WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 1 of Somali and the Forest Spirit, "Journeying Parent and Child."
A co-production between Crunchyroll and Japanese animation studio, Statelight, the first episode of Somali and the Forest Spirit has just landed on the anime streaming site a full week before its release in Japan. The timing couldn't be better either, not just for keen anime fans looking to get into the winter slate of brand new shows, but also anyone left pining after The Mandalorian wrapped up its first season on Disney+.
On the surface, these two shows look completely different. One is a live-action space Western set in a rough-and-ready corner of the Star Wars universe filled with trigger-happy droids and marauding aliens. The other is a vibrantly animated series set in a high fantasy, pretechnological realm inhabited by talking animals and mythical creatures. However, within the first few minutes of Somali and the Forest Spirit's first episode, it's clear that the pair share the same core premise -- one that, as the explosion of Baby Yoda fandom has proven, is sure to strike a chord with anime viewers.
The co-protagonist is a golem who acts as a forest caretaker. His sole duty, one he's spent hundreds of years performing, is to observe but never interfere with all life that dwells there, from the smallest mushroom to the largest predator. "I will spend a thousand years in the forest as an enforcer of those laws, and when my time comes I will return to the forest. I never doubted this was my purpose, until that day." "That day" is when the golem comes across a small, scruffy girl with shackles around her neck. Seeing a humanoid figure, she reaches out to the guardian and calls him "Papa."
We then skip ahead to the present day where the girl, Somali, and her "Papa" have left the forest in search of what is revealed to be other humans. The objective for the golem appears to be clear -- his commitment to taking care of all life in the forest has been extended to encompass returning the lost child to her people. The problem is, humans left this world long ago. As one of the patrons of a tavern the pair visit explains, humans and the fantasy species that make up this land lived side by side long ago, unaware the other existed. When they did finally meet, humanity's prejudice towards non-human creatures led to war, which in turn led to human beings retreating far away.
At once, the parallels between the the pair of the Forest Guardian and Somali and the pair of Mando and Baby Yoda (aka The Child) are clear: the Forest Guardian, like the Mandalorian, is a masked, anonymous and stoic figure who is deeply devoted to a particular way of life but breaks his vows in order to care for a vulnerable infant. Judging by the reaction he gets from passers-by, golems, like Mandalorians, are highly-regarded, quasi-mythic figures.
Somali, being a normal human, doesn't have the Force-choking abilities of Baby Yoda and is far more mobile than the 50-year-old, green alien. However, she certainly packs the same amount of irresistible cuteness. The episode even ends with a scene echoing the hand-touching shot that wraps up The Mandalorian's first episode where Mando stands over Baby Yoda's floating crib. In this case, the Forest Spirit finds it within its android heart to replicate parental affection towards its adopted charge.
Like Baby Yoda's "asset" status, we also discover in the season premiere that Somali's true nature makes her a sought-after prize. The Forest Spirit has her wear a hooded cloak with horns at all times in public, telling onlookers that she's a minotaur. This is because other species, in the fallout from the human/monster war, have come to view humans not only as enemies -- but also delicacies. This means the Forest Guardian has to prevent Somali from falling into the wrong hands, as well as into the wrong jaws, on their journey.
The manga on which Somali and the Forest Spirit is based began in 2015, making any similarities to the Star Wars series coincidental. The Mandalorian itself has been compared to the iconic manga, Lone Wolf and Cub, which also has a journeying parent/child dynamic at its heart, bringing the comparison between Eastern and Western media full circle. Those who enjoyed Mando and Baby Yoda's heartwarming relationship in the Disney+ series will no doubt be equally charmed by Somali and the Forest Spirit's fairy tale twist.
The Somali and the Forest Spirit TV anime is directed by Kenji Yasuda and features animation production by Satelight. The series will broadcast on Japanese TV beginning in January of 2020, and is now streaming on Crunchyroll.