Welcome readers to Late to the Party, a column that’s right on time when it comes to catching up on the anime everyone’s already seen. This column addresses a universal truth regarding being an anime fan: an anime backlog is a pretty powerful beast. Many of us have one, where we accumulate more and more content that we have designated in the "planning to watch" category. How and why it takes so long to tackle this task varies from person to person, but the gratification of finally putting in the time is truly splendid. Every once in a while, it’s watching a classic anime from yesteryear that you’ve had your eye on for quite some time. In other cases, it is a more recent release that simply went unnoticed. According to Late to the Party tradition, September is the month when we celebrate all things parenting. We’ve met some pretty impressive pops in previous years, but this time we may have found the most devoted father of them all… The War Between Races Studio: Satelight/HORNETS (Fairy Tail, Black Summoner, Skeleton Knight in Another World) First Aired: January 2020 (6 years late to the party! Luckily for Golems, that’s practically a weekend away). Somali and the Forest Spirit takes place in a mythical kingdom full of wonderful monsters. For the most part, these beasts live in harmony with each other, founding municipalities and living their lives in peace. However, it wasn’t always so calm. A long time ago, they encountered a strange race of beings known as humans. Although at first they were cordial, the prejudices of humanity began to prevail; Humans became suspicious of the monsters, thinking they were fearsome and dangerous, and nicknamed them Grotesques. The tension would lead to blows and soon an all-out war began. Fragile as they are, humans were practically exterminated. The remaining few hid, desperate to avoid being sold or eaten alive. One day, a chained human girl finds herself in a dense forest. There, he encounters a lone Golem, the stoic and emotionless guardian of the forest. She calls him dad. He comes to call her Somali. And from then on, their lives change forever. Time is running out… Somali and the Forest Spirit is a wonderfully calm and low-key anime. We don’t know exactly how or why the Golem decides to take the girl under his protection (that, in fact, won’t be revealed until near the end of the season), but we do know that he is traveling in search of other humans. He has to keep her true identity a secret, putting a horned hood on her to disguise her as a minotaur girl. If anyone were to discover that she was human, she would be in grave danger, and although the Golem is incapable of showing emotion, it appears to treat her safety as a top priority. This subterfuge brings a compelling tension to the proceedings. Anyone they interact with might be completely pleasant and accommodating on the surface, only to become violent or hungry if they discover a human is in their presence. Who can they trust? Possibly no one at all; such is the nature of prejudice. There is also another complication. Golems live exactly 1,000 years and this one has less than two years left before returning to earth. Without their protection, your chances of survival are practically zero, so you must move forward urgently. This juxtaposition between the beauty of his surroundings and the cruelty of his situation is absolutely exquisite. The landscape and its towns are very diverse and lively, changing from one place to another depending on the climate and the species that live there. Even the most impressive place can turn deadly and time is running out. It’s a stressful situation but, fortunately, our Golem is unflappable. Then it’s better that he than I take care of this task! A Father’s Love and Protection The interaction between Somali and the Golem is what really makes this anime work. As a child, Somali is enthusiastic, impatient and easily distracted. Although he desperately wants his father’s approval, he can’t help but get into trouble here and there. As for the Golem, it is a capable and methodical beast, but it considers Somali’s actions to be totally illogical. All he knew before her was the natural order of the forest, and now he had to try to deal with his impulses. He is unable to connect with her on an emotional level, and yet their bond is clear. Much of this is due to the strength of the performances at their heart. Inori Minase gives Somali an innocence that makes her lovable and vulnerable, and Daisuke Ono’s Golem is an imposing presence. Although he cannot feel things like love or sadness, seeing his young charge suffering disturbs his thoughts in a way that is inexplicable to him. As for the cast, there is a segment where we see a flashback to the distant past, with the Golem’s predecessor, Haraiso, played by none other than Kazuyuki Okitsu. Any JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure fan would surely enjoy that parallel. Straight into the feels Almost from the beginning, Somali and the Forest Spirit had me invested in its protagonists. It’s an immersive and moving story, equally capable of warming your heart and chilling you to the bone. The barbaric acts committed by both sides are simply horrific and may help elucidate the population’s paranoia against humans, even one as pure as the Somali. You just want them to be happy, damn it, even when all the odds are against them. I ended up watching the entire season in just two days and almost finished four full episodes before shedding a tear. That’s pretty good by my standards, I’ll let you know. Ultimately, this anime struck such a nice balance that it made it unbeatable. Sometimes these stories just stay with you in one way or another, and I think it’s safe to say that Somali and the spirit of the forest left their mark on my heart for a long time.
