So I'm a Spider, So What?

Episode 19

Episode 19, “This isn't my fault, is it?” kicks off with Kumoko being worshipped as a Divine Beast for healing the sickly infant and mother in the last episode. There's even merch of her, including plush dolls, bags of holding, and heck, Divine Beast Cookies! Talk about moving up in the world. Kumoko's living the high life now, though she's a bit flustered by attracting so much attention so quickly.

Post-OP, the perspective flips to Shun and his party. They arrive at the Elf Village via a teleportation circle, only to be met by mass of armed elves. Naturally, they want to know why Shun is here, and why Filimøs has seen fit to bring humans into their village. Daughter of the Chief or not, she's asking for trouble, which is made pretty clear very quickly. Then Potimas, who appeared to have been killed during Hugo's coup, emerges to personally welcome Shun's party. Looks like it'll take a heck of a lot to actually put him down. He even says as much.

Being under the safety of the village's barrier, Shun and company are finally able to breathe a bit easier – or so it seems. Not only is it suspicious how Potimas is so well-prepared for their arrival, it later turns out that Shun and his party aren't the only reincarnations here; in fact, the elves have been gathering reincarnations specifically, either by kidnapping or other means, which would make even the most optimistic person wary. Worse, it starts to cast a lot of doubt on Filimøs, who's supposed to be on their side as their former teacher.

Despite these ominous forebodings, Shun, Katia, and Fei's reunion with the other reincarnations in the village was genuinely heartwarming. Aside from an initially cold reception by former class rep Sachi Kudou, everyone seems excited to meet with Shun and co. again. From Sachi asking each of them to announce their former names, to the stunned surprise at Katia's gender, to the lighthearted banter between Fei and her former friend circle, it looks – if just for a moment – as if these former classmates are simply on a costumed field trip, rather than being reincarnated in a world full of unknown dangers.

Back in the past, we flip to Sophia's perspective, who gets a sudden surprise visit from Potimas. Almost immediately, he takes an interest in Sophia, and speculates that Kumoko is guarding Sophia on behalf of Ariel, which would mean that the latter is aware of the reincarnations' existence. He leaves without acting, which only raises more questions about what plans he has in store for Sophia.

The scene then cuts to Big Spider Mommy, who's been taking massive damage thanks to Kumoko's Parallel Minds. Sensing that the Demon Lord Ariel has left the labyrinth, Kumoko decides that there is no better time to launch the final offensive. She teleports to her mother's location, only to find herself trapped in a very sticky web that results in her having to brutally cut off her legs to escape. What ensues is a pretty fun fight that leads to Kumoko losing her head again. Still, that's not enough to keep her from utterly crushing her mother, thanks to the skills her Parallel Minds have been leeching from Big Mommy Spider there. It's a pretty action-packed way to end another solid episode that, once again, leaves viewers with a bit of a curious post-credits cliffhanger.

Episode 19 gives a lot of good plotty tidbits that continue to shape the world of So I'm a Spider, So What? into one of the most creative isekai I've enjoyed to date. Kumoko even does double duty this episode, delivering on both comedy and action. And gosh does the plot thicken this episode, with lots of little threads flung out that will hopefully get connected and woven into the overarching story. It'll be truly fascinating to see how the next episode goes, especially since there's a scant five episodes left. There are definitely lots of loose threads I'd like to see get wrapped up, enough to hopefully set up a third cour. I'm not sure I'm ready to leave Kumoko and her world behind quite yet.

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So I'm a Spider, So What? is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Mercedez is a JP-EN localization editor & QA, pop culture critic, and a journalist who also writes & reviews at Anime Feminist and But Why Tho?. She's also a frequent guest on the AniFem Podcast, Chatty AF. This anime season, she's all about Super Cub, which is great because she's also reviewing it here on ANN. When she's not writing, you can find her on her Twitter or on her Instagram where she's always up to something.