REVIEW: ‘So I’m a Spider, So What?’ Episode 13 – “Yay, The Outside, I’m Free?”

So I’m a Spider So What Episode 13 at long last sees our heroine out of the labyrinth (and causing havoc in her wake). From Millepensee and part of the Crunchyroll Originals lineup, it follows a teen girl as she and her classmates are reincarnated into a video game RPG-style fantasy world. The problem is that she is stuck as a baby spider and must survive with the cards stacked against her. The show is based on the light novel series by Okina Baba, which is published in English by Yen Press.

A lot of So I’m a Spider So WhatEpisode 13 focuses on the setup for the next arc. The heroine fails to be subtle about her emergence from the labyrinth, and it puts her at odds with humans and her fellow spider kin alike, including her own mother. A consistent highlight has been the protagonist’s battles. It will be difficult to top the last episode’s battle with Araba due to the high emotional delivery from Aoi Yūki. However, this week does a good job keeping it fun and exciting. The heroine finds a different way to win each fight since every creature is different, and that variety helps keep it interesting.

On the non-creature side, Schlain is being prepped to take over for Julius. In a meeting with the leader of the elves, and Oka-sensei (who still has a lot to her we have yet to learn), Cylis is pushing Schlain to join the front lines of the battle. This further adds to the painfully obvious evidence that he is not to be trusted. Everyone’s least favorite, Hugo, is also making his move against Schlain. As said earlier, this is all set up, but at the least, it is relatively interesting. 

The timeline is starting to get a bit confusing. Now that we KNOW there were two separate timelines, it is difficult to figure out when exactly they sync up (or if they already have). Hopefully, the show will make that clear soon because it was definitely distracting in So I’m a Spider So What Episode 13. It is difficult to sit back and enjoy the chaos (which is clearly what the show would like during the heroine’s scenes) when the viewer wants to finally put the pieces together. The timeline difference was revealed in Episode 10, so the show should be wary of drawing it out much longer. That isn’t to say it can’t have separate timelines, but it just needs to clarify when we are, especially when cutting back and forth between the protagonist and Schlain and Co.

So I’m a Spider So What Episode 13 does what the start of its second cour should do: it sets the story arc up. It still manages to have a fun, and exciting fight squeezed in, which will keep viewers from getting bored. At this point, the anime needs to be wary of being too vague with its timeline because while the reveal was compelling, the confusion is not.

So I’m a Spider, So What? is streaming now on Crunchyroll.