FIF#80-In Another World With My Smartphone

Touya Mochizuki finds himself at a table with God in Heaven.  Turns out, God didn’t mean for Touya to get struck by lightning and wishes to make amends by restoring him into a new world.  Touya only asks one minor amendment: he wants to bring his Smartphone along with him.  God allows this and imbunes the device with magical power.  He also grants Touya augmented abilities to enable him to survive in this fantasy realm.  With a fresh start ahead of him, Touya begins his travels with a team of beautiful women, all with a different skill sent.  It’s not everyday one gets a second chance.  And Touya’s gonna use it, and his cellphone, to change the world and have a good time in the process.

 

Issekai (Another World) has been one of the most dominating genres in Anime in the last decade (id say its pretty close to rivaling Shonen or maybe its surpassed it idk).  Each year, any studio will try to churn out the next big light novel turned Anime hit that will strike that same kind of popular luck as eternal Issekai King, Sword Art Online.  In the process, the market becomes oversaturated and titles tend to blend together more often than not, so much so that it’s hard to stand out (I think I said something similar about Mecha Anime in the 80’s that weren’t Gundam or Macross).  Which brings us to In Another World With My Smartphone.  And despite the title promising just that…besides the opening scene (and a catchy opening tune), it’s pretty boring unless youre a huge fan of Issekai.

 

In Another World With My Smartphone begins with nothing more than a 25 minute tutorial of the world in which main character Touya Mochizuki has been reborn into.  There is a little bit of action, a whole lot of God granted luck (courtesy of the titular Smartphone) and a legion of girls who all would like to take Touya to their bedrooms.  Oh and Touya bears a striking resemblance to Issekai legend Kirito from Sword Art Online.  Absolutley nothing grabbed me as soon as he got to the new fantasy realm that might as well be another JRPG inspired setting.  The most fascinating part of the premiere was the very beginning.  It’s not everyday you kick off your show with your main character getting a personal apology from God for accidentally killing him with a bolt of lighting.  I’ll admit, it was a nifty idea.  I don’t get why God chose a fantasy realm, probably because it’s Issekai’s go to choice setting.  And I get that Touya needs to get accustomed to the new world and he does have some difficulties…but he is given a literal God Cheat that enables him to defeat enemies in battle and master magic in seconds.  God only knows (no pun intended) what’s going to happen once Touya starts using his Smartphone more frequently.

 

It’s hard not to watch the first episode of In Another World With My Smartphone and not think about That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (What the hell is up with these lengthy titles?).  Slime felt like a breath of fresh air for the genre courtesy of a fun lead, the adorable squishy form he found himself in and a fascinating mindset of exploration that didn’t feel like it was read straight out of a textbook.  Smartphone is the opposite.  Touya is pretty bland and everyone in the world is basically reading out an entire chapter of JRPG 101 to him in a way that isn’t exciting, doesn’t grab me and left me pretty bored by the end.  Needless to say, I don’t think ill be keeping up with this one.  Maybe it gets better down the line but right now, there isn’t enough uniqueness to make this show stand out in a genre that continues to churn out new titles every year (or month it feels like).