English Dub Season Review: Somali and the Forest Spirit Season One

Our Take:

All in all, this is a genuinely heartwarming series. The feeling I felt while writing the midseason review continued on until the end; this is a feel-good show. The focus of this is on a father and daughter, on a journey, and you want them to stay together. You want them to discover new things, see what they come across. Most importantly, it’s a slow story, and you feel like action isn’t necessary.

Considering that the backdrop is on a former war, you’d think there would be a lot of action going on, but there isn’t. It’s mostly Golem and Somali’s travels, and the people they encounter. It remains sweet and gentle, even as it discusses the issues behind why the war broke out. But the thing is, we don’t want any of those troubles to reach Golem or Somali. We want them to remain happy together, and that means keeping them away from the action, which is a different feeling than what most anime wants you to feel.

It also doesn’t shy away from the fact that people, no matter what, are prejudiced. Humans especially get the worst spotlight, as they are shown to greatly fear what they don’t understand. While humans and monsters can be capable of communication, there’s a constant point of humans only seeing the exterior and not the interior. There are multiple stories of humans seeing monsters’ appearances and expecting the worst, even if the monsters have neutral or good intentions. They only see the monster, and go on the defensive, which usually means turning violent. It’s very likely that if Golem encounters humans, he will end up like this. There’s also the fact that Somali was abandoned, and her parents very likely will not want her back.

However, that also extends to monsters as well. Because of the humans’ mistreatment of monsters, the monsters feel persecuted and are wary towards humans as a result. While most monsters choose to simply stay away from human settlements, there are those that choose to kill humans instead, no matter what. Somali finds herself in the same predicament; just because she was born human, she faces potential violence. While it’s not the knee-jerk response that humans have, it’s still reflecting the same brutality. This, sadly, reflects the real world as well. The problem is, there is no easy solution, but the series does a good job of reflecting how prejudices and conflict continues through the generations.

The thing is, the story doesn’t end with Somali being returned to her parents. It doesn’t even end with Golem dying and Somali moving on. What is does end on is death, specifically the acceptance of death and how that’s a natural part of life. Golem has already accepted the fact that he will die since the very start of the series, but he is hesitant to share it with Somali, who has yet to understand the concept of death. After the festival where they learn about souls, Golem starts to understand that he does have a soul, and that at least he will exist on in that state afterward. Somali comes to understand his eventual death, but her plea is not that Golem will never die, but that he will continue to stay with her. To her, she wants her father by his side, and that is what he’s become, her father. The series ends with Golem deciding that he will spend the rest of his days with Somali, even if he’s fated to die, and there’s something touching about that.

A very heartwarming series, and something that’s worth watching if you want to feel good. To be honest, I think now would be a good time, since don’t we all need something nice in our lives?