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Exclusive: Titan Manga Licenses Somali and the Forest Spirit Manga (Updated)
posted on by Adriana Hazra
Titan Manga describes its story:
For fans of cosy and pastoral fantasy this is the adventure of a lifetime as a kindly forest guardian golem sets out to protect a young human girl from a world of goblins and oni!The world is ruled by goblins, spirits, golems, and all types of strange creatures... but not humans, who were nearly persecuted to extinction for their reckless disregard of the natural world. When a golem, a guardian of the forest chances across a young girl lost in the woods, he vows to take care of her... despite his life coming to an end. He must find other humans for her to live with, but in a world that despises them, is that even possible?
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Gureishi launched the manga in 2015. Coamix published the manga's sixth compiled volume in April 2019. The Comic Zenon website had stated in December 2020 that the manga had ended due to the author's worsening health. Gureishi stated in May 2023 that they still wished to continue the manga through self-publishing on Kindle or other platforms, although they had added that there are no concrete plans for a continuation yet.
Titan Manga provided ANN with a comment regarding the manga being unfinished:
While Somali is currently unfinished, it is such a great achievement that we felt what the creator HAD completed deserved to be physically published in English, as a testament to his rich artistic vision. And, should the creator ever be in a position to complete this beautiful work, we'll be here to publish it in English.
North Star Pictures and later Coamix published the manga digitally in English under the title Somari and the Guardian of the Forest, and the anime database website MyAnimeList added the manga to its website for free in English starting in December 2019. The Mangamo and Azuki digital services have also released the manga in English.
Titan Manga told ANN regarding its spelling of the title that it "[preferred] the sound and feel of Somali versus Somari," adding that it wanted to align its release with the English-dubbed version of the anime on Crunchyroll for clarity and consistency.
The manga inspired a television anime that debuted in Japan in January 2020. Crunchyroll co-produced the anime and also streamed the series with English subtitles under the title Somali and the Forest Spirit. Crunchyroll also streamed an English dub. The anime had 12 episodes.
Gureishi launched the Isekai Kakuriyo: Ayakashi Ku Kitan manga on Takeshobo's Web Comic Gamma+ website in June 2022.
Update: Titan Manga updated the manga's release date from October 22 to November 12. Source: Email correspondence
Source: Email correspondence
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history