So I'm a Spider, So What? - Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?

[Ryllharu]

Bad episode :/

So much boring fighting. And I really hate this "Im not taking anything seriously, lol" attitude from all the demons. The robots are just dumb fodder, too. And reinforcements? Power levels in this anime are based on a Tecmo-Koei Musou-game, noname soldiers are less than flies.

Personally, I found this to be a pretty great episode, aside from the obviously Quality derp shit going on as the budget continues to dwindle to nothing.

The majority of the episode shifts to Sophia's perspective after Shun stops Hugo, with Shun's side slowly realizing they're pawns while saying all sorts of cliché shonen shit. Satire gold. It's a really nice touch and a good way of showing the audience that "the heroes" have always been on the wrong side, and the demon lord has been trying to save the world from the elves. The elves have high tech shit, mecha, full control rooms in underground bunkers. I'd start to question that most of them use magic at all aside from Oka. This is very much a case of the advanced civilization sitting on the backs of an otherwise swords & magic world in an Overseer role. If you tie all of this episode into the vision Kumoko had when she hit Taboo Level 10 and realized the world was dying...guess who is still making it worse?

Except this franchise has actual Overseers in the Administrators, who aren't too keen on the shit the elves has been doing. That in turn explains why Gilly-Gilly is one of Ariel's commanders. Fei understands it too, which is why she attempted to surrender and leave, but Shun and she have a pact, and she has to follow his will whether she agrees with it or not. At least she isn't forced like some kind of Command Seal.

Oka's had an entire life of indoctrination, or at least following along because her father made her precious students hostages. The elves are using Oka, to manipulate Shun, to keep themselves safe from Ariel. They will discard Shun and crew the moment the threat is gone.

The episode was a nice way to show that while Hugo was strong, Shun was stronger with the Hero title, while being drastically out of his league in actual world affairs. That's kind of the point all along, no? Normal people and soldiers are nothing, reincarnations are all over the board, and the real power comes from Sophia's level, people who have actually trained for the decade and a half to bring themselves up. And Ariel and Kumoko are in the top heap with Potimas.

[DarthEnderX]

The mecha are super fucking dumb. At least give them an elven aesthetic, gawd.

Also the white girl absolutely isn't Kumoko, way different personality.

Same. People have been saying it's likely her, but if it is, something has completely changed her character, which seems unlikely for the protagonist of a comedic story like this.

It's strongly implied to be Ariel (Body Corrupted) or Kumoko. But we don't know which for certain.

Now that you say that, I think there's a strong possibility that, if Ariel destroyed her body at the end of last episode as she appeared to, maybe Kumoko jumped all the REST of her minds into Ariel as well. Body is already there, so that gives her the connection she could follow.

[Kraco]

Now that you say that, I think there's a strong possibility that, if Ariel destroyed her body at the end of last episode as she appeared to, maybe Kumoko jumped all the REST of her minds into Ariel as well. Body is already there, so that gives her the connection she could follow.

Then who is the pale lady? She has to be someone revelant, being a relatively central character after killing Julius and everything. She also possesses the corruption power, which we know Kumoko has. There's no way she's a totally unrelated character. There has to be some twist, which made her personality so much unlike Kumoko. Of course we don't know about the birth of the vestiges yet, either. You know, they had to be created at some point, so if Kumoko was indeed annihilated at the end of the previous ep, where did those vestiges come from? I feel like there's still a big part of Kumoko's development missing between the end of the previous ep and the situation we are seeing now in the 15 years later scenes.

Also, the pale lady wanted to go check on the reincarnators. If she has got nothing to do with them, she obviously wouldn't care. Dunno, maybe she's Kumoko who grew up and thus changed.

[DarthEnderX]

Then who is the pale lady?

Red herring #4?

She has to be someone revelant

Why? Was the white spider Julius fought relevant?

No. It was just a vestige. Maybe this girl is just an evolved vestige.

There's no way she's a totally unrelated character.

No one said she's unrelated. We just said she's not Kumoko.

[Kraco]

Why? Was the white spider Julius fought relevant?

No. It was just a vestige. Maybe this girl is just an evolved vestige.

It was necessary to show a bit of Julius's past, the general power levels of developed giant spiders, plus it made the whole hero party bunch later meeting those things more meaningful. Since we have known all along that Kumoko, being a former human like the other reincarnators, wants to aim for a humanoid form, it's quite natural to think 15 years later should would have achieved that.

I suppose she could be one of the developed vestiges, though how she would have developed so much without Kumoko being there, is another question. By simply massacring humans? Even if she is like that, I'd still keep sensing Kumoko behind her, even if Ariel doesn't. In such a case, I'd expect Kumoko's real soul to be ready and waiting for a chance to take over, possibly when Ariel shows a moment of weakness. Still, that brings us back to the reincarnators. Would Body's influence in Ariel be enough to make the demon lord want to spare all the reincarnators? To me, it seems more like that has to be Kumoko's direct influence. Like she made a deal with the demon lord to be a part of her army in exchange for ensuring everything will be done to spare the reincarnators. If the Ariel+Body fusion was deep enough, Ariel might stop wanting to slay Kumoko.

[Buffalobiian]

Also the white girl absolutely isn't Kumoko, way different personality

Or just someone with her soul blasted away.

One loose end that's yet to be addressed was the hole idea behind the puppet spider. They introduced it in such a way that told us Kumoko's evolution path isn't the extent of all spider existence, but we weren't left with anything else to work off.

[Kraco]

I've forgotten it already: Is Sophia's master the demon lord or perhaps the pale lady? I'm asking this because Sophia was ordered to spare all the reincarnators. Ariel shouldn't have any reason to do that. The pale lady's personality certainly surprised me as well. In fact Ariel herself is more like the old Kumoko than that pale lady. I still can't help but think the pale lady's somehow related to Kumoko, though, but what on Earth happened to her? Is Kumoko's personality shattered? It would suck if it has remained shattered for who knows how long. How would she have leveled up enough to reach a perfectly humanoid body with a shattered personality?

Of course there's still a change the pale lady isn't Kumoko, but realistically speaking, who else would she be? Kumoko is otherwise nowhere to be seen in the 15 years later world, yet the plot has already progressed so far. Or at least I assume it has. I suppose the demon lord could have retained her senses mostly after the fusion with Body, so if Kumoko as the old Kumoko was still around, Ariel would want to slay her. Perhaps Kumoko has been acting meek for many years, living right under the demon lord's nose. Ariel might think Kumoko's personality is gone, and the pale lady is just a loyal servant.

[Ryllharu]

I've forgotten it already: Is Sophia's master the demon lord or perhaps the pale lady? I'm asking this because Sophia was ordered to spare all the reincarnators.

It's strongly implied to be Ariel (Body Corrupted) or Kumoko. But we don't know which for certain.

I would lean toward Kumoko because she's wanted to protect Sophia since they met, and she knows the reincarnators on a personal level, where Ariel's thought patterns are still Ariel's own, but with Kumoko mannerisms and ambition. Also, given that Kumoko knows that the elves have repeatedly attempted to kill Sophia's parents, she would be the one to break the news to Sophia and create that rather prominent hatred Sophia's has for them.

On the other hand, that fighting style seems more like Ariel's.

[Ryllharu]

Or maybe she's Kumoko with her memories back? Kumoko is the only student with "No name" so far instead of two, and we know D likes to personally mess with her for funzies.

Other question, did Sophia "mercifully" tell them to take Yuri (the priestess) away out of concern for an injured reincarnation being hit by a stray attack, or did she casually ask for them to remove Yuri because she's the priestess and Sophia is a vampire progenitor and played it off like it wasn't a huge deal?

Like the Hero and Demon Lord are keyed to each other and Shun is the only one capable of more easily killing Ariel, are Sophia and Yuri opposed in role?

[DarthEnderX]

Other question, did Sophia "mercifully" tell them to take Yuri (the priestess) away out of concern for an injured reincarnation being hit by a stray attack, or did she casually ask for them to remove Yuri because she's the priestess and Sophia is a vampire progenitor and played it off like it wasn't a huge deal?

I assume because Ariel ordered "no killing reincarnations", and that includes leaving them to die on the battlefield.

[shinta|hikari]

Wait, did I miss something? I only saw White Lady at the end of the episode. Why is everyone saying her personality is different from Kumoko's?

I'd like to remind everyone that Kumoko is antisocial. She only seems animated when we watch her because those are monologues. In reality, she barely speaks, just like when she was confronted by the male admin.

[DarthEnderX]

I'd like to remind everyone that Kumoko is antisocial. She only seems animated when we watch her because those are monologues.

No, they've shown her from other people's perspective. She makes all the same exaggerated gestures, and she ABSOLUTELY speaks out loud. Just nobody understands her because she's speaking spider.

The white lady just seems either bored or listless. She's the complete opposite of noisy, high-strung Kumoko.

[Ryllharu]

Wait, did I miss something? I only saw White Lady at the end of the episode. Why is everyone saying her personality is different from Kumoko's?

I'd like to remind everyone that Kumoko is antisocial. She only seems animated when we watch her because those are monologues. In reality, she barely speaks, just like when she was confronted by the male admin.

Agreed. Especially if the whole "she's dead" thing from Oka has been a lie this whole time and Kumoko is in fact Wakaba Hiiro, who Fei bullied in Japan. And Oka's trustworthiness is at an all time zero now that we know the elves have been hiding the fact that they have mecha and high technology. Oka knew exactly where the demon guy was too, she didn't say shit to Shun and Katia. If she didn't want Fei to find Wakaba so she could finally apologize due to the danger the demons present, Oka could have lied. Probably lied.

The girl in white and Wakaba's cold flat personality with a tendency to avoid conflict matches. Internally a spaz and crazy, externally distant and cold. And we've never seen the girl in white's internal thoughts.

edit:
Side note I realized while writing this, I like that Fei has actually had one of the better character development arcs so far. She went from selfish and arrogant in Japan, to bitter and lazy as a pet dragon, hints of responsible when she first took levels in taboo to save her friends and again when she made a pact with Shun, back to haughty and energetic once she acquired a human form, to finally responsible and big picture strategy in this episode.

[DarthEnderX]

And Oka's trustworthiness is at an all time zero now that we know the elves have been hiding the fact that they have mecha and high technology.

I still don't think Oka has any idea that her dad is shady as fuck.

[Ryllharu]

I still don't think Oka has any idea that her dad is shady as fuck.

True, but Oka herself is fake as fuck. Her monologue admitted that her entire persona to her students has always been calculated and fake to the point that she's not even sure what her own personality is supposed to be. It's pretty obvious to the audience and some of the captive students that she's just been manipulative and possessive, wanting to spoon feed knowledge and trivia to her students while being perceived as "cool." It's not quite narcissism, but certainly some kind of self-worth complex.

She's had a notable shift in personality since Shun's party arrived at the village and learned the truth. That cheerfulness she had in Japan and the magic academy evaporated. Just bittersweet arrogance that all of this is "her job to fix." When you think about it, that's not too far from Hugo's bullshit that this whole place is 'his playground.'

The class rep is a good example of finally seeing through her. They went from pretty good friends in Japan to someone who absolutely despises her. The only one who hates Oka more is Sophia.

If she sees most of her students die before they're 20, and sees one that says they live to 500 and is in the demon realm, do you think she's going to tell a lazy pet dragon that they're alive in the demon realm, or pretend that they're dead? Or what if she sees that Shun or Fei die in the demon realm? She will absolutely lie in that instance because she's obsessed with shepherding all of them.

Yes, all of which Potimas is probably taking advantage of.

[DarthEnderX]

She's had a notable shift in personality since Shun's party arrived at the village and learned the truth. That cheerfulness she had in Japan and the magic academy evaporated. Just bittersweet arrogance that all of this is "her job to fix." When you think about it, that's not too far from Hugo's bullshit that this whole place is 'his playground.'

I agree with that in the sense that they both seem convinced that they are the protagonist of this story. I give her points for good intentions though. She at least thinks it's her job to protect everyone. Whereas Hugo thinks it's his job to spin the world on his dick.

[David75]

White lady might indeed be Kumoko+old self reincarnated.
Also, we know past Kumoko can't speak. It might be that although she got to a high level arachne, it still is extremely difficult for her to evolve speech, because her former self was bad a speaking already. And she also seems to not be able to use telepathy.

[David75]

I agree with the idea that Oka can lie about Wakaba to protect other students.
But it's also possible her skill isn't precise enough for Kumoko/Wakaba.
Kumoko has several minds, we know she has vestiges in the future, and last time we had her on screen she was being hit by the abyss attack she feared so much.
It's entirely possible that killing Kumoko's main body has Oka's skill tell her she's dead.
But we know that the other personas are like several other Kumokos, or maybe just something like clones with very close personalities.
It's unclear how close to the original they are though.

[DarthEnderX]

Apparently, the last episode is delayed due to production issues.

[MFauli]

Did their PS2-dev kit break?