Danica Davidson
November 22, 2024 
Another manga title has been pulled from an entire school district for review after a mother made a complaint. This time the manga is Unico: The Awakening, a story about a little unicorn that’s aimed for ages 8-12. The mother thought it was too violent.
According to the Richmond Observer, Nikki Fletcher’s six-year-old son got a copy of Unico: The Awakening from Mineral Springs Elementary’s Scholastic Book Fair. He had some questions about what he read, and Fletcher took a look at the book. She took offense to a spread in it that shows a cat being kicked and a gun being fired (no one is shot).
“I told him to get what he wanted because I never expected gun violence to be a part of a book fair for children of any age, and offered IN SCHOOLS at that!” she wrote on Facebook afterward. Here’s her photo of the spread that bothered her:
She continued, “To say I was shocked is an understatement when Wes showed me what was in that book. Personally, I feel like the Scholastic book company should be held accountable for making this available to our children.”
While she showed wrath toward Scholastic, she doesn’t hold any animosity toward the school and its workers, noting, “They seemed to be as surprised as I was, and removed the books immediately.”
Unico: The Awakening was taken from the Scholastic Book Fair at the elementary school in question, and all copies were pulled in the entire school district. Fletcher said she thinks the manga should not be accessible to young kids.
Executive director of communications for Richmond County Schools, Cameron Whitley, said in a statement to the Richmond Observer, “We are aware of the issue and take all parent concerns seriously. The book has been removed from the current Scholastic Book Fairs to allow us time to review the concern and reach out to (S)cholastic.”
This comes shortly after teen manga Assassination Classroom was banned after a complaint by a mother who said high schoolers’ brains couldn’t handle it, and teen manga Sasaki and Miyano was banned after a mother who hadn’t read it filed a complaint.
Source: Richmond Observer
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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