In Another World with my Smartphone is a show based on a series of light novels by Patora Fuyuhara (with illustrations by Eiji Usatsuka). When Touya Mochizuki, a 15 year-old student, is accidentally killed and comes face to face with God. Admitting the mistake (wait, this is God right?) he reincarnates the young man into a new fantasy realm, but allows him to keep his smartphone from his original life, modified to work in the new world. By way of further apologising, he also grants Touya enhanced cognitive, magical and physical abilities to make him something of a super-being.
So wish fulfilment on the grandest of scales then!
Upon arriving in this new land, he befriends a bevvy of cute lasses who begin to travel with him from country to country, solving disputes and getting into adventures aided by his increased stats and magical smartphone. The phone cannot call anyone from his original life, but it can access the internet and be recharged with magical energy. This allows him to appear far more learned than he actually is, the earliest example shows him "inventing" ice cream by looking up the recipe.
The ladies in his life include sisters Linze and Elze who teach him how to navigate the new world and its magic. Samurai Yue quickly follows suit and thanks to Touya's "second coming" power-set, it's not long before he's curing the blind, fighting ne'er-do-wells and basically being just brilliant at everything. He's Ace Rimmer without the beautiful hair.
With TV-level animation showcasing some nice, if unremarkable, designs, the show is pretty harmless Isekai fluff for the most part. Nothing controversial beyond the fact that this is wish fulfilment anime of the highest order, going so far as to suggest that Touya will end up with 9 wives, and the girls being happy to share him. It's not what you'd call empowering.
The dub is fine, the usual squeaky American-style offering that Funimation favours, with the usual Funi VA's in attendance. As a sub guy it's all moot to me, but given some of the unedifying legal issues going around it may affect your decision to watch it either way. Let's just say some VA's aren't covering themselves in glory at the moment.
(Remember when you could review an anime without this sort of nonsense going on?)
There's not much here beyond what's on the surface, which is a problem in itself as the show can come across as rather bland. It has none of Shield Hero's social issues, lacks the clever plotting of That Time I was Reincarnated As a Slime (which also boasts superior character design) or the slacker smartness that makes No Game No Life so enjoyable. Basically, it's drowning in a genre beset by excellent alternatives, and by no means a bad series, it isn't the most engaging.
Overall then, this is a pleasant, if unremarkable, way to pass the time for fans of harem fantasy shows. Just don't expect to remember the details after viewing it. Or that there's a second season on the way. New laifu, new waifu indeed...
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