In Another World With My Smartphone is based on the light novel series and has 12 episodes in this first outing. The anime follows Mochizuki Touya who was accidentally killed by God. As the rules forbid him from being resurrected in his own world, he was sent to another fantasy world where magic and creatures like dwarves exists. God seems sincerely sorry and Touya uses his one request to be the ability to take his smartphone to the next world. Don't worry, Touya can use magic to recharge the battery and also connect to the internet of his own world, however, he cannot communicate with it.
Touya quickly meets the twins Elze and Linze, saving them both from thugs. He asks them for help in understanding this world and they join up to complete quests at the Guild. It is from them that Touya learns that God has upped his parameters. He is able to master all elements (which is unheard of), having better memory and also stronger physical prowess. Of particular note is that this world has something called Null magic, which is the most unique and finicky of magics. This is because these spells are tailored to a specific person, have a wide variety of (and often useless) effects and usually no one else can use it. Of course, Touya is able to use any of these spells once it is explained to him what it does and what the chant is.
The anime has quick pacing since the very first scene was of Touya being reincarnated, then meeting up with the twins and the rules of the world quickly establishes itself. A lot of the plot is derived from coincidences, coupled with Touya's helpful nature. No matter what, Touya will put his hand forward and help anyone that looks like they are in need. Naturally, Touya meets other characters such as Kokonoe Yae, heralding from a samurai family who sees how honorable he is and decides to join him. Then there is the Duke, the brother of the current King.
Touya's connections and acquaintances seem to jump in importance quickly but you cheer for Touya and his overpoweredness. Touya is humble and he is an all round nice character, you would think with his sort of abilities he would be a pervert but no, this is not the case. Touya gains his harem pretty quickly and together, they make a strong party, supplementing each other's strengths and covering each other's weaknesses. The frequency in Touya's recruitment of more females into his party, particularly as he is oblivious to how all of them have some sort of feelings for him, is kind of annoying. It is good that he's so successful but it is his cluelessness and being too nice that can be cringeworthy from the clichedness.
Speaking of which, the whole series uses every sort of cliche and trope that you can think of, which surprisingly, makes it stand out from the other recent "traveled to another world" anime where they are all about breaking the mold. Here, In Another World With My Smartphone embraces them. By the halfway point, it turns into a full on harem with the girls surrounding Touya getting into a consensus... It is a good and convenient thing that polygamy is the norm in this world, with all the characters easily accepting each other in good faith, vying for Touya's attention.
Unfortunately, since Touya is one of the most oblivious main characters out there, he is able to notice the romantic feelings in other people, just not those surrounding him. Fanservice comes in heavier doses in the second half as it does away with the monster fighting scenes and welcomes beach scenes and declarations of love. Despite being the title, Touya doesn't rely on his smartphone that heavily. Rather, he uses his affinity for every kind of magic and finds creative ways to use that instead. He does use his magic to enhance the functions of his smartphone but it's more for support and helping other people. Touya starts to create objects from his world into this one which seems odd since they clash so much with the machinery-less fantasy setting.
While Touya gets advantages from the weapons he creates, and fascination from gadgets such as bicycles, they don't quite gel with the fantasy world. There is a distinct lack of an objective for the characters to aim towards, it's currently just Touya going on random adventures and building up his harem. However, the ending was great in that it resolves the tension and makes clear the situation to everyone in the group. It ends in a massive tease, perfect for the second season. Overall, In Another World With My Smartphone is a funny and lighthearted harem story. There are no real antagonists here, everyone seems nice and Touya is basically the best guy in the world with every female falling head over heels for him. However, it is this embrace of cliches that makes it enjoyable.
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