Somali to Mori was one of my most anticipated anime for 2020. I was instantly captivated by the promotional trailer and I knew this was going to be something for me, and going into the show I will say that I like it for what it is.
Somali To Mori has an interesting plot line that immediatly hooked me into the anime. Although the story doesn't seem entirely unique, a story about a father golem and a human daughter's journey is the kind of premise that I am extremely fascinated by. The story remains simplistic and enjoyable, it is heart warming and it's just a feel good anime to watch.
The art is beautiful, the world of Somali To Mori is just breath-taking to look at and it feels like a fantasy world where I would want to live in. There are some really beautifully drawn scenes and some of them are straight up wallpaper material. The character designs for this anime feels unique and imaginative, there is something about the character designs that instantly draws me into the show. I wouldn't put the art or animation as high as something like Violet Evergarden, but the art still remains gorgeous.
Somali is instantly best girl of 2020 for me, and it will take a lot of cuteness for any other girl to pass Somali's level of cuteness. Not just Somali, but this show is really good with characterization. Every character is well thought out and has a lot of character development put into them. Characterization is very much the main focus of this anime rather than story and each supporting cast has their own goals and their own backstory that will keep you interested into the show. Unfortunatly, some of these character arks aren't as strong as others, so I found myself somewhat bored during certain segments.
So far, this anime is divided into character arks, every two episodes or so, Somali and her father travel from one place to another, meeting a lot of supporting characters during their travel. Now this can become kind of tedious. You eventually start to realize the plot is barely moving and this anime is just made up of a bunch of side stories with an extremely slow progression to the main story. It just feels like the two main characters are going to point A to point B and there they meet some characters before moving from point B to point C and they meet some more supporting characters and so on. What's worse is the fact that some of these character arks are so boring to watch, that you might find yourself mumbling "just get on with it already."
The dialogue at times can also be somewhat cringey, most of the character interactions just have this general cheesy vibe to it and once you look at the cringey dialogue in the "cringey" way, it starts to become a distraction. We already know that nobody talks like that in real life and it feels too awkward. For example in the middle of the conversation, a character starts singing some random ass song before explaining the whole history of the song that they are singing. Other times, characters just randomly start to talk about their backstory out of the blue. There was even this one scene at the begining of the episode where this one creature just started telling our golem protagonist the history of how humans got extinct. Just imagine you are in a resturant and the waiter just comes up to you and starts giving you a history lesson. Yes, I might be exagirrating a bit, but the dialogue for this show honestly just felt so badly written.
One of the "emotional" character ark was just too short to leave an emotional impact on the viewers and it just felt like a lazily written short story that ends abruptly with our main characters moving on.
Overall, this anime is an enjoyable and fun watch for the most parts. I am curious to see where the story of Somali To Mori goes and I will most likely update my review once all the episodes have aired and I have completed watching this. There are some minor issues such as dialogue and boring character arks, but they are excused by the beautiful art and the likable main characters. If you just want a heart warming and calm show that makes you go "aww" then this is just for you. However, if you want a fast paced story with a lot of action and intense moments, then just give this one a skip.
Score: 6.8/10
