TV Special
Description
Police Inspector Unmei, also known as the "Heppoko Inspector," is an officer of Interpol who appears in the anime special Three-Eyed One: The Prince of Devil Island and recurs throughout the wider manga and anime versions of the Three-Eyed One story. He is part of Osamu Tezuka's star system of reused character designs, and his appearance is modeled on the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, with long, wavy hair and a facial structure that strongly resembles the composer. In keeping with that model, he regards himself as Beethoven's reincarnation, and his characteristic lament, delivered in the composer's spirit, is the phrase "I am unfortunate!"
In the Devil Island storyline, Unmei becomes involved when he witnesses a mysterious creature known as the human-faced bird attacking the boy Hosuke Sharaku. His professional duty as an Interpol investigator draws him into the case, and he joins forces with Sharaku and Sharaku's friend Chiyoko Wato. The trail leads the three of them onto a decaying old ship in Tokyo Bay, which turns out to be the disguised upper structure of an atomic submarine operated by a neo-Nazi secret organization. Unmei is captured along with his companions, and all of them are transported to a remote island in the South Seas, where the organization, led by a woman named Pandora, is searching for treasure left behind by the ancient Three-Eyed people.
Unmei's personality combines serious police ambition with an absent-minded artist's temperament. During investigations he tends to drift into musical thought and composition, which distracts him from the immediate task, and his observational and deductive abilities are often portrayed as unreliable. Beneath that exterior, however, he is more capable than he first appears: he is surprisingly resourceful in a physical confrontation, his eventual deductions frequently prove accurate, and he carries a compact Morse code transmitter disguised as a one-hundred-yen lighter, which he uses to contact Interpol headquarters in emergencies. A consistent trait is his repeated complaint about his own bad luck, since he is regularly swept into the misfortunes that surround Sharaku.
Within the special, Unmei functions as the investigating authority who accompanies the two young protagonists from the opening incident to the island climax. He is one of the few characters in the franchise who directly witnesses Sharaku's third eye and its powers in action, and he serves as the adult figure of the group even as events move beyond ordinary police work. His key relationships reflect that role: he works closely and loyally with Sharaku and Wato, though his association with Sharaku tends to bring him misfortune, and he stands against the neo-Nazi organization and its leader Pandora, whose resources and ancient weapons far exceed his own.
Unmei does not undergo a dramatic character arc within the special; his development lies in the gradual impression that his seemingly bumbling manner hides a dependable investigator. In the wider franchise he remains a recurring figure whose cases repeatedly intersect with Sharaku's adventures, and a later remake of the manga gives him the full name Unmei Daikō, whereas in the original material he is identified simply by his rank and surname. His notable abilities include a surprisingly sound intuition, modest combat skill, his emergency signaling equipment, and a persistent determination to see a case through, all of which the narrative balances against his musical daydreaming and his theatrical complaints about fate.
In the Devil Island storyline, Unmei becomes involved when he witnesses a mysterious creature known as the human-faced bird attacking the boy Hosuke Sharaku. His professional duty as an Interpol investigator draws him into the case, and he joins forces with Sharaku and Sharaku's friend Chiyoko Wato. The trail leads the three of them onto a decaying old ship in Tokyo Bay, which turns out to be the disguised upper structure of an atomic submarine operated by a neo-Nazi secret organization. Unmei is captured along with his companions, and all of them are transported to a remote island in the South Seas, where the organization, led by a woman named Pandora, is searching for treasure left behind by the ancient Three-Eyed people.
Unmei's personality combines serious police ambition with an absent-minded artist's temperament. During investigations he tends to drift into musical thought and composition, which distracts him from the immediate task, and his observational and deductive abilities are often portrayed as unreliable. Beneath that exterior, however, he is more capable than he first appears: he is surprisingly resourceful in a physical confrontation, his eventual deductions frequently prove accurate, and he carries a compact Morse code transmitter disguised as a one-hundred-yen lighter, which he uses to contact Interpol headquarters in emergencies. A consistent trait is his repeated complaint about his own bad luck, since he is regularly swept into the misfortunes that surround Sharaku.
Within the special, Unmei functions as the investigating authority who accompanies the two young protagonists from the opening incident to the island climax. He is one of the few characters in the franchise who directly witnesses Sharaku's third eye and its powers in action, and he serves as the adult figure of the group even as events move beyond ordinary police work. His key relationships reflect that role: he works closely and loyally with Sharaku and Wato, though his association with Sharaku tends to bring him misfortune, and he stands against the neo-Nazi organization and its leader Pandora, whose resources and ancient weapons far exceed his own.
Unmei does not undergo a dramatic character arc within the special; his development lies in the gradual impression that his seemingly bumbling manner hides a dependable investigator. In the wider franchise he remains a recurring figure whose cases repeatedly intersect with Sharaku's adventures, and a later remake of the manga gives him the full name Unmei Daikō, whereas in the original material he is identified simply by his rank and surname. His notable abilities include a surprisingly sound intuition, modest combat skill, his emergency signaling equipment, and a persistent determination to see a case through, all of which the narrative balances against his musical daydreaming and his theatrical complaints about fate.