LogFAQs > #968382318

112. Somali and the Forest Spirit
https://myanimelist.net/anime/39575/Somali_to_Mori_no_Kamisama
Winter 2020 (12 episodes)
My Score: 6/10, MAL Score: 7.83/10
Best Character: Golem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGqDymejNQU

Premise: Humans have been all but wiped out by the world's various monster races. Then a Golem begins protecting a human child named Somali, and he embarks on a journey to find other humans to leave her with.

The Good: Somali and the Forest Spirit mixes a few genres, including slice-of-life and drama. It's set in a fantasy world with lots of monster races, and a conflict in the recent past wiped out most of the humans. Golem, an emotionless construct meant to guard nature, decides to protect a small human child that he finds. Since his lifespan is nearing its end, Golem hopes to find other humans to leave Somali with before his time is up. Large parts of this anime are slice-of-life or heartwarming as the two go from place to place looking for information. Golem may be emotionless, but it's clear how much he's chosen to care about Somali despite that. And she quickly comes to view him as a father. It's cute watching them grow closer, it reminded me of Terminator 2. Of course, there are missteps along the way, and the danger of monsters realizing Somali is human and eating her is always there.

The more dramatic parts of the story weren't my favorite thing, but they were still handled well enough that it didn't bug me as much as it usually would. It was pretty over-the-top, for example, when monsters defended the genocide of the humans because humanity is always evil and can't peacefully coexist with anyone different. It's just such a heavy-handed thematic message being directly stated to the viewer, which I usually hate. I didn't mind it here, though, because to me it came across that the monsters were regurgitating justifications that had been passed down to them. The actual events were likely exaggerated by people hoping to look better, in addition to being further blurred by time. It was still heavy-handed, but in a way I found compelling and realistic (as opposed to just "humans bad, grr" which this could've easily turned into with lesser writing).

The Bad: My only real complaint is that the ending was kind of a letdown. It really felt like it was building to a conclusion that would've been definitive and perfect, but then it just... didn't. And now even the manga has been cancelled (last I checked anyway) so there will never be another season and I can't even look up the source material ending like I usually do. It wasnt a terrible ending or anything, but it was so close to being amazing that I felt really disappointed when it missed the mark. Ah well.

Overall: Somali and the Forest Spirit is half slice-of-life about a Golem looking after a cute kid, half drama about protecting that kid against very real danger borne from hatred and prejudice. The anime mostly succeeded at whatever emotion it was striving for, but the two halves had such different tones that it was sometimes difficult to reconcile them. Still, I found Somali and the Forest Spirit cute and compelling in equal measure and I was glad I watched it.