diff --git a/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs b/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs
index 372bb7755..e35f96c5a 100644
--- a/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs
+++ b/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs
@@ -259,48 +259,50 @@ impl<'s> From<TextInputSequence<'s>> for tk::InputSequence<'s> {
 struct PyArrayUnicode(Vec<String>);
 impl FromPyObject<'_> for PyArrayUnicode {
     fn extract(ob: &PyAny) -> PyResult<Self> {
+        // SAFETY Making sure the pointer is a valid numpy array requires calling numpy C code
         if unsafe { npyffi::PyArray_Check(ob.py(), ob.as_ptr()) } == 0 {
             return Err(exceptions::PyTypeError::new_err("Expected an np.array"));
         }
         let arr = ob.as_ptr() as *mut npyffi::PyArrayObject;
-        if unsafe { (*arr).nd } != 1 {
-            return Err(exceptions::PyTypeError::new_err(
-                "Expected a 1 dimensional np.array",
-            ));
-        }
-        if unsafe { (*arr).flags }
-            & (npyffi::NPY_ARRAY_C_CONTIGUOUS | npyffi::NPY_ARRAY_F_CONTIGUOUS)
-            == 0
-        {
-            return Err(exceptions::PyTypeError::new_err(
-                "Expected a contiguous np.array",
-            ));
-        }
-        let n_elem = unsafe { *(*arr).dimensions } as usize;
-        let (type_num, elsize, alignment, data) = unsafe {
+        // SAFETY Getting all the metadata about the numpy array to check its sanity
+        let (type_num, elsize, alignment, data, nd, flags) = unsafe {
             let desc = (*arr).descr;
             (
                 (*desc).type_num,
                 (*desc).elsize as usize,
                 (*desc).alignment as usize,
                 (*arr).data,
+                (*arr).nd,
+                (*arr).flags,
             )
         };
 
+        if nd != 1 {
+            return Err(exceptions::PyTypeError::new_err(
+                "Expected a 1 dimensional np.array",
+            ));
+        }
+        if flags & (npyffi::NPY_ARRAY_C_CONTIGUOUS | npyffi::NPY_ARRAY_F_CONTIGUOUS) == 0 {
+            return Err(exceptions::PyTypeError::new_err(
+                "Expected a contiguous np.array",
+            ));
+        }
         if type_num != npyffi::types::NPY_TYPES::NPY_UNICODE as i32 {
             return Err(exceptions::PyTypeError::new_err(
                 "Expected a np.array[dtype='U']",
             ));
         }
 
+        // SAFETY Looking at the raw numpy data to create new owned Rust strings via copies (so it's safe afterwards).
         unsafe {
+            let n_elem = *(*arr).dimensions as usize;
             let all_bytes = std::slice::from_raw_parts(data as *const u8, elsize * n_elem);
 
             let seq = (0..n_elem)
                 .map(|i| {
                     let bytes = &all_bytes[i * elsize..(i + 1) * elsize];
-                    #[allow(deprecated)]
-                    let unicode = pyo3::ffi::PyUnicode_FromUnicode(
+                    let unicode = pyo3::ffi::PyUnicode_FromKindAndData(
+                        pyo3::ffi::PyUnicode_4BYTE_KIND as _,
                         bytes.as_ptr() as *const _,
                         elsize as isize / alignment as isize,
                     );