REVIEW: ‘So I’m a Spider, So What?’ Episode 19 – “I Guess, This is a Class Reunion?”

As given away by the title, So I’m a Spider So What Episode 19 reunites the reincarnated classmates at last, and puts the man party’s loyalties in question. The anime from Millepensee is a Crunchyroll Original and adapts the light novel series by Okina Baba. The novels are published in English by Yen Press. The story follows a heroine as she and her fellow high school classmates are all reincarnated into a fantasy world with an RPG video game stat system. She is stuck in as a spider monster and must fight to survive when everything else may be out to kill her. Meanwhile, her classmates reincarnated as humans are stuck in the middle of a longstanding conflict between the political factions.

So I’m a Spider So What Episode 19 capitalizes on the comedy from last episode, with the heroine unintentionally being worshipped as a deity in the local human village she decided to lend a helping hand in. She is still trying to protect Sophia, who is as confused as ever and finds the heroine terrifying. Potimas also pays Sophia a visit and believes that Demon Lord Ariel is aware of the existence of reincarnations. This is through another misunderstanding due to the heroine’s presence. So I’m a Spider, So What? consistently does a good job of subtly showing the waves the protagonist makes in the plot of the story, even when she appears to be goofing off. It is a nice juxtaposition to all the comedy we get in her scenes and reminds the audience that all the fun-and-games with her actually have relevance.

In the future, the rest of the reincarnations finally meet. Schlain, Fei, and Katia are taken by Oka-sensei to the village all the former students are kept. The seemingly happy reunion is marred by revelations of how the reincarnations are being treated by the elves, and finally explains some of the reasons Oka-sensei has been so secretive. It is a nice layer to the relationships in Schlain’s party, and ideally, it will be delved into more next time. The shock from everyone at Katia’s gender is a bit cumbersome, for viewers and Katia both. After seemingly moving past the show’s handling of gender identity, it is all brought out again by meeting the new classmates. The surprise is one thing, but the comments from her male classmates are eye-roll-inducing. The moments that are meant to be heartwarming don’t generally land, purely because viewers have only seen the kids interact once before. The flashback sequence was so brief that it is difficult to even keep straight who is who, let alone form any emotional attachment to the inter-personal relationships.

Overall So I’m a Spider So What? Episode 19 finally reunites the class to decent success. The scenes with the heroine are mostly reduced to standard comedy and action expected from the show, but her actions do still make waves in the plot. The annoying return of reactions to Katia’s gender, as well as a lack of viewer attachment, hinder the grand reunion’s emotional impact.

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