Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? (So I'm a Spider, So What?)

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 蜘蛛ですが、なにか？

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 24

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Jan 8, 2021 to Jul 3, 2021

Premiered: Winter 2021

Broadcast: Fridays at 21:30 (JST)

Producers: Movic, AT-X, Sammy, Crunchyroll, Kadokawa Media House, NTT Plala, Kadokawa

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Millepensee

Source: Light novel

Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery

Themes: Isekai, Reincarnation

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.45¹ (scored by 231,831 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #2043²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #517

Members: 436,018

Favorites: 4,343

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7.45

Ranked #2043Popularity #517Members 436,018

Winter 2021TVMillepensee

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Episodes: /24

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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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Episode Videos

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Adaptation:

Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kumoko

Main

Yuuki, Aoi
Japanese

Shiraori

Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi
Japanese

Feirune

Supporting

Kitamura, Eri
Japanese

Ariel

Supporting

Uesaka, Sumire
Japanese

Keren, Sophia

Supporting

Taketatsu, Ayana
Japanese

D

Supporting

Hayami, Saori
Japanese

Wrath

Supporting

Oosaka, Ryouta
Japanese

Anabald, Karnatia Seri

Supporting

Touyama, Nao
Japanese

Harrifenas, Filimøs

Supporting

Okuno, Kaya
Japanese

Harrifenas, Potimas

Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Ogata, Mitsuhiro

Producer

Tokumura, Kenichi

Producer

Isogai, Noritomo

Producer

Kurosu, Nobuhiko

Producer

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Opening Theme

	1: "Keep weaving your spider way" by Riko Azuna
	2: "Bursty Greedy Spider" by Konomi Suzuki

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Ending Theme

	"Ganbare! Kumoko-san's Theme (がんばれ！蜘蛛子さんのテーマ)" by Watashi / Kumoko (Aoi Yuuki)
	2: "Genjitsu Totsugeki Hierarchy (現実凸撃ヒエラルキー)" by Watashi / Kumoko (Aoi Yuuki)

Reviews

Jul 3, 2021

Stark700

Recommended

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

Rhapsody-

Mixed Feelings

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 ...

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Jul 12, 2021

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Not Recommended

The spider isekai is another case of trying to subvert a few things, only to fail in the longrun because you focus on the wrong things. One twist the anime went for was about having two storylines developing independently while at the same time feeding off each other. In one story you had the main heroine getting reincarnated as a spider and having to survive in a very dangerous cave, and in the other story it was about her fellow students reincarnating as various people and monsters in the human world where they are given proper upbringing and military training. The antithesis of seeing the ... spider having to fight hard in order to survive while the humans are having a mostly easy-going life was funny for a few episodes. Another twist in the second half of the show is the characters helping out the demon lord. Instead of having the heroes being the good guys who are gradually leveling up in order to defeat some distant evil party, in this show they become the evil party. With proper presentation, the anime could have been a very good subversion of a done to death formula. But as I mentioned already the presentation was far from perfect for the following reasons.

1) The production values are not very good. The CGI monsters are standing out too much and that takes you out of the experience. The artwork is also getting worse after awhile, resulting in the final episodes where things get more serious and should be given more attention to come off as very ugly to look at.

2) The tone shifts are not transitioning well. When the show wants to move from comedy to tragedy, or from lighthearted moments to more grimdark ones, it usually does it in a sudden way, which again takes you out of the experience. For example, the spider is constantly joking about things that a second later will try to kill her, and that can be very jarring.

3) The storylines are uneven. Instead of being treated as equally important, the spider side of the story is far more interesting than the human side. Every time the scene changes to show what the humans are doing it can be very boring since it comes off as a generic fantasy adventure with way too many bland characters who are doing close to nothing. As a result, you never care about the humans as much as you care about the spider, which means half of the show is very bland.

4) The videogame terminology is off-putting. Since everyone has levels and skill trees, you get this constant narration of an AI telling you how many experience points you earned and what skills you unlocked. If you are not fine with everything playing out like a videogame, you are not gonna like the show. In traditional stories you learn something new by studying or training. Over here it just appears as an extra ability in your mind because you did something. It’s artificial since it doesn’t happen in an organic way and it’s always followed by huge infodumps and statistic screens.

Thus, despite its good intentions, the spider isekai is another failure of an anime that doesn’t improve the image of isekais as overused, badly written and badly presented escapism.

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Poll: Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Jul 3, 2021	365 replies	by perfumegenius »» Apr 15, 10:50 AM
As a LN reader, it hurts that this probably won't get another season NXT_2006 - Feb 15, 2023	14 replies	by DonKhixote »» Apr 5, 4:02 PM
So there's no romance in there? rishamr - Mar 25	11 replies	by Valenstine »» Mar 29, 7:48 AM
Poll: Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Feb 19, 2021	162 replies	by Ratris_Decision »» Mar 7, 4:07 AM
Poll: Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) KANLen09 - Jan 8, 2021	331 replies	by Ratris_Decision »» Mar 5, 2:46 AM

Kumo desu ga, Nani ka?

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