Hidden Gem of Isekai: So I’m a Spider, so What? Wittiness and Charm

There have been many installments of the isekai genre in the last few years that welcomed the popularity of anime and manga fans to the fullest. However, in the sea of new isekai series', there is one that slightly went under the radar of the fans in the 2020s—Komu desu ga, Nani Ka? or known by the English-speaking fans as So I'm a Spider, So What?. Why this silly title caught so many eyes of the fans, and what happened to the series that started its journey from a web novel?

Web Novel That Got Popular Among the Isekai Fans

The series is about and follows our titular character, who was reincarnated into a spider after being killed in the explosion that wiped out her whole class. Our protagonist, initially without a name, later named by the fans 'Kumoko,' wakes up in the most dangerous cave in the world and now needs to fight hard and learn new skills to survive. The world has strange rules that include the aspects of role-playing games (RPGs), and Kumoko needs to 'level up' and gain skills that will be enough to survive in the new dangerous world. However, this isn't only a story of a strange spider but also other students who died in the explosion and lived through the same fate as Kumoko—being reincarnated as powerful characters with high skill levels.

The series is written by Okina Baba and illustrated by Tsukasa Kiryu, at first as a web novel, then the light novel that immediately caught interest among the fans because of the undeniable charm and wittiness of the main character, Kumoko. The web novel thoroughly charmed the fans, and it was later serialized by the Japanese publishers, Fujimi Shobo, who later released and printed the series in the form of a light novel in 2015.

Light Novel That Followed Got More Traction

The ending of the web novel So I'm a Spider, So What? was abrupt by Kiryu, due to the series' adaptation to light novels, and these books were the center point and probably the best part of the franchise. It expanded on the character of Kumoko and focused more on the deeper lore of the So I'm a Spider, So What? universe. Besides Kumoko, the classmates got their spotlight due to the parallel storytelling of Kiryu, who managed to balance the plot very well and even throw shocking revelations towards the readers.

Overall, it was longer and more popular among the fans; however, it had a slight issue—it removed itself from the main character of Kumoko and started explaining the deep lore of the whole series. There are at least five volumes where fans read about other characters but Kumoko, who was the driving force of the plot. This criticism was valid at the time of the volume's releases; however, that needed to be done so the fans understand the intricacies of the new RPG world but also the fate of the other characters after the explosion. Soon after, in 2015, the light novel was adapted into a manga series, and it wasn't very well received by the fans of the original content.

Manga Took a Chance on a Drastic Change

Manga got its first release in 2015, and it's still going on, with volume 14 being released in English in April 2025. The manga series is written by Asahiro Kakashi and published by Yen Press. The ones that criticized novels for their extended explanation of the universe got disappointed when manga series started focusing solely on Kumoko's story that expands over 15 years in the universe. Now, the manga is far from bad, but light novels are good because of their worldbuilding and expansion of the plot that makes readers understand the character motivations and intricacies of this strange game-like world.

The story of the series is simply following the point of view of Kumoko, who develops into a powerhouse and whose journey is incredibly interesting. However, it wasn't manga that inspired the anime adaptation but the light novels that fans fell in love with.

Anime That Never Fulfilled Its Potential

In 2020, we got the news that the light novels of Okina Baba will be adapted into anime that will be released the same year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the release got moved to 2021. The series was created by Millepensee and directed by Shin Itagaki, with Okina Baba and Yūichirō Momose overseeing the script. One of the standouts of this anime was the announcement that a very talented and famous VA, Aoi Yūki, will portray the charismatic titular character of Kumoko. The series was conducted in two cours (24 episodes), and the beginning was incredibly promising. The intro and outro songs were amazing, the animation was solid, and the voice acting was incredible—it seems that anime truly made Kumoko blossom as the character with Aoi Yūki's voice acting.

However, the parallel storytelling in vastly different timelines confused newfound fans, and it made the So I'm a Spider, So What? anime series a bit 'clunky' in its storytelling. The icing of a very misfortunate cake was bad animation in the last part of the second cour. There was a dispute between a Japanese studio and another foreign animation studio that simply failed to animate the series properly, which led to the Japanese trying to 'salvage' the whole project. Despite all that, So I'm a Spider, So What? was solid enough to wrap up a part of the story of Kumoko and the rest of the classmates. It is sad that the anime series couldn't fulfill the 'coolness' of the original light novels due to clumsy storytelling and bad animation.

Conclusion: Title Still Worthy of a Good Isekai Series

Nevertheless, despite being a bit forgotten among the fans, So I'm a Spider, So What? is still worthy of mentioning as one of the coolest isekai titles out there. From web novels to anime, the series captured a true vibe of the isekai genre and attracted its fans with an interesting premise and storytelling that put the titular character of Kumoko at the forefront. Of course, there is a lot to be desired from anime series, especially, but Okina Baba managed to envelop us into loving this cool series.