Unacknowledged Virtue of The Last Unicorn: 3 Synopsis, Storyboards and Synchronicity

A new source testifying to the production process of the animated film The Last Unicorn has been found, which is very interesting in consideration of the identity of conceptual existence through ontological relationship between the original and derivative works. This is an internal document kept in Topcraft studio as “synopsis” of The Last Unicorn, written in Japanese. There are some parts that are clearly different from the descriptions of the original novel and suggest the existence of what seems to be a different version of a previous animated film. The following words are added at the beginning as notice.


This is really just an outline, and the characters I picked up are limited to those who continued to appear until the last scene. In the omitted sections, each chapter sets the stage for a flashy set as bizarre circus staff, cheerful choirs, and guitar virtuosos appear and disappear.


note:
This book is the first publication of the content of the synopsis. The following quotes from the synopsis are listed on the pages from this data book. https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AB%E3%81%AE%E5%82%91%E4%BD%9C%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BF%E3%82%B8%E3%83%BC-%E3%80%8C%E6%9C%80%E5%BE%8C%E3%81%AE%E3%83%A6%E3%83%8B%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%80%8D%E3%81%AE%E7%9F%A5%E3%82%89%E3%82%8C%E3%81%96%E3%82%8B%E7%9C%9F%E4%BE%A1-%E9%BB%92%E7%94%B0-%E8%AA%A0/dp/4344922247

In this blog, cited images of the synopsis are not available. Please refer to the link below for them.
https://twitter.com/mackuro3/status/1776078571452473550

The scenario for the animated film The Last Unicorn was created by the author Peter S. Beagle, reconstructing the original novel for the anime frame. However, the synopsis mentions scenes that were removed from the finished work produced by Rankin Bass, as well as some episodes that were not featured at all. Above all, not only a digest of the story read from the text, but also what seem to be the descriptions of video and sound are made as if the writer were watching an existing video work. This is a particularly curious part.

Mirroring the appearance of the bad guys and the galloping of the unicorn, the color of the clouds in the sky and the color of the flowers in the fields change, making it a colorful scene.


In the production procedure jointly worked by Rankin Bass and Topcraft studio, the scenario and sound were created at an American studio in advance, and sent to the Japanese studio where they worked on the animation applying the video part within a fixed time. However, it is rather puzzling that this synopsis mentions specific images. It is described as if another anime work already existed. The concluding part of the synopsis preface describes a scene that is clearly not in the finished film.

There are no “killing” or “cruel scenes”, and “killing” is just like the animals angrily jumping on the witch and you can hear a voice on the other side of the hill saying, “Help me…”


It seems that various interesting considerations can be made identifying the unique ingenuity performed by Topcraft in the process of collaboration between Rankin Bass. Above all, it will be necessary to confirm the existence of what seems to be the original source that this synopsis relied upon in creating interesting notes. The name of the creator of the synopsis is “Toshiro Ueno”. This person was acting as an interpreter for the business partnership between Topcraft and Rankin Bass.

According to Mr. Toru Hara, who was the representative director of Topcraft studio, all the storyboards that tell the idea of ​​​​visualization of the scenario, are produced by Topcraft. I have been able to restore almost all the storyboards used to create the anime, on which both the English scenario and the Japanese translation of it are pasted. Only the scenario was sent from the United States. Then, the storyboards were created while translating the scenario into Japanese. However, the synopsis suggests the existence of a predecessor that is based on a different version of the video and audio. The possibility of another studio’s anime work broadcast in the United States is inferred, but it is not identified yet. This was an unexpected discovery.

Topcraft was trusted for its production skills, so they were allowed to change the content and add sound effects to accompany it within the time limit. There is an episode that tells how Topcraft staff proposed new sound effects and it was created on the spot at the American studio. However, the video part of The Last Unicorn has been produced entirely by Topcraft. Comparing the original novel, synopsis and the completed animated film, we may be able to envision something that reminds of the fictional archetype in “omnium” state, which is full of diversity hidden behind the original work, along with the accidental deviations in differing manifestation modes among numberless possible worlds. And in the path leading to the actual completion of the animated film, it seems that we can read clues to speculate on the principle of manifestation of synchronicity advocated by Jung. The animated film The Last Unicorn is a specific example that allows us to truly grasp the metaphysical idea of synchronicity, which is rather difficult to gain the full implication.

According to the results of my interviews with the people involved in the making of the anime, the staff did not read the original work in particular detail. The basic understanding of the staff was that the original story and the anime were different things. In spite of the fact, brilliant reflection of the profound metaphysical subject attained by the verbal description in the original novel was miraculously achieved in a different interface of visual presentation. That is what I have been most concerned about.
It seems that the author did not interfere with the details in the process of the completion, nor did they receive detailed instructions from Rankin Bass, but that they were guided by a kind of “intuition” in spite of limited information, and led to the accomplishment with an equal thematic substance that is on par with the original novel. Some parts that can never be said to have been directed literally and faithfully to the description of the original novel are the most commendable performance. Here is an exciting example of a rare result that deserves to be described as “A god has been invoked.” It suggests the existence of a kind of psychical sensitivity or inspiration, that may afford a clue to grasping the phase of synchronicity.