Illustrated by Gurihiru
3 stars
A modern-day Unico brings joy and kindness to all he meets while the jealous Venus is determined to destroy him.
As I have not read the original manga, my only experience with Unico before this was watching The Fantastic Adventures of Unico. However, this appears to be a mostly faithful adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s original work (specifically “The Cat on the Broomstick”) with modernized elements.
The artwork is amazing. There are so many gorgeous spreads. I absolutely adored the reimagining of Venus.
Way more animal violence and cruelty than I was expecting, including kicking, abandoning, shooting at, and killing.
Teetering between heartwarming and dark, this volume provides a nice modernized version for those familiar with Unico and his adventures. For me personally, I felt a bit disconnected from the story and that at times it relied on pervious knowledge to really connect with the characters.
An interesting read overall. The abrupt ending sets up the action for the next volume.