In 2011, Discotek Media acquired the movies and pilot film, releasing them on DVD for the first time in 2012. They included not only the original 80s dub of the films but also the Japanese as well. The pilot film, titled Unico: Black Cloud and White Feather (Unico Kuroi Kumo to Shiroi Hane), had never been released to English-speaking audiences until now. Some may wonder why it was never dubbed, and this may be because it wasn’t available to the Japanese public until 1989, long after RCA/Columbia Pictures picked up the theatrical films. Discotek only focuses on translating and subtitling anime for release, so new dubs were not an option.
Both DVDs and Blu-ray are out of print, but still available online at stores like Amazon.
DVDs and Blu-ray
Title: The Fantastic Adventures of Unico
Publisher: Discotek
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Format: DVD
Region: 1
Sound: Stereo
Audio: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English
UPC: 875707006125
Price: $14.95
DVD Blurb:
Unico the Unicorn has the amazing power to make anyone he meets happy. Whether it’s because of his personality or the powers of his horn, no one knows. However, the gods become jealous of Unico, thinking that only they should be able to decide or allow people to be happy. Unico is banished to the Hill of Oblivion, and the West Wind is ordered to take him there. She can’t stand giving this fate to Unico, so Unico’s adventures begin, as the West Wind takes him from one place and time to the next, in a neverending journey to escape the wrath of the gods. Based on a comic by the legendary Osamu Tezuka (the God of manga), this classic film is available on DVD for the first time ever!
Title: Unico in the Island of Magic
Publisher: Discotek
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Format: DVD
Region: 1
Sound: Stereo
Audio: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English
UPC: 875707006293
Price: $14.95
Notes: This DVD features the 1979 pilot “Black Cloud and White Feather” for the first time. While not dubbed in English, there are English subtitles.
DVD Blurb:
Unico the unicorn has the amazing power to make anyone he meets happy. In this adventures, Unico finds himself with a new friend, a young girl names Cherry. However, Cherry’s long lost older brother Toby has finally come home, and is now a misguided apprentice to an insane (and not human) magician named Kuruku. When Cherry’s parents get turned into weird, almost zombie-like dolls called living puppets, she and Unico start a quest to the very ends of the earth to get their parents and brother back before Kuruku takes over the world.
Title: Unico Double Feature: The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico in the Island of Magic
Publisher: Discotek
Release Date: April 29, 2014
Format: DVD
Region: 1
Sound: Stereo
Audio: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English
UPC: 875707036023
Price: $19.95
Note: This DVD features both films and the 1979 pilot “Black Cloud and White Feather”.
Title: Unico Double Feature: The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico in the Island of Magic
Publisher: Discotek
Release Date: January 14, 2014
Format: Blu-ray
Region: 1
Sound: Stereo
Audio: English, Japanese
Subtitles: English
UPC: 875707009393
Price: $29.95
Note: This Blu-ray features both films and the 1979 pilot “Black Cloud and White Feather”.
Where to purchase:
– Amazon
– Crunchyroll