My 11-year-old son stole this manga book from me — it's that good
Osamu Tezuka is revered as the 'godfather of manga'. When the Astro Boy creator died at the age of 60 in 1989 he left behind a legacy as one of the most influential cartoonists, but he also left one of his beloved characters without an ending. Unico is a 'brave, young unicorn' cursed to forget his identity, so he travels through space and time, spreading love wherever he goes, always on the run from the jealous gods and monsters who seek to destroy him.
Unico first appeared in a manga magazine in the 1970s, but the series was never concluded. Now the baton — or should that be the magical, glowing unicorn horn? — has been passed to the American writer Samuel Sattin and two Japanese artists, Chifuyu Sasaki and Naoko Kawano, better known by the name Gurihiru, who have been given permission to complete Unico's story in a rebooted series.
The result is enchanting. Dropped by his protector, the West Wind, during a storm, Unico falls through the sky and wakes up in an abandoned factory town where he meets a resourceful mouse named Garapachi. In this strange, gloomy world he befriends Chiko, a sickly girl who lives with her grandfather. Unico learns that his new friends are trapped by Mother, 'the sinister robot who controls the town factory'. Mother is a great villain — imagine an AI nanny gone bad. She is a pointy, floating drone, no bigger than two paper hats stuck together, yet manages to be completely menacing.
The artists have done justice to the cinematic sweep of Tezuka's work. It's not for nothing that he was admired by Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa and Guillermo del Toro. The artwork does all the emotional heavy lifting in the same way an orchestral score does in a film. The action leaps through multiple dimensions, from the gloomy, foreboding world of the factory to the celestial realm of the evil goddess, Venus, who brings a henchman back from the dead to hunt down poor Unico.
Even the corny dialogue works: ''Why have I been awakened?' asks Iver, the resurrected ruler of the Red Forest. 'I have a task for you,' explains the goddess. 'There is a unicorn who imperils my reign. You will hunt him and kill him, but most importantly you will bring me a piece of his horn.''
This is the second volume of the series, but each one works as a standalone. Dav Pilkey, the creator of Dog Man, called it 'a spellbinding masterpiece' but don't take his word for it. No sooner had he finished it the first time, my 11-year-old son stole my review copy 'because I want to read it again'.
• Read more book reviews and interviews — and see what's top of the Sunday Times Bestsellers List
Unico: Hunted (Volume 2), for ages 8+, by Osamu Tezuka, Samuel Sattin and illustrated by Gurihiru (Scholastic £10.99 pp224). To order a copy go to timesbookshop.co.uk. Free UK standard P&P on orders over £25. Special discount available for Times+ members
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