Yeah, but I didn't point out what mysql should have done in an alternative universe. Mysql DOES support fixed lenght unicode, just use the correct encoding: ucs

Yeah, but I didn't point out what mysql should have done in an alternative universe. Mysql DOES support fixed lenght unicode, just use the correct encoding: ucs2 or utf32. What it does with utf-8 is what any system that supports utf-8 must do.