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

The last thing that a high school girl remembers is a strange explosion ripping through her classroom. In the aftermath of the tragedy, she finds herself reborn as a lowly spider hatchling, one amongst thousands in a vast cave. Furthermore, the world she is reincarnated into is a point-based skill system, prompting her to level up as quickly as possible if she is to survive the treacherous environment and persevere in the face of insurmountable odds.

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.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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BackgroundKumo desu ga, Nani ka? was published in English as So I'm a Spider, So What? by Yen Press under the Yen On imprint from November 21, 2017 to June 20, 2023.

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Reviews

Jan 18, 2023

Drxcxrys

Recommended

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. ...

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Jun 20, 2023

Biglulu

Mixed Feelings

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, ...

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Aug 16, 2024

Ayazel

Not Recommended

Do you know the saying "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey"? I do, and I've become well aware of it... especially after I've spent 15 hours modding Skyrim for 30 mere minutes of gameplay. Anyways, we're getting offtrack here.

So I'm A Spider, So What has a fairly interesting premise, in which a female (!) MC gets reborn as an average monster (!) and has to survive by any means necessary. I mean, the Isekai genre is already so overused, there must be plenty of stories similar to this one, according to the Infinite Monkey Theorem... but hey, you don't see a female ... human-to-monster reincarnation every day.

There are two things that made this novel a delight for me to read. (at least... at first!)

1) Our dear spider wasn't exactly the most social youngster back in her original world. As a result of her somewhat self-centered, socially awkward personality, her POV is written using an interesting narrative mode I've yet to see elsewhere. Each action is described using her thoughts and her perspective, and only that... as if you were listening to her adventures instead of viewing them through her eyes directly. While it does give off a feeling of distance, I found it quite enjoyable.

2) There are two POV's shown one after the other (spider/human). You'll notice very quickly that these two don't match up at all... It takes some brainwork to try and understand how these two are connected, and it's a very enjoyable task, too.

HOWEVER.... Remember my opening statement? Yes, this saying ABSOLUTELY applies to this novel.

While it has its flaws, the plot is fairly entertaining. Each character is written in a way that makes you grow fond of them, especially our enthusiastic, greedy, power-hungry little spider. And while worldbuilding isn't pushed as far as other series (*cough* Overlord, especially its glorious unofficial story *cough* Valkyrie's Shadow *cough* *cough*), it is appreciated.

Until volumes 15-16 throw all of that out of the window. A severe case of writer's fatigue, and an incomprehensible deadline of 2 months for another volume, led our dear Okina Baba to publish one of the most DISASTROUS ending of all times. Character consistency? Plot relevancy? NO. All the efforts made by the characters, all of their sacrifices are in VAIN. "Oh, you did this, you did that, you got this legendary item that can even [Redacted-due-to-spoilers]? Haha, too bad it WON'T WORK. Hold up, let me pull a fucking deus ex machina off my ass to end this garbage of a story".

Do you know what's the worst of all things? For all the time, all the years the main cast worked towards achieving its goals, what do we get right after this anticlimactic episode? Two lines, for each significant character involved in the story. TWO LINES EACH. Yes, we've spent 16 volumes hyping up for this. No, a ton of plot elements are left to be dealt with. What do you mean a refund, good sir?

It IS also, at least a TINY bit, about the destination. If the One Piece ended up being "the friends they made along the way", millions of books would be burnt. A bad ending can, and WILL spoil (as in, "rot" or "decay") the entire story. And unfortunately, So I'm A Spider, So What had such a GARBAGE ending, it kicked the whole journey off my mind... all that remains is this disaster of a Volume 16, like the godawful taste of Jägermeister after drinking too much of it.

TL;DR. Good story, good characters. Ending SO BAD it will make you wish a refund for all the time wasted reading this...

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Is vol.16 ending really bad? nguyenduyhoangb - Sep 7, 2022	13 replies	by m_ridley_ »» Feb 26, 1:52 PM
Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? Volume 12 Discussion Azuchi - Jul 30, 2021	6 replies	by Phaetons_Folly »» Aug 29, 2025 12:58 PM
The party's travel speed MaWat - Jul 28, 2023	4 replies	by voltaxx123 »» Feb 9, 2025 10:20 AM
Poll: Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? Volume 16 Discussion NaughtySempai - Dec 9, 2022	12 replies	by Wrathberry84 »» Jan 26, 2025 11:09 PM
Poll: Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? Volume 10 Discussion NaughtySempai - Jul 14, 2021	4 replies	by perfumegenius »» Apr 11, 2024 9:41 AM

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