I love Unico. How much? Well, I loved it so much I snatched the VHS for $5 when our movie rental store went out of business. Not only that, I also have the 2nd movie somewhere on tape (even though it kinda creeps me out).
NOTE: This Review is not only spoiler laden for the movie but the Manga as well...
Unico is a dark fantasy and is actually NOT A CARTOON! It's an Anime, and there is, like, 4 movies. And these are based on the Manga by Osamu Tezuka; the manga of which I bought out of love for Unico.
The movie start with Bezel (The little devil; forgot his Jap name, sorry). This first section holds the exact plot as the manga. I always love Bezel; though the second section of the movie has a kitten wanting to be a witch. The dark fantasy aspect is still there as Katie's aspiration to become a witch leads her to being seduced by the Baron of the woods, after she is turned human by Unico, and being lured to his castle. Of course, the handsome Baron turns out to be the bad guy and its up to our very on little unicorn, Unico, to save the day. Of course, in the movie, with a little help from his friend Bezel.
The movie is NOTHING like the manga other that Katie/Chao/Cyao, Unico, the old woman, and the Baron. Actually, the movie drug it darker than the manga. The parallel is that he still seduces her and gets her drunk. Unico turns the animals of the woods into humans, like Katie, to rescue her from the Baron, who is a huntsman. With the help of the woods-folk, Unico and the animals of the woods save Chao and defeat the Baron. Of course, here, Chao gets a boyfriend, which is sweet.
...and as it goes, in both versions, Unico is fated to have to leave. To never be happy with his friends (thanks to Gods -->the Greek Gods, as the manga would have it, Venus, actually).
Eitherway, the movie is great and one of my all time favorites, even over most of the Disney movies.
It's too bad that this will probably never be released on DVD in the United States due to the legal ownership issues with anything of Osamu Tezuka works; as well as the Sanrio dealings where Hello Kitty is even shown in Katie's song about being a witch and the companies being departed from one another.
So, I bid good luck to anyone who is able to find the old VHS. The manga collection can be found a few places though, and is recommended to anyone with the love of Unico in their hearts, even if it IS in Japanese only.
NOTE: This Review is not only spoiler laden for the movie but the Manga as well...
Unico is a dark fantasy and is actually NOT A CARTOON! It's an Anime, and there is, like, 4 movies. And these are based on the Manga by Osamu Tezuka; the manga of which I bought out of love for Unico.
The movie start with Bezel (The little devil; forgot his Jap name, sorry). This first section holds the exact plot as the manga. I always love Bezel; though the second section of the movie has a kitten wanting to be a witch. The dark fantasy aspect is still there as Katie's aspiration to become a witch leads her to being seduced by the Baron of the woods, after she is turned human by Unico, and being lured to his castle. Of course, the handsome Baron turns out to be the bad guy and its up to our very on little unicorn, Unico, to save the day. Of course, in the movie, with a little help from his friend Bezel.
The movie is NOTHING like the manga other that Katie/Chao/Cyao, Unico, the old woman, and the Baron. Actually, the movie drug it darker than the manga. The parallel is that he still seduces her and gets her drunk. Unico turns the animals of the woods into humans, like Katie, to rescue her from the Baron, who is a huntsman. With the help of the woods-folk, Unico and the animals of the woods save Chao and defeat the Baron. Of course, here, Chao gets a boyfriend, which is sweet.
...and as it goes, in both versions, Unico is fated to have to leave. To never be happy with his friends (thanks to Gods -->the Greek Gods, as the manga would have it, Venus, actually).
Eitherway, the movie is great and one of my all time favorites, even over most of the Disney movies.
It's too bad that this will probably never be released on DVD in the United States due to the legal ownership issues with anything of Osamu Tezuka works; as well as the Sanrio dealings where Hello Kitty is even shown in Katie's song about being a witch and the companies being departed from one another.
So, I bid good luck to anyone who is able to find the old VHS. The manga collection can be found a few places though, and is recommended to anyone with the love of Unico in their hearts, even if it IS in Japanese only.