Somali and the Forest Spirit Episode 11

Somali and the Forest Spirit Episode 11

Those Who Protect and Those Who Threaten

Episode 11 is the penultimate episode of Somali and the Forest Spirit, and I’m still not sure how it’s going to conclude. Golem is obviously reaching the end of his life, so there probably won’t be a second season. But at the same time, it doesn’t appear that he and Somali are near their final destination yet.

Are they going to reach the humans in the next episode? Is Golem going to die before their journey is complete? And if the latter is true, will Somali continue searching for humans with Shizuno and Yabashira? Or will she remain on the continent with them?

My assumption is that, since the source material is still ongoing, we’re going to see an anime original ending to the series. I’m still not entirely sure how that ending is going to happen, but I’m sure however they end it will be good.

Personally, if Golem were to die at the end, I’d like to see Somali return to his original forest with Shizuno and Yabashira rather than leaving the continent. Perhaps Somali could pick up the role of guardian of that forest.

Also, we know that golem live for 1,000 years, but we don’t know how they’re created — or born — in the first place. It’s possible that a new “Golem” will be created in Golem’s old forest, and upon encountering Somali will regain his memories of her.

I have no idea, but I feel like there has to be at least a pseudo-happy ending, right? I guess maybe Somali could leave the continent and then spread stories of her travels around human settlements so they learn not to fear the Grotesques.

Human Hunters

At the end of last week’s episode it was revealed that Auntie Rosa is one of the “bad” Grotesques who participates in the genocide of humans. I assumed that she was either the leader, or a member, of a human trafficking ring, but that appears not to be the case.

She does want to capture Somali because she’s a human, but not so that she can sell her off to slave traders. Instead, she and the human hunters she’s employed plan to eat Somali themselves — and then sell off any leftover human meat.

But considering there are at least eight human hunters and Auntie Rosa to split Somali up between, my guess is there wouldn’t be much left over to sell.

Somali running in the snow from the anime series Somali and the Forest Spirit
Somali running in the snow

What I find most interesting about the human hunters is that they somehow believed their plan was going to work. To be fair, it almost did work because Golem is nearing the end of his life, but they have no way of knowing that. In fact, it appeared like none of them knew what a golem was.

So you could argue that they didn’t realize they were going up against a golem, sure. But they did know they were going up against the two bodyguards who have been serving out beat downs in town all week. Did they really think they were going to defeat Golem and Yabashira?

Why wouldn’t they have attacked the house while only Somali and Shizuno were there? This was the final day of their stay in Bygone City, but Auntie Rosa knew of Somali the day before, which means the attack could have simply taken place while Golem and Yabashira were working.

Tundra Wildlife

I believe we only saw two new creatures in this episode, but they were pretty cool. The first was a one-eyed lizard which only made a minor appearance and was found within the mines. It’s possible we’ve seen one of these before in the other caves, but I’ll assume it’s new.

Also, if we haven’t seen that lizard yet, does it really count as “tundra wildlife?” By this I mean, can we assume that it’s native to the tundra region and nowhere else?

That’s hard to say. On one hand, it lives in a cold climate, which we normally wouldn’t expect of a lizard, so it may be specially adapted to this region. On the other, because it lives in a cave, it may be protected from the outside cold and not actually be adapted for cold weather.

A tundra pack animal from the anime series Somali and the Forest Spirit
A tundra pack animal

Obviously this second animal is the cooler of the two. Unfortunately we weren’t given a name for it, but it’s a pack animal of some type. And if you’re thinking that it looks familiar, that’s because it’s just a combination of two real-world animals.

This creature has the body and antlers of a reindeer and the face and fur of a Japanese macaque. Do you think it would be a reincaque or a macdeer? Let me know in the comments. I’m personally on #TeamReincaque, but I think both are good options.

Golem’s Final Form

Episode 11 ends with Golem going berserk after Somali is taken from him by the human hunters. This also occurs after he loses his left arm due to his body not being able to withstand its own energy output.

Interestingly, this form doesn’t feature Golem’s skeletal wings which we’ve seen a number of times before, including earlier in this episode. Instead, his remaining arm is covered in large, armor-like spikes, his ribs jut out in additional spikes, and a scale-like pattern covers his face and head.

There’s also the fact that his eye changes from green to red, we can see what I assume to be his core — or heart — glowing inside his body, and there are black, wispy tentacle things projecting outward from his core.

Golem going berserk from the anime series Somali and the Forest Spirit
Golem going berserk

There are many unknowns regarding this form, but there are still some assumptions we can make.

First, we can assume this form is meant to be used by a golem as a last resort, probably to trade their own life in exchange for protecting their forest. This also means that we can expect Golem’s physical abilities to be greatly enhanced for a short period of time before he breaks down.

The two main things we don’t know are what this does to Golem’s state of mind or what those black, wispy tentacles are. I’d imagine he can’t think clearly when in this form, but maybe that’s not the case. As for the tentacles, I have no idea. Maybe he’s a follower of Satella and can use the Unseen Hand.

Conclusion

What did you think of Somali and the Forest Spirit episode 11? Do you think the anime series is actually going to end next episode? Or will there be a second season? And if it is going to end, what’s going to become of Somali and Golem? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the final episode is available here.

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