How to Draw a Spider Anime Girl

Synopsis

The day is as normal as it can be in high school as the students peacefully go about their everyday activities until an unprecedented catastrophe strikes the school, killing every person in its wake. Guided by what seems to be a miracle, a handful of students are fortunate enough to be reincarnated into another world as nobles, princes, and other kinds of people with prestigious backgrounds.

One girl, however, is not so lucky. Being reborn as a spider of the weakest kind, she immediately experiences the hardships of her dire situation. Even so, she must press on to survive the numerous threats that endanger her life. Discovering that her new world has a system like that of an RPG, she tries her best to hunt prey and defeat monsters to level up and evolve. As she gradually grows stronger, she hopes one day her efforts will be rewarded, and that she will be granted a better life.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Reviews

Jul 3, 2021

24 of 24 episodes seen

Overall	9
Story	8
Animation	7
Sound	8
Character	8
Enjoyment	9

We all have dreams about what we want to do or who we want to be when we grow up. In today's modern world, there are limitless possibilities. One dream I'm sure most people don't want to become a reality is being a spider. I mean, who actually wants to be a spider?

Announced back in 2018, there were some concerns about the production schedule of the series. Promotional material surfaced online but they caused some controversy with the amount of CGI content. It also didn't help that studio Millepensee helms the production. It's a studio that have produced mediocre projects and seems to specialize in CGI content. Don't believe me? Just check out their infamous Berserk project or Cop Craft. Watching this show at first glace gave me a feeling of uneasiness and it didn't take awhile until I realized what the show really had at its disposal.

Now imagine being stuck in the body of a spider and then thrown into a danger with some of the most dangerous creatures you can imagine in a fantasy world. That's the raw fate of Kumoko, a former high school student who was hit with some misfortune. Kumoko must adapt, survive, and with her new circumstances, she's going to need all the help she can get. Do note that Kumoko isn't her real name but was given by universal fans. Thankfully, she lives up to her name because not only is she a spider, Kumoko also retains all her human personalities and knowledge. In essence, she's almost like an RPG character in a vast and mysterious world.

But that's not all. Kumoko isn't the only character that reincarnated. In fact, a whole group of students got reincarnated and has their new roles set. These include Sophia, Katia, Filimos, Shun, among others. It seems when the author made these characters, they wanted to dress them into RPG skins. Let's face it, we got vampires, elves, princess, heroes, and just about any light novel trope you can imagine. Of course, it's not an original idea although Kumoko remains one of the more unique characters. In fact, why don't we talk about a bit Kumoko and know who she really is?

Kumoko's character and personality is protrayed as a happy-go spider with a hopeful vision of survival. Yes, she feels terrified and overwhelmed at first but is also prone to make sarcasm at any chance she gets. It's to prevent her psyche from being harmed and honestly one of the more unique dynamics about her character. What I mean is that despite being a spider, she thinks like a human and even retains useful knowledge. Kumoko's main goal is to survive and escape the dungeon that she's trapped in. Think of her situation as a video game protagonist trying to beat a level or even the game. The world she is in is one huge game playground and that dungeon is only a part of it. Kumoko's progression also translates into a RPG-like system with skills, development, and learning to level up. It's funny to see just how far she make use of her system and it isn't an easy task to adapt. That's because the monsters in that dungeon are easily some of the most dangerous in the world. Like with its core characters, the author threw in dragons, giant arachnoids, wyrms, and the typical type of creatures you'd find in a light novel. There's even a danger level scale that determines how deadly these monsters are. Kumoko's personal challenge is to survive against these monsters because she's only got herself to rely on. And trust me, it's no simple task. There's no reset button or an "easy mode" like in video games. She has to rely on the skills she learns and her human knowledge. Watching Kumoko overcome such obstacles shows that no matter how small she is, there's always a beacon of hope.

Then, there's the other side. I'm talking about the main core cast besides Kumoko. Unlike them, they took on more advantageous roles such as vampire Sophia or the warrior hero Shun. In particular, we follow the adventures of Shun and his former clasmates as they take on personal challenges of their own. And that doesn't come easy either. This is seen an in early example when they face off against Hugo, a character with dangerous abilities of his own. Every prominent human character in the series has his or her agenda. The bottom line is, when getting transported into a new world, characters needs to learn, adapt, and find their place. That's exactly what the cast has to do in this show to not just survive but ultimately discover their purpose. And true to its premise, this anime aims to entertain with the personalities of the cast. Every relevant character has a role whether they are human, spider, or demon. Among the most prominent character in the demon community is Ariel, perhaps being Kumoko's biggest obstacle. Indeed, Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka feels like playing a RPG alongside a spider and a group of daring adventurers.

Although I've mentioned about the art style of this anime, it's still hard to ignore the fact that it's animated in CGI style. Fighting scenes can look a bit clunky at times but qualifies for fast paced action that you should expect. Hilariously, your eyeballs will probably be glued to Kumoko as a spider trying to beat enemies multiple times her size. Watching the fighting scenes in this show convinced me that when she needs to, Kumoko will do anything to ensure her own survival. She has truly untapped potential and with each level up, Kumoko feels like a video game character bought to life.

Set at 24 episodes, Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka is not a very easy anime to get into at first, even for a fantasy isekai. There's also the novel series that the anime didn't fully adapt. I mean, how many anime do you know about a main protagonist turned into a spider? Not many I assume. Fantasy isekai these days tends to jump the gun with its themes and indeed, this anime does love to flirt with its RPG-style ideas. However, rest assured that along the way, you'll be entertained with this little spider at the web.

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Jul 3, 2021

24 of 24 episodes seen

Overall	3
Story	3
Animation	3
Sound	5
Character	3
Enjoyment	3

Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? is two different anime paradoxically forced together. One is hideously ugly, and the other is mind-numbingly boring.

The hideously ugly plotline is led by an overly enthusiastic girl who was reincarnated as a spider. She must fight for her life in monster-infested caves. That explains the English name: "I'm a spider, so what?!" If that sounds intriguing, you will be disappointed. The title is misleading because the mind-numbingly boring half of the show is a bog-standard isekai plotline: A high school class gets reincarnated in a generic fantasy setting… How original.

The first plotline follows Kumoko, a high school girl who was reincarnated as the titular spider. It primarily takes place in caves where she first hatches. Wherever her journey takes her, she is isolated in the body of a spider—talking to herself, personifying the ghoulish monsters she fights, and creating imaginary friends. Her portion of the show is practically plotless, and it is written like a stream of consciousness, often repeating the same events with no progression. Unfortunately, her plotline is marred by repetition, plot armor, and hideous 3D animation ripped straight out of a Playstation 2 game. The second scenario was produced on the generic isekai anime assembly line: It follows Kumoko's classmates, who were also reincarnated, but primarily as humans. It takes place in the same world, years in the future. All of them were reborn as babies, though the story is about their trials and tribulations as teenagers in a strange new world. The show randomly swaps between scenarios 1 and 2—sometimes, the whole episode will follow Kumoko. Other times all we'll get is the infinitely less interesting teenage class (much more common in the second half). Needless to say, I preferred Kumoko. She is the only reason why I continued watching.

As a heroine, Kumoko has potential. She's charismatic, resourceful, and she has a unique character design to boot. Her sarcastic quips are funny, at first. Over time, I grew gradually less entertained by her overdone and forced sarcasm. Kumoko's wide variety of facial expressions were consistently amusing, reminiscent of Konosuba's ridiculous character art style. The animators chose to give Kumoko a CGI model with facial expressions drawn in during close-ups. That creative decision suits Kumo's chaotic fights with monsters and beasts, allowing for dynamic camera movements. At first, I was charmed by her zany personality and Aoi Yuuki's energetic performance. That stopped being the case halfway through. Her 'jokes' devolved into yelling loudly (no, that doesn't count as a joke). Either the dialogue is yelling or bland exposition dumping. The screenwriters included pointless light novel narration rather than using visual storytelling. This obsession with "telling" rather than "showing" is the root cause of every mundane light novel adaptation; this is no different. From the start, Kumoko fights for her life against horrid CGI monsters, but each one follows the same pattern. The monster is far stronger than her; she nearly dies, then a contrived mechanic will keep her alive. Right before getting "killed" Kumoko either cracks a joke, ruining any chance of taking it seriously, or she gives a long monologue as the animators slowly zoom in on the giant CGI monsters looming over her.

You will hear her say HP, MP, SP hundreds of times. The show spends excessive amounts of time explaining surface-level RPG mechanics, but Kumoko is so plot-armored that, ultimately, none of it matters! I know someone will say, "She's not like other isekai protagonists because she worked for her skills." No, shut up. Stop. Even if a character starts weak then becomes overpowered, they are still overpowered. Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with that; One Punch Man is one of the most successful comedy anime, and being overpowered is the whole joke. Just because Saitama trained his ass off to become all-powerful doesn't change what he is. But Kumo desu ga doesn't realize that WE KNOW Kumoko is overpowered—so it puts on an act: pretending like she's in danger. Tons of censored blood spattering, limbs get torn apart, screaming, ripping and tearing sound effects—then she gains a power-up to save the day!

Kumoko's fights have no stakes, but there's an effortless way to fix this. Suppose she had something, anything to lose. A companion, a McGuffin, a tiny spider buddy, or some power that could get taken from her—then there would be a sense of danger. What about her personality? Characters who go through traumatic events should have some long-term mental effect. In a better anime, for sure. After the most violent and harrowing fights, Kumoko is still the same old peppy spider. Her near-death experiences never cause a lasting impact on her personality. In the second plotline, the generic male protagonist has more to lose. He has friends and family to create stakes, even though he is torturously dull.

Above ground, the archetypal isekai characters stare at each other with unconcerned looks as they deliver exposition in the most literal manner possible. Perhaps the animators just couldn't be bothered to animate facial expressions and body language. If we're lucky, one will make an ill-timed joke to keep us awake—but even if there's a punchline (very rarely), it bounces off the protagonist's thick skull. Shun, the protagonist in question, is about as compelling as watching paint dry—and he has even more plot armor than Kumoko. Even when he grieves or suffers due to some contrived conflict, it's impossible to feel anything for a piece of cardboard with eyes and a nose.

The rest of the students are either one line nobody's destined to die unceremoniously or mouthpieces to dump exposition. All of them are named, but trying to remember them would require caring. There are a few intriguing characters; one girl was reincarnated as a dragon and another as the opposite gender. Of course, neither of them gets enough screen time to be memorable. A running theme was: What would happen if you were forced to live out as a different identity? They could've used this theme to explore the insecurities it'd cause each character to feel. None of that happened, it was swept under the rug in favor of generic male isekai protagonist #304. One thing all the characters have in common is plot armor. The show hints at them having more depth in the source material. A few minutes here and there are spared to info dump one of their backstories. Of course, that information is utterly irrelevant and never brought up again. At least the light novel fans got some scraps amid the doubtlessly butchered adaptation. I feel sorry for anyone who likes the source material, you did not deserve this affront to humanity.

There's an antagonist for both storylines—A vacuous demon lolita in dominatrix gear and a kid with an inferiority complex for the cardboard protagonist. They're 1-dimensional, but they cause enough harm to motivate at least one of the protagonists. Neither do much except attempt (and fail) to look menacing. How do they expect us to get engaged in a 'Good vs. Evil' power struggle if the 'Evil' is neither intimidating nor relevant?

Four years ago, studio Orange animated Houseki no Kuni with luxurious CGI... Unfortunately, Studio Millepensee is not Orange. Previously, they made the stunningly awful Berserk (2016) CGI adaptation, and since then, their animators have not improved. Houseki no Kuni had excellent fight choreography, it utilizes 3D art for smooth dynamic camera motions, and the CGI models look good. Unfortunately, Kumo desu ga has none of those. The fight choreography is incomprehensible: Nauseating camera movements flying around dark 3D caves. Splotches of dark colors spurting everywhere, random magic circles tossed in, and that's only Kumo's half of the show. The 3D models constantly phase through objects like a poorly made video game. The 3D models have different lighting from the background art, so they stick out like a sore thumb. The jarring visuals look similar to a video game running at 5 frames per second. The only thing that prevented me from dying of boredom was my struggle not to vomit.

Once the studio ran out of either time or money, they began using low poly CGI models for every character. I don't care if people call me a "CGI elitist," but someone has to say it. The final four episodes of this anime are some of the hideous I've seen in an anime, rivaling Hand Shakers, Arifureta, and Ex-Arm for the worst three-dimensional art in a TV anime. But unlike those three, it wasn't enjoyably bad. It was just nauseating and boring. Imagine a burning dumpster filled with used diapers that rolled off a cliff and landed in a pile of steaming manure.

The 2D art is hideous too, though at least it's not as nauseating. First, there's almost no animation. It's entirely panning shots, still images, zooming, and animation loops. Second, the transitions look like they were done in IMovie—simple fade to black and jump cuts. Third, the character designs are entirely forgettable. In both worlds, the sound design is amateurish. They used the bare minimum stock sound effects. It took me time to realize the vocals don't sync with the mouth flaps. Sometimes the voices cut out altogether while the character's mouth is still moving! It's no surprise the two subplots look and feel entirely different from each other: Studio Millisenpe made the 2D half, and they outsourced the CGI to Exsa, a studio no one has heard of. The first OP and ED are good, but the second two are ear piercing. These intros might have the worst credit integration in any anime ever: With text barely fitting on the screen in a jarring font that blocks the intro visuals. They would've been better off letting high school students design it.

Regardless of Kumo desu ga appalling art, animation, sound, and directing—the storytelling and character writing is still awful. It is filled with tedious exposition and stale comedy. If the anime was true to its title and focused on the spider portion, perhaps it could've been halfway decent. The production suffered from overwork, constrained budget, and limited resources, even leading to the final episode getting postponed. I'm seriously worried for the health of whoever was forced to create this abomination.

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Jul 3, 2021

24 of 24 episodes seen

Overall	6
Story	7
Animation	3
Sound	6
Character	5
Enjoyment	6

This show is how an isekai should be made… but at the same time how an isekai should not be made.

Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka doesn't look very promising at first glance, the premise is pretty much the same as your average isekai anime, with our main character dying and reincarnating in another world with RPG videogames terminology. Not even the fact she revives as a spider monster is something new or original at this point (but at least is more striking than a lame slime!). But what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in personality and self-awareness, while taking enough care of important things that other animes of the genre don't bother to even show. Let's address it by parts.

Our protagonist, simply and unofficially named Kumoko, was reborn as a spider monster, the weakest monster race, inside the most dangerous dungeon in this new world, while still remembering her previous life as an antisocial loner otaku (of course it should be that way). Sooner than later we are introduced to the main selling point this serie has: Kumoko struggling really hard to survive in this new world, trying not to get devoured in the process, while getting new skills, becoming stronger and learning about the world. All this is done in the most energic, charming and amusing way, thanks to Kumoko charisma and positivism. Now, this is not the only thing we'll see, alongside Kumoko, her classmates and the teacher died and reincarnated as well, having enough luck to get way better lives.

Don't let this innocent and rather simple premise taunts you. Which may initially appear just a fantasy story about a spider monster striving inside a cave, turns out to be a way vaster and more convoluted plot as it appeared, borderline on pretentiousness. Outside of the dungeon we see there are factions, nations and politics issues, going for wars between races and churches ideologies clash, which get more fraught as the series moves on, to ancient god and demons scheming over the world origins. Not only that, the skill system by itself, initially just appearing as a hook for RPG fans like in many other isekai animes, ended up being an important part of the mystery of the world, and the reincarnation itself.

Yet those topics are touched in a very basic way, the serie fills up this ambition with a solid narrative going hand in hand with the story. The narrative switches over two different POVs: the inside of the dungeon with Kumoko, and the outside world with a little group or reincarnates. Yes, this isekai does focus on story and worldbuilding, and while these two perspectives are rather different, they actually complement each other really well, sharing information actively, and explaining terminology that is going to be used in the next segment, without feeling forced. Subtlety is well-handled as well, mentioning topics or terms that are going to be important later on the serie in a very natural way (ex: talking about a skill that will be important to explain the MC motivations, or why the skill system by itself can be dangerous). Some people couldn't notice at the beginning that both perspectives, Kumoko's and the reincarnates', are actually from different timelines, considering they were born in this world and the same time, but we see Kumoko from her birth, while we see the reincarnates when they are teenagers, and it's only later on when the reincarnates' side mentions Kumoko existence as a kind of legend, without directly telling it's her; they don't even cross paths until the very end of the serie. This kind of subtlety and naturality to show and explain important topics in a narrative this ambitious is pleasant to see nowadays.

Story and narrative are very good by themselves to support all the serie, because the rest of it is… not so impressive. Characters, for example, are like day and night:

>On the one hand, we have Kumoko. As previously stated, she's pretty much the main selling point of the serie: if we search the definition of "charisma" in a dictionary, it would be her. Kumoko is charming, funny and very optimist, always doing her best to survive even with all the rough situations she goes through. Her role in the serie is pretty much acting like a guide to the viewer, constantly breaking the 4th wall and making comedy with a lot of references to popular culture, yet she's witty enough to be aware about her situation without unnecessary edgyness; this serie touches dark themes in the least dark way, and Kumoko it's the living proof. For a lot of people she alone carries all the serie over her thorax, but she's not so perfect, she got little to no development along the serie (it's not like she needed it) and remained pretty much the same even with all the harsh moments she went through, the things she learned and the power she got. Still the most solid character in the serie.

>On the other hand, we have a little group of reincarnates who were Kumoko classmates (and the teacher). While Kumoko, as plain as she is, can still be described with a lot of adjectives, those guys can be described with just two words: boring and generic. Unlike our eight-legged MC, this group reincarnated as humans (most of them), living in prestigious families, so most of the outside world is showed by them:
-First, we have Shun, we can say he's the deuteragonist. There're not enough words to explain how PAINFUL and INSUFFERABLE is to see this guy taking the lead. He's pretty much your generic isekai protagonist, with all the cliches included in the pack: bland design, lack of personality, cringe hero complex (and yes, he was born in the Hero family, so he got blessed by the power of script) and harem pandering. He's basically an Emiya Shirou, less pretentious but way naiver. And is this naivety by far the worst part, to the point every time he got the spotlight, the serie handled to make fun of it for being such a silly. He's so misplaced to the point he got into a war he has noting to do just because "I can't allow these people to suffer" (yep, even his sentences are prefabricated). Honestly, I can't blame people for thinking human side is boring just because this dude.
-Katia is Shun best friend in this and previous life, and your typical tsundere chick, with the plot twist that she was a boy before reincarnating. Actually there was a moment when this character faced her inner conflicts and decided to be honest with herself and becoming a full girl instead of a boy trapped into another body…moment that was never well-developed.
-Hugo is your edgy vain and power-thirsty villain who thinks he's better than anyone else.
-Filimos is the students' teacher who got reincarnated as an elf (excuses to introduce a loli character it seems). While started as a mysterious and a bit interesting character, later on it's revealed her motivations, which are very dull, and she's way naiver than Shun.
-Generic crazy yandere girl is a generic crazy yandere girl who got brainwashed by the church.
-Fei was actually the most decent character in this group. She, like Kumoko, reincarnated as a monster (a dragon), and she was a bully in her previous life, especially with her (she doesn't know she's alive living as a spider). She feels guilty, she feels this new life is a divine punishment for her actions, and she was always concerning about Kumoko and wanted to meet her to apologize. Sound like something that could drive to an interesting catharsis… except when she gets a human form and forgets about all of this.

Initially, the serie got a 50/50 split between Kumoko and humans sides, but in the second part of the serie, when the politics themes and war calls became the main focus, human side got more spotlight. If it weren't because, again, story and narrative by themselves are good enough, this would be really painful to watch because of this bunch of generic character. But at the same time, watching Kumoko getting stronger and destroying any trace of tension would be even more boring (and we don't want such a thing to happen, right, Rimuru?), so the change of perspective was more a win than a miss. But actually… there is a third side here! Kumoko goes in her way, humans go in theirs, but there are a bunch of character that walk another path, this includes other three reincarnates (only two of them are worth it), some demons, and even Kumoko can be placed here under certain circumstances. What makes this group different from the other reincarnates, is that they were born under different circumstances, which push them to live under this new world rules, instead of being attached to their previous lives like Shun group. This group is by far more interesting that Shun groups, it's a shame they weren't fully showed in this season.

Having this ambitious story and this charming MC would be worthy of a decent direction, right? Sadly this was not the case. I don't really need to explain why this show has a very hideous animation, especially the CGI, everyone can see it, but the direction has to be the worst I've ever seen in many years. Not only it was disastrous in action-packed moments, where transitions and cuts were so random that was really hard to tell what was happening, and it seemed director forgot some frames in the middle, but also covering up all the scream with that hideous CGI instead of trying to hide it a little at least with dust or light rays. Even in slower or more serious moments it was a mess, like the catharsis of some characters like Katia and Filimos, they were so shallowed portrayed it's hard to even care about what they said, even more to care about them at all. Luckily the music was decent enough to partially conceal this, and seiyuus work is really good, especially Aoi Yuuki as our favorite arachnid girl, big part of her charm was there. Yet there were a couple of good action moments with a decent -in this context- direction, like Kumoko vs Alaba.

Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka is how an isekai should be made, with an interesting and promising new approach to an already burned-out genre, focusing on a deep plot with a witty narrative but shallowly developed, and a great main character to carry the serie.

Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka is how an isekai should not be made, with really bad side-characters, going hand in hand with an appalling animation, and a very weak direction that doesn't do justice to such an ambitious premise.

Even with all its cons still is one of the most decent isekai animes out there, and I'd love to see another season, considering all the potential it has.

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Jul 3, 2021

24 of 24 episodes seen

Overall	7
Story	8
Animation	5
Sound	7
Character	7
Enjoyment	9

So I'm a spider. Well, not really, but so what?

This is an anime that has been on my radar for some time now, mainly because it was originally slated for last year but got delayed due to production issues. Covid-19 must have not helped things there as well. But we did eventually get this year in the stacked winter 2021 and pretty much got overshadowed by Re:Zero season 2 part 2, Mushoku Tensei and Slime season 2. But I definitely thought to myself that I should not sleep on the spider isekai, especially as more episodes aired as time went on. And of course, I'm writing this review to tell you that you should also not sleep on the spider (mainly because you'll squash it) but because it's definitely one of the more interesting narratives that I have watched recently, even if it is burdened of being an Isekai. Which honestly, wouldn't have worked anywhere else.

So get your drink, put your feet up, sit back, relax and don't squash that spider next to you as I present to you the anime review for So I'm a Spider, So What? Let's begin shall we?

Story: 8.5/10

A great catastrophe strikes a school and kills everyone hit by it. But fortunately for some, they get reincarnated to a fantasy world. Some even more fortunate than others. Like one of our main protagonist Shun who gets reincarnated as a son to the king and his brother (or one of his brothers) being designated the hero of the kingdom as well as reuniting with some of his former classmates and appreciates the life he have. But one was not so lucky. Kumoko was reincarnated as a weak spider at the bottom of a labyrinth with dangers from all over the place. Alone with no help, Kumoko must adapt and get stronger to survive the horrors in the labyrinth.

The story does start off quite slow and in a rather typical Isekai fashion with our characters learning about their surroundings and the fact that there is a RPG like system that helps make people stronger and uses that system to get stronger themselves. It's the standard Isekai affair to get viewers comfortable with something familiar but the problem with that is that it does make the first few episodes rather boring because it very much feels like we are going through the motion to get us introduced to the series and characters.

Now, the real meat occurs around episode six and where things start to get interesting. I won't spoil anything but let's just say that the thing that kept me most interested in the story and the show in general was how Kumoko and Shun's story were connected to one another. Throughout the show, we are given clues and leads as to how this connects to that and how this one action can affect the other story. It was essentially playing connect the dots to see how these two stories connected to one another. It did make me engage with the story a lot better than it did to begin with because I wanted to see all the little details that can have effect on the show overall. After an episode finished, I didn't immediately move on to the next show I needed to watch, no I sat there thinking of what could this mean in the future. It got me thinking after the episode was finished and made me want to find out what happens next to see if I am right with my thinking. The show does a great job with how it leaves clues and hints to keep you theorizing and get you hooked to watch what happens next.

What also helped with this was the show's good world building. It's not amazing but it was solid enough to help me understand the world better, especially as we get more episodes and more things are explained due to the situation going on in that episode. As well as the RPG like system that helps tell how strong an individual is. Although the walls of text you have to read when looking at the skills is just ridiculous. But the show does highlight the skills and titles that are important to the story so you won't get swamped or confused when trying to read that wall of text.

Characters: 7/10

I want to start with the characters from Shun's story because honestly, I didn't care too much about them but still enough to be interested (So a sort of middle ground). I mainly was interested in them and their side of the story was to see how they were connected to Kumoko's story and vice versa. They all have a role to play in the overall story and I will admit that they do a solid job when it comes to it. Some of them I do like more than others like Sensei who who definitely has some secrets to hide behind that lively personality. By the end, I was interested to see what would happen to them and if they make it through alive. Although I will admit, I don't remember all of their names but their personality (as well as their designs) do help them distinguish one another.

The star of the show though was obviously Kumoko (mainly helped by a great voice acting performance by Aoi Yuuki). Being alone and no restrictions with the harsh environment she's in and well, being a spider, she does a great job at being entertaining and try to have a positive outlook on things. What I like about her character though is her growth but not by sheer luck or by just being born overpowered. Through strategy and thinking quickly on her feet, we see how she progressively gets stronger, both mentally and physically. While she does get really strong as we go through the show, she's always having to go against characters and monsters that are clearly stronger than her or not being simple pushovers and having to adapt and stratergise makes her fights more enjoyable than the ones in Shun's story because of them being well paced and fleshed out to be more engaging. In fact, more attention was put into Kumoko's fights and Shun's fights but I will get into that in the animation section.

Animation: 5/10

Okay this is going to open some unnecessary can of worms because I actually do think the CG looks good. Not top tier but good enough. Monster designs look good and some of the human looking cgi models like Ariel look good as well. And then there are the fight scenes which look fun, fast and has plenty of action without it looking jarring at all; making for the best fights of the show. Kumoko looks great as well, skittering along like a spider and her expressions are quite funny. What I also like is that while Kumoko's perspective, she is a cuddly little spider, but from everyone else's perspective, she is a scary ass spider that has the ability to kill you just by looking at you. Though that being said, they kind of phoned it in at the end, especially during Shun's story segments. It looked rough and did not have the same polish as before.

That's where I think the animation budget went to because the traditional animation just looks really sub-par with the exception of the character designs as they do look good and do transition alright into CG. Compared to the CG fights, the 2D fights don't have near as much attention put into them and sometimes boils down to still images that seem to be poorly ordered as well as to how the fights transpire. Episode 14 is the peak of this. Anyone who's watched that episode can agree with me that the main fight scene looks janky as all hell and was difficult to keep up what's going on. It's weird that that the CG animation looks better than the traditional animation.

It was clear near the end of this show that there were some major production issues going down relating to this show. And while we did get confirmation about what happend, it didn't change the fact that it caused the animation to suffer by the end.

Sound: 6.5/10

I didn't really care much for this show's soundtrack in all honestly. It's not bad but it's the usual standard fantasy orchestra you hear from other shows with little to make it stand out on its own. The only exception to this is any ost that relates to Ariel as it does help with her menacing and overpowered presence. It's the only part of the ost that stood out to me because it does help set the tone of dread that Ariel has her sights set on you. In fact, all of the haunting tracks do a good job at being, well, haunting and setting the tone. So it ain't all that forgettable.

Really, the standout thing when it comes to the sound department were its OPs. Both, "Keep weaving your spider way" by Riko Azuna and "Bursty Greedy Spider" by Konomi Suzuki are both very similar as they both have great songs, great visuals and are chock full of spoilers. Considering both seemed to be tailored for this anime, they both nailed it out of the park for getting you pumped and ready to go to watch the episode. So it really comes down to personal preference as which one is the best and I would give it to "Keep weaving your spider way" because I like the fast craziness the OP provides with a little bit of a dark undertone to capture what the show is like from Kumoko's perspective.

I would group both endings together because they are basically the same and something I would believe Kumoko would do given the opportunity and are appropriately sung by Aoi Yuuki herself. "Ganbare! Kumoko-san's Theme" and "Genjitsu Totsugeki Hierarchy," are both fast paced and crazy EDs and relay to us how Kumoko feels about her situation while still acting like her usual self. I actually did like them because they do rub off Kumoko's personality well and they are fun to listen to and watching them as well.

Conclusion

I really liked, "So I'm a Spider, So What?" The way the narrative is structured combined with its solid cast made it turn from a show I was ready to dismiss to a show that I want to see more of. It gave me incentives to keep watching and to find out how the two narratives connect to one another. It was the main hook that kept me going and wanted to find out what happens next and to see if I was right. As well as actually having good CG; which most modern anime out there can't really say. Yet despite that, it still has some noticeable flaws. The narrative was slow to begin with and it started tapering off in its last few episodes, Shun's cast of characters could be better but are thankfully not bad, the 2D animation was sub par and the ost could've been better. It's a show that has plenty of flaws that prevent it from being a truly great show. But it didn't truly affect my enjoyment of the show. Again, the interconnecting narrative was the core of what made this show so enjoyable and thinking about how this relates to that while waiting for the next episode made this show so engaging to watch.

There is clearly more to be told and more that is going on so I really want to see what happens next. But given this show's past production issues, we might not get it and if we did, it might not be for a long while yet. Which would be a shame because there are plenty of things to work with here that could lead to one of the best narratives for any Isekai anime. One that actually gets you to think about what it all means instead of it being strictly another bog standard power trip fantasy or light hearted comedy (Not to say they are all bad, but there are quite a lot of them). It is an imperfect show, I will give you that, but I found this show better than I thought it was going to be and something I would eagerly wait to see if we get any more of this show (Or you know, go read the light novel or manga but where's the fun in not waiting with anticipation?)

My Personal Enjoyment: 8.5/10

Overall Score: 7.1/10 Recommendation: Watch it

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Source: https://myanimelist.net/anime/37984/Kumo_Desu_ga_Nani_ka

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