In Another World With My Smartphone

Summary: >

Touya is killed in an accident, but God gives him another chance to be resurrected in another world. He's allowed a special request, so Touya chooses to bring his smart phone with him. In addition he's given an affinity to all kinds of magic.

Life in the new world isn't easy, but with his new powers and his smart phone acting as his guide, Touya is making the best of his new life.

Thoughts: >

In Another World With My Smartphone isn't particularly bad, it's just generic and brainlessly wandering. Conceptually this could be a smart and fascinating anime if done right. Instead this anime kind of does the opposite, which is a big factor in the lower rating. Ignoring the smart phone aspect (which this anime mostly does), it's yet another fantasy harem.

An added perk of his reincarnation is Touya's affinity for all types of magic. People normally have a single elemental affinity with limitations on spells they can learn, however Touya can learn any spell instantly by watching them. This quickly builds into a catalog of spells giving him god like powers. It becomes a massive problem for an anime supposedly about having a cell phone in fantasy land: Who in the hell cares about using a cellphone when you have nearly unlimited superpowers? Aside from rarely using his phone (since he doesn't need to), he uses the phone in weird ways. Like targeting people using a phone map, then casting magic at the phone to hit them with lightning bolts. Cell phones don't have that capability and Touya never learned how to interface with the phone that way, he just starts using it like that. It's weird that he doesn't need to use the phone, but when he does it often does things that a regular cell phone can't.

There isn't much of a story. Touya stumbles from one event to the next in a way that feels very forced and poorly thought out. Like the creator was brainstorming, coming up with random ideas and just throwing random "reasons" for him to get there. In Another World With My Smartphone is written like a 3rd grader was given the premise, but instead made a (3rd grade level) wish fulfillment anime. Being poorly thought out and with juvenile vibes, I figured this anime was targeted at a young demographic, but counter to that is fan service that's a bit too racy for that age group.

So Touya collects a bunch of girls (because anime) and lucky for him polygamy is just fine in this world. There's a core group of four girls with an interest in Touya. Thankfully instead of fighting they're friendly and mostly support each other, although they're prone to fits of jealousy when showing favoritism to any one girl. None of them has much of a personality, but I didn't hate any of them. By the end of the anime 5 girls are collected, but it's foretold he'll eventually have 9 wives. In fact the last third of this anime is more about harem management than anything concerning a phone.

They say cell phones distract people from their daily lives, but for Touya it's like his god like powers and girl collection distract him from using his phone. I guess the title just infers he has a phone; not that he uses it - so there's that. Damn tricky labels. I noticed the lack of intelligence early on, so with low expectations In Another World With My Smartphone didn't seem all that bad. That said, I can't think of any reason to watch it either. It's the usual fluff done countless times and better elsewhere.

Screen Caps: >