With humanity all but extinct after severe prosecution, the world is ruled over by spirits and all manner of strange creatures. One day, a golem that serves as guardian of the forest meets a young human girl. She has no memory of her parents, but the golem decides to at least seek out other humans to return her.
Endlessly fascinating in premise and wholesome as hell in practice, if you are looking for anime recommendations based on Somali and the Forest Spirits, head on down below.
Anime Like Somali and the Forest Spirit
For Fans of Mystical World
The Ancient Magus’ Bride
After being abandoned by her family, Chise Hatori is a 16-year-old teenager without hope. In order to not have to worry about herself, she sells herself to slavers, only to be purchased by Magus Elias Ainsworth. There she is told she will become his apprentice and, in the future, his bride. Together they work together to build a relationship and work to control her own magus powers that will eventually result in her early death.
Both series features a young human girl that ends up with an odd, skull-faced being. From there, they explore their distinctly magical world in different ways. While there is a hefty mix of wholesome moments in both shows, you will also note a distinct sense of melancholy abound in the world as well.
Made in Abyss
The Abyss is an enormous cave system and the only unexplored place in the world. No one knows how deep it goes, but generations of bold adventurers have descended into it. In the town at the edge of The Abyss, an orphan named Rico dreams of raiding, as her mother did before her. One day while exploring the murky depths, she meets a boy, who turns out to be a robot, kicking off the start of her epic adventure.
With any show that features a young character, you can expect a certain amount of wholesome. However, both of these shows present an initially innocent show that has a lot of dark undertones that are swirling around it.
Land of the Lustrous
In this world, Gems inhabit the ruins of a world. Taking on certain characteristics, gems are assigned roles depending on their hardness. The hardest among them fight the Lunarians, aliens that seek to shatter them to decorate their own bodies. Phosphophyllite, or Phos, is young and fragile, but wants desperately to help the war effort of fellow gems.
Both shows present a unique world that both is and distinctly isn’t like our own. They also start off pretty upbeat at first, but Land of the Lustrous changes that pretty quick in a major way. Somali, on the other hand, likes to hop back and forth over the line.
For Fans of Father-Daughter Bonds
If It Was For My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord
Despite his age, Dale is a skillful adventurer with quite the reputation for competence. However, one day while he was on a job, he finds a young devil girl, weak and malnourished, with a dead parent nearby. He decides to take her home and ultimately ends up adopting her. However, the question remains, why was she in the forest to begin with?
An adult thing finds a young child in the woods in both series. They then proceed to try and return them, but have to keep their identity a secret because their race is not liked by the predominant race of the world. Queue a manufacturer parental relationship that builds between them.
Poko’s Udon World
Souta Tawara is a web designer that has been working in Tokyo. However, when he returns to his small town to visit family, he discovers a young boy alone and with a supernatural secret. Upon the confrontation, Souta decides to quit his job and take care of this boy dubbed Poko. This anime follows their daily adventures in the Kagawa Prefecture, the Udon Kingdom.
While Poko is about two males instead of that father-daughter relationship, the feel is the same. In Poko, there is a creature in the human world, but he is taken care of like a normal child, all while hiding his mystical nature.
Hinamatsuri
One night, an object falls through space and time into the living room of dignified yakuza member Nitta. The object turns out to be a strange girl with psychic powers, but Nitta is reluctant to both take her in and to accept her offer to make use of those powers. Respecting his decision to not use her as a tool, this girl, named Hina, decides to help him anyway as they begin their life together.
While Hina has psychic powers, as the show is a comedy, they don’t really delve into why. However, aside from top-tier jokes, you get that same father-daughter bond that is going on in Somali but without the fantasy setting.
For Fans of Relaxing Fantasy
Spice and Wolf
For generations, Holo was a revered wolf deity that helped the local wheat harvest in exchange for tribute. However, as the villagers become more self-sufficient, they no longer need or even believe in her anymore. During her annual festival, she sneaks into the cart of Kraft, a visiting merchant, hoping he will let her hitch a ride home.
Both series follow a journey between a normal person in the world and a being that is not meant to be there any longer. In Spice and Wolf, it is a merchant and a defunct goddess. In Somali, it is a golem and a human girl. In each series, you not only explore the world, but watch their relationships grow as well.
Kemono no Souja Erin
In a nation that is threatened by civil war, Erin lives with her mother who tends to the Grand Duke’s powerful war-lizards as a doctor. However, after an incident with the Grand Duke’s favorite war-lizard, Erin’s mother is held responsible. While trying to save her mother, Erin falls in a river and is swept away to a neighboring region. On her quest to get home, she encounters many different people and learns the harsh truths of her world.
In Somali, you explore the world with a golem and his human child, but Erin shows you the world as a child growing would see it. You learn more about the world as she grows. Furthermore, both shows, while wholesome much of the time, have some dark undertones and implications.
The Flying Witch
The young Makoto Kowata is a witch, but her skills in magic leave something to be desired. To further train her craft, she moves to rural Aomori to live with her cousins. This area, rich in nature, is the perfect place to commune with natural forces and hone her craft.
Looking for something chill, but also supernatural? Both of these series offer you that. The Flying Witch isn’t wholesome in the same father-daughter relationship way, but it is a comforting series about the magic of nature and does have a sort of family element to it as well.
Do you have any more anime series similar to Somali and the Forest Spirits? Let fans know in the comments section below.
