Somali and the Forest Spirit Episode 6

Somali and the Forest Spirit Episode 6

Dying Flowers Look Up at the Birds

Well, this episode was certainly darker than what I was expecting. Sure, Uzoi wanting to kill Somali is pretty dark I guess, but we already knew that was coming from the previous episode. What really caught me off guard was Haitora’s backstory, which I’ll get into later on in this review.

So let’s start off by going over exactly why Uzoi wants to kill Somali.

Uzoi previously stated that she believes Somali’s human blood would be able to cure Haitora’s illness. However, an amount of blood needed for this to work was never given. Maybe all of Somali’s blood wouldn’t have been enough anyway. But, why did she believe this was the case?

Uzoi grabbing Somali's arm from the anime series Somali and the Forest Spirit
Uzoi grabbing Somali’s arm

Apparently at some point along their travels Haitora and Uzoi visited a fortune teller who claimed that Haitora’s disease was due to his blood being infected. And, the only cure for his disease is to replace the tainted blood with fresh, clean blood.

Now, before the true reason behind Haitora’s illness was revealed to us, this explanation that his disease was due to his blood being tainted  actually reinforced my original assumption about it. But, after some further thinking, I don’t think the fortune teller was referring to Haitora’s illness.

The fortune teller never saw Haitora’s face, and so wouldn’t know what his illness was. It also doesn’t appear to even know that Haitora is a human, which is kind of a big deal. Instead, I think this fortune teller was referring to the burden Haitora carries in regard to his and Uzoi’s past. Haitora needs to come clean to Uzoi before he can know peace.

Grotesques

In this episode we also see the word “grotesques” used for the first time to refer to the monsters who live on the continent. This is obviously a term coined by the humans, so it might not accurately reflect how the various monsters are related, but let’s just pretend for a moment that it does.

If the monsters on this continent really are a collective group known as the grotesques, then it would explain why the cities Somali and Golem have visited are so diverse. Previously we only knew that there were various clans, such as the oni and harpy clans, but if each of the clans really are unrelated, you wouldn’t think that they all coexist as we see.

So with that in mind, I think there might actually be some merit to the idea of thee grotesques as one group. The only problem with this is that the only children of grotesques we’ve seen are the same species as their parents. That would imply that these species are in fact separate.

Now, if you’re thinking, well of course the children would be the same species as their parent’s, allow me to introduce you to the fishmen/merfolk of One Piece. You could have two goldfish merfolk who produce a child that’s an octopus fishman — it’s completely random.

Okay, but that’s clearly not how the grotesques work in Somali and the Forest Spirit. Kikila was the same species as both of his parents, and Uzoi looks like her mother. But, what if the child only has to look like one of their parents? What if Kikila and Uzoi had a kid? Under this method, it would either be whatever Kikila is, or a Harpy.

In this sense, all of the grotesques would be part of the same cohesive group, with the species being subgroups within the main group.

Haitora’s Illness

My original thought about Haitora’s illness has to do with that final point about the grotesques in a way. I was pretty sure that Haitora was Uzoi’s biological father. I get that he’s a human and she’s a harpy, but I figured that perhaps the child of a human and a harpy would turn out to be one or the other.

In this case, Uzoi would have taken after her mother and become a harpy. And, that’s where I figured Haitora got his illness from. It was clear from the start that his illness is harpy-related, so I figured it might be some sort of STD that humans contract by mating with harpies (or any other grotesque).

However, the truth is much darker than what I was thinking. Haitora didn’t gain his illness by fathering Uzoi, he gained it by literally eating Uzoi’s mother. Unfortunately, as of this point we don’t know if this illness is specific to harpies, or if humans would contract similar illnesses from eating any grotesque.

Uzoi's mother from the anime series Somali and the Forest Spirit
Uzoi’s mother

I’m assuming you’ve already watched the episode, but in case you haven’t here’s what went down. A group of grotesques attacked Haitora’s village, killing, torturing, and capturing humans along the way. He, his wife, and their daughter managed to escape and seek shelter in a cave.

Eventually Haitora had to exit the cave in search of food, which is when he came across Uzoi’s mother. He beat her to death with a large stone, dragged her body back to the cave, and his family ate her in order to survive. However, his wife and child quickly died of the disease, and Haitora was left alone.

Shortly after this is when he met Uzoi, who was much younger and looking for her mother.

Canterbird Attack

The truth about Uzoi’s mother is a secret Haitora has kept for years. But, Uzoi overhears when Haitora is telling the story to Golem — which he probably should have expected would happen. This leads Haitora to attempt to throw his life away for Uzoi’s sake when she and Somali are attacked by a canterbird.

So, what is a canterbird? Well, first of all, I don’t think I would have included the word “bird” in the name if I had been the one to name this creature. While it’s true that it has a bird-like beak, that’s where the similarities start and end.

The canterbird has a pudgy, crescent-shaped body; six insect-like legs, four insect-like wings, and a large stinger on its tail. It also has some weird tentacle things with mouths on them coming out of its lower chest, which is its most unique feature.

Golem holding a flare rifle from the anime series Somali and the Forest Spirit
Golem holding a flare rifle

Interestingly, this time around Somali doesn’t talk to the creature that’s attacking her and her friend. I guess that’s not going to be a recurring thing. I sort of figured that was going to turn out to be an ability Somali picked up from traveling with Golem.

Or, it could simply be that the canterbird isn’t a type of animal that would work on. After all, if it was the type of animal that could be reasoned with, you’d think Golem would have tried. Instead, he goes right for the flare rifle, and even shoots the canterbird directly with it.

Also, is this the first desert wildlife we’ve seen? Maybe I’m forgetting something, but I think we only saw desert plants in the previous episode. When is the giant tortoise from the opening going to show up? Next episode, hopefully.

Conclusion

This episode wasn’t nearly as good as the previous one because it lacked a lot of the world building aspects. But, the dark twist Haitora’s backstory took was definitely unexpected, and hopefully there will be more twists like that as the story progresses.

What did you think of Somali and the Forest Spirit episode 6? Would you kill Somali for her blood? Would you eat a harpy? That’s a bit too close to cannibalism for me. And, how do you think Uzoi should have handled the situation with Haitora? I was hoping she’d eat him, but let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

2 Replies to “Somali and the Forest Spirit Episode 6”

  1. HI! Just a point: the last episode showed at least two other desert creatures. The giant turtle did appear and their wagon was attacked by a kind of giant sandfish early in their journey. And, as another creature of the desert, the torchflies they are using for light count.

    1. Thanks for pointing that out. Not sure how I forgot about the sandshark considering there’s literally a picture of it in my review for that episode. And I must have just blocked the giant tortoise out of my mind after seeing it so many times in the opening sequence. I’ll have to go back and rewatch the scene in which it appears.

      I did remember the torch flies, at least, but didn’t include those because they seem to be specific to caves, not necessarily the desert. It’s possible that they’re only found in caves within the desert, but considering Uzoi was already very familiar with them, my guess is that they can be found in caves in other regions as well.

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