Okay bookworms, this is a LONG one so buckle up.
<So I’m a Spider, So What> Volumes 15 & 16. Honestly, a bit of a disappointment. Not that it was bad but 15 seems to set up for something really great and then 16 ends up being mostly predictible with little payoff. Like, the payoff in volume 14 was HUGE! But volume 16 leaves barely any room for epilogue.
And like, the cover of Volume 16 shows Ariel and White sitting happily together. Like they just won and where so exhausted they collapsed there on the spot. SPOILER: THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN!
And then there's this art!
When I saw that I was like “OH SNAP!” I had already suspected something was up from the wording before about “An evil god wants to sacrifice half of humanity”. It’s initially implied by the context that it’s White but “evil god” has always been D, so maybe because White is D’s protoge she’s also evil? I also thought maybe the “evil god” could’ve been Guli-Guli because he was on the wrong side of the conflict and Team Ebony’s plan would result in a worse fate for humanity than Team Ivory. But no, it’s D. Which could’ve been okay except I don’t feel the author handled it well.
I DO like how if you pay attention to the wording it actually becomes obvious that the ivory god and the ebody god are not the evil god because the adjectives have changed! But anyway…
I really feel the author wrote themselves into a corner and didn’t quite know how to finish the story, especially given his self-imposed time constraints. Like one of the strengths of the series is that defeating the bad guy doesn’t solve the world’s problems. It isn’t just your typical “defeat the demon lord and save the world” iseaki. And that means you can have a DEEP villain with lots of backstory and motives. But since he’s the cause of the problems and not the source you still have to deal with the problems afterward. Which means you need another villain or challenge to overcome so the story doesn’t just become a laundry list of chores to check off.
Concerning the ending as written
So the author decides to make D the final boss? D is already established as the most powerful being in the series. You can’t have a fight with someone like that unless the author gifts everyone a package labeled “Plot Armor: Pre-Activated.” Barring some insane turn of events that was never going to work well. And we don’t get any insane events; just your standard predictible showdown.
And no, not the showdown between White and Guli-Guli. Turns out that didn’t matter AT ALL. Not even the prayers to decide who would win. All meaningless. The “world quest” is instead completed by less than a dozen side characters. Yay?
And even just to get to the ACTUAL showdown it was a stretch. D making a big empty void and just casually waiting for people to teleport to her? Rondalt uses never before seen magic to do the teleportation? Ariel just letting her enemies waltz into the System Core even though she’s in a weakened state and has basically already won? Even the message Oka gets is ham-fisted. “Oh, D made your skill so she must’ve messed with it to give you a personal message” my foot!
And why was the Sword of the Hero even there at all? And Ariel just GIVES it to Shun? It was stupid! And wait, didn’t using the Sword of the Demon Lord last time drain a MASSIVE amount of MA Energy from the planet? Shouldn’t Shun’s wasteful use of the Sword of the Hero have basically ruined the planet forever? And D made the thing so of course it’s not going to be more powerful than D herself.
And do I even need to mention that Shun&Co are so underleveled and weak that they don’t even matter?
So of course D was going to wipe the floor with them until White shows up. I will say White “spawn camping” D was pretty hilarious though.
One more thing… according to D, the Pontiff’s plan to sacrifice Guli-Guli, White, and Sariel wouldn’t have given them enough energy but White’s plan to suck Guli-Guli dry (but keep him alive) and then use all her own energy to save Sariel and all of humanity would have worked? That doesn’t make any sense. I guess the Pontiff wasn’t planning on shutting down the system? But without the Gods there would be no core! Anyway…
So what was the payoff for getting through that ridiculous ending? One or two lines about what happened to each person with a good chunk of them being “We don’t know what happened to them.” Ridiculous.
CONTINUED IN PART 2!
Volumes 15 & 16. Honestly, a bit of a disappointment.
Yeah the ending is not the best. It felt like they were rushing to end it or had given up and wanted it to end.
But it is also left open, we know white is still there and things could happen. I am still hoping the author decides to do another series after this one continuing with White.
It felt like they were rushing to end it or had given up and wanted it to end.
From what little I read in the afterwards (I skipped most of them), the author thought it would be a shame for readers to have to wait a whole year for the conclusion so he said he’d publish volume 16 only one month after volume 15. Volume 16 definitely needed more time in the oven. “Lets spend half the book just switching perspectives! That won’t be annoying or confusing!”
I am still hoping the author decides to do another series after this one continuing with White.
The Misadventures of D and White! It could happen, but it would basically be a story entirely about the god’s realm as there’s very little left on Game Planet for them and what IS left is very, very finite.
PART 2
How I would have handled the ending
Asking a god to fix everything was the LAST thing I would have expected because that’s how they got into that mess. So Shun pissed me off in that regard, although D did point out that Ariel used White’s God powers. Regardless, I don’t think the solution is to have D just fix things, especially since we all know she could snap her fingers and be done with it. That’s a boring and unsatisfying ending.
There’s also already WAAAAY too many people willing to die for their cause so a heroic sacrifice ending would be boring too.
So what do we do instead? Well, I could see it going down two ways.
First, power creep. This is more-or-less trying to keep with the original ending.
White has already shown that she has ridiculous growth potential reaching Godhood in record time and all that. And she has clones that can do things in the background. So I ask you this question: If a God is just a being with a lot of energy, where do they get their energy from? We know that White got it from the MA bomb but how about beings like D and Meido? And the way D and Meido talk at the end implies that energy is a scarce resource even among Gods.
So the story plays out more-or-less the same except this time when Oka checks Student Roster she sees “Killed by the Evil God D” next to the status of Shun&Co. You know, so the skill is working as intended and not just some random mysterious deus ex machina hint. She puts two and two together and realizes that D is the evil god. Like, white is the color of good… DUH! The reincarnations decide they need to confront the “evil” D.
They do telephone for exposition and because they have to pick up Sophia, Wrath, and Ariel for ‘reasons’. Rondalt teleports them all to the Lower Stratum which he’s been to before (Seriously, why did they have to ride from the ENTRANCE of the Labyrinth in the first place?). After a confrontation with Wrath, they make it to the Bottom Stratum. They then use the System’s connection to talk to D, who then pulls them all into a dimension of her creation (same as Guli-Guli did). More exposition happens while everyone pisses their pants at D’s power. Miss Oka is shocked to learn that her benefactor is the tiny spider she saved and silently thanks White for everything.
Shun being Shun idiotically challenges D because “even if there’s no chance I still have to try” and they fight, with D not even taking the fight seriously because there’s no fun in that. When all hope seems lost because D is too powerful, White shows up and kicks her into next week. She proclaims she brought friends, then drops an unconscious but still alive Guli-Guli in front of Oka and Shun so they can heal him.
Rewind to earlier when Guli-Guli pulls White into the alternate dimension to fight. It turns out White figured out how to get energy the godly way (what do you think her clones were doing in that alternate dimension all this time?). And she stored all that power in her scythe, which was also in that alternate dimension! I dunno, she sucked it out of the sun or stole all the magic from Earth that they weren’t using or something. Anyway, since the extra power was in the alternate dimension because she was hiding it, she was initially losing to Guli-Guli. Powered up White is now maybe half as strong as D, especially after also stealing Guli-Guli’s energy with evil eyes (hey, they were fighting to the death and he’s still alive so it’s all fair, okay? okay? okay). But more importantly, she found a way to be immortal so even D can’t kill her. I dunno… she puts part of her soul into the planet’s MA field or something. The planet is alive therefore it has a soul and therefore White can put her soul into it. Hey, it’s not any more stupid than super teleportation! Anyway, D realizes she can’t kill white without blowing up basically every planet in the universe. D and White decide on a truce and to team up. It’s basically the Ariel/Kumoko situation all over again.
White uses her new God powers to shut off the system without any sacrifices, then tells D she’ll be back after she spends some time with Ariel. We get a real epilogue. Sariel and White have funny moments of non-communication with Ariel somehow understanding the entire conversation even though nothing is being said. Also White learns nothing and continues to be a chaos gremlin.
The End.
So I really like that ending but the power creep thing has been done to death. What is this, SSJ White? And there’s still loose ends and White just magically fixing everything is kinda meh. So as an alternative I give you: game ending.
D wants the world to be a game and the world quest is indeed a quest. Except the quest is misleading, right? So the “correct” answer is to support the Ivory God because that is the only way things actually work out. As D said, the Pontiff’s plan was NEVER going to work. It’s also the opposite of what everyone chose when they sacrificed Sariel so it hits harder.
On top of that, people start picking up more quests that hit at the truth of the world and the identity of the evil god. A world quest’s outcome should involve the entire world, not just a handful of people who are mostly outsiders! So yeah, everyone gets random quests and as people complete these quests, more power is generated and send to a corresponding god.
So despite Ariel not expecting anything from humanity, humanity actually starts to side with the Ivory god, especially knowing that the System has been running far too long to continue to be viable. As a result White starts winning the fight with Guli-Guli (who was NOT weakened deus ex machina style)
As White gets more power, a voice pops into her head. <Energy threshold has been reached.> <Unpacking D’s guide to Godliness.> <Administrator functions are now accessible.>
Yeah, remember that thing D installed onto White when she became a God and then NEVER came up again? Turns out D wanted White to take over managing the planet so she could make it more entertaining for her. White kicks Guli-Guli’s butt but doesn’t kill him, instead picking him up and dusting him off. What a good sport!
White returns to the planet and goes about fixing things while complaining about how busy she is the entire time. On top of that, the World Quest shifts to tasks to help fix the world.
To fix the system, White basically sets up a robot spider clone to manage it and saves Sariel. While she’s at it she saves Ariel too by using System powers to undo the damage caused by Humility (although in the process Ariel’s stats will end up only being like 20000 or so for a few hundred years while her soul heals). Everyone on the planet gets the [n% I = W] skill so their souls go into the regular cycle to heal when they die. New souls are given the option to reincarnate into a “Game World” with skills and since they’ll only be there one cycle their souls don’t get damaged at all.
People like Kunihiko flock to the world and instigate more change and not only fix the planet but make it one of the most prosperous in all of existence. Sophia finally marries Merazophis. Shun restores the Kingdom with Leston as the new king then marries Katia. Sue moves in and lives with Shun and Katia, much to their dismay. Fei and Hyrince have a thing that’s on again, off again. Hugo removes the corruption in the emptire while Fei pesters him about it. Miss Oka becomes a teacher. Wrath opens a sword dojo. Kunihiko and Tagawa’s ending stays the same, as does Yuri’s. Tenth Army act as world police for Administrator White. The puppet spiders get new outfits. Ronandt retires and is frequently seen playing with Fiel. Aurel gets promoted to head court mage. She hates it. Ariel tells White, “Thank you! I love you so much” just like White wanted way back in Volume whatever. They even get married with Sariel officiating. Later White is frequently seen in the Demon Lord’s castle with Ariel skipping out on Administrator work playing video games. Everyone gets a happy ending. Even D.
The End.
I think I like Ending 2 better. It hits the themes of the series perfectly and doesn’t just solve problems with absurd God powers… again.
I will say that I felt pretty silly that it took me until Volume 16 to realize there was a reveal in the TITLE. Thankfully I got it before White says it at the very end as the last line of the book but boy did I feel dumb.
So I'm a Spider, So What?
Initially I thought the title was about their bad luck getting reincarnated as a spider and their determination to make it work no matter what. But that’s only partially true. The TRUE meaning in the title is that they really were just a spider all along. And just like D said, ironic how the throw-away reincarnation was the one to achieve godhood when all the other reincarnations with better skills and abilities couldn’t cut it.
Remember, Kumoko’s reincartion bonus was Skanda, which is NOT a unique skill like Ninja or Student Roster. She really was a throw-away that D didn’t spend any more time than necessary making. I think that’s why when Kumoko exceeds D’s expectations, D gives Kumoko a proper unique skill in Wisdom.
Another thing I noticed was that while the series starts out as LitRPG, it drops most of it in later volumes. Sure skills and stats come up, but you no longer see big status pages. This is mostly fine since all the main skills have been established and the skills lists were getting overly long.
Also...
White gets kicked from the system and can no longer see skills and stats so by proxy the reader also cannot see skills and stats. It’s kind of cool in that regard if you think about it.
CONTINUED IN PART 3
PART 3
On a final note, I do like all the tie-ins and callbacks in the series. I always thought it was weird that Oka’s Student Roster skill said the reincarnations died by having their skills removed. She thought it was because the skills were stolen but she strips Natsume of his skills and he doesn’t die so that seemed odd. But later on when you see Ariel’s plan it makes sense. How cool is that? Early volumes forshadow events all the way at the end of the series.
Whew… damn, it was only two books but I wrote a whole freaking novel here. As far as the series as a whole, I loved how nothing was ever as it seemed and how most of the typical tropes were subverted. Almost everything is explained as well. Usually there’s just hand-waving in an isekai but not here. However some of the side characters are so stuffy or one-dimensional as to make their perspectives such a pain to read. For every Ariel there’s a Julius. And as stated before, the ending could definitely have been better. It’s not quite tripping at the finish line but it’s close. Overall I’d probably still give it an 8/10. Sure there were some crappy moments but when it was good it was REALLY good. White is a 10/10 Chaos Gremlin.
<Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life!> Volumes 1 - 6. Very surprised by how different the anime is from the LN. Sure, the anime hits some of the same plot points but it’s vastly different in execution. For instance, how Nano is made into an actual character in the anime. Likewise in the book there are just vague references to things, like how she only knows training from anime. In the anime, she actually dresses up like Master Roshi and stuff, so those jokes hit better.
They completely skip the Eckland Academy arc and start the story after Adele has become Mile then change a lot of the wacky things that happen at Eckland to things that instead happen at the Hunter Prep school. And that whole kidnapping ring in the anime? Not a thing in the LN. Nor is the female member of Crimson Lightning who takes care of Reina a thing.
On the flipside, Marcela’s role is much bigger in the LN and Mile’s backstory is much more relevant.
What I’m trying to say is that I’ve never seen an anime differ so much from the source material before. It’s like they took the best parts of the first four novels and redid it into a 12 episode anime… and yet they still threw in extra bits like Reina, Mavis, and Pauline secretly trying to buy Mile a gift. Reading the LN, it’s very obvious that would NEVER happen because they were always about working together and earning money as a team except on very explicit rest days. And then there’s the ubiquitous beach episode. So yeah, it’s a bit baffling in some regards.
On a side note, I didn’t know FUNA also wrote I’ll Shall Survive Using Potions and Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement. Those are two other anime isekais I enjoyed for being unique even if they were silly. I might have to consider reading the LNs now.
What I do love is how Mile keeps trying to be an “normal, average girl” yet she keeps doing all these crazy feats that leave everyone banging their heads against the wall. Literally. There’s so much more random nonsense than we got to witness in the anime. If White is a chaos gremlin, Mile is a ditz gremlin. Marcella’s incantation to get her “Adele Simulator” working is particularly hilarious: “Lower intelligence, remove all common sense, increase carelessness times five…”
The side stories are also particularly unique from other LNs. Usually a side story is something that’s not particularly relevant to the main plot but might give some extra insight or a different perspective on things. The side stories here though are sometimes completely random and seemingly totally irrelevant to everything.
Also, the art is STUPIDLY cute. Just adorable. I also love how they even include “non-canon” art that the artist did just for fun in the back of the books too. I mean, how cool is it that the artist loves illustrating this novel so much that they do extra art just for funsies?
Anyway, I 'm definitely enjoying it, if it wasn’t obvious from the fact I’m already 6 volumes deep already. Thanks for the recommendation!
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! by Seven Seas Entertainment: 📖 Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20; 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
The puppet spiders get new outfits. Ronandt retires and is frequently seen playing with Fiel.
This is the true ending, I am deleting the ending from my brain and using this one!
Saaaaame. It’s my headcanon!
Removed by mod
lol
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
So I’m a Spider, So What? by Yen Press: 📖 Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; 🎧 Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
<Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World> Vol. 1 - Had deja vu since the prologue and turns out this is the LN of the 2023 anime “The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far”. I dropped the LN once I realised it’s the same because I didn’t really enjoy the anime.
<Secrets of the Silent Witch> Vol. 7 - I really love how the series has a main plot that is steadily continuing forward without falling into the LN trap of just idling to fill as many volumes as possible. This feels a lot like Bookworm in that regard. And not just because there is a main plot, but also in the way it feels like it’s well thought out in advance and not just what the author comes up with in the moment. It’s also a good one that keeps me wondering what might happen next. And speaking of the overall plot, in this volume, the picture just became a lot clearer.
<Heir to a Monstermancer> Volume 1 - Male MC is unnecessarily prickly towards female MC up to the point where it’s actually annoying and off-putting. He fights a monster in the woods, gets almost killed, and she saves him, reattaches his arm, and all he does is verbally attack her every chance he gets because she’s too beautiful for him to cope. Like a little kid in Kindergarten who pulls on the hair of the girl he likes. It’s not behaviour I want to read about from a fully grown adventurer. The second chapter is great, though. I think it was that chapter that made it win an award, and the reason it was picked up for publication. So if anyone gives the series a read, wait until you finish the second chapter before making a judgment.
<The Wicked Princess and The Twelve Eyes: The Legendary Villainess and Her Elite Assassins> - Okay, let’s play through my thoughts during the first page:
“SERENA ROSENBERG, I HEREBY BREAK OFF MY engagement with you!” a loud voice boomed. The Rosewood Academy’s graduation party, a grand and festive affair, was also a means for the royals and nobles enrolled at the school to make their societal debuts. I was in attendance when Crown Prince Edward declared that he would be breaking off our engagement.”
Oh God, another one of those… I think I’ve read a hundred of the same novels by now.
Half a page later:
“The king cast judgment upon me, and I was sentenced to death. My harsh sentence was due to the overexaggeration of the little pranks that I’d played on the saintess. I mean, all I’d done was try to drop a flowerpot on her head from the second floor, mix some sort of drug into tea to force her to drink it, hire a ruffian to plan a kidnapping, feign an accident to run her over with a carriage, and hire an assassin take her out!”
Oh? OOoohhh? An actual villainess and not just someone framed by the Prince’s new love interest? You got my attention now!
Ending Spoiler
In the end, it goes the same way as always, though. MC has a change of heart and becomes “good”. Just as in every Star Wars game ever that promised that we could play the Empire side. But it’s done gradually here and wasn’t as jarring as I feared it would be.
turns out this is the LN of the 2023 anime “The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far”
Oh, that anime was… okay. Way too heavy-handed with the foreshadowing so by the time the big bad appears you’re just like “ABOUT TIME” instead of “OH SNAP!” I can’t imagine the book being any better, especially if you know what’s coming.
<Secrets of the Silent Witch> Vol. 7 - I really love how the series has a main plot that is steadily continuing forward without falling into the LN trap
Ooooh… I actually liked the anime but I was worried that it would degenerate into little more than “omg, I’m too shy to do anything… until I’m literally forced to do something and then I’m awesome.” Rince and Repeat. To hear that there’s an overarching plot bumps it up a few notches.
An actual villainess and not just someone framed by the Prince’s new love interest? You got my attention now!
I’m a sucker for Villainess stories… but sounds like it completely misses the opportunity to ACTUALLY have a cool villainess.
To hear that there’s an overarching plot bumps it up a few notches.
Even better. It’s an overarching plot that progresses without the protagonist. Too often, side characters seem to stop existing the moment the main character’s gaze is pointed somewhere else. Like a NPC in a bad video game. In Silent Witch, the overarching plot is progressing without any MC input, and she is just made aware of it in hindsight. Things happening behind the scenes become clearer with each volume but they are not things that MC has any active role in. It’s more like the actions MC takes are casting ripples, and those ripples have an effect on the big subplot. It’s good and I want to see where this is going. MC is also getting a lot less annoying in the later volumes. I initially dropped the first volume because I hate timid characters, but I’m happy that I picked it up again. Definitely one of the better series.
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
Secrets of the Silent Witch by Yen Press: 📖 Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🎧 Vol. 1, 2, 3
<Secrets of the Silent Witch> Vol. 7 -
You didn’t even mention the key points in this volume:
- The coolest character comes out of hibernation!
- Nero wakes up
Well, he didn’t get any time to shine this time around. Just waking up doesn’t get a standing ovation from me. I’m sure to praise him in the next volume.
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
Secrets of the Silent Witch by Yen Press: 📖 Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🎧 Vol. 1, 2, 3
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
Chronicles of an Aristocrat Reborn in Another World by Seven Seas Entertainment: 📖 Vol. 1, 2; 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2
Secrets of the Silent Witch by Yen Press: 📖 Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🎧 Vol. 1, 2, 3
Heir to a Monstermancer by J-Novel Club: 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2
The Wicked Princess and Her Twelve Eyes: The Legendary Villainess and Her Elite Assassins by Seven Seas Entertainment: 📖 Vol. 1; 🖥️ Vol. 1
<Secrets of the Silent Witch> Vol. 7 -
Another good volume. I am glad the forest arc is over, I didn’t find it too enjoyable but it wasn’t terrible. We got to meet some new characters and see some new connections form.
It feels like it’s coming close to the end, there was a big reveal and things feel like they are building.
Best bits:
- Neros is awake again!
- Raul and Ray are friends? (The letter Raul sent to Monica was great)
- star weaving mira meets her true love again
- the big reveal
Raul and Ray are friends? (The letter Raul sent to Monica was great)
I wouldn’t mind it if the next spinoff were about their shenanigans off-screen.
New series:
That time an overpowered gardener dragged me around and made me eat his vegetables, I will curse this world to death!
I would read that
Hello Bookworm! I looked it up, and the Library in Alexandria — which just so happens to be the greatest in all of Yurgenschmidt, nay… even the entire world — has the following entries:
Secrets of the Silent Witch by Yen Press: 📖 Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🖥️ Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 4.5, 5, 6, 7; 🎧 Vol. 1, 2, 3
