is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Sanrio's manga magazine from November 1976 to March 1979 and collected in two volumes. The series follows the titular unicorn as he uses his magic to help friends from around the world across different time periods. The series was drawn in a western style, being published in full color and read from left to right. It has since been published in different collections and has been adapted into film and comics. A modern-day reboot of the series began publication by Scholastic under its Graphix imprint in 2024.
Plot Unico is a young, innocent male unicorn who possesses a special ability to bring happiness to anyone near him. The story begins in ancient Greece with a young mortal girl named Psyche. She is the first friend to Unico, and is apparently so beautiful that the goddess Venus becomes jealous. The goddess attributes Psyche's beauty to her happiness and decides to separate the two. After kidnapping Unico in a pet contest, she calls upon the second star, Zephyrus, also known as the West Wind. The West Wind is commanded to take Unico through space and time, to the Hill of Oblivion with no memories of Psyche where he will wander forever. The West Wind takes pity on Unico, and decides to pass over the Hill of Oblivion and send him to different places in different time periods. Unico befriends the people he meets there and helps them achieve happiness, before the West Wind takes him away once more to avoid detection from Venus, wiping his memories in the process.
In the 1981 film adaptation The Fantastic Adventures of Unico, the gods believe that only they should have the ability to control others' emotions and decide that Unico must die. However, the gods feel that punishment may be too harsh and instead choose to send the West Wind to capture Unico and take him to the Hill of Oblivion. Upon learning of the West Wind's defiance, they send the Night Wind to capture Unico.
In the reboot series, Unicorns were born from "life's secret undercurrent", and the friendship between Unico and Psyche sends an inspiring force between people throughout time, angering Venus. After a long time of transporting Unico to different places, the West Wind follows a whisper promising to break the cycle, sending the unicorn to the modern day.
Characters
(1979 short film), Katsue Miwa (1981 and 1983 animated films), Matilde Vilariño (1984 Spanish dub for the 1981 movie), Rosa Romay (2010 Spanish DVD redub), Barbara Goodson (English dubs for 1981 and 1983 feature films), Akiko Yajima (2000), Rumiko Tezuka ("Dr. Pinoko's Forest Adventures"), Nana Mizuki (2010 TV audio adaptation), Ai Furihata (2020, Eshigami no Kizuna), Haruna Kawai (Kemono Friends 3), Hana Ayasaka (2025, Japanese promo for Unico: Awakening), A baby unicorn that has the ability to spread happiness to everyone. Due to angering the gods over his ability to spread happiness and love, Unico's memories are frequently erased by The West Wind and transported to different locations and time periods to avoid being detected by the Night Wind and other gods (Venus in the manga and reboot series). Unico is kind-hearted toward others, even the antagonists and villains he encounters in the original manga and other appearances in media. He gains special powers when someone truly loves him, such as extending his horn and using it as a weapon, flight, casting spells, and transforming into a winged unicorn. In the manga, he was the pet to Psyche, the Goddess of Soul who formed an intense love with each other. Unico and Psyche's love enrages Venus, who tries to separate them so she can regain her status, believing their happiness as the root of her beauty. When reuniting with his parents and siblings in the "Hometown Visit" chapter. Unico's parents reveal that he was their first child and that they let him stay with Psyche due to her caring for the unicorn. When Unico feels truly loved by someone, he has the ability to transform into "A Mighty Unicorn" which depicts him as a grown unicorn. He typically uses this during moments of great danger or times of urgency. In this form, he has the ability to use stronger powers (such as growing huge) and moving as fast as a regular horse. Unico's Mighty Unicorn form maintains his original blue fur and pink colored hair/mane in the manga and reboot series. The 1979 pilot maintains Tezuka's original design of his adult form but keeps his black/grey colored mane based on Unico's earlier appearances in the manga. In the Sanrio films and 2000 short film, Unico's Mighty Unicorn form is redesigned where his entire body is colored white and silver. Tezuka's earlier illustrations of Unico depicted him with black or dark pink colored hair/mane alongside his body being colored white or blue. His mouth area would also be colored white. In later appearances, his mane would be colored red instead of pink and his entire face was colored blue. His pupils was also originally colored orange, but was later changed to blue/green beginning with the film series by Sanrio. In the reboot series, he's depicted with black/grey colored pupils. Unico's hair in the original manga, the 2000 short, and reboot series resembled a horse's mane, but has a flatter, humanoid style from 1979 onwards. Unico is also frequently depicted wearing eyeliner (usually colored pink, orange, or yellow) and sometimes seen wearing a bow around his horn. In the manga's final chapter and 1981 movie, Unico reveals to Beezle/Akuma-kun that having his horn removed causes him to lose all his powers. When Unico gives Beezle his horn, he tells him to bring it back before the end of the day. After Unico falls off a cliff and into a deep ocean due to hanging out with the demon (getting tricked by eating extremely hot food in the manga, roughhousing in the 1981 movie). The little unicorn spends minutes in the deep water before he ends up drowning. He gets brought back to life after Beezle returns his horn and saves him from drowning by transforming into an adult unicorn and takes him to higher ground. Unico originated as an unnamed unicorn character Osamu Tezuka drew on his sketch book during his trip to Los Angeles, California in June 1976 to visit Sanrio's American headquarters during production of Metamorphoses. After returning from the United States, Tezuka later named the character "Unico" during his plane trip back to Japan before giving Unico his own manga series a few months later. Between 1976 till 1979, Unico was the official mascot of Sanrio's magazine Lyrica. A Japanese magazine geared towards the elementary school demographic initially aimed towards Western audiences. In interviews Tezuka did for Lyrica, he stated that he created Unico to appeal towards American audiences and was his personal love letter to Walt Disney and his works. On September 30, 2025, the Takarazuka City Council of Social Welfare in Takarazuka, Hyōgo chose Unico as the mascot for the "Red Feather Joint Fundraising". An event focusing on spreading kindness and solving social issues held from October 1, 2025 till November 30, 2025.
(1981 film), Robin Levenson (English dub of the 1981 film), Ángel González (1984 Spanish dub), Ayari Fukamachi (2010 TV audio adaptation), Yurika Suda (2020, Eshigami no Kizuna) A black and white cat who debuted in the manga chapter "The Cat on The Broomstick" who dreams of becoming a "Witch's Cat" for humans to respect her after getting abandoned. In the manga, Chao first meets Unico after pulling him out of a pit of mud and washing him up after getting picked on by a flock of sheep. Chao decided to takes Unico into her owner's house where she cleans him up and allows him to rest for the evening. The next morning, Unico overhears Chao's human owners considering on abandoning her due to not behaving like a typical house cat and refusal to catch mice. Unico witnesses her get put inside a basket and dropped into a pond. After crying into Unico's arms, Chao decides to search for a witch in hopes of becoming a "Witch's Cat". Unico and Chao end up befriending an old lady known as "Granny" whom she mistakes as a real witch. After realizing Granny isn't a real witch, Unico decides to teach her magic by transforming Chao into a human girl. He only allows Chao to become a human girl for a limited time each day just to take care of the old lady. One afternoon, she encounters a mysterious human known as "Baron Ghost" who invites her to visit his manor. Unico becomes suspicious of Chao's sudden interest in doing human activities (mainly dressing in fancy outfit) and nervously reveals to him that she meet "An attractive human who rides a horse". When Unico discovers dead animals that were killed by Baron, he decides to put his foot down on further making her a human girl. After throwing a tantrum, Unico promises her that he will transform her into a human again if Baron's manor is safe enough. After noticing Baron's manor being non-threatening, Unico transforms her into a girl where she encounters Baron waiting for her to sing. In Baron's music room, Chao becomes scared over seeing the amount of mounted animals that he killed causing Baron to offer her a drink of wine. Unico secretly witnesses Chao drinking the entire bottle of wine causing her to become deeply intoxicated. Unico distracts Baron by making animals noises to save her. After Unico rescues Chao and escapes Baron's manor, they head back to Granny to prevent Baron from killing her. While Unico fights off Baron's hawks, Chao witness Granny becoming badly ill after getting attacked by Baron's hawks. Baron Ghost ends up rekidnapping her causing Unico to magically transform a group of woodland animals into humans to rescue her. After the animals defeat Baron, Chao ends up transforming back into a cat where she gets freed from a cage by a handsome human named "Shimashima". After learning that Shimashima is actually a cat, she ends up falling in love with him. Chao is last seen heading back to Granny's home worrying about her illness. Unico's final act of kindness is to use his healing powers to secretly heal Granny's illness. In the 1981 movie, Chao befriends Unico after the titular unicorn accidentally falls into her basket (which is actually her home) floating down a river. After developing a close relationship with an Old Lady (whom she mistakes as a real witch), Unico secretly grants her wish to become a human girl but is temporary. Chao permanently becomes a human after she rescues The Old Lady (known as "Granny") from drowning with Unico's help. Similar to the original chapter, she falls in love with Baron but decides to sneak away from Unico while taking care of an injured monkey. While traveling to Baron's manor, she eats a berry causing her to become hypnotized as the forest around her grows thorns and leading her to Baron's manor. After getting drunk from Baron's wine, Unico decides to distract Baron by playing on an organ giving him time to rescue her. He decides to use his horn to drill to escape from Baron's manor. After losing to Baron during a sword fight, Baron chains Chao up to a flag pole. After Unico attacks Baron causing him to get impaled she gets unchained with assistance from Beezle. After Baron's demon form ends up killing Unico and breaking his horn. Chao runs up to Unico and begins crying as her tears are falling onto his body. After getting revived as a combination of Chao and Beezle's love, Unico manages to kill Baron as he gets sent down to hell. Chao rushes to Granny where the old lady recalls about a young unicorn who brings happiness to others but reveals that unicorns are forbidden to stay with their friends. Granny's revelation causes Chao to cry as she's last seen yelling Unico's name in the hopes of him coming back.