Cooking with cute girl… and spider
Creative Staff:
Story & Art: Kikori Morino
Translation: Adrienne Beck
What They Say:
A young girl named Nagi and a giant spider make an unusual pair in this post-apocalyptic story, but living in the mountains is lonely, and they’ve managed to find each other. Join them in their strangely sweet domestic bliss as they spend their days sharing tea and throwing picnics, proving that love (and delicious food) can bring together even the most unlikely of friends.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The face of moe is changing. And while there still exists a fair share of manga about cute school girls doing nothing in particular, there’s definitely this push towards taking that premise and trying to give some depth to it. Or at least make it as weird as possible.
Giant Spider & Me takes elements from many modern manga to create its own thing. From its open-world fairytale-like setting, to the occasional mentions of their world actually being a post-apocalyptic wasteland, to the cutesy asides breaking down recipes step-by-step just in case you want to replicate the dish yourself, author Kikori Morino offers a fun mishmash of adorable slice-of-life nothings that read so well that you will almost definitely finish this first volume in one sitting.
We begin with Nagi—a twelve year old girl that lives alone in a cabin in the woods. Her father has seemingly stepped out for an indeterminate amount of time, yet she seems perfectly capable of taking care of herself—venturing out to get supplies, tending to the house, and of course preparing delicious, delicious meals. Morino perfectly nails the storybook art-style, with soft shapes and shading that make for a very inviting and lush forest environment.
So when the casual mention of the world being a post-apocalyptic wasteland comes about, it honestly feels less like a well-timed plot twist and more like a rude awakening to such a pleasant dream world. In our post-Madoka world, where there needs to be some kind of cruel undertone lurking beneath every page, to have yet another manga stick this to its readers feels droll at this point and serves as the sole dampening factor to this otherwise solid volume. Having Nagi drop lines where she speaks of our modern life as if they’re relics of a long-forgotten past are eye-rollingly annoying and are forgotten so quickly that you even question what their purpose even was. At least other manga make a point of relishing in the doom and gloom of their post-apocalyptic scenery. Here, it just feels intrusive and ridiculous.
What Giant Spider & Me does well, though, makes up for that slight hiccup. As its title implies, Nagi meets up with a giant spider-like creature in the middle of the day that follows her home. The creature—soon named Asa—is incredibly dog-like in nature; following Nagi everywhere she goes, eventually becoming incredibly protective of her as more time passes. The appeal and the bulk of this volume consists of Nagi making delicious meals for herself and her new friend, and Asa reacting accordingly to each new dish. Seeing Asa twitch in annoyance upon tasting bitter coffee, or sigh in delight to pumpkin-filled bread is adorable—Morino nailing Asa’s body-language and circle-centric design perfectly. And the added layer of Asa occasionally losing all signs of cutesiness to become a feral monster, roaring at other animals gives signs of what the series can flesh out on once the cute-factor of home-cooked meals made by a small girl begins to grow stale.
It’s an adorable series that gains its bearings quickly so it can delve into the cuddly, coziness it set out to do from the get-go.
In Summary:
Giant Spider & Me combines every likeable element from modern manga, to its benefit. Nagi spending her days chit-chatting with a giant spider about recipes and meandering through the forest is such a pure concentration of wholesome goodness. And while the added layer of the world being set in a post-apocalypse is honestly something that doesn’t add to the story so far, there are signs of it becoming a bigger factor in the future, which I hope doesn’t detract too much from the good thing author Morino already has going for the series.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Seven Seas
Release Date: February 20, 2018
MSRP: $12.99
