Unico once again risks life and limb for people he has no attachment to in this strange, fun short
“Life on Earth is no longer possible. What mistake did people make?”
I’ve taken the mickey out of the Unico films in the past, but have also grown to appreciate the nauseatingly cute unicorn-esque teddy and his whimsical adventures. So much so, in fact, that I’ve been thinking about him and his adventures lately, wondering if the guy ever got anything resembling a happy ending. For those who might have forgotten, Unico is a little unicorn creature whose creation was destined to bring everyone so much happiness that the gods ordered him to be killed. To protect him, the West Wind spirited him away and drops him off in places, where he makes friends and quickly gains the attention of the gods. The West Wind then picks him up, wipes everyone’s memories, and the entire process starts again.
The series ended before Unico could ever get a satisfying conclusion, but in 2011, at Tezuka Osamu World, 11 short films were produced, animations based on existing properties and historical episodes related to Kyoto or those properties. This one, based off an essay Tezuka wrote in 1989, revisits everyone’s favourite unicorn and sees the West Wind takes Unico to an apocalyptic Earth where he meets Tsubasa, a tree-like human. A local water spirit tells them that humanity ruined their world through the destruction of the ozone and the depletion of natural resources. Together with a Sphinx and a time spirit (who, for whatever reason, looks like Tetsuwan Atom), Unico and his friend enter the Time Stream to see the point in history where humans picked the easy route, and see what can be changed.
As a short designed for environmental awareness, Saving Our Fragile Earth is not what anyone would call subtle by any stretch of the imagination. It’s not meant to be. In a nutshell, it preaches that we can make a difference now as long as don’t pick the easiest, most destructive path. It’s a perfectly fine bit of green messaging, and not worth focusing too much on. What is worth looking at is the typically bonkers Unico lens in which this message is shown. Astro Boy showing up in his cameo, as well as the numerous other Tezuka characters, is expected, and the plot is about as strange as you’d expect from the little unicorn.
As it’s only 15 minutes long, and a fair amount of the runtime is dedicated to its core message, there really isn’t much time left to tell a story and the choices made with that remaining time are truly astounding. Very few time-travel epics are told in under ten minutes, but I appreciated the film for trying its hardest. They set up the idea that you turn to stone if you linger in the time stream for too long, and the idea of these branching historical paths, and then give Tsubasa this big speech to try to change humanity’s path. The speech obviously goes on for too long, and everyone turns to stone. And then Unico transforms into his sexy Pegasus look and saves the day. Also there’s like this big demon or something. It’s so weird I refuse to believe it was as short as it was.
Go watch this thing. It’s goofy, silly Unico fun that is really well animated and looks pretty spectacular. It has Tezuka fanservice, a big tittie Sphinx and most importantly the closest thing to a happy ending that Unico is ever likely to get. It’s not … great by any stretch of the imagination, but who expects that from the franchise by this point. It’s cute, and has a good heart. One day I hope to see him settle down and make long-lasting friends, but for now the lasting friendship of a few spirits and the knowledge that climate change is solved will have do.
Verdict: I mean, it’s a Unico short film but with an environmental twist. And it does exactly what it says on the tin, for better or worse.
Overall entertainment: 5/10
Violence: 4/10
Sex: See point about big tittie Sphinx
Unique Unico-ness: 7/10
Sad moments: The short film format means fewer cuts to Unic’s sad little face
Cameos: I could barely make out any of them, but that was Pukko from Wonder 3 coming out of the Time Spirit’s hat
Unico: Saving Our Fragile Earth (2011)
Japanese
Director: Masayoshi Nishida
Writer: Mayumi Morita
CAST
Akiko Yajima – Unico
Yasuhiro Takato – Tsubasa
Yoko Asagami – Sphinx
Nina Kumagaya – Zephyrus
Emi Shinohara – Goddess
Rumi Kasahara
Banjo Ginga
The Asian Cinema Critic 