English Dub Review: So I’m a Spider, So What? “Reincarnation, in Another World?”

Overview 

Based on the Japanese light novel series written by Okina Baba and illustrated by Tsukasa Kiryu. Our story begins when a female protagonist opens her eyes to find out she’s been reincarnated as a spider. Which is already nightmare mode, before having to worry about the brutal nature of cannibalism from other spiders. The story of a high school girl with nerves of steel and her struggles to survive in another world begins!


Our Take

For a first episode, this was quite a decent start. Despite everything moving at a brisk pace, the story structure’s first-half does its job. The animation was kinda good on some parts, while other parts try their damnedest to blend the CG parts in with the dungeon backgrounds. The direction was also kinda weird, and the transition shots between our lady-spider protagonist and these humans we the audience also know nothing about was pretty much out of nowhere but I guess they needed time. Much like Rising of the Shield Hero, It kinda plays with JRPG mechanics in terms of how the Spider-Lady is supposed to upgrade her attributes, but I suppose there’s a lesson in that about how hard work to overcome adversity is more rewarding than buying your way through a situation. What also deserves equal praise would have to be the opening even if I don’t visually know what’s actually going on in context, it was well-animated with a pretty damn catchy song by Riko Azuna called “keep weaving your spider way”, while the wacky end-credits theme song “Do Your Best! Kumoko-san” was performed by Aoi Yūki.

I also liked the comedy of the lady-spider as her energy and cheerful nature attempts to make the best out of her weird-ass situation with an added level of emotion thanks to the English dub voice of Brianna Knickerbocker who’s shockingly a perfect fit. Her design also has a strange level of cuteness with its pink large hamster-eyes but this isn’t your charming Charlotte’s Web kinda universe where every species of animal interactively gets along. This an Isekai universe that’s pretty “kill or be killed” along the lines of something you’d see on the Discovery Channel or Animal Planet but with fantasy monsters.

While the show itself may draw parallels to a similar anime/manga franchise I’ve heard about called “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime”, it does its best to differentiate itself enough to be its own thing. The entire first half about the Spider-Lady’s survival was a compelling watch, but the out of nowhere shift of focus on a small group of human characters left me to wonder how exactly did these people just happen to find out about each other in the first place? It doesn’t seem like something that would come up in a normal conversation especially as they’re seemingly keeping it hidden., but it remains to be seen how any of them factor into the random story about the titular Spider-Lady but at the very least, I’m compelled enough to keep watching.