Manga 95012 Kumo Desu Ga Nani Ka Reviews

Trolled. Hoodwinked. Bamboozled. Jebaited.

If you read the synopsis and thought, "This story is about fighting against monsters in an underground dungeon," then I guess I can't blame you. That was more or less my initial guess as well. While I thought that the events would eventually advance further, I believed that at least the genres, themes, and narrative structure would remain at least somewhat loyal to the idea of a conventional battle gauntlet survival struggle. Then I actually started reading further and quickly found myself wondering "What even is this?"

The initial assumption had been reasonable, given the synopsis. After all, that is what it sounds ... like, and usually the synopsis is a good indicator of what will actually happen. It makes perfect sense for you to assume so because it would almost always be the right call. There are good reasons for this. Authors want to make sure that the audience understands what they are walking into. In the rare case that the story is meant to be unconventional, there are usually clear signs that you should keep an eye out. Then the story is openly marketed as an unconventional experience, for instance as a particularly confusing mystery novel. But not always. Sometimes we walk in completely clueless. How meta, come to think of it.

Returning to the assumption about the synopsis, and you probably saw it coming after my intro, but there is a problem: it isn't what it seems to be. The synopsis is technically not wrong, but it makes you expect a battle gauntlet against monsters in an underground dungeon. While such fighting does in fact take place, it isn't really the main substance here. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. The plot, characters, themes, dialogue, narration, and general tone are all different than what one might expect. Even some of the genres were surprise additions, and this novel sure seems to incorporate many genres. The author must have had a good, long laugh when writing this. All the way to the bank, possibly. You really can't trust anything these days. I suppose you should always stay alert because those pesky authors keep coming up with new trolls or at least remixed versions of the classics, but I argue that I was merely being genre-savvy. Stories like this don't usually happen in isekai light novels. Actually, they don't usually happen in literature, period. My initial guesses would have been accurate in almost every instance. It isn't a bad thing though. I don't mind getting trolled as long as the trolls have been constructed well. It is only welcome that now and then people shake me awake with a fresh take on things.

Strictly speaking, it is not uncommon for novels to deviate from their alleged premises in various ways, but it usually happens in a more conventional manner. You probably know how some novels start off with a decent premise, but the author has no idea how to continue beyond it, so it devolves into random aimless filler or an uninteresting repetition of the same generic plot devices over and over again. By the time you get to volume 10, you are wondering why you keep reading the stretched-out, meandering doorstopper that obviously isn't going anywhere. However, in this case the story deviates from the premise by actually delivering a cohesive plotline. And not just any plot but something a bit different for a change.

Here the plot has strong continuity and a low amount of filler, and it moves along at a steady pace that is neither rushed nor painfully slow. It is worth noting that actual effort went into the transition from the web novel to the light novel. They added scenes, viewpoints, and various details, most of which were a good addition. A few scenes were cut, but for the most parts their replacements better convey the main substance. The dialogue and narration have been beefed up as well. Also, the plot was clearly planned beforehand. The author has set up early elements that deliver their payoff much later, and even many of the small details look like they were carefully placed for a reason. Seemingly trivial lines can turn out relevant in the long run. The decisions made by the characters have actual consequences and they usually can't hand-wave them away. One of the lessons here is that the structure of the plot matters. It really does. Events should not simply happen for the sake of filling pages but to actually play a role in the overall narrative.

It is not all about the plot on its own though. The cast of characters is surprisingly large, and they are very generously given viewpoints. And I really mean that. A volume often contains viewpoints from half a dozen people, and even the minor characters manage to get at least a few pages here and there. Sometimes multiple characters get viewpoints right after each other in the same scenes, and it can be pretty amusing to witness their inner monologue in those cases, especially when their perceptions, personalities, goals, and ideologies are entirely different. They may severely misunderstand each other's intentions or launch thinly-veiled jabs at each other. Place mutually antagonistic characters in the same room and try to hold a meeting, and interesting things may happen.

I like the morally grey characters, scheming, uneasy alliances, and temporary ceasefires for a common goal. The relationships between the characters seem to vary quite a bit, and whether they are good or evil is often pretty unclear and may depend on the situation. Incidentally, the protagonist is not a generic hero by a long shot. She is not an unequivocally altruistic person who helps everyone in need. Instead, she can often be selfish and vindictive as well. She can also be fairly ruthless and anarchistic but isn't too edgy or stoic about it (in terms of internal monologue, at least; how other characters interpret her may differ). Of course, not all the characters are equally interesting. Thankfully, some of them may seem boring or generic at first, but they too often end up playing different roles than initially expected. At the very least, the presence of outright annoying characters is relatively small. Another thing I noticed is that most of the characters do not hold self-defeating "villain speeches" in which they explain their plans. Instead, they keep their cards close to the chest. It is for them to know and for you to find out.

Overused RPG and isekai tropes and literary tropes in general are pointed out on occasion, but rather than simply make a note of their existence, this time it carries more weight because the story diverges from them more clearly than most. Instead of "here is the trope, but we'll adhere to it anyway" we have "here is the trope and we are doing something else instead." The in-universe technical explanations can get unnecessarily lengthy sometimes, but the characters at least tend to comment on them in witty ways, and they are usually sufficiently relevant for the plot.

All in all, a breath of fresh air that caught me by surprise in many ways. Well played, well played.

This is my first review on MAL about Kumo desu ga which currently have no other reviews. Also this review is for the WN and I'm up-to-date including all side chapters.

Story 10/10

The story is about Kumoko and her classmates reincarnating into another world with gamelike features. The main story focuses on Kumoko and the side stories focuses on her classmates and world building(they are not necessary to be read but they will be referenced later). The strong points about the story is how gradually it builds up the world, the world's systems and how continuous it is. I also like the plot that will ... gradually be revealed as the story can't go on being just about Kumoko getting exponentially stronger and I like how it ties in with the rest of the story and characters.

I wouldn't want the story to be in any other way and that's why I'm giving it 10/10


Art 7/10

There isn't much of it in the WN but the art from the LN looks good.


Characters 10/10

Characters are what makes or break a story imo and this story is no exception. Kumoko being the main character physical and mental growth is clearly seen throughout the series while keeping her character quirks. Her reactions to the things that happens to her are very enjoyable and is one of the highlights of the series. The other characters are solid and will matter more in the later parts of the series and are overall solid(won't mention anything else in case of spoilers).


Overall enjoyment 10/10

I enjoyed reading it through-out and I sometimes enjoy rereading it despite average fan-translations.

Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka ( So I’m a Spider, So What? )
“Don’t judge a book by its cover!”

Well, I think everyone once looked to a book and said “What a lame cover/premisse, there is no way this book is good.” And I confirm it, I already did it once, but regreted when I ... actually read the book ( it was a manga actually, Oyasumi Punpun for the curious ). So, after learning the lesson, I never judged a book by its cover, and then, when I came across Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka, I thought “Hm, an isekai when the girl reincarnates as a spider? Unusual, I’ll give a try.” At the time, I would never thought that this novel would completely obliterate my expectations and become one of my favourites.
Kumo Desu Ga is a light novel written by Okina Baba and illustrated by Tsukasa Kiryuu. The synopsis is: “When a explosion occurs on a Japanase classroom, one of the high schoolers reincarnates as a spider on the most dangerous and bigger dungeon on the alternative world, the Great Elroe Labyrinth. Thus begins a little spider's journey of clawing, biting, and plotting her way to the top. Forced to confront the powerful beings that reign over the Great Elroe Labyrinth and beyond, she will gradually uncover the truth behind the mysterious fantasy world and the explosion that sent her there.
So yeah, this is the synopsis and, albeit it does not look that compelling, since the MC is a spider and all, but I can say for sure that it is a lot better than you think.
I’ll split my review and sections, and then I’ll talk about each of them. I will maybe break and talk about a section in another section, but I’ll try to focus on the respective section. I read 10 volumes of the LN, just to everybody know. This review is spoiler-free, so rest assured to read. I just comment some things indirectly, so don't worry that it won't ruin your experience.

• Plot , storytelling and narration

First things first, I think everybody, when wondering if it is worth to read a book, thinks of the plot, especially when the book in question is fantasy. And, man, Kumo Desu Ga has a huge and wonderful plot, enhanced by the storytelling. What I mean by this? Plot is what happens, while storytelling is the way the plot is told to us, readers. That’s the reason that most novels are better than others. Some can have better plots, but the storytelling plays a huge role on the quality of it. Ok, I’m not here to talk about this, so let’s focus on Kumo Desu Ga.
The plot of Kumo Desu is wide, huge, unpredictable and much deeper that I though. I mean, when I saw that the novel is an isekai with a spider, I didn’t expect to have a huge plot. I was expecting something akin to a surviving history and maybe somethins else, but it sure blew my expectations. I am not gonna spoil anyone, so rest assured, but I can say that it is the closest to be a desconstruction of the isekai genre. I mean, Re:Zero and Torture Princess are more different from most isekais, but they focus more on the fantasy world than the classic isekai tropes. Kumo Desu does not only that, but includes the fantasy genre to make something else. For the curious ones that don’t mind spoilers, you can check vol 7 and vol 9 to know what I’m talking about, albeit I recommend you to read all of the series before searching for spoilers. Especially in vol 9, when I gave 10 to the series. Maaaaaaaaaan, this is not what apparently is! That’s all I can tell for you without spoiling.
Well, I think for the plot this is what I can tell, but, for me, the storytelling plays a major role in the novel. The first phase of the novel consists in Kumoko trying to survive in the dungeon and leveling up, getting strong to fight tougher enemies. And this is really compelling! The system of skills, which is the basis of this world,, is one of the things that keep me hooked. Wanting to know what will happen when certains skill level up is really nice and addictive! And the evolutions is another thing. When certains creature reaches a level, they can evolve, and this got me hooked too.
The change of POVs is reallt good and enhances your understanding of the world. On one hand, you have Kumoko and her jouney of surviving in the dungeon. On the other hand, you have Schun living in the royal surroundings. These two POVs complements each other and enhances the novel, for me. And it is not limited to these two. The POVs reaches almost all of the main and secondary characters. I’ll talk more about it in the Characters section.
And, lastly, the narration. Kumo Desu has a 1 person narration and, albeit I usually don’t like it too much, here is it perfectly done! What I mean? Well, for starters, it didn’t focus on one characters. 1 person narration is usually done to close the space between the reader and the characters, so you usually focus the book almost entirely on the main characters. But here in Kumo Desu there is no such a thing. The POVs changes every chapter and focus on different characters, and this didn’t affect Kumoko, our protagonist. On the contrary, we have different positions about her ant her actions. And we get to know the other characters a bit more. I’ll save this for the Characters sections too.
Kumoko’s narration is great!! “Naaaai waaaaa.” This is the classic phrase of her, and we know because she talks this a lot of times! Being close to her, hearing her thoughts, reading her actions, make us, readers, survive with her, fight with her, cry with her, be happy with her! Man, I can’t convey my thoughts very well, but you know when you get so close to a character that you start to fell what they fell? Yes, Kumoko is one of this characters!

• Characters

Let’s talk about characters. Characters are the most important part of a book. Albeit there are some plot-drive books, even they have to have good characters, because they are what make us want to read the book. And Kumo Desu has a wide arsenal of awesome characters! The majority of them has a great development and growth, and when I say majority, I really mean this! And the others that don’t have any of this, are lovely on their own way. Seriously, all of the characters are good and nice!
Kumoko is a really good character and protagonist! We are so entranced by her that we start to feel what she feels. There is a certain scene in vol 1, that she felt so lonely, so sad, so lost that I started to cheer for her. “She made something bad? I don’t care. Go, Kumoko! Go get what you deserve!” I thought things like this a lot of times in a single volume, and I generally don’t cheer characters like this. Like, I feel sad for them, be happy with them, but actively cheer them is unusual. Her personality is one of the things that I like about her. Really cheerful, passionate, lovely, cute, determined, focused, twisted ( hehe ) and human. Yes, she is a spider, but she is actually a human, and we can feel her sorrow, her determination in survive the dungeon, and I relly felt that.
Also, in vol 9, we get a revelation about her, and maaaaaaaaaaaaan, that was when I gave 10 to the series and fuck the world! Truly amazing and well-done!
I focused on Kumoko, but there are a lot of good characters. Sophia, Ariel, Potimas, Dustin, Ronandt, 4 little spiders, Merazophis, Wrath, Guli-Guli, Ms. Oka, Fei, Katia. All of them are good characters on their own way. If I can say which one is the better, aside from Kumoko, I would say Ariel. She is AMAZING! Truly lovely and the best character, for me! You start hating her, but then, with the volumes going by, you don’t even know but you are loving her!

• Worldbuilding

Worldbuilding. I think this is a fairly topic when talking about high fantasy. Another world, another creatures, another social ethics, another world. Kumo Desu Ga creates a wonderful world, which has his own rules, history, culture, geography and politics.
The system, which reigns the world, is the best feature for me, since it provides a leeway to the writer works on it. And the story behind it is one of the mysteries of the world.
The history of the world is one of the biggest mysteries for me. I mean, we got glimpses of it, but it is not what is supposed to be. Vol 7, I think, gave us hints on what the world is, but we don’t know yet. And it is promising to be amazing!
The secrets of the world are something that is gonna take a while to be reveled, since it is such a bigger mysterie of the novel, but I can say for sure that is going to be amazing. Vol 10 gave us hints about it too.

• Language

The language os this light novel is easy. As a brazilian, I can say for sure that this novel has a fairly easy language. The only things that I had to look on the dictionary was a few skill’s names and titles. Aside from that, even the scenery description was easy, albeit good.


• Style

The author does not have a distinctive style of writing. But this is not something bad. On the contrary, it is normal. Few author have a distinctive style that you came upon one paragraph and can tells “oh, this is x author.” Just saying for the sake of the review.

• Overall: 10/10

After saying all of this, I came to give the verdict. Should I read Kumo Desu Ga? YES. Totally. 100% YES. This novel is a fucking masterpiece, a subversion of the isekai fantasy medieval genre, or at least the closes to do this. The novel keeps you hooked on the story, makes you want to read more and more and more and never stops, and when you read the last thing you can, you enter in a depression state because you can’t read more!
My tip would be: read without expectations. I think it is for the best, but yes, read it, it is totally amazing!

Spidersekai is a compelling paragon of story progression and character traits, in not just the isekai genre but entire fiction. What Okina Baba has given to us is a web woven by multiple spiders, all of whom are characters in the story. The web gets bigger with time, and complex as the lives of these characters get intertwined.

What makes this work stand out?

🕷 After an entire class gets reincarnated in a fantasy world, the classmates don't stand on the same side. My favorite aspect from Kumo Desu, it clears the delusion of being classmates, that is, being classmates does not equal to being friends. ... On the other hand, neither does this mean being enemies. Self-preservation, yourself before the other.

🕷 Factions, this element is played perfectly by the author. Humans, elves, demons, monsters... it all flares up the world building. Betrayals and schemes, cooperation and vengeance. Along with the students, their homeroom teacher gets reincarnated as well. She is portrayed as someone who tries to gather and protect them, doing anything to avoid watching them fight each other.

🕷 Main Character. Shiraori definitely has the hots for me to rank her high on her design. That's not it, the beginning arcs are entertained by the lively dialogue between Kumoko and herself. I adore her. She will remain somewhat mysterious as the books loosen up the focus on her.

The author's literature is flawless, and official translations are worth spending for. Tsukasa Kiryuu's colorful art adds flavor to the read. Character designs and lore remain two of the finest elements. Although the world building isn't the most unique I enjoy the geographical relationships between various societies.

The spidersekai fanbase is a good commmunity.

Truly a great read for anyone that enjoys an action fantasy novel.

The characters in this story are some of the most enjoyable and likable that I have ever read from a fantasy novel. What makes this novel such a great one is the clear progression each and every one of the protagonists makes becoming ever so stronger and the exciting encounters of stronger and stronger antagonists. This is prevalent in the fights involving more and more ridiculous skills and stats that are displayed when characters appraise their opponents, which gave me one of my favorite scenes in the novel with kumiko appraising an opponent that ... outclassed her so badly that the author wrote pages worth of skills and stats, just to show the level of discrepancy in the power between the two.

This growth in the characters ability is one that does not seem like plot armor like in regular shounen shows, but rather quite logically found. What i dislike about most action oriented fantasy light novels and animes is that they make it seem like the main character is never at risk because they would somehow always be protected by plot armor. What this story does well is telling a story of a character coming from the bottom in terms of power to growing into one that is strong in a way that makes sense. In the case of kumiko we have the character train and grow with stats being displayed. What I loved about this story is how similar it was to an rpg game with all of the work the characters puts in to raise their stats by grinding exp from monsters, and finding out ways to strategize in fighting monsters that are higher in stats.

Another aspect that i enjoyed from the novel was the comedy. It is a novel that makes references to anime culture making the comedy very meta and enjoyable.

I started off reading from the manga and enjoyed it so much that I had to continue reading the story. Upon finding the novel I found that the story was different as the novel has multiple points of view from characters not introduced in the manga. At first, I thought that this would lower my enjoyment because I only cared for the characters focused on in the manga and this was true only to a certain extent. I did not care much for the other characters at first but they grew on me and soon the various points in the story that characters that were developed separately in their own chapters meet for the first time and interact became what I enjoyed most about this novel. If I had to compare, these points in the story felt like crossovers of different stories converging into one bigger one.



TLDR: Awesome character development with multiple character perspectives that meet up when the plot calls for it in avenger-esque events and protagonists gaining insane powers so that they power scale and become badasses

I loved the first few volumes of this light novel. The world building, the characters, the slow buildup of the mysteries of how the world works, the strategies of the fights, they're all great. However, at some point the later volumes just start to feel tedious and filled with filler, and this gets worse as you get closer to the end.

And then perhaps because the author wasted so much time on meaningless filler, the end feels incredibly rushed, anti-climactic, and pulled out of the author's ass. Nothing in volume 16 makes any kind of sense in terms of logical actions that real people would take, ... and the characters constantly contradict themselves just to make the plot work. Like, "I'm going to destroy half of humanity." Half a volume later, "No, I wasn't actually going to destroy half of humanity. I just said that to troll." It's ridiculous.

My score for the early volumes was a 9, but the end brings it down to a 6.

If there are typical Novels out there where the MC have been transfered in the fantasy world, and then becomes OP and gets a Harem and bla-bla-bla-bla...

(WARNING SPOILER!!!)
This one is totally better than any other, like you’re reading a chinese fantasy novel (god defying mc) combined with game elements (grinding) then there’s a comedy parody and breaking the 4th wall with its counter part brutal and dark plot. Our protagonist is the legendary nope ‘Spider’ and the other characters are: ‘The Pacifist Hero’ ‘Unconscious Gay Bestfriend’ ‘Moe Loli Teacher’ Yandere BroCon Sister’ ‘Stupid wannabe king of the world’ ‘Fanatic Religious girl’ ‘Pathetic Ninja’ ‘A combined ... Berserker and Gilgamesh Oni’ ‘Envious Badass Vampire’ ‘Mysterious loser god’ ‘evil god’ ‘delinquent tsundere with brother issues’ ‘Hard working demon secretary’ ‘Disappointing Demon King’ ‘Scum Elf’ ‘Over thinking pope’ ‘prisoned children’ ‘Cunning Monsters’... Just think about how ridiculous this novel is, especially the Greatness of Kumo-sama’s adventure.
(end of spoiler)

NOTE: I Tried to simplify so much, but 'Kumo Desu Ga, Nani Ka?' is so complex that I have to mention the hidden messages, complex literature technique and the character's plot, this novel is very hard to judge. A reliable review of this series should know the Literature Technique, Tropes, Individual Elements, Character Judgment.
~Story~7.75
Let me talk about the story, just by reading the synopsis, you can already conclude what it’s all about, well I can definitely tell that this series is pretty predictable and the pacing is really slow until the “Great War” and then the “Elf Village Battle”... before going to the “Great War” the story is only focusing on the mc’s grinding skills, her level ups, and some dungeon monster battle, and the good thing is, we were given a Side Story about a Typical Reincarnated Hero with an unusual ‘Love Story’ of his best friend turned into a Hot Red Head Noble, and he has a Yandere Sister which compensates to the slow paced grinding and leveling battle story of our Greatest Protagonist ever Kumo. I’ve never seen such a novel who can use plot twist greatly and can make the world fascinating and unpredictable. There’s so much references from any Japanese series in this novel, but those references are so inferior if you’re going to compare it to the combination of their elements in this novel. In the first part of the series before the great war, most of the time is about Kumo’s adventure (grinding) in a funny way, though her methods of living are fascinating. The overall story in the first half is quite predictable despite of having complex and intelligent method of fighting and survival. Next is after the “Great War” where story have become much more interesting than before. The second part is more likely encounter then deal with it, but the most surprising thing in the second part was the overpowered skills and evolution of Kumo. The adventures have expanded, and some were fun like fishing a dragon (seriously?) and the story have become complex and unique like the satirical moments like Wars because of Religion, then there’s the rise of Kumo’s EXP which is relatively comparable to EXECUTION POINTS (Undertale Reference?) which paved the way to her evolution, and lastly Soul Hacking (just read it if you want to know). Aside from Kumo’s Badass story, the side story of our Typical Hero have become dark that puts the other stories into shame, there’s so much dark and tragic twist even though it’s a side story. Just imagine where your typical MC is living an easy life and then suddenly, his life turned into hell. And now the Hype of the Story, During and after the “Elf Battle”, this is the moment where the novel becomes the BEST. There’s so much events that have happened during the Elf Battle, I wanna spoil so much about because it’s too awesome and incredible, there’s so much twist, reveals, character development and lastly Cliffhanger, but I will leave it to you who’s planning to read it. Aside from the Elf Battle, the story have turned greatly that the flaws from the first half have become irrelevant. The best in this part is about Kumo’s complex characteristics and development, the story about leveling up and grinding have fulfilled its role, in short it’s gone, and the awesome fights of Kumo, was gone too, but turned into War Against the Destruction of the world. Now going back to the Post Elf Village story, the general story of the post ‘elf battle’ or the 3rd part has so many character development and twist, to make it simple there are multiple POV’s and multiple stories in the 3rd part of the novel. The story in the post “Elf Battle” is mostly about the character development of the other reincarnated people in the demon side, or the allies of Kumo, since the Side Story of Shun the Hero is about the story of the Human Side.

This novel is using unorthodox Novel of writing, where the Timeline and the POV’s are used in different ways, and the best part is there’s no Flashback overly done which is mostly used to most series just to make the plot complex and understandable. There’s no problem in the technique, but if the reader can’t get used to the style of author, then it’s her/his own problem, because the used of multiple POV and Different Timeline have become one of the signature literature technique of the novel, and only few can do something like this, like Baccano, which is favorable to Readers who prefers Creativity, Complex Setting, Intelligent writing, Unique development and balanced character perspective, if the complaint was the technique, then the problem lies to the reader, not the novel. This webnovel have fully used its potential and was able to present reasonable complex settings and was able to utilize its themes in unique way. And there’s also some satirical themes and great philosophies in which the other series fails to do, the best example was the changed in the reincarnated people, their perception from their old world have changed so much in the new world.

~Character~7.50

[The Description of the Spider Godess] (Note: goshujin-sama=Kumo) {CH.261}
「But, it’s that goshujin-sama? That goshujin-sama who is like an atrocity incarnate? That goshujin-sama who loves mass-murder and eating people’s flesh such that it makes me want to ask if you were born in hell?」

There’s only few series in web and light novels from Japan where Characters are well develop with development, not stupid but reasonable, and Human Thinking is applied to all characters. To make it simple, this Novel have the best characters so far in my standards, the characters probably the best it is to be compared to many novels with the same themes, elements, and setting. Kumo, the protagonist, who started grinding, fighting and leveling have become a complex character and unpredictable schemes with plot twist reveals, there’s so much to talk about her, she’s an incredible interesting complex being with fascinating personality and unpredictable way of thinking, and her weakness is the best. She is a badass intelligent character with her own unreliable breaking the 4th wall narration in the first part, then second part does have a great changed of story telling, where she reveals her type (Dandy) and her powers and evolution have changed greatly. Her perception throughout the world have changed, by the way, I want to mention that she has a power which depicts her very personality, and those powers were so unique that only few in the world was able to obtain, and those powers were achieve in different circumstances and development.

The supporting characters are hard to explain, they are so incredible that only few are flat and most are well-rounded with complex personality and development. Most of the supporting characters does not support the protagonist at all, most of them are neutral or enemies to her, since story started about her soloing the dungeon. And these supporting characters were used in a different timeline with their own POV chapters and stories, which makes them the main character in their own. Now the supporting characters were not ignored when it comes to their strength and intelligence, they also have their own personality and identity, and the they are developing from their old ways and their perception about life are progressing. Not only they have memorable characteristics, they have achieve certain overpowered skills which depicts their own personality, and they are the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ and the ‘Seven Virtues’, same case with Kumo. Achieving these unique skills or power gives balance on the story of the supporting characters and they give life to these skills like Full Metal Alchemist with Seven Virtues. The best thing here is the way of life of the supporting characters, since they were given a chance to witness the unique presentation of ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ and ‘Seven Virtues’ they change a lot from their former flawed characteristics from the past, not only that they change and they grow, but their philosophical moments are outstanding that fits their current identity. Not only the skills represent the very characteristics of the supporting characters, the abilities of these skills are awesome. We were given a story of supporting characters with the same style of Game of Thrones or Fate/Zero and even more closer to Baccano, where almost all the characters have their own in-depth story, experience, and growth development, except there’s a clear Protagonist and Antagonist in the whole story. Now for the antagonist, the antagonist is applied to the Side Stories and Chapters in different POV, to generalize the antagonist, they are well-rounded and reasonable, some were force because of circumstances, or some moves because of their instincts, to make it simple, there’s no clear antagonist in this novel except for the System. This novel is comparable to Bacanno in many ways, where it uses an unorthodox method of novel writing and the characters have their own POV and probably the hard distinction of Antagonist and Protagonist between the Supporting characters, though the difference was Kumo’s or the main chapters.

~Enjoyment~8.25

I’ve enjoyed this a lot, there’s so much creativity in this novel which I can’t find in other series. Despite of having terrible chapters in the first half, the second half have nullified its flaws have exceeded many novels. This novel have become one of the best novels I’ve ever read, the technique of writing is unorthodox, the creativity has reached its potential, there’s unpredictable setting while maintaining its consistency there’s so much twist. The characters were created uniquely with a depth, and only few were used as a plot device, most of them have identity to remember and with the help of the Author, most of them were given a time to their own POV in some chapters, which gives value to them. The most enjoyable here is the intelligent creativity of the novel and the interesting actions of the characters, this one deserves 5/5 but in my strict standards, it’s 7.83/10, though it has some flaws, this novel has its own original signature where other novels can’t copy, mostly it’s filled with unique elements where only few novel has and the common elements in this novel to other common novels were executed exceptionally.

Overall, if you are looking for a creative novel, read this novel, just keep in mind that this novel is different to others, expect what is unexpected then go read it. PATIENCE is a MUST before reading the story. Before you read it, prepare your BGM like from Undertale BGM or any GAME BGM.

Up untill the very end of the series it was an absolute 10/10 to me. I liked the way the story was structured, how complex it got with time without turning boring. In my opinion, characters were nicely written, had their actual personalities rather than being common tropes that can be named with one word. I can absolutely recommend this book to everybody who likes this genre. Ending however was really bad. For some reason everything happened faster than usual by the end of the series, it felt rushed a bit. Also I'm really dissatisfied with epilogue. It was really simple, to the point of ... lacking minimum required details to give a sense of closure. Sure I'd love to see some short stories later down the line, but with ending like this this it will be necessary to get an actual conclusion to this beautiful mess of a story.

Let's get the annoying details out of the door:
- isekai: a class of 25 students + 1 teacher got isekai'd by a mysterious incident into a fantasy world
- main protagonist, a female student, wakes up as a newborn spider (commonly referred to as Kumoko (kumo means spider in Japanese, -ko is a suffix for girl)
- Kumoko tries to survive in the Labyrinth where everything tries to kill her, including her Mother and siblings
- for some reason things in the new fantasy world is game-like, with skills and stats

Except it's not your typical isekai or your typical fantasy.

- The novel switches between several reincarnators' perspective. Even ... in the same event, different reincarnators see things differently, think of things differently, giving drastically different taste and feel.
- Main characters were given a lot of room for character development. Each of them feels unique and memorable.
- As of the latest WN chapter (2019), most underlying mysteries of stories were resolved and explained in a way that is consistent with established story. For example, the reason why other monsters hate Kumoko so much, why a hoard of certain monsters attack Kumoko, or the mysterious existence of skills.
- In general, the story feels well-planned. There are causes and effects.
- The story doesn't feel sugarcoated or fan-service-y. In many conflicts, the story is shown in both parties' point of view. Many "typical fantasy events" are shown in a different, more realistic light.

If you're interested, be warned. There are a crap load of Kumoko's internal monologue and thoughts (and occasionally other people's thought as well). As a result, the pacing is quite slow.

This deserves the high rating it gets. I've seen this series around since getting into light novels but never got it. And when I bought the first volume I left it on my shelf a bit, but I decided to read it because I had another book order I was looking forward to. Well when I picked up this book I completely forgot about that other book series and instantly bought the rest of this series's volumes. Which made it the first time I've ever bought ebooks because of how impatient I was, and somehow I managed to read two volumes a day twice for ... this series.

It's a series easy to binge... But now I shall get onto the contents. I'll keep things vague as not to spoil. Also as someone who LOVES spoilers even for their favorite series, this is a series where even I would be disappointed at if I was spoiled. Because the plot twists are one of the key points of fun in the series. I'll also be discussing the light novel not the web novel, I've heard they both diverge. And so far I've finished ten volumes.

I'm not a fan of isekai. Or so I thought. I wasn't even a big fan of "That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime" (it was enjoyable at the beginning but a while after eh. Also both that series and this are heavily different) After reading through this series, I realized I just wasn't a fan of how isekais were usually written not because I didn't like the isekai genre.
I'm actually a fan of all genres, but my problem is that some series don't use their genres to their full potential. Fantasies just feels like magic worlds made for the convenience of the protagonist.
This series is different however. The world-building is fantastic. The magic system doesn't feel like it's just there for the benefit of convenience, in fact it feels like it's part of the actual story.

How the light novel (not so much the manga) is structured, is that we get the protagonist's point of view as she battles in the cave and we also get side chapters that make up usually 45% of the volume of the protagonist's classmates. Some people find the side chapters boring, and I do find them way less interesting than the protag's POV, but if you don't expect much from them they are actually very enjoyable to read. Or at the very least, are VERY important and worth it to read, they aren't there just for fun only.

The characters in this series are all intriguing. Even Shun, the protagonist of the side chapters, is well written. He's obviously meant to be generic, and he is. But he's realistic, his flaws are developed nicely, his character makes sense, his mindset makes sense, and even if he has it easy compared to the others he has gone to some intense mental struggles. And it's not like things always go his way, they usually don't, there are actual consequences to stuff.
And an interesting aspect is that, all of the reincarnations regain their memories as soon as they are born. As babies they have the mindset of their past life. Which is utterly terrifying, you'll be born in a world you don't know about and as a helpless baby unable to do anything. Though if you were born as our protagonist you'll literally need to escape dying as soon as you hatch.
One of my favorite things about this series is that, all the characters have lived a completely different life for many years and in a different environment since being babies. And they all come out as pretty much different people because of that. Shun is someone who doesn't want to accept that his classmates are changed, and he's very mentally stubborn about it. Knowing that he has some people he knows from past life is probably a way to cope with some loneliness experienced in this new world, so he can't accept seeing them as different people.
Like dang, there's so many characters I can read on in this series.
The things I've listed are enough reasons to check the series. But I haven't discussed the best part of this series yet, so I shall...
THE PROTAGONIST. She's great. Her alone is enough of a reason to read this series. Judging by the series title I expected her to be a bit of a sassy bitch which I was all in for, and while she is pretty sassy and not the greatest person per se... What I didn't expect was for her to be pretty relatable. Reading the first volume she had a lot of things to relate on.
She's also pretty silly, and has a very very strong will. A surprisingly amount of pride. She fights for survival, and she has smart strategies.
A female isekai protagonist isn't all too common, not to mention that she's WELL-WRITTEN. Everyone reading the series literally thought the author was female until it was proven otherwise, he does write the female characters better than the male ones somehow.

I've heard one of the reviewers said the story gets worse when she leaves the cave. But, personally, that's where things pick up. From that point the story has made big revelations and the story has pretty much shifted. When stories lose their original premise, that is the point I stop reading because the story stopped what I signed up for. BUT, this series is different. The plot gets better and there are more character interactions. The character interactions are one of the best parts of the series.
And the protagonist is lovable, so even if the plot is decent having her is enough for it to be amazing. But the plot is actually more than decent so that is why I consider the series a masterpiece.

I love this series. We finally have an isekai starring a well-written strong female protagonist, who is also a dork but also very cool. And she's a spider. But so what?

This review is based on the official english release of the first 3 volumes of "So I'm a Spider, So What?"

This is also an updated version of my original review now that I have read more volumes.

Story:

For the most part, the story has picked up the pace and is now moving in a direction slightly similar to the Overlord series. It no longer involves just Kumoko and her adventures throughout the Labyrinth, the story has now gotten bigger and moved on to not only Kumoko's story, but the world's story. After 3 volumes the world's rules and mysteries start to unravel one by one, and ... although there are still plenty of questions left unanswered, it only strengthens my resolve to keep reading.

Character:

The story is told from the two perspectives of the main characters Shun and Kumoko along with some interludes from other characters. Unfortunately if you dislike one of the two main characters you will not have a particularly good time reading this series. Sadly I am one of those people. Although I adore Kumoko and her chapters very much, HALF of the story is told from the perspective of a generic hero character. I often found myself taking breaks as soon as I saw the letter "S" on the chapters, and it instantly ruined the immersion I had from the previous chapters before it. His chapters are thankfully, very short (at least 10 pages) but somehow they feel EXCRUCIATINGLY long because of how little character he has. It's just not fun to read and it makes it very hard to care about what he does. His arcs, although interesting and full of potential, falls short for me because of this.

Translation:

No problems with the translations, no mistakes to break the flow of reading.

Overall Enjoyment:

My enjoyment came mostly from the Kumoko chapters and the small chapters of the side characters, another part of my enjoyment came after reading the novels, speculating what could happen in the next volume. The story just keeps getting bigger and it makes me excited to see more.

Conclusion:

In the end, the first volume will decide if you like the series or not. I wrote on my first review of the first volume that I did not like Shun, that I thought he was just there for exposition, and that he had little character development. My impression of him has not improved even after 2 volumes. I recommend that you read the first volume first, and if you don't like any of the two characters, too bad because it seems like neither of them will change very much. As for me, I just want Kumoko to kill Shun at this point, now that would be interesting.

I have read 4 volumes of the light novel and all of the current chapters of the web novel. That being said so far the LN is much better at telling the story than the WN. The translations, explanations, names, everything is better.

id give the LN a 4 so far and the wn a 3 1/2.
Moving past that there are some problems that I have overall with the series but are bigger problems in the wn. That is the fact that the author repeats and rephrases the same info in different ways back to back over multiple paragraphs or pages for no reason. You will ... literally get the same information repeated to you in a different way, much like im doing now but more annoying.

This is one of my three major problems with this wn/ln and light novels in general. You do not need to spend a whole page reintroducing a characters quirks that we have been aware of for the past 300 chapters. We got it bruh move the hell on and tell the story.
I already know the MC is a jackass who has problems communicating, I dont need you telling me that again after reading 1000 pages of you already telling me that 500 times.

My second problem is the chronology of the story. I was hoping that the reason for structuring the order of the chapters would reveal itself later on but in all honesty it really hasnt. The story and timeline is all over the place and it even switches for each character. The same character can have chapters in the past and future while the other character is in the present, then past, then future and present. Nah this isnt an compelling story telling element but you tried it author.

My third problem which isnt as big as the other two is very minimal growth in the main character (s). I like kumo overall but the way she goes about abusing certain characters, and the way she gets when she drinks is supposed to be funny. Unfortunately its not written well enough to come off as funny and seems forced and unneeded.
Still this is better than most light novels

Maybe I'm very, very, very late on this. Normally, if it's about something really good, I'll just keep quiet, but on second thought, I guess we should leave a trail of opinion. This story is really good, without exception, that's all I feel. For me this is the best of isekai tensei. I don't understand why some people here are making very long reviews, just looking at it makes me dizzy, so I don't want to read it.

At first I thought Slime was the best, but somehow it changed to number 2 after I read Mushoku. And now that I'm reading this, you know what ... happened? I actually finished every single volume in just one sitting, and I ended up finishing 12 volumes in just 3 days (I'm not a NEET, okay? I just happened to be having some free time).

Now my shoulders are sore, my hair is tangled, my face is dull, and my eye bags are big. But it's worth it. I found Solace. I feel like D. Or may I call myself E?

the light-novel is really great.
but unfortunately it goes down.
its just becomes less and less good.

the main flow of this novel as it seems is.
that the creator don't know what to do next.
it has more and more filler dialog.
more and more slow paced events.
while the first 2/3 of the novel ~ 200+- on the main chapters.
is really good writen and exciting to read.
...
from after the "plot twist" it just start's to get less and less good.
mainly because the main plot becomes dragged out to much.
the main "quest" of the characters is absurd.

the "pride" thing in this show and being a "good" person is too deep in this one. so deep that it becomes annoying.
espacially because the show doesn't start that way initially.
and just peek up those thing in the second half.
you have to keep up with like 50 unlikeble characters.
and like 3 characters at most that you like.

so yeah.
the first 250 chapters or soo are 10/10 on any note.
then its drops.
latest chapters would be around 6/10
overall 8\10.

A fantasy lovers wet dream of a read.

These light novels have it all monsters, mystical creatures, hero’s, demons, gods, aliens?, human cyborgs? Reincarnations and a not forgetting a spider.

Please note this not a final review as such as the series is on going and currently 1-10 available in English translation. 1-13 in Japanese.

The story gives you that constant I must read more feeling. The style of writing which is in the first person help you immerse into the characters and quickly helps make that connection with them and the bond needed to take characters to next level. In terms of main protagonists there is ... so much growth it great. My only criticisms of this book is it bit slow build up through the first 3 vols and the Tarantino time line is not something every one will enjoy, but from then on out pretty much non stop rollercoaster. If your into fantasy, sci-fi, isekai.
The enjoyment level of this light novel series was up there for me.

The art work of the few illustrations you get each novel are outstanding and something I certainly looked forward to seeing while reading the series so far just help bring the story to life even more.

Overall this series novel for me is a worth 8/10 and can’t wait to read more.

Note there is a manga but it not at same level as the light novels.

Looking forward to anime adaption of this series also and hopefully can live up to the source martial so far.

Regardless of anything else, I have to start with saying that this is a good series, even if I have a few gripes about it.
The title's pretty self-explanatory, and if you've seen the anime you know what to expect. The only things I'd point out against this story is that I feel the non-linear storytelling hurts it a bit (I remember getting to the point the anime left off, only to have to go through volumes of the years in between the timepoints that I didn't really care for. The end is also... kinda rough. It's not bad, but it breaks the expectations in a ... way that might not sit well with everyone.
In any case, this is an isekai that you can read regardless of if you're tired of isekais or are new to the genre. Again, despite the gripes, it's a pretty good series.

What a story. All I can say is that there's always something fun going on. And the fact that it's narrated from the point of view of the main character makes it that much more enjoyable, since her personality adds more to the events happening around her.

This series does right what a lot of others in the genre don't, and gives both logical and intriguing reasons for the existence of the very bizarre and out-of-place elements that pop up in just about every volume. On top of that, there were even a few twists in this that weren't entirely predictable. These books rank high on ... my Isekai tier list. From humor to action to intrigue, there are plenty of hooks to grab you. And for a very large cast of characters, just about all of them are done very well. Each one progresses well throughout the story, and the central conflict becomes that much more interesting as more players are thrown into the mix.

If you're looking for a good read, this is a great pick. So grab a book and enjoy.

I adore Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? (KumoDesu), though it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why I enjoy it so much. At the start, it was the inhuman protagonist struggling to survive that kept me going. Then you learn that there’s more to the world than meets the eye, and that the weird things that are happening are there for good reasons. Then the story shifts, and it’s the diverse cast of characters with interesting interpersonal relationships and conflicts that drove my engagement. In this way and others, there are multiple disparate arcs in KumoDesu that naturally lead into each other, and that might be the ... thing I enjoy most about this story. I also enjoy the characters and the worldbuilding, and most of the story. Read more about those below!

KumoDesu has a large, diverse cast of interesting, multi-faceted characters. And if you’ve read the synopsis, that may come as a surprise. But it’s true! One of the coolest things about the story is how many chapters are told from alternate perspectives, which all give different insights into the world and the people in it. On top of that, there’s a wide variety of character interactions throughout the story, from funny to serious to slice-of-life. These people feel realistic and grounded despite the fantasy setting, although it would be misleading to imply that the setting isn’t also realistic and grounded.

Because it is both of those things. Not that magic is at all realistic or anything; just that everything about the setting makes sense, given the initial assumption that magic exists. You probably won’t believe me when you start reading. The initial arc has “LitRPG” written all over it, after all. But some of the best parts of the story for me were when things clicked together, and I was like, “holy crap that makes sense!” This happened a lot, and I loved it. I'd be happy to provide concrete examples here, but almost anything I could provide would spoil a lot; you'll just have to trust me. KumoDesu’s world is thought-through and carefully put together, and that’s great.

The story, as it happens, is similarly well-constructed, despite a few pitfalls. The plot is driven largely by the world and the characters, and as such, events feel natural when they unfold. Because part of the plot is a world mystery, some of this is not evident until later, and this is compounded by the fact that some side stories are set at different points in time. I enjoy the story greatly despite and often because of this. However, some story beats won’t tickle everyone’s fancy—they differ wildly in the long run. If you’re only in it for the action-packed first arc, some of the later bits won’t satisfy; and if you don’t care for that first bit, you aren’t even going to know about the very different later arcs. An even bigger pain point might be the abrupt ending. The web novel's ending was revised a bit in the light novel to make it more palatable, but this also increased the pace of the already brisk finale. I like a good denouement, so this was disappointing, but at least there is an epilogue.

Everything so far has been mostly praise, so let’s take a minute to talk about the prose. While grammar throughout KumoDesu is nearly impeccable, the style doesn’t always come across very flatteringly. From reading the WN, I understood that the main character has a habit of repeating things in a more incredulous tone. Something like, “Oh, I’m screwed. [two line-breaks] I’m screwed!” In the LN, it doesn’t always come across this way, and will sometimes manifest as a second paragraph simply rephrasing the previous paragraph. This does make some sense, because the main character is also a very careful thinker, and doesn’t make important decisions lightly. But it can give some portions of writing a slower feel than they perhaps should have. There are a few other quirks, which I’m certain are artifacts of translation from Japanese to English, and it’s hard to fault them for this. A lot of the translation is very good, and it’s not very noticeable at all except for the character names, some bits of culture, and pop-culture references being obviously Japanese. I only found a few translation errors, and only for minor skill names getting mixed up or translated differently in different spots.

The cast and world are great, the story is good, and the writing is ok. What else even is there in a book? The illustrations? They’re lovely! I highly recommend checking out some version of Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? if it sounds at all interesting. The LN is good, the WN is free, the manga has more pictures, and the anime has color and sound.
(Maybe don’t watch the anime unless you are allergic to paper or something, though. If you need music, my soundtrack for KumoDesu is Neighborhoods by Blink-182.)

--The review contains spoilers--

Edit: 6/29/18 2:16 AM Quality of review update

This is one hell of an emotional ride. Various things In this story seem awesome. But then the story feels the need For throwing In small things. All those small things come together and can ruin the story. I personally feel that the Manga Is leaps and bounds better.

Took me longer than usual by a couple days. We get various qualities In the Grammar, It does get better later on. The stories that also happen can be lacking and don't call me back to read another chapter.

Compared to the Manga, The LN just doesn't ... compare. The manga fixes up things and I never once thought that the story was boring unlike In the LN.

There Is also dumb reveals In this. Such as the reveal that the MC Is actually originally a classroom spider and that the girl she thought she was Is some type of god. I like the Idea that she is actually a human and that she get's her powers and returns to Earth and visits her parents ( Something I see stories rarely do with Isekai situations) I was wanting by the end of the story for the students that reincarnated to return to Earth and reunite with their parents.

Also, The dumb story arc of the Elves. One of the weirdest and most misplaced story arcs I've seen In all of the Japanese media. It's one of the best examples of a Mcguffin since Mass Effect Andromeda, At least for me.

At times I found myself filled with anger at how the character acts. The entire time she's talking about wanting to be friendly and talk to the humans with a nice relationship with them. Yet she suddenly turns to kill them at the slightest provocation. It seemed like the story didn't know If they wanted her to be nice or jsut not care cause we'd get some scenes that made me think she'd be friendly to humans.

The way the God's are portrayed bug me kind of. They are so underdeveloped and underwhelming. I guess you could say It's a personal preference but I always liked God's being Immortal.

The entire thing with souls existing In this world annoys me. I'd rather Souls just be a thing that no one but goes can interfere with. They are so weak and fragile. I dislike that the original Demon King's souls was being consumed by the MC ( It failed) So no the DK has a different personality.

The cast gets way too big. It got hard for me to keep track of who is who even after the MC first met humans outside of the Dungeon.

Might just be me but there Is something sad about all the people being reincarnted.I'd rather It just be the MC herself reincarnated and maybe some other students like the Vampire girl ( Can't remember the names) and the classroom's Teacher. I think there Is something there and would be more entertaining then what we got. I also just think that the other group of classmates offer nothing to the story and are just there for a story moving device.

Story randomly brings up the fact that 3 children died after they reincarnated. It's so random when It's brought up and doesn't affect the story and just seems more depressing than anything.

The story does something that I can't really call any other Isekai story doing. The MC actually has the ability to return back to Earth. I like this and always wish the MC's in other stories had the ability. I still wish the MC returned home as always being a Human and reunite with her parents. I imagine that they are surprised to see their daughter again and find out what's happened. Maybe the MC had a friend In another class and her friend see's her again after all this time.

Only two reincarnated people I find interesting and fun. That Is, Teacher/Sensei and the Vampire girl.

Vampire girl had the most work put into as a character. I like her personality and how she's always suffering from the MC's choices In a comedic way. I can defiantly see her as a romantic partner. I do like how she and the MC kind of got a Mother-Daughter relationship.

The Teacher/Sensei Is nice character cause she's had so much pressure on her. I don't like that she's part of the Elves race that is all for whatever reason evil. But It's honestly a nice type of character.

The Demon King for me Is probably my favorite. I like that she and the MC are the only compatible ones. They are each other's first friend. I actually like imaging them as a couple.

It's honestly a nice story when you look at It. They are both loners and don't have friends. At first, they are indifferent to each other, Then as time goes on they become friends and start to rely on each other more and more with the MC being the only person she will listen to out of a friendship and not because someone Is more powerful ( Looking at you D)

I like imagining that after the business Is done with this world. That they both go on a type of honeymoon or just vacation together and visit Earth. I like the image of these two girls with unique features. Going to various places on Earth Like Paris, New York, and Moscow.

I just recently read 7 or so of the newest chapters that have been piling up. I've come to the conclussion that the story can be lazy and that people are idiots. Not gonna go into too much detail. But I noticed lazy writing like " Well If you asked D why she did that, She'd probably just say cause It seems interesting" It's kind lazy. Not gonna exampt this story from lazy writng just because I like It.

Overall I will defiantly say this Is a disappointment. Especially compared to the Manga. I initially wanted to wait for more Manga chapters come out. But my curiosity got the best of me so I read the LN. I just wished that the Manga was caught up. I hope the Manga will deviate from the LN. Such as the dumb reveal with the true identity of the MC and the Elf story arc.

This light novel is written like garbage. You will enjoy it to begin with, but after the 6th novel, it just begins unwinding and unwinding like a ball of yarn on fire. Its a repetitive inner monologue.......why. Why choose to write your light novel that way? I personally think its because the author has no clue what hes doing.

The story is alright in places but also sort of dumb. The characters it belittles or minimises are the ones i find praiseworthy. The Hero, that wizard guy, the parallel minds -she kills them for trying to kill all the humans, but in the end her plan ... is to kill abunch of them anyway?
One of the best volumes is from julius' perspective.

The main character is good until she kills her parallel selves.

fuck this author, he cannot write for SHIT. I could actually do a better job and im insane.