diff --git a/src/demo/unicodeblocks.c b/src/demo/unicodeblocks.c
index cacce1f30..47434e901 100644
--- a/src/demo/unicodeblocks.c
+++ b/src/demo/unicodeblocks.c
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@
 #define BLOCKSIZE 512 // show this many per page
 #define CHUNKSIZE 32  // show this many per line
 
+static int
+fade_block(struct ncplane* nn, const struct timespec* subdelay){
+  int ret = ncplane_fadein(nn, subdelay, NULL);
+  ncplane_destroy(nn);
+  return ret;
+}
+
 static int
 draw_block(struct ncplane* nn, uint32_t blockstart){
   cell ul = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER, ur = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
@@ -41,12 +48,11 @@ draw_block(struct ncplane* nn, uint32_t blockstart){
       return -1;
     }
     int z;
-    cell c = CELL_TRIVIAL_INITIALIZER;
     // 16 to a line
     for(z = 0 ; z < CHUNKSIZE ; ++z){
-      wchar_t w[2] = { blockstart + chunk * CHUNKSIZE + z, L'\u200e' };
+      wchar_t w[3] = { blockstart + chunk * CHUNKSIZE + z, L'\u200e', L'\0' };
       char utf8arr[MB_CUR_MAX * 2 + 1];
-      if(wcswidth(w, 2) >= 1 && iswprint(w[0])){
+      if(wcswidth(w, 3) >= 1 && iswprint(w[0])){
         mbstate_t ps;
         memset(&ps, 0, sizeof(ps));
         const wchar_t *wptr = w;
@@ -61,8 +67,8 @@ draw_block(struct ncplane* nn, uint32_t blockstart){
       }else{ // don't dump non-printing codepoints
         strcpy(utf8arr, " ");
       }
-      cell_set_fg_rgb(&c, 0xad + z * 2, 0xd8, 0xe6 - z * 2);
-      cell_set_bg_rgb(&c, 8 * chunk, 8 * chunk + z, 8 * chunk);
+      ncplane_set_fg_rgb(nn, 0xad + z * 2, 0xd8, 0xe6 - z * 2);
+      ncplane_set_bg_rgb(nn, 8 * chunk, 8 * chunk + z, 8 * chunk);
       if(ncplane_putstr(nn, utf8arr) < 0){
         return -1;
       }
@@ -72,7 +78,6 @@ draw_block(struct ncplane* nn, uint32_t blockstart){
         }
       }
     }
-    cell_release(nn, &c);
   }
   return 0;
 }
@@ -187,9 +192,9 @@ int unicodeblocks_demo(struct notcurses* nc){
     if(ncplane_printf_aligned(n, 6 + BLOCKSIZE / CHUNKSIZE, NCALIGN_CENTER, "%s", description) <= 0){
       return -1;
     }
-    notcurses_render(nc);
-    nanosleep(&subdelay, NULL);
-    ncplane_destroy(nn);
+    if(fade_block(nn, &subdelay)){ // destroys nn
+      return -1;
+    }
     // for a 32-bit wchar_t, we would want up through 24 bits of block ID. but
     // really, the vast majority of space is unused.
     blockstart += BLOCKSIZE;