Okay, let’s lay out the facts first: In Another World With My Smartphone is both an isekai show and a harem show. For seasoned anime fans, those two terms alone will determine whether this is your cup of tea. For those of us who are less salty, the isekai means ‘another world’ – it’s right there in the title – and the premise of the show has fifteen-year old Touya accidentally killed by God, and resurrected in a fantasy world. Touya asks for one concession – that he keeps his smartphone.
From there he encounters a pair of questing sisters and joins a Guild, using the incredible magical abilities granted to him by a guilty God. The sisters are the first two in what becomes his harem, a collection of women vying for his romantic attentions. The early parts of the show are heavy on action and conflict, although the unbelievably powerful protagonist strips all jeopardy from such encounters, before even that is surrendered to the construction of his harem. And this is where it becomes problematic for anyone who cannot simply shrug and say “Japan!”
Touya is fifteen. He has just lost the life he knew, and all the people in it, and seems remarkably unfazed by it all. This may be because he’s just not that bothered by anything, certainly he fails to notice that the girls he’s collecting have any intentions towards him, leading to some embarrassing moments. Furthermore, although he’s casually informed by God that polygamy is normal in this world, he is also – SPOILER! – engaged to be married to a twelve-year old. Japan! Cue all kinds of fan service as Touya ogles the curves (and not-so-curves) of all his girls, which later includes a six hundred-year old loli and a horny robot, as the show settles into a low-peril magical comedy of manners.
And this is what divides In Another World From My Smartphone from its isekai brethren: at no point do you consider that Touya is in any danger from this bizarre new world, and neither do you doubt he will end up with a gaggle of pre and pubescent girls sharing his life (the horny robot prophesises that there will be nine in the end). The age of the main character, and the level of innuendo threaded throughout the show, squarely aim it at the mid-teen market, yet the set-ups, breezily-dispatched enemies, and absolute lack of consequence or emotion are such that no-one who has reached that age could not fail to feel insulted by it.
Having said that, everyone needs some fluff in their life, and the show is well-animated, the Japanese voice acting is great (and the English dub from Funimation does its job, if that’s your thing), and Touya is a likeable – if slight – protagonist. There are much better isekai out there but sometimes you just fancy toast instead of a full English…
Extras: Episode Commentaries / Textless Opening Song / Textless Closing Song
IN ANOTHER WORLD WITH MY SMARTPHONE – THE COMPLETE SERIES / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: TAKEYUKI YANASE / SCREENPLAY: AARON DISMUKE / STARRING: JOSH GRELLE, JILL HARRIS, LEAH CLARK / RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 29TH
