Somali to Mori no Kamisama (Somali and the Forest Spirit)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Somari and the Guardian of the Forest

Japanese: ソマリと森の神様

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 6

Chapters: 39

Status: Discontinued

Published: Apr 26, 2015 to Oct 25, 2019

Genres: Fantasy, Slice of Life

Theme: Childcare

Serialization: Web Comic Zenyon

Authors: Gureishi, Yako (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.70¹ (scored by 4,268 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1702²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1059

Members: 18,739

Favorites: 152

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7.70

Ranked #1702Popularity #1059Members 18,739

MangaWeb Comic ZenyonGureishi, Yako (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /6

Chapters: /39

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Synopsis

The human race has been hunted to near extinction, leaving the world ridden with all sorts of curious and mysterious creatures. In the middle of a forest, a lone Golem comes across "it": a dishevelled human dressed in rags and bound by chains.

Taking the child in, the Golem comes to learn that the child is called Somali, and that she has no recollection of her parents. Spending time together, the two grow to share a bond akin to a father and daughter. The Golem decides to leave behind his obligation as the Guardian of the Forest in pursuit of Somali's parents or, at the very least, any other remaining humans. To Somali, her parents are the least of her worries—she believes she already has the only parent she needs.

Somali to Mori no Kamisama depicts the journey Somali and the Golem undertake in order to seek out other humans, all while keeping Somali's identity hidden for her safety.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Somali to Mori no Kamisama was officially discontinued on December 22, 2020 due to the author's continued poor health.

The series was published digitally in English as Somari and the Guardian of the Forest by Coamix from February 22, 2019 to January 21, 2020, and in print as Somali and the Forest Spirit by Titan Comics under the Titan Manga imprint since December 17, 2024.

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Related Entries

More characters
Characters

Somali

Main

Golem

Main

Shizuno

Supporting

Yabashira

Supporting

Uzoi

Supporting

Kikila

Supporting

Hazel

Supporting

Muthrika

Supporting

Kokirira

Supporting

Praline

Supporting

Reviews

Apr 25, 2017

Thoswey

Recommended

Preliminary (39/39 eps)

This is my first review here on MAL, so feedback would be appreciated.^^

If I had to describe this manga in one word, it would be: Soothing.
A simple slice of life anime or manga is something to watch or read while not concentrating. It's perfectly calming. And the artwork perfectly adds to that feeling.

The story is simple in its design and it slowly develops like an rpg. At every point, you stumble across another hint for the final destination of your quest. The same thing happens in this manga. A young girl named Somali is shackled and left alone in a forest for unknown ... reasons until the guardian of the forest - a golem - finds her. After having protected the forest for many centuries, he sets out with the girl to find her parents. Looking for hints, they meet many interesting animals, witches and other fantasy characters, most of which act more mature than humans, who are nearly eradicated after a long fight with the fantasy characters. An initial meeting went peacefully, until some humans mistrusted the demihumans and started attacking them. What started with stones on a small personal scale slowly erupted in a large war. Because of this, they are still at bad terms with humans. Therefore keeping quiet about the fact that Somali is a human, they travel through amazing places with luscious fruits, soothing lights, antique houses and wonderful details in a perfectly illustrated cheerful world. Truly, I've read my fair share of manga, a couple of which had amazing artwork, but nothing comes close to Somalo to Mori no Kamisama. If anything, it makes me want to live in the world illustrated here. Every single detail is nicely drawn and only adds to the wornderful atmosphere. I found myself in a trance looking at some of the pages. Especially the witches library. If we had a library even remotely looking like that, I could read books all day there.
Even though I say this now, there have been a few serious moments that caught me off guard. Feeling like such a child friendly manga, the setting still asks for more serious themes. One of which is the war between humans and fantasy characters. This implies murder and it indeed happens at some point. But, as said, I did not expect that, which added weight to it. A life is not someting to take lightly, wether it be a human or a rabbit like creature.

The artwork is not the only good point about the manga. The story is simple, but effective. Although it sounds repetitive from this review, it doesn't feel that way. Every step to take is logically explained and only feels more magical combined with the extraordinary artwork. At every new location, they obtain information in the form of a backstory or explanations of how things work there. It's definitely not an outstanding story, but it has no need for that. The focus is on the journey of their adventure: exploring new areas and meeting interesting and often cute characters rather than a deep intriguing story. Perhaps it will get more complicated near the ending, but for now, I do not see that happen. Especially not now that the manga is cancelled due to bad health of the author.

As mentioned before, most of the characters act quite mature. Seeing a small girl and her guardian, a golem, they often engage joyful chatter and explain the interesting elements of each area as both of the main characters are often unfamiliar with the rest of the world. The golem lived in solitude in the forest and his awkward speech with other species and the cute little Somali who often hides behind him make this manga truly enjoyable. Some manga have a food freak who eat a lot. In this case, Somali is awed by the deliciousness of the food, sometimes to the point of crying and understanding this should not be taken for granted, hence the maturity of the characters. At this point (after 20 chapters), there is a small cast of characters already, each with his own treats, notably and beautifully illustrated with the amazing artwork, which only adds to the liveliness of the characters. Almost all of them are side characters as the focus is on Somali and the golem, but they leave a certain impression. And most have their reasons for their actions and don't resort to violence if not necessary. They too want to live a normal life.

Ratings:
Story: 6. Simple, but gets the job done.
Art: 10. See for yourself. Seriously, just open a random chapter and random page. They are all equally detailed.
Characters: 8. Sometimes archetypical, but I like them a lot.
Enjoyment: 10. There has not been a moment I did not like this manga. If anything, it is too short.
Overall: 9. The artwork and enjoyment weigh the most for this rating. A simple story can be overlooked if the manga is a blast to read.

Everything that happened in this manga simply calmed my soul. The stunning artwork (I cannot run out of positive adjectives to describe this) truly gives you the feeling you are living within the illustrated fantasy world. The likeable cast and a simple story that is wonderfully executed is soothing to see. If my enjoyment wasn't clear yet, go read this right now and see for yourself how I was automatically immersed in the story and the chapters flew past in the blink of an eye.

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Feb 28, 2018

Crystosis

Recommended

Preliminary (28/39 eps)

Ive never written a review on MAL before so bare with me ! i will try to keep this spoiler free

"We're all equal in times of need."
I came across Somali and the forest spirit yesterday when i was on reddit looking for high fantasy setting manga recs, i ended up binging all the current chapters because it was almost everything i have been looking for, when lately i just seem to come up short in my findings! (28/27.5 chapters at the time of this review)

Its literally gorgeous, the art is outstanding and i'm constantly in awe at the landscape detail and art style. ...

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Jul 25, 2018

altobrun

Recommended

Preliminary (30/39 eps)

A visually striking manga that follows a young human girl Somali and her 'father' a golem - one of the guardians of the forest. Somali to Mori no Kamisama follows their travels as the Golem seeks to reunite Somali with humans in a world full of 'monstrous' anthropomorphic beast-men.

The setting of the story is rich and deeply fleshed out. It follows the large, peaceful, anarchic society of the beast-men, a generic term for dozens of non-human races, who peacefully coexisted with each other for centuries until they ran in to humans. The beast-men eagerly invited the human's to join them in their paradise, but the ...

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The return of manga has been announced by author! Soleks100000 - Aug 20, 2023	4 replies	by Alkimia »» Jun 27, 10:09 PM
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Somali to Mori no Kamisama
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