Somali to Mori no Kamisama

A cute girl? You got that here.
A depressed story? You'd be crying twice.
Interesting characters? Without any doubt.
A good father figure? Better than mine (kidding).
Thoughtful moments? It's deeper than you think.

This anime is everything you could wish for. From the character gimmicks to the grandiose story. You wouldn't immediately think about any of this at first as it has a slow start but when it starts for real it goes at 360 in 6 seconds and you can not go back. Oh no you can't, and that's a good thing. Why go back when you can experience such a thing in the first place? Its something ... that happens twice in 400 years and the time has finally come for this masterpiece to be seen.

Yes, "Somali to Mori no Kamisama" is a masterpiece of an anime and not simply one of them, it's THE masterpiece I was looking for. An anime it could make me laugh, think, cry and more importantly care about characters, each of them and all in a span of 12 episodes. "Somali" is extraordinarily in every field but the best thing about this are clearly the two main characters, Somali and Golem that share a great daughter-father relationship. They're not releated by blood but that's the great thing since it shows that it is not necessary to be related by blood to show the effect to someone. They are so fantastic together and what makes it better is the fact that Golem has no emotions, so you at no point of its runtime you'll hearing him scream because Somali did something she shouldn't have. He comprehend many emotions, but since it cannot manifest them, it is difficult to fully understand them. Which is completely natural and makes the relationship between the two even realistic.

The story is incredibly beautiful. While sometimes predictable, It got me invested that I never thought it would have. This has mainly to do with the characters that make it interesting. Throughout the journey (yes, this is not an anime, its a journey and I'll be observing until it ends) we meet a lot of charaters that in the surface may seem not that great but if you go deep into them you'd find so much regarding them that i'm sure you'd be pleased. They, when doing something have always a reason. Now, the reason may be "good" or "bad" in the way you view it. I viewed as good and will always be because I can feel them and their hatred or love for anything seems reasonable. I really can, which it makes me love the anime even more. It proceeds with the right narrative rhythm, without slowing down too much, taking the time necessary to create characters with a certain thickness and it does quite well.

As for animation, I think it's fantastic, even in action scenes. It is not a series that you would see too many fights, but for what we got the animation was really competent. It's not the best, I admit it but then again this is not an action anime when fights have the priority so therefore it doesn't matter. As for the the sound deparment, it's great too. I expected The opening and ending be more catchy but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Not saying they're bad, it's just I wasn't too much interested in them as much I wanted to be. They're good on their own way, though. OSTs instead are literary masterpiece. Especially the ones that are used for sad moments.

"Somali to Mori no Kamisama" is both underrated and underwatched. It's not getting the attention as much I'd like to. If you're reading this review and you're in search of an anime that has a genuine good story, awesomely characters and more importantly, daughter-father interaction - this is the one you've been looking for. There may be stuff that potentially could turn you off but overrall I think it deserves a try.

Golem is such a good father.

Somali and the Forest Spirit is a show that takes a familiar premise and executes it in a familiar (and slightly uninspired) way. The formula of an emotionally distant person being thrust into the role of father-figure and learning to adapt along the way can be an emotionally gripping one, if it’s told with care. Somali and the Forest Spirit adds a ticking-clock element and fantastical world to create a nice inoffensive story about parenthood.

To begin with positives, the art style of this show is beautiful. Each environment has a sort of watercolor aesthetic to it, making for rich backgrounds that compliment the wonderful character ... designs. While the animation is rarely impressive, it gets the job done without common mistakes—like characters being off-model. On all technical fronts, this show is solid.

The problems lie with the structure of the story. We’re introduced to our two main characters, and immediately there is an inseparable, unbreakable bond between Somali and the forest golem. Any real child would be immediately terrified of this scary skull-faced monster, but not Somali. The forest golem at least realistically takes some time to warm up to Somali, but the growth of the relationship is presented in one flashback in one episode towards the end of the show. In a well-told version of this story, Somali and the golem would get off to a rocky start, but over time grow to love each other, and we as the audience would be shown this progression.

Our two main characters are also fairly flat. Somali has one personality trait: she’s a genki kid. The forest golem has one personality trait: he’s a stoic automaton—even his face is deliberately designed to be expressionless. It’s very difficult to buy into the depth of their relationship when the characters themselves are so simple. Maybe in future installations of this series their relationship and personalities will be explored, but since the first season of this show is all that’s complete, we have to judge it as a standalone work.

Overall, your enjoyment of this show will depend on how much you’re able to buy into Somali and the golem’s father-daughter relationship. If the show manages to grab your heartstrings in the first few episodes, it’ll be a win for you. Otherwise, consider it safe to skip.

Somali and the Forest Spirit isn't...bad, per se, but it's not great either. It's a fairly average anime in my books. I did not hate this anime by any means, but out of all the winter anime I watched this season, it was certainly my least favorite. During the latter half of the season, I was watching this anime every 2 weeks rather than 1 because I had much more enjoyable anime that I wanted to catch up on and give priority to.

The premise is simple enough. A golem takes on the fatherly role of a young, presumably orphaned, human child and seeks to return ... her to the rest of human civilization. There is a sense of urgency as to why, which plays out further in the anime. To avoid spoilers, I won't go into details here, but you know that there's an inevitable separation coming, and so I expected a tearjerker.

But the anime just never reached that height of emotion for me. These more emotional, mature moments were spliced in maybe once an episode within the anime, but it never felt like enough, and the impact never felt strong. In Episode 12, there was that scene near the end where I was FINALLY about to feel something, but then the conflict was resolved, and everyone was assumed to get their happy ending in that moment. Not that I like suffering, but where is the heartwrenching scenes and deep sorrow I was promised that was hinted at from the beginning? That scene was the first time I felt like our characters were reaching into their emotions, and it ALMOST hit the mark, but then there were still some things left unsaid! I was honestly angry that I did not have a good cry by the end of this series. Because I think what this anime truly does do well is build on that father-daughter relationship, but it never uses it to its full potential, and that is upsetting to me. I understand this anime is based off a web manga, and I have not done enough research to know how many chapters were adapted, but by God, I wish I felt something more than just disappointment by the end.

Besides the relationship between Somali and the golem, the rest of this anime felt weak. The worldbuilding is only slightly explained. There are mini adventures thrown in that basically consist of Somali getting into normal childlike trouble. And then there are just some scenes that grow incredibly dark. The tone of this anime was incredibly strange, transitioning quickly from lighthearted scenes of childlike wonder to pretty gruesome stuff. And above all, these last few episodes managed to throw in a pretty cliche message about "prejudice against non-humans," which, if maybe fleshed out more, could have been more impactful, but it just felt like an overused trope to me in the moment.

Somali leans more to the side of an annoying child for me, and I know that's just how children work, and it may stem from the fact that I'm just not a huge fan of children in general, but oftentimes, her cute moments were overshadowed by her constant tantrums and childlike antics that repeatedly got her into trouble. Her voice is incredibly pitchy and sometimes a pain to listen to as well, especially during scenes where she is upset or overly excited. Again, this is probably a personal bias. I think it is always hard to represent children that are not annoying in media, and while I didn't hate Somali, I think she could have been a tad less annoying.

The artwork is certainly good. The background work is aesthetically pleasing, for sure. I enjoy the opening, but that CGI ending? Not my favorite, by any means.

Overall, Somali is just...average at best. I really had to force myself to finish this anime, and as I stated, it had the potential to really tug on the heartstrings and share some pretty meaningful messages, but I think it just needed some more time for the world and characters to be fleshed out to really do so. I did not expect this anime to be a masterpiece by any means going into it, but I had hoped for better. There are definitely some better winter anime out there, and I suggest giving those a try instead (*cough cough* Eizouken and Dorohedoro are some good ones, if you're looking for recommendations.)