Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? Episode 13 Discussion

duhu1148 said:
Recent episodes have been better outside of the battles (which are still dull and predictable). The plot and world-building are shaping up nicely. But man...the spider protagonist is just so damn annoying. I'd bump the score of this show by an additional 2 points if I could swap her personality for something else.

duhu1148 said:
Recent episodes have been better outside of the battles (which are still dull and predictable). The plot and world-building are shaping up nicely. But man...the spider protagonist is just so damn annoying. I'd bump the score of this show by an additional 2 points if I could swap her personality for something else.

Abredon said:


Battles dull and predictable? I think you must be thinking of another anime.

If not, describe for me the next battle.

linkhuesitos said:

tbf it seems that not being able to shut up is her cope method for not being able to talk with anyone.
Let's just pray that that change in the near future.

duhu1148 said:

The same, tired formula that this series has used for it's fights since episode one- kill monster >level up> repeat. And in fairness, a great many other shows have this problem too.

duhu1148 said:
She'll kill her mom, level up and/or evolve, and at some point either during or after the fight (where something stronger shows up) it will look like she'll die or is in some kind of peril. But by virtue of being the protagonist she's not in any real danger.

The same, tired formula that this series has used for it's fights since episode one- kill monster >level up> repeat. And in fairness, a great many other shows have this problem too.


It's just the character quirk that bothers me. This being her method of cope doesn't make it less annoying, imo.

DannX said:
Amazing! New OP is great, so much foreshadowing without really stating anything, and the ED is OK too.
Things aren't looking good for Schlain. He seems still hesitant about the whole hero thing, but that's understandable. Looking forward to how it goes.
On Kumoko's side, she totally didn't destroy a fortress guarding the entrance of the labyrinth, nope, wasn't her... xD
Fight with her siblings was great.


You're not wrong, but it's a little more complicated than that.

MC kills monsters that threaten her life. Killing gives EXP. She levels up. That's just the natural way of things. But every new enemy fights differently, and so she has to come up with new ways to fight, and that is what makes the battles interesting. How will she handle every new threat, and how her enemies will handle her incredible power.

I think the strategies she's been using so far might or might not necessarily be useful in future fights. She'll probably have to keep training/learning.

MtsTrapengz said:

Also, I don't see why you don't like personality, I think it fits the character, could you perhaps give me an example of a better personality

duhu1148 said:
She'll kill her mom, level up and/or evolve, and at some point either during or after the fight (where something stronger shows up) it will look like she'll die or is in some kind of peril. But by virtue of being the protagonist she's not in any real danger.

The same, tired formula that this series has used for it's fights since episode one- kill monster >level up> repeat. And in fairness, a great many other shows have this problem too.

Abredon said:

You're wrong.
First:

A great many shows have the formula of the protagonist not dying in mid-story battles?
Try pretty much EVERY story/show/script EVER WRITTEN!

You CANNOT write a story that kills the Protagonist before the resolution.

By definition, any such protagonist ISN'T the protagonist. Hamlet wins every fight until the end of the play. If Hamlet died in the middle, he wouldn't have been the protagonist.

So you are saying that ALL battles in ALL stories are boring because you know that the protagonist won't die (the protagonist could be crippled and in bed for 3 years, but not dead).

You DIDN'T describe whether Kumoko would win or lose.

You DIDN'T describe what skills or innovative use of terrain/skills/etc. She would use.

You are ALSO wrong in that a lot of battles don't show her in peril - the fight in episode 13 was one - she was never at risk of dying(the tatatects can't teleport), only of not winning.

The Anime DID skip a lot of similar fights where she simply overpowered enemies to level. They weren't necessary to the plot.
It ALSO skipped an important early fight, where she was left half dead for weeks hiding under a rock in Araba's cave recovering very slowly.

And,

duhu1148 said:
Color me shocked that I touched a nerve...



Will she fight her at some point? Yes or no.
Will her mother die? Yes or no.
Will someone/something stronger show up? Yes or no.
Will she level up/gain skills/evolve? Yes or no.

Yes. I don't know what your vague definition of "pretty much" is supposed to amount to, but there are exceptions. Regardless, most of these type of things are terrible in general, in part for that reason.

In any case, it's not the predictability itself that I necessarily hate; it's how needlessly dragged out it's been. I didn't need to watch 13 episodes of her "struggling" to kill monsters and leveling up endlessly. Get her into the real world so that she may influence and interact with it. That's what I'm interested in. To hell with these mindless level-up battles.


It's happened before in various forms of media but this is moot. I think you misunderstand what I was getting at.

Caps lock count: 3

You clearly don't understand what a protagonist is.

This is again false, as there are exceptions. But in general I find most battles boring, yes.

However neither did you ask me what I found dull about it; you only asked what I found predictable. The two are not entirely synonymous.

Caps lock count: 6

Her mom's gonna eat her and we're getting a new protagonist?

Holy shit, my respect for this series is about to shoot through the roof.

Who cares? She could fart in her mom's face, shoot rainbow lasers or summon a pony. None of these would make me care about the fighting any more than how little I care now.

Caps lock count: 8

Still not relevant.

Okay...

She'll be brought back, so who cares. It might as well not happen.

I think you missed the point. I pointed out the predictability of it since you asked, but that on it's own isn't what made it dull. The fights are incessantly dragged out way too long and it's the same damn thing every time, with zero effect on anything other than herself. They have no relevance to the outside world. It's just endless killing things and leveling up and getting skills and evolving. 13 episodes of this now. I have hopes that's about to change though.

You want to know what the best fight by far in this series was? Kumo vs the human mage (Rendant or something) and his companions. Because it's finally an interaction with the outside world and giving us at least a small glimpse of something that could be relevant down the line to other characters and the world at large.

Also 11 uses of Caps lock dude? Take a chill pill.

Abredon said:


Name a single story where the protagonist dies before the resolution without being replaced by another protagonist.
There are stories with multiple protagonists, but they are rare, and there is always a protagonist in play.

I asked you to describe the next fight (since it's so predictable, you must know how the fight proceeds, who is winning at each stage, and who ends up winning the fight. Note that a loser of a fight can live).
You stated a fight that is foreshadowed and looks inevitable, but which will not be the next fight.
You then stated a couple of common threads of many of Kumoko's fights, but gave no description

To be fair, I don't know whether the next fight in the anime will be on the human or Kumoko side. I don't know if the anime will skip some of the next fights on Kumoko's side, but I do know that there is more going on in those fights than you realize. These fights will have future consequences .

I understand you don't want to see the RPG grind, but it is a significant part of the story.
You probably also don't care about the skills and the System, which also are a significant part of the story.
You probably don't bother asking:
1. Who created the System?
2. Why are certain skills there?
3. Why do some skills have a cryptic description?
4. What do I, MA, and W mean?
5. Who is narrating the skill gains?
6. Why are some skills essentially useless or traps?
7. Why is our protagonist nameless?

These are all questions that arise during/because of these "boring" fights.

Abyhape said:
I was wondering, why Leston call the teacher by her previous name instead of Filimos? I thought only those who reincarnated know their previous name. Am I missing something here?