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A decent enough anime, but pales in comparison to the manga.

First off, the good points. This review is so far based off the first 6 or 7 episodes, but the artwork, sound design and action sequences are phenomenal. They capture the fantasy setting well, and I was impressed with the effects they chose for the rift in episode 2 (the wave of calamity). Aesthetically I can't find much to fault, aside from a few weak moments in animation; mostly just a few hand gestures that didn't really fit the tone during dialogue.

The areas that I felt severely lacking however are all the small details they ... skimmed over from the manga, that make all the difference.
(spoilers ahead)
Iwatani's expression in the manga constantly has a much darker, fiercer, and pained look throughout the first few arcs, with constant wrinkles/ rings under his eyes. Then there's his initial reluctance to get a female slave because of how it would appear after accused of rape, Raphtalia's conflict of how nice she's being treated as a slave, how she was reprimanded by previous owners for looking happy and as a result tried to deny and hide her wants and any expression of happiness, and finally the gradually deepened bond and trust she gains for Iwatani as time goes on. Even the heartfelt scene where Raphtalia stays with Iwatani after being (forcibly) freed from the slave curse is so much more expressive in the manga, as Iwatani completely bawls his eyes out.

Perhaps my memory or imagination embellished some of these points, but this anime certainly suffers for not being as faithful to the manga as it could have been. Even the point about food having no taste is made much less prominent in the anime, and Iwatani even states in the manga how such a seemingly small thing made such a difference when he could finally taste again.

A final note: I don't necessarily hate when an anime takes a few liberties by deviating from the script. Sometimes it can even improve the story with a few subtle changes, and cutting out parts that drag on too long. Unfortunately however, it seems recently that more and more series have suffered from cutting corners and removing emotional details in the process.
At any rate it's still a fine anime to watch, but if you want more of a dark and gritty emotional roller-coaster (with a few hilarious antics they cut), I'd highly recommend just reading the manga instead. The later chapters start to drop off just a little as things settle down, but it's still a very worthwhile read, and is still ongoing.

A stellar premise for an isekai manga, with it's own unique twists and turns.

Personally I'm a huge fan of manga and anime that adopt the whole "hopeless stuggle" theme, and this one is no exception. Being stuck in a parallel world wouldn't be a walk in the park; no overpowered abilities or magical smartphones here, "Kumo desu ga"s protagonist, Kumoko, only has her own wits and a hell of a lot of luck rely on.

Well I say that... While the earlier chapters are spent in tension and suspense, Kumoko eventually becomes somewhat overpowered. This put a dampener on the series for a bit for ... me personally, before reminding the readers that there's still far more insurmountable foes ahead. In retrospect, it works pretty well. The absurd number of skills she obtains ends up becomming a source of amusement in and of itself, and while reading all of them each time gets tedious, the fact she can't use a majority of them until much later adds a nice touch of mystery.

The only meaningful criticism I have about the series is the amount of pages spent with Kumoko talking to herself (and later, talking to her "selves"...). It makes sense with how isolated she is; a lone spider with nobody else to interact with; but I do think the isolation aspect could've been explored better than just saying "I've always been a loner", "I prefer it this way" etc. Aside from that I think recall a few minor continuity issues here and there, though it's nothing heinous; maybe even down to different translators.

At any rate, it's a highly enjoyable, addictive read, which I'd greatly recommend.
So it's not 100% perfect, so what?