Trivia / Unico in the Island of Magic

• Adored by the Network: During Disney Channel's early days, this movie alongside the first Unico film would frequently be aired on the network throughout the 1980s, usually aired back-to-back.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Spanish Dub, Mexican singer and actress Verónica Castro provides the voice of Unico for both films.
• Creator's Favorite: In a December 1982 interview for Animage Magazine, Kazuo Tomizawa (the film's animation director) revealed that Cherry was his favorite character.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Unico is voiced by Katsue Miwa in the original Japanese version, Barbara Goodson in the English Dub, and Verónica Castro for the Spanish dub for both movies.
• Completely Different Title: The film is known as Baby Fairy Unico 2 in Korea.
• Deleted Scene: When Unico gets bullied by Melvin, Unico was originally going to end up scratched by Melvin leaving him with scars on his face. The scene was never animated but can be seen on Japanese magazines promoting the film and a few children's book adaptations.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • Some international dubs of this movie alongside The Fantastic Adventures of Unico has become difficult to find online. Especially the sequel since there's barely any video uploads of the Spanish ^note  Which dubbed The Fantastic Adventures of Unico and the 1983 sequel. and German dubs ^note  Which only dubbed The Fantastic Adventures of Unico in 1990 . However, Spanish speaking countries did receive a few home video releases◊ (which bundled both films together) but have since gone out of print.
  • Discotek Media's bilingual American DVD release is also now out of print, however you can still buy the Blu-ray release and stream it on RetroCrush.
• Late Export for You:
  • The film gained an official Korean dub in 1992 on VHS, 9 years after its original Japanese release.
  • While Italy dubbed the first movie in 1986, the sequel wouldn't get an official Italian dub until 2022, 39 years after it's original Japanese release. Both films are available on the Italian streaming service CHILI which redubbed the first film alongside both films gaining new theme songs.
  • In the United States and Spanish speaking countries this movie along the previous movie The Fantastic Adventures of Unico were able to gain official dubs, but the original manga never gained an official translation. It took until The New '10s for the manga to get an official English translation.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": Similar to The Fantastic Adventures of Unico featuring cameo appearances from Kiki and Lala (aka "Little Twin Stars"). Tuxedo Sam makes a non-speaking cameo appearance early in the film where he alongside Unico and other animals are lessening to Toby performing with his flute. Marking Tuxedo Sam's first international appearance before the 1987 animated series Hello Kitty's Furry Tale Theater.
• Milestone Celebration: The release date for the upcoming re-imagining of the original Unico series Unico: AWAKENING was announced September 30, 2023. A few months after Unico in the Island of Magic celebrated its 40th Anniversary of its original Japanese release.
• No Export for You:
  • Besides English and Spanish speaking territories, this movie alongside The Fantastic Adventures of Unico never gained official dubs to other countries. Notably France, where the manga gained an official translation in the 2010s but never dubbed the movies.
  • While the first movie was able to gain an official German dub, the sequel never received an official dub in that country. China, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Persia also never skipped over dubbing this movie.
• The Other Darrin:
  • In the 2010 DVD Spanish Dub, Rose Romey voices Unico in this movie and the 1979 pilot replacing Matilde Vilariño. Ana Begoña Equileor also voices the West Wind in both dubs while she was voiced by an unknown voice actress in the 1984 dub.
  • Due to the 36 year gap between the original Italian dub for The Fantastic Adventures of Unico. The original Italian voice actors for Unico and The West Wind were both replaced for the 2022 dub of the sequel.
• Role Reprise: Unico's Japanese, English, and Spanish voices actresses returned to voice the titular character for this movie.
• They Also Did: This film and Barefoot Gen were in production around the same time, used many of the same animation staff, and were released in Japan within a week of each other. Both are also prime sources of Nightmare Fuel, albeit for different reasons.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was originally known as "Unico in The Kingdom of the Sun" and had a notably different setting and had different characterizations for Melvin/Yamaneko and Cheri. Marusu/Piro the Sphinx Cub who debuted in "The Tale of the Fangs of Athens" was also planned to play a bigger role in the film's plot.
  • In an older version of the movie, Unico's mother who debuted in the "Hometown Visit" chapter of the manga and made a non-speaking appearance in The Fantastic Adventures of Unico was going to play a major role in the film. Midway through the film, Unico unknowingly uses magic from his horn so powerful that it alerted his parents from the heavens. His powers causes his parents to quickly find his whereabouts and becomes hostile at Cheri until Unico quickly explains that she's friends with him. Unico's explanation causes his mother and father to immediately becomes allies with Cheri and aiding them during their journey.
  • Psyche, The Goddess of Soul and Unico's owner from the manga was planned appear in the film. She appears in a couple character sketches created by the film's animators and hinted in early manuscripts of the movie.
  • In an early draft, Unico would've also been turned into a living puppet and Marusu the Sphinx's daughter would have saved everyone by giving Kuruku riddles, the last of which was "How do you restore a human being that was turned into a doll?"
  • In early concept art for Marusu the Sphinx cub (Piro in the manga). The character was planned to be given a much tougher and intimidating appearance◊ when he/she learns to become braver and stronger. Similar to "The Tale of the Fangs of Athens" chapter when Piro scares off a group of wild dogs in Athens, Greece after learning to become brave and strong by himself after Oedipus killed his mother.
  • When Unico first encounters Melvin/Yamaneko. He was originally going to not only attack Unico by slapping his face, but ends up scratching up face leaving him with deep claw marks.◊ While this scene was not animated and only survives as a single animation cell. Unico's scratched up face was used in a few Japanese picture book adaptations of the movie.

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