Survival of the fittest taken to the extremes.
Creative Staff
Story: Okina Baba
Art: Asahiro Kakashi
Character Design: Tsukasa Kiryu
Translation/Adaptation: Jenny McKeon
What They Say
I’m gonna survive, just watch me!
I was your average, everyday high-school girl, but now I’ve been reborn in a magical world…as a spider?! Wait–this isn’t how these stories are supposed to go! Can I get a do-over? …No? But how am I supposed to survive in this big, scary dungeon as one of the weakest monsters? It’s “every spider for herself” in here! I gotta figure out the rules to this QUICK, or I’ll have to kiss my short second life goodbye…
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
So I’m a Spider forces the reader to consider the life of the lowly monsters you kill as a level one adventurer in video games.
Our heroine, who remains nameless throughout the first volume, could very well exist in the same gamified universe of the protagonist of the similar in theme Reincarnated as a Slime. She is born into a massive dungeon as a dog-sized spider, the spawn of a truly monstrous spider. From the first moments she’s plunged into a eat or be eat situation which continues throughout the first volume.
Unlike Slime, our Spider girl doesn’t find comrades and colleagues and has to survive the old fashioned way. As she adapts to her new life as a spider she quickly realizes that she’s leveling up just like in a video game. She even has stats and abilities, and this all goes back to the few vague memories she has of her death. We readers see the silhouettes of the protagonist and her fellow students suddenly pixilated and disintegrated. The what and how isn’t as important as the where in this case.
You see, our protagonist is the next in a long line of characters whose daily earth lives were not exactly exciting or meaningful. She had no close friends and wasn’t even close to her parents. She spent most of her free time playing video games (and, amusingly, one of her player-characters we see as she remembers was this random space-marine looking dude.) At this point in my life, having read so many manga series and light novels, I just want to give Japan’s creators a big damn hug. Please tell me your lives are not this devoid of meaning, it’s a little disturbing that the trend in these series seems to be friendless loners whose only escape is death.
Also unlike other reincarnation isekai stories, our protagonist doesn’t quickly move on to bigger and better things. It’s a bit like reading someone’s Let’s Play journal for a very low-level MMO character, except our protagonist is playing an enemy monster. Progress for her is a slow and drawn out process were each tiny victory is just that. We watch her level up, fight a monster, level up again. Occasionally, there’s a funny or clever moment, then it’s back to surviving.
The artist for the series portrays the protagonist as cute, as far as spiders go, but the rest of the creatures and the few humans she encounters are decidedly not cute. The other creepy-crawlies are still pretty creepy. The artist for the manga actually makes the protagonist look more spider-like than the light novel artist did, at least with the eyes. The action can get a bit confusing though, as depicting a spider fighting frogs and snakes can get frantic.
In Summary
So I’m a Spider isn’t about to dethrone Reincarnated as a Slime as far as my favorite failed wish-fulfillment isekai is concerned, but it’s fun to see a different take on the same situation. The artwork is pleasant if not a little confusing at times, and the protagonist being a girl geek is a nice touch. Her spirit in the face of a terrible situation is commendable. It’s a bit more gamey than other entries in the genre, falling heavily into joyous fits of leveling up and the skill enhancements that come with it. There’s not quite enough other humor at this point to offset the feeling that I could be getting the same experience by just plopping myself down in front of a video game for an hour or two. I’m curious as to where the story goes from it’s literal cliffhanger ending.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: December 19th, 2017
MSRP: $12.99