest yet, so Ragon puts regular chicken eggs inside, not fully understanding the difference. He tries several things, but no birds come to the nest. Finally, Esuo remembers birds will come if you build a birdhouse. Soon, Esuo, Ragon, and Unico are making birdhouses. Esuo and Ragon get creative, adding toilets and various other things. Esuo tells Unico to find birds for their birdhouses, and he flies off to Bird Land. When he arrives, he asks Phoenix if any birds would like to visit. She tells him that no regular bird would visit strange birdhouses. Unico then returns with birds, but they are all strange, and instead of using the birdhouses Esuo and Ragon made, they storm Esuo’s room and leave a mess. Esuo’s mother kicks Ragon and Unico out of the house, but the swallows notice and offer their nest as a home. The last panel shows Ragon and Unico in the nest with Unico saying he’s decided to live at the swallow’s home for a while. |
| June 1981 | The Rainy Season Has Come, Summer Has Come つゆがきたなつがきた | It’s summer, but there is no rainfall. Esuo asks if Unico can magically make it rain, but it’s not that easy. Instead, Unico and Ragon fly into the sky and hit a massive gas cloud. When they find the Rain God, he’s been affected by the gas and is sick in bed. Unico and Ragon try to figure out how to make it rain, but this causes even more problems. Now it’s raining hot water, a sticky syrup, kintaro and umeboshi candy, and even snow, hail, foxes, and a god. The Rain God is feeling better and notices that the gas is gone, but the weather is going crazy. Because of the crazy weather changes, the sky was now beautiful. The Rain God tells them they did well and, in the end, makes a rainbow appear in the sky. |
| July 1981 | A Series of Failures しっぱいつずき | Esuo’s mother enters the room and tells Esuo, Ragon, and Unico that she’d like to borrow even a cat’s hand, but they’re just playing around (this is a Japanese idiom). The boys get up and gather a group of cats and bring them to her, thinking she literally wanted help from cats. She then corrects them, that “I’d like to borrow a cat’s hand” (猫の手も借りたい) means she’s very busy and would like their help. Now that they understand, they try to help clean the house. Esuo gives Unico and Ragon jobs to do, but they keep messing up. Esuo’s mother orders Unico to bring everything they took outside back inside the house. Unico uses his magic to bring everything back in, but he brings not only the furniture back in; he brings the dirt as well. It’s as if they didn’t even clean the home! |
| August 1981 | Great Success with Magic まほうで大かつやく | Esuo’s class is at the beach when each child is suddenly attacked by a long white horn, similar looking to Unico’s. A few of the classmates blame Unico, but Esuo defends his friend until he’s also attacked by the horn and slammed into a rock. Then he too thinks it’s Unico playing a mean trick. Unico is confused, and the children throw rocks at the poor unicorn to chase him away. Sad and alone, Unico spots several horns in the water and jumps in to investigate. There, Unico spots a group of “biranha” fish who are terrorizing the area. They attack Unico and boot him out of the ocean. Unico then flies up to the moon with Ragon to have some fresh mochi that the rabbits are making. He returns to the ocean, mochi shaped like children, and catches all the fish, getting rid of them for good. Esuo’s class gets to enjoy fresh mochi from the moon and no longer has to worry about the fish. Esuo and his friend apologize to Unico in the end. |
| September 1981 | Full of Ghosts おばけがいっぱい | Esuo’s mother received a mid-year gift for ochugen. Ochugen is a gift-giving tradition in Japan meant to show appreciation to those who are significant in your life. While Esuo is hoping for melons as a gift, his mother is surprised to find several cans with ghosts and monsters inside. Esuo’s mother wants to throw the cans away, but Esuo begs to have them. Unico warns Esuo not to open the cans, but he does it anyway. Spooky cries and creepy laughter fill the room. When it’s over, he opens another can. Each one has a different ghost, and once again, Unico warns Esuo not to open the cans. The last can Esuo opens has a demon inside, and he tries to kidnap them. Unico can escape, save his friends, and defeat the monster. When the friends reach home, there is a package from Esuo’s school. Esuo is excited until he realizes the package is nothing but schoolwork to do during summer break. |
| October 1981 | Unico’s Great Success ユニコ大かつやく | Ragon spots a persimmon tree and wants to eat the fruit. Unico warns him he shouldn’t take things from other people’s property. Ragon doesn’t care, and Unico still extends his horn for Ragon to climb up and take one. The man who owns the persimmon tree spots Ragon and calls out to him. Ragon runs off, and the man spots Unico, thinking he prevented Ragon from stealing the fruit. He then offers Unico the job of protecting the fruit, and in return he’ll let him have one once it’s ripe. As Ragon attempts to steal the fruit, Unico pops out to stop him each time. Soon, crows and other birds are showing up, and Unico has placed a variety of “scarecrow” like items in the tree. With Ragon still pursuing the tree, Unico uses his magic to make it grow tall. It ends up in space, where the astronauts pick them all. When the tree returns, Unico is upset and feels bad for not being able to protect the fruit, that he ties up a bunch of dried persimmons instead and runs off. |
| November 1981 | Let’s Make an Anime アニメをつくろう | Esuo, Ragon, and Unico are looking at a bunch of art when a man (director or producer) appears. He tells them he’s going to be making an anime about Ragon and Unico and invites them to the studio. While they are there, they visit various areas, including the sketch area. Ragon poses for the artists, but keeps moving. He’s been told several times to stand still. Ragon tries to look fierce and ends up blowing fire at the artists. The artwork also catches on fire, and so Ragon goes to throw anything that looks like water on the illustrations. Unfortunately, he used ramen and miso to put out the fire. Ragon then found the paints and opened them up to eat. When he gets yelled at, he runs off and across artists painting backgrounds. Ragon continues to cause trouble, and Unico tries to help the director/producer by telling him they have a ton of artwork already. When the man sees its just the fanart, he gets upset. Unico then uses his magic to bring the artwork to life; there’s an illustration that looks just like Ragon who was straight out of the wash. |
| December 1981 | I Want to Eat Cake ケーキたべたいな | |
| January 1982 | Ragon’s New Year ラゴンのおしょうがつ | |
| February 1982 | Futarou, the Seasonal Cold はやりかぜのふうたろう | |
| March 1982 | The Snowball Fight Tournament ゆきがっせん大会 | |
| April 1982 | The Massive Butterfly 大きくなったチョウチョウ | |
| May 1982 | Mysterious Trumpet ふしぎなラッパ | |
| July 1982 | The Rainy Season Goddess つゆの女神さま | |
| August 1982 | Ragon’s Transformation ラゴンのへんしん | |
| September 1982 | Ragon’s Fireworks ラゴンの花火 | |
| October 1982 | Out of Control Truck ぼうそうトラック | |
| November 1982 | God of the North Wind 北風の神様 | Esuo receives a terrible grade on a test. Embarrassed and upset with his score, he tries to hide his results. Two classmates mention they know a way to get better points on tests. They explain that if Esuo ties his test to a balloon and lets it float up to heaven and repeats the magical words, he’ll receive better points. Esuo does what they said, but realizes soon after that they were joking. He rushed to Unico for help, and together they flew around to catch the balloon. By the time they catch up to the test, the God of the North Wind has it. The god’s son was doing poorly on his tests as well, and it stressed him out. Upon seeing Esuo’s test, he felt a little better and thanked him. He then offered Esuo a palace (there’s a Japanese pun here), but Esuo refused and left. |
| December 1982 | Santa Came Too Early 早くきすぎたサンタさん | Santa arrives at Esuo’s home, knocking on the sliding glass door because they do not have a chimney. After Santa enters, Esuo tells Santa it’s not Christmas yet. Santa is confused and holds up an issue of First Grader Magazine, pointing out it says December. Esuo explains they released the issues a month early, and when Santa realizes his mistake, he goes to leave. Before he could go, Esuo stopped Santa and asked for a present since he was already there. When Santa asks what he’d like, Esuo tells him he’d like Santa for his present. It doesn’t go as planned. Santa pulls out a variety of “Santas” until handing over a small child wearing Santa-themed garb. The real Santa leaves, and Esuo asks for presents from the child. Instead of gifts, he gets peed on. And the baby keeps peeing every time Esuo asks for gifts. The baby continues peeing until Esuo and Unico fly out to find the real Santa. The bag of urine bursts, and Esuo wakes up. It was all a dream, but Esuo is thankful to have Unico. |
| January 1983 | A Big New Year’s Gift 大きなお年だま | |
| February 1983 | Magic Snowmen まほうのゆきだるま | |
| April 1983 | What is the Original? もとはなーに | |
| May 1983 | Chapter 36 第３６話 | Esuo and Unico are checking out a classmate’s TV watch and after leaving, Esuo wishes he had a TV that could follow him anywhere. Unico makes his wish come true, and suddenly a small red TV comes running up to them like a stray animal. Everything is great at first, but the TV soon becomes a problem. It’s loud and disruptive and plays certain sounds at inappropriate times. Tired of dealing with it, Esuo tosses the TV off a bridge, and it lands on the back of a truck. A while later, the TV returns with a litter of smaller TVs. Unico flies Esuo and all the TVs to a spaceport and asks a couple of astronauts if they could take the TVs to space. They agree, and as a parting gift, Unico makes a bunch of E.T. costumes for the TVs. |
| July 1983 | Hiking ハイキング | |
| August 1983 | Fishing Rod That Can Catch Anything なんでもつれるつりざお | |
| September 1983 | Chao has Arrived チャオがやってきた | |
| October 1983 | Looking for Advice しんげんちをさがせ | |
| November 1983 | Chao Was Kidnapped さらわれたチャオ | |
| December 1983 | Unusual Horn めずらしいつの | |
| January 1984 | Lottery ふくびき |