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Exclusive: Unico: Awakening Series Ends in 8th Volume
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Scholastic's Graphix imprint revealed to ANN on Tuesday that it has acquired rights to release four more volumes (books 5-8) of the Unico: Awakening (Unico: Mezame no Ohanashi) series, based on Osamu Tezuka's Unico manga, for a total of eight books. The series will end in its eighth volume. The series will "complete the initial story arc imagined but never completed by Tezuka in his lifetime." The third book Unico: Lost will launch in summer 2026.
The company released preview images for Unico: Lost.
UNICO tells the story of a fierce young unicorn who angers the goddess Venus with his ability to inspire positivity and hope. Driven by jealousy, she vows to destroy him, ordering her servant, the West Wind, to abandon Unico on the Hill of Forgetfulness. Instead, the West Wind takes pity on Unico, and to protect him, brings him from era to era, constantly on the move, always forgetting where he's been before. As he works to unravel the mystery of who he is and where he comes from, he is hunted by gods and monsters, and will need to unlock his full powers to save the world. Unico is joined by a cast of characters, some of whom–like Chloe the watchcat or the mysterious Sphinx–are brave and kind, while others–like the all-powerful Venus and her servant the Night Wind–are bent on destruction.
The Gurihiru illustrator duo (Marvel Comics' The Unbelievable Gwenpool, Power Pack comic series, Avatar: The Last Airbender comic series, Spacebug anime) and Samuel Sattin (co-writer of The Essential Anime Guide: 50 Iconic Films, Standout Series, and Cult Masterpieces) launched a Kickstarter campaign in May 2022 that funded the first 162-page manga in the series.
Scholastic publishes the series. The company released the first book in August 2024 and the second book Unico: Hunted in July 2025. It removed all copies of Unico: Awakening sold at Scholastic Book Fairs in the district of Richmond County Schools in North Carolina in November 2024 following a complaint from a mother of a first-grade student at Mineral Springs Elementary.
Tezuka first launched the manga in Sanrio's Ririka magazine in 1976.
Digital Manga funded the English-language release via Kickstarter in 2012 and then crowdfunded a reprint in 2015.
The manga inspired the The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and Unico in the Island of Magic anime films. Toshio Hirata directed The Fantastic Adventures of Unico (1981), while Moribi Murano directed Unico in the Island of Magic (1983).
Crunchyroll is streaming both films.
Both films appeared with an English dub on home video and on cable television in the United States in the 1980s, but the video tape versions are long out of print. New Galaxy Anime licensed the two features as its first two titles in 2007, but the company never released an actual product. Discotek Media then licensed both films and released both films on DVD in 2012, and again on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in 2014. Discotek's release featured the English dub as well as the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.
Source: Email correspondence
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