I’m a sucker for portal fiction, so it’s no surprise that I’m fond of—or at least eager to try—many isekai anime. I’ll even keep watching isekai long after I’ve decided that I don’t like the show. Something about it is compelling. It grabs part of my brain and refuses to let go.

There’s a lot of schlock out there. And worse. Hell, I watched at least ten episodes of The Rising of the Shield Hero, despite that show being a rotten apologia for toxic incels making slave harems (don’t be a shithead, and practice your kink consensually mmkay?). Someone else wrote more or less what I should have posted here about that show years ago—it’s a solid critique, check it out.

But that means when I find isekai that isn’t awful, that doesn’t feel like it’s spoon-feeding me poison and whispering sweet justifications of heinous shit, I’m delighted. And when I keep watching that isekai and find hints that they’re building towards bigger, more interesting twists with potentially interesting moral conundrums… heck. They’ve got me hook, line, and sinker. All of which is to say…

I’ve been having a lot of fun watching So I’m A Spider, So What?, which is about as ridiculous as it sounds. I’m roughly half-way through right now.

It’s a reincarnation isekai. But unlike the many reincarnation shonen isekai that center on “unremarkable man died saving a child from a car/truck/falling piano and is reborn with super powers in a new world,” our main protagonist is a reclusive bookworm of a schoolgirl, and she dies along with everyone else in her class in an unexplained explosion. As the title suggests, she is reborn as a spider—and she’s pretty disappointed about that.

There’s a lot of grinding battles as she levels up and struggles to survive. She makes choices that might be questionable, but her characterization never feels especially villainous in the process. She learns, she excels, she regrets. A lot of her storyline through the first half of the show is simple and easy fun, very much popcorn viewing, with a few hints that there’s more depth to come.

But this show does more: our protagonist isn’t the only one reincarnated—her entire class, and her teacher, all appear to have been reborn as well. Over the first half of the season, this is where the show lays the foundation for deeper drama.

It reminds me of DIE in some ways, and of Guardians of the Flame. It reminds me of other isekai that have travelled this path before, like .hack//Sign or the first season of Sword Art Online. And it makes me wonder why I never ran RPGs predicated on the PCs all being reincarnated into their new world or playing in what they think is a simulation. There’s so much room in this space for fun exploration, especially with players who want to dig into meta-commentary.

Anyway. I haven’t finished this show yet. I’m enjoying it though, enjoying it a lot. It hasn’t felt like I’m being snuck a turd sandwich, for one, and I’m actually excited to see how it pays out its twists and turns and promises of further depth. Maybe I’ll have another post here about it later.