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.
Jump to Year:
– 1980
– 1981
– 1982
– 1983
– 1984
1980
| 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 brought 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 backsides glow like fireflies. 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 blamed him for all of their troubles and took 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 won best float, but Ragon was too excited and destroyed 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 full of ghosts and monsters, and the regular animals leave. |
1981
| Issue | Title | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| 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 had just arrived from her hometown and invited herself into Esuo’s home. Unico tries to stop her, but she tells him they asked 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 appeared and captured 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 rain. 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/paw, 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, stating 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 house! |
| 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 so anyway. Spooky cries and creepy laughter filled 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 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 across the artist’s painted 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 | Esuo was on his way to the hospital with a cake for his classmate Kumiko. Unico and Ragon run over, but Esuo tells them they can’t come with him. Determined to get some cake, Ragon had Unico “injure” him so he could also go to the hospital. While there, Ragon disguises himself several times in order to trick Esuo into giving him the cake. He even makes Kumiko leave her hospital bed and pretends to be her. Esuo does not fall for Ragon’s trick and tells Unico to watch the cake while he finds Kumiko. Unico shrinks down to help watch for Ragon, but he gets stuck on the frosting. Esuo and Kumiko return to the hospital room, and she goes to eat some cake. Unfortunately, it’s the piece Unico is on, and Kumiko swallows him. While inside Kumiko’s body, Unico spots the lump inside her chest and uses his horn to break it up. Kumiko sneezes, and Unico flies out. Thanks to Unico, Kumiko was better, and her mother wanted to repay Unico for helping. He asked for cakes for Ragon. In the end, Ragon got a few too many cakes and couldn’t eat any more. |
1982
| Issue | Title | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| January 1982 | Ragon’s New Year ラゴンのおしょうがつ | Esuo, his mother, Ragon, and Unico are celebrating the New Year. Everyone is enjoying traditional food and drinks, with Unico getting a little tipsy on otoso (spiced medicinal sake). When Esuo and Unico find that the ozouni (New Year’s soup) tastes a little off, they realize that Ragon and dumped an entire bottle of otoso in, causing them both to get a little drunk. Esuo’s mom then invites them all to play karuta. Ragon doesn’t understand, and when Esuo’s mother asks Ragon to read out the cards, he doesn’t know how to read and speaks gibberish. Esuo takes the cards from him and reads them out instead, explaining that whoever gets the most cards wins. Ragon pulls out a vacuum to grab all the cards, but is quickly told by Esuo to stop doing anything. This upsets Ragon, and he runs away from home. Unico and Esuo fly out to find Ragon, only to see he’s with a strange man. The man is using Ragon as a sideshow and Unico begs him not to use his friend in such a way. Unico then offers other creatures to the man, including a monster that blows cigarette smoke out of its butt, another that spouts hot water from its butt and head while also farting through its nose, and a third monster with weird arm and leg placements, tea from its navel, and it excretes rice cakes from its butt. Unico describes the next monster, who has horns and carries a frying pan. The man tells Unico to stop, as he feels like he’s going crazy. The monster appears, looking like a female oni, and attacks the man with her frying pan. Esuo tells Ragon he needs to quit running off because creeps like that man will catch him. Unico suggests they just play at home, but Unico isn’t happy with what Ragon wanted to do. Ragon reenacts the man, and Unico tells him he’s picked up a nasty habit. |
| February 1982 | Fuutarou, the Seasonal Cold はやりかぜのふうたろう | Unico catches a cold after wandering the streets while it’s chilly. Everyone tries to help Unico, letting him rest on a futon and drinking hot soup. Ragon pretends to sneeze as if he also caught a cold. Esuo tells him that just because he sneezes doesn’t mean he has a cold. Ragon grabs a pair of pants for Unico and Ragon to fit into while under the futon. Esuo gets upset with Ragon and removes him from the pants and futon. That’s when a mysterious creature flies in named Fuutarou the Cold-Peddler, wanting to know if they’d like a cold. Esuo tells him they want nothing like that. Fuutarou finds that strange, as he saw Ragon holding a sign out front that says “I want to catch a cold.” Esuo tells Futarou that Ragon’s an idiot and for Futarou to go home, but the Cold-Peddler tells him no. Since Fuutarou is already inside, he spreads germs. Esuo and Ragon run to find masks so they do not get sick. They tried to keep Fuutarou out of the bedroom, but Ragon had to use the toilet and opened the sliding door just enough to pee, which let the creature in. Fuutarou tries to give Ragon a cold, but it doesn’t work. Unico enters the room and explains that Ragon won’t be able to catch a cold, so it’s useless trying. Fuutarou asks why, and Unico explains that Ragon’s stomach is so hot it catches no colds. Ragon blows fire at Fuutarou, and they try to make Esuo sick instead. Unico blocks Fuutarou by jumping in the way and throwing gauze at him. A stick and two dots shot out and hit Fuutarou, causing him to fly away. Esuo says he doesn’t understand what happened, and Unico explains that if you catch a “cold” from the “gauze” it turns into a “stick” and “dots.” This is a joke about how “cold” and “gauze” are written in katakana. Cold is written as カゼ and gauze is written ガーゼ. The “dots” (dakuten) are added to characters to change the pronunciation, where the “stick” (chouonpu) is used to indicate long vowels. Can’t help but laugh at such a cheesy joke. |
| March 1982 | The Snowball Fight Tournament ゆきがっせん大会 | Esuo, Ragon, and Unico head to a snowball fight tournament. Since Unico and Ragon are animals and can’t throw snowballs, the man says they can’t join. Frustrated by this, Ragon picks up a snowball and hits him with it. The man kicks Ragon and Unico out, but Ragon is determined. He makes a bunch of snowballs and places them in a big container. Both Ragon and Unico hide under the snowballs with a sign attached to the container that says “present.” Staff notice the snowballs and pull the crate out. While the announcer explains to the kids that the snowballs will be coated in red powder and whoever has the least red on them will win, the staff spray the snowballs Ragon and Unico are under. The two are now coated in red, and the tournament begins. Ragon and Unico do their best, but the kids gang up on Ragon. He blows fire, but Unico tells him to stop. Instead, Ragon tells Unico that they need to climb somewhere high so they won’t get hit. They built a tower, but the kids can still hit Ragon, so they made it even taller. By this point, the tournament is over and Esuo is declared the winner as he did not get hit. The tower falls onto the children, and Esuo is now covered in red. He then chases Ragon and Unico, hitting them with snowballs. |
| April 1982 | The Massive Butterfly 大きくなったチョウチョウ | Unico is enjoying seeing a butterfly going about its day until children with nets try to catch it. Unico saves the butterfly from the kids and then saves her from being eaten by birds. He feels bad for her and uses his magic to make her grow so she can defend herself. Sadly, she can’t sip nectar from flowers the bigger she gets. She tried water, but it’s tasteless. Then she spots people drinking juice and tries it. She likes the juice, but the police are soon after her, trying to shoot her as she’s quite large for a butterfly. She lands before Unico, begging him to make her bigger. He does so, and she becomes a massive butterfly. She then flies around, drinking large amounts of juice. Unico flies up to stop her, and they battle it out. He’s able to subdue her and tells her that juice is something you buy with your allowance; it’s not for free. She tells Unico to give her an allowance, but he tells her she needs to work. In the end, the butterfly gets a job flying around like an advertisement for the juice company, with Unico running away. |
| May 1982 | Mysterious Trumpet ふしぎなラッパ | Esuo is at a friend’s home where she tells him that her canary never sings. He tells her it’s probably because it doesn’t know how. Unico uses his magic to create a trumpet that will sing like a canary. Once he blows it, the canary sings along. Esuo and Unico then meet a boy walking his dog who tells them the dog never barks. Unico uses the horn to make barking sounds, which make the dog bark, but also attack the horn. Next, a neighborhood boy wants Esuo and Unico to get his snake to make noise. Unico plays the trumpet, but only slithering and wiggling noises come out. The boy is angry because it’s not what he wanted, but even Esuo and Unico know snakes don’t make noise. Then a strange man wearing a large hat like a mask appeared. He’s holding onto a magic horn of his own and telling them he has no trouble with his horn. Children and animals flock to him when he plays. He then challenges Esuo to a horn-playing contest, and if he wins, he gets to take Unico. The strange man goes first, playing his horn and summoning a bunch of butterflies. Unico then creates a horn for Esuo to use, and when he plays his, schools of fish jump from the water to greet him. The man plays once more and calls upon worms and tiny insects that live in the ground. Esuo plays his horn and dozens of eggs come bouncing over. Now the man is frustrated and uses his horn to summon a tornado, which lifts Esuo and Unico into the air. He asks if they’re ready to give up and if so, he’ll take Unico. Not giving up, Unico creates a new horn, one that calls all the ghosts around the world. He blows the horn, and monsters appear and attack the man. Before the man can use his horn, Unico uses his magic to change it. Now it made “beggar” noises and dozens of beggars appeared. They chase the man away, and Esuo and Unico decide to visit the zoo to play their horns to comfort the lonely animals there. |
| July 1982 | The Rainy Season Goddess つゆの女神さま | Esuo was leaving the station when he realized he had left his umbrella on the train. He cries because he’s getting soaked, and Unico tells him that while he’s unable to stop the rain, he can change it with his magic, so Esuo won’t get wet. Now the rain has turned into silver threads that Esuo can walk through. It’s a little hard to move through, and by the time Esuo makes it home, he’s completely tangled. The cloud the threads were attached to moved away, carrying Esuo along. Unico flies after him, and Esuo is pulled into the cloud. When Unico pops his head in to see where Esuo went, he’s met with a frumpy and upset goddess. Unico begs her to forgive Esuo, but she wants to punish them both. She covers them both in mold, and Unico thinks quickly. He uses his magic to summon hundreds of teru teru bouzu to appear. They attack the goddess and destroy her cloud, causing her to fall. With the sun out, the mold disappears, and Esuo and Unico rejoice. Then the sun gives them a warning. Without rain, rice, vegetables, trees, and grass won’t grow. Esuo and Unico apologize to the goddess, and Unico uses his magic to create a vehicle for her. It looks like a firetruck on top of a cloud, which allows the goddess to drive around. Unico then addresses the reader, telling us that if you need rain, she’ll come running right away. |
| August 1982 | Ragon’s Transformation ラゴンのへんしん | Ragon and Unico are out in the forest. Ragon pulls out some type of insect larva, which Unico wants nothing to do with. Osamu Tezuka appears and explains that Ragon is holding the larva of a rhinoceros beetle. He then continues to tell them how the insects transform into a pupa and then emerge into their last form. Ragon is amazed by this and wants to do the same. He grabs a bunch of bandages and wraps himself in them. Unico tells him he can’t become a chrysalis and become something cooler because he needs to be an insect. This upsets Ragon, so Unico tells him he’ll grant him the wish to transform into something. Ragon pulls out a bunch of magazine images of things he’d like to transform into, and it’s quite a selection. The little dragon wants to transform into a Yokozuna, a police car, a rhinoceros beetle, a tiger, and Jaws. Unico transforms his friend into what he wishes, and the friend looks like a strange monster with Yokozuna legs, a police car body, and so on. Ragon runs off, and Unico tries to stop him before others see how strange he looks. Cats attack the rhinoceros beetle’s horn, so he uses his tiger form to chase them off. Because he has Yokozuna legs, he’s hurt when he steps on glass. Finally, Unico takes Ragon to the ocean where he can see the underwater world. Unfortunately, Ragon lands on an eel, which turns around to attack him. Ragon releases car oil into the ocean, causing the fish to become angry. Unico turns Ragon back, and the dragon hides in a treasure chest to avoid the fish. Back on land, Esuo and Unico wait for Ragon to return. When Ragon reappears, he’s covered in barnacles, and Unico exclaims that he’s transformed again. |
| September 1982 | Ragon’s Fireworks ラゴンの花火 | Esuo laughs at a little girl’s (Melmo) fireworks because they’re small. Ragon also laughs, which causes him to breathe fire and ignite the girl’s other fireworks at the same time. The girl cries because all her fireworks are gone, and Esuo tells Ragon it’s his fault. They all go to the store so Esuo can try to buy her new fireworks, but he doesn’t have enough money. This causes the girl to cry again. Unico now scolds Ragon and tells him he needs to help. He uses his magic to change Ragon’s fire into fireworks, and they go to the girl’s home. Unico tells the girl that Ragon can make any firework she wants, and when Ragon blows fireworks, the girl and Esuo are amazed. The girl asks to see mice and snake fireworks, but instead of fireworks in the shape of the animals, literal mice and snakes shoot out of Ragon’s nose. Esuo then keeps asking to see a variety of fireworks, and it would come through Ragon’s nose. When the fireworks wouldn’t stop, Ragon ran away to a bathhouse where everyone was surprised to see a firework-breathing dragon. Ragon jumps into the bath to stop the fireworks, but it’s no use. Even Ultraman doesn’t know what to do. The police arrived and asked if anyone wanted to assist in the situation. Esuo volunteers and Unico tells them to gather all the soap. They have Ragon eat the bars of soap which capture the fireworks and he blows bubbles out instead. Because of the amount of bubbles, there’s even a group filming a commercial called “Mama Soap.” Back home, the neighborhood kids make fun of Ragon’s small fireworks, similar to how Esuo laughed at the little girl in the beginning of the comic. |
| October 1982 | Out of Control Truck ぼうそうトラック | A reckless (and sentient??) semi-truck drives through, hitting any animal in the way. Unico asks the man if he enjoys hitting things, and the man tells Unico, “Yes.” The truck says there’s nothing in the world that scares it, except for traffic cops. Unico and the other animals come up with a plan and dress up an Oujizo statue to look like a police officer. The driver and truck don’t fall for the disguise and hit the statue. After the truck hits another animal, Unico can’t forgive the truck. His horn grows longer, and he tries to blow out the truck’s tires to stop it. The truck spews smoke and tosses a bunch of tires onto Unico and tells Unico to stop him. Unico grows into a large version of his adult form and lands on top of the truck. His horn has several travel signs attached to it and confuses the truck. The truck goes off the cliff, but Unico catches it. Unico and the animals make the truck promise that no matter what type of animal, he shouldn’t hit it. The truck reluctantly agrees. The last panel has the truck stopped with a worried expression as it now stops for even a line of ants. Esuo laughs at the truck, but Unico knows they had a promise. |
| 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 tried to hide his results. Two classmates mention that 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 burst, and Esuo woke up. It was all a dream, but Esuo is thankful to have Unico. |
1983
| Issue | Title | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| January 1983 | A Big New Year’s Gift 大きなお年だま | Esuo received his New Year gift, but it wasn’t a lot of money. He asks Unico if he can use his magic to make it a larger amount. Unico uses his magic, but instead of creating more money, he simply makes the money physically bigger. This isn’t what Esuo wanted, and he’s frustrated. From afar, a man and woman are spying on Esuo and see what Unico did. They try to give Esuo money in exchange for letting them borrow Unico for a day. Esuo hands Unico over and leaves. The shop owner wants Unico to use his abilities to make the gold items bigger. Unico tells the man that he’s only able to do what Esuo asks. This upsets the man, and he throws Unico into a safe until he does as he’s told. Three days pass, and Esuo and Ragon return to the shop to look for Unico. Esuo wants to get inside the shop, so he paints Ragon gold, and the shop owner spots the little dragon when he checks the front of the store. He brings Ragon in and leaves. Esuo tells Ragon to search for Unico, and Ragon locates the safe. Unico tells Ragon to use his fire to melt the door. When that doesn’t work, he tells Ragon to change how he’s blowing his fire, and soon there is a hole. Unico shrinks and escapes through the hole. They’re not free yet, as the shop owner has captured Esuo and is holding him at gunpoint. The man demands that Unico make the gold items bigger, and Esuo whispers something to Unico. Unico uses his magic, and the gold items are much bigger, but that’s because he shrunk the man and woman instead. The three then leave the shop, leaving the man and woman in their shrunken state. |
| February 1983 | Magic Snowmen まほうのゆきだるま | Esuo, his mother, Ragon, and Unico are in a taxi when they come across a large amount of snow blocking the road. Esuo’s mother says they’ll need to turn around, and Esuo is upset. Unico jumps in and tells everyone to make snowmen. When they’ve made a bunch of snowmen, Unico uses his magic to bring them to life. The snowmen get to work on shoveling and removing the snow from the road. After they finish, they ask for money. Esuo is surprised, especially when the snowmen practically cleaned up their own snow. Esuo’s mother is willing to pay the snowmen, and they ask for 5,000 yen, which is very expensive. The other snowmen see the one getting the money and also want the same amount. When Esuo’s mother doesn’t pay them, the snowmen attack by throwing snowballs. They try to escape using the taxi, but the snowmen attack the car as well. Ragon uses his fire on the snowmen, but they quickly stop him by throwing snowballs. Unico finally agrees to pay the snowmen and has them go to a nearby rest stop. Once the snowmen are sitting, Unico has tea served to them. This causes them to melt. Unico feels bad for tricking them, but there was no other way. Before they leave, Esuo makes a snowman and gives it his allowance to honor the snowmen. |
| April 1983 | What was it Originally? もとはなーに | While Esuo’s mother was making dinner, he kept asking her where certain things were originally. He asks about the origin of tofu, and his mother tells him it’s made from beans. Esuo continued to ask similar questions until his mother is fed up. Still, Esuo is curious about the origins of things, so Unico makes a magic potion that will turn things into their original form. Paper turns into parts of a tree, a plate turns into dirt, and bread back to flour. Esuo uses it on sausages and they turn into a pig. The pig snatches the potion from Esuo and splashes it onto other food items in the fridge. The food then turns into animals, and Esuo chases after the pig. When Esuo thinks he’s caught the pig, it splashes the potion onto him, turning him into a baby. Unico chases after the pig and captures it by using food. The pig tries to splash Unico with the potion, but it splashes back on the pig instead, turning it back into sausages. Unico returns everyone to their original forms. Afterward, Esuo and Unico are cleaning up the food and other items at home. Esuo says he’ll never ask what the origin of things was anymore. Then Esuo’s mother comes home, sees the mess, and wants to know the origin of the mess/prank. |
| 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 it plays certain sounds at inappropriate times. Tired of dealing with it, Esuo tossed the TV off a bridge, and it landed 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 |
1984
| Issue | Title | Synopsis |
|---|---|---|
| January 1984 | Lottery ふくびき |