Despite a lifelong reputation for creating kid-friendly manga with universal appeal,Unico: Awakening—a manga inspired byAstro BoycreatorOsamu Tezuka’s prior work — was recently banned by the Richmond County School District in North Carolina after a local parent complained that it contained material unsuitable for children.
As reported byManga Moguraaccording toThe Richmond Observer, the local North Carolina newspaper that broke the story, when Nikki Fletcher’s six-year-old son expressed interest in purchasingUnico: Awakeningat a Scholastic Book Fair, she didn’t think twice about buying the book. She’d assumed the content was suitable for children. However, upon reviewing the manga at home, she was shocked to discoverdepictions of animal cruelty and gun violence. Disturbed by the content’s availability to children, Fletcher complained to the school board, which promptly removed the manga from circulation.
All Unico Wants To Do Is Help The People He Meets Be Happy
Unico’s Personality Can’t Stop Him From Doing Good Wherever He Goes
Commonly known asthe grandfather of manga, few figures have played a greater role in shaping manga and anime as popular entertainment and influential global subcultures than Osamu Tezuka. Throughout his career, which began in the 1940s and lasted until his passing in 1989, Tezuka created numerous works, includingAstro BoyandKimba the White Lion, which have become enduring award-winning classics of children’s literature.
While Gurihiru and Samuel Sattin’sUnico: Awakeningis not a work by Osamu Tezuka, it isa remake based on theUnicomanga series, authored by Tezuka and published by Sanrio from 1976 to 1979. That series follows Unico, a cheerful unicorn blessed with the power to spread joy, happiness, and love. However, Unico’s uplifting personality and ability to help people overcome negative emotions threaten the gods who thrive on hatred and sorrow, making him a target of their celestial wrath.
To protect Unico from harm, the gods who supported him devised a plan to relocate him to different times and places while erasing his memories. Despite these restrictions,Unico’s inherently positive nature always shines through, as he can’t help but assist those in need wherever he goes. Unfortunately, this makes it easy for his enemies to track him down, forcing his friends to repeatedly move him and erase his memories again.
Unico: Awakening Is Written by Samuel Sattin, With Art by Gurihiru
Gurihiru and Sattin’s reinterpretation ofUnicocombines several elements of Tezuka’s classic, retaining the core narrative. Unico continues to help those in need in his new locations, inadvertently alerting his enemies to his whereabouts. His assistance is triggered byobservations of individuals facing challenges, such as bullying or injury. While conflict and violence are necessary to the story, providing Unico with a reason to utilize his powers, they are presented tastefully and in context. The narrative balances action and drama, avoiding gratuitous violence and instead using it judiciously to advance the plot.
It is unclear fromThe Richmond Observerstory whether Ms. Fletcher read the entire manga to understand its context before filing her complaint. However, the Richmond School Board has stated thatthe ban is currently temporary while they consult with the publisher, Scholastic, to gain a better understanding of the story. Hopefully, this process will resolve any misunderstandings. If not, children in the Richmond School District risk losing the opportunity to experience a classicOsamu Tezuka-inspired story that is filled with timeless elements designed to help children grow, not hinder them.
