Should I Watch Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni?
Note: Im LA
You know when LA thinks of having a smartphone in another world, LA would think it would be easy...but NOT THIS EASY.
To be honest, LA had a lukewarm reception when it comes to Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni., it's a non-conflict, piece of cake adventure with no stakes, harem hijinks we have seen over and over again and characters that are blander than plain bread on a white featureless plate with vanilla on top. Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. does everything in it's power to not try AT ALL and revels in giving us easy non-conflict conflicts for the sake of filling the episode's quota. Does LA utterly hate this anime or is LA hiding something?...
Well let's start with it's many flaws.
Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.'s characters are by in large stereotypes of many harem shows we've seen time and again, we have the main protagonist Touya Mochizuki who was reincarnated in another world where God tells him he can bring one item to another world (gee where has LA heard this before *cough* KonoSuba *cough*), he obviously brings his smartphone and his personality is the typical nice guy who's dense as a brick on par with Ichika Orimura. Touya is your wish fulfillment character bar none by the way, from the ability to learn EVERY element of magic in this another world, gathering a sizable harem by the anime's end, owning properties and even getting recognition from Kings of TWO Kingdoms, getting almost everything he wants sometimes unintentionally but he goes with the flow anyways and gathers the aforementioned harem in the process. LA is gonna say what LA has been feeling about Touya's character which is "This is what happens when you give Subaru from ReZero the easy route with no deaths", you want Subaru to NOT be a controversial asshole main protagonist who shakes up the plot well here ya go, have Touya instead!. Now what about the harem?..well we have Yae Kokonoe, the Japanese-eqsue lady who's in love with Touya, Leen a magical fairy who is interested in Touya and his magic, twins, Elize and Linze Silhoueska who first meet Touya and get him acquainted with his new world and are generally the older brutish older sister and the shy demeanored younger sister respectively and finally Yumina Urnea Belfast, a princess and Touya's bride to be as she becomes infatuated with Touya after helping her father/king...she's also 12. So yeah basic harem archetypes through and through and really, the characters are the LEAST of Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. problems.
Next is the "skits" this anime pulls. You'd think that Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. where it focuses on another world would have some attracting features to it...well not really as most of the skits falls flat from pure execution and lack of not trying. For one, there are a couple incidents where Touya creates things from his world which would be interesting for a setting like another world and all, it's the execution that fails in this, as such when Touya makes a bicycle because he wanted to, he makes them, but when Linze and Yumina sees it, they do question what it is, but then forgets it and tries to woo Touya by trying to ride a bike, the lack of execution was that what was suppose to be intrigue from characters from another world looking at new items from Touya's world, the focus becomes not about questioning what Touya is making and what it is, but instead trying to have a harem moment by having the majority of the cast trying to woo Touya over something as mundane as riding a bike, something similar also happens with shogi and a GUN of all things with the same deadpan unfocused reactions but the gun creation only works on the grounds that a medieval world having a gun is anachronistic and weird in general and for comparison, in ReZero LA would mention that something similar but better executed happens which actually involved a phone where Subaru was trading his fliptop phone to get an important item from someone and the trader was wondering what it is and was interested in it and wondered how it worked thus giving MUCH more interesting reactions compared to the incidents in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.'s skits tend to be on the fanservicey side of things as well, from slime monsters trying to tease up the harem members with Touya looking in glee to blatant beach episodes to the talk and showing of panties out of nowhere...yes a bit of fanservice is acceptable even for LA, but when it is this blatant and this forced on it becomes more eye-rolling than acceptably added into a scene.
The conflicts in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. is just soo not trying it's boring to watch, LA does find the notion of having a smartphone in another world to be interesting, however when having the smartphone is pressing the easy button time and time again from killing zombie armies in one fell swoop, killing a dragon in no time flat, to HELL why not tame TWO gods with a simple trick, it wears out it's welcome and gives easy access to the anime just not caring about the stakes at hand, it's rather more worried about the harem members blushing at Touya every chance they get and bicker at each other of them trying to push each other to confess to Touya.
For comparisons LA will even say that an anime that came out at the same time as Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. the "isekai mecha anime" Knight's & Magic main protagonist Ernesti goes through more conflicts that aren't easily resolved (besides mooks), he works HARD to get what he wants which uses the anime's central mecha element to his advantage in showing this and goes through hardships through loving what he does and even then Ernesti's rivals aren't just one hit kills or are easily taken care of before the episode ends in comparison to Touya who takes care of the threat in less than a minute and heck Ernesti's rivals even have a dynamic to him of having a different philosophy but same thinking as Ernesti, for Touya he doesn't even HAVE a rival or villain.
So what about the animation from Production Reed?...well although the character designs are exotic and fantasy based, once again because of Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. just not caring about it's battles and stakes, the animation does as little as possible in terms of fighting. Sure there are some fighting here and there but even then it's limited. Production Reed also has many animation derps at times and even dips in quality for an anime already doing as little as possible and LA will mention this but the transitions that appears alot in this anime (you know the transitions with the golden flairs with animated chibi-fied characters doing an aftermath of a situation in question) though good for halfway eyecatches, Production Reed ABUSES this by trying to use as many transitions from each scene to the next and that causes both spatial and location problems ALOT in this anime. What does LA mean?...well because of the transitions meddling in many scenes it causes a disconnect to what area the characters are in and diverts the scene we were just shown for an even lower quality chibi-version of it not knowing what happened after besides the transitions giving the vaguest clue. It's just sloppy and messes with the spatial area the characters are as LA just cannot remembered that ohh yeah Touya owned a mansion, because the transitions showed so little of it LA had forgotten. Production Reed wanted as little effort to do with this anime and it showed.
Voice acting is something LA will praise in some manner of it only in the form of Maaya Uchida and Marika Kouno as it felt like they did try to muster up what little they could from this anime and did it enough for LA to even recognize them. Maaya Uchida as Elize was LA's favourite character by default (and LA says this because again the entire harem doesn't have much personality besides being infatuated with Touya and some preset personalities) due to her brutish tsundere behaviour and Marika Kouno was good as Yumina as she was the competent one/the Momo Deviluke of the harem in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. though not Momo's devious side, but nonetheless good to see Marika Kouno again LA just wished it was in a better anime, also was it just LA or did LA find it funny that Sumire Uesaka was voicing the foreign chunnibyou character (Leen) in an anime where Maaya Uchida was voicing an aloof older sister archetype? (LA is referring to Anastasia and Ranko Kanzaki from The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls as they swapped character roles in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.)
The finale?.....well what do ya know, Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. actually got pretty good, it took them 11 episodes of almost nothing for them to get here, as although the anime was focused on the dynamic of Touya's harem as in the polygamy deal which Yumina instigated, it however fell flat by the end of it. But sparking the notion of it actually happening even in a harem is nearly unheard of (though To Love Ru Darkness is still did it first and better executed and interesting) thus got LA's interest and waned immediately from Touya's answer...but it got LA's interested. Was it enough for LA to watch through all 11 episodes to get to this point? NOPE.
Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. is by in large a poor man's version of an easy run of ReZero or a less funny KonoSuba with a smartphone, it's definitely not the worst anime LA has seen, definitely not as this anime was just boring and not much else, it hardly cares about it's isekai elements and it's harem elements are typical fair cept the one factor during the finale. Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. was hard to accept as a "so bad it's good" with no stakes, bland characters, plot that is given to the main protagonist instead of earned, harem hijinks we've seen time and again, low effort animation with decent voice acting here and there and ultimately it was in LA's worst anime of Summer 2017 because it's flaws just overwhelmingly outweighed it's strengths.
You know when LA thinks of having a smartphone in another world, LA would think it would be easy...but NOT THIS EASY.
To be honest, LA had a lukewarm reception when it comes to Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni., it's a non-conflict, piece of cake adventure with no stakes, harem hijinks we have seen over and over again and characters that are blander than plain bread on a white featureless plate with vanilla on top. Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. does everything in it's power to not try AT ALL and revels in giving us easy non-conflict conflicts for the sake of filling the episode's quota. Does LA utterly hate this anime or is LA hiding something?...
Well let's start with it's many flaws.
Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.'s characters are by in large stereotypes of many harem shows we've seen time and again, we have the main protagonist Touya Mochizuki who was reincarnated in another world where God tells him he can bring one item to another world (gee where has LA heard this before *cough* KonoSuba *cough*), he obviously brings his smartphone and his personality is the typical nice guy who's dense as a brick on par with Ichika Orimura. Touya is your wish fulfillment character bar none by the way, from the ability to learn EVERY element of magic in this another world, gathering a sizable harem by the anime's end, owning properties and even getting recognition from Kings of TWO Kingdoms, getting almost everything he wants sometimes unintentionally but he goes with the flow anyways and gathers the aforementioned harem in the process. LA is gonna say what LA has been feeling about Touya's character which is "This is what happens when you give Subaru from ReZero the easy route with no deaths", you want Subaru to NOT be a controversial asshole main protagonist who shakes up the plot well here ya go, have Touya instead!. Now what about the harem?..well we have Yae Kokonoe, the Japanese-eqsue lady who's in love with Touya, Leen a magical fairy who is interested in Touya and his magic, twins, Elize and Linze Silhoueska who first meet Touya and get him acquainted with his new world and are generally the older brutish older sister and the shy demeanored younger sister respectively and finally Yumina Urnea Belfast, a princess and Touya's bride to be as she becomes infatuated with Touya after helping her father/king...she's also 12. So yeah basic harem archetypes through and through and really, the characters are the LEAST of Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. problems.
Next is the "skits" this anime pulls. You'd think that Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. where it focuses on another world would have some attracting features to it...well not really as most of the skits falls flat from pure execution and lack of not trying. For one, there are a couple incidents where Touya creates things from his world which would be interesting for a setting like another world and all, it's the execution that fails in this, as such when Touya makes a bicycle because he wanted to, he makes them, but when Linze and Yumina sees it, they do question what it is, but then forgets it and tries to woo Touya by trying to ride a bike, the lack of execution was that what was suppose to be intrigue from characters from another world looking at new items from Touya's world, the focus becomes not about questioning what Touya is making and what it is, but instead trying to have a harem moment by having the majority of the cast trying to woo Touya over something as mundane as riding a bike, something similar also happens with shogi and a GUN of all things with the same deadpan unfocused reactions but the gun creation only works on the grounds that a medieval world having a gun is anachronistic and weird in general and for comparison, in ReZero LA would mention that something similar but better executed happens which actually involved a phone where Subaru was trading his fliptop phone to get an important item from someone and the trader was wondering what it is and was interested in it and wondered how it worked thus giving MUCH more interesting reactions compared to the incidents in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.'s skits tend to be on the fanservicey side of things as well, from slime monsters trying to tease up the harem members with Touya looking in glee to blatant beach episodes to the talk and showing of panties out of nowhere...yes a bit of fanservice is acceptable even for LA, but when it is this blatant and this forced on it becomes more eye-rolling than acceptably added into a scene.
The conflicts in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. is just soo not trying it's boring to watch, LA does find the notion of having a smartphone in another world to be interesting, however when having the smartphone is pressing the easy button time and time again from killing zombie armies in one fell swoop, killing a dragon in no time flat, to HELL why not tame TWO gods with a simple trick, it wears out it's welcome and gives easy access to the anime just not caring about the stakes at hand, it's rather more worried about the harem members blushing at Touya every chance they get and bicker at each other of them trying to push each other to confess to Touya.
For comparisons LA will even say that an anime that came out at the same time as Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. the "isekai mecha anime" Knight's & Magic main protagonist Ernesti goes through more conflicts that aren't easily resolved (besides mooks), he works HARD to get what he wants which uses the anime's central mecha element to his advantage in showing this and goes through hardships through loving what he does and even then Ernesti's rivals aren't just one hit kills or are easily taken care of before the episode ends in comparison to Touya who takes care of the threat in less than a minute and heck Ernesti's rivals even have a dynamic to him of having a different philosophy but same thinking as Ernesti, for Touya he doesn't even HAVE a rival or villain.
So what about the animation from Production Reed?...well although the character designs are exotic and fantasy based, once again because of Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. just not caring about it's battles and stakes, the animation does as little as possible in terms of fighting. Sure there are some fighting here and there but even then it's limited. Production Reed also has many animation derps at times and even dips in quality for an anime already doing as little as possible and LA will mention this but the transitions that appears alot in this anime (you know the transitions with the golden flairs with animated chibi-fied characters doing an aftermath of a situation in question) though good for halfway eyecatches, Production Reed ABUSES this by trying to use as many transitions from each scene to the next and that causes both spatial and location problems ALOT in this anime. What does LA mean?...well because of the transitions meddling in many scenes it causes a disconnect to what area the characters are in and diverts the scene we were just shown for an even lower quality chibi-version of it not knowing what happened after besides the transitions giving the vaguest clue. It's just sloppy and messes with the spatial area the characters are as LA just cannot remembered that ohh yeah Touya owned a mansion, because the transitions showed so little of it LA had forgotten. Production Reed wanted as little effort to do with this anime and it showed.
Voice acting is something LA will praise in some manner of it only in the form of Maaya Uchida and Marika Kouno as it felt like they did try to muster up what little they could from this anime and did it enough for LA to even recognize them. Maaya Uchida as Elize was LA's favourite character by default (and LA says this because again the entire harem doesn't have much personality besides being infatuated with Touya and some preset personalities) due to her brutish tsundere behaviour and Marika Kouno was good as Yumina as she was the competent one/the Momo Deviluke of the harem in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. though not Momo's devious side, but nonetheless good to see Marika Kouno again LA just wished it was in a better anime, also was it just LA or did LA find it funny that Sumire Uesaka was voicing the foreign chunnibyou character (Leen) in an anime where Maaya Uchida was voicing an aloof older sister archetype? (LA is referring to Anastasia and Ranko Kanzaki from The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls as they swapped character roles in Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.)
The finale?.....well what do ya know, Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. actually got pretty good, it took them 11 episodes of almost nothing for them to get here, as although the anime was focused on the dynamic of Touya's harem as in the polygamy deal which Yumina instigated, it however fell flat by the end of it. But sparking the notion of it actually happening even in a harem is nearly unheard of (though To Love Ru Darkness is still did it first and better executed and interesting) thus got LA's interest and waned immediately from Touya's answer...but it got LA's interested. Was it enough for LA to watch through all 11 episodes to get to this point? NOPE.
Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. is by in large a poor man's version of an easy run of ReZero or a less funny KonoSuba with a smartphone, it's definitely not the worst anime LA has seen, definitely not as this anime was just boring and not much else, it hardly cares about it's isekai elements and it's harem elements are typical fair cept the one factor during the finale. Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni. was hard to accept as a "so bad it's good" with no stakes, bland characters, plot that is given to the main protagonist instead of earned, harem hijinks we've seen time and again, low effort animation with decent voice acting here and there and ultimately it was in LA's worst anime of Summer 2017 because it's flaws just overwhelmingly outweighed it's strengths.
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