Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.
In Another World with My Smartphone

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For some reason this novel has not gathered much popularity here on MAL. So for those of you deciding on whether it is worth your time to read this, I hope this review comes in helpful.

Short: If you like SoL and Iekai manga and novels, read this. If not, I'm not so sure you'll like it.

The first thing I should say about this novel is that it has a pretty unique style to it. Yes, we have the classic 'boy gets transported to another world' development. Of course he is popular with the ladies, although mostly not immediately, which is nice for a change. He ... obviously has an unfair amount of magic and an unfair affinity to the world's magic attributes. This is more or less expected. But I really appreciated the calm SoL like feeling in every chapter. There is no rushing into dungeons, no descending into terror at the sight of pools of blood, no anguish about disasters that befall the world and require a hero, no bullying from people in the world, no character development resulting in a quiet, bullied kid becoming an emo sorcerer king. Even in the midst of battle, things turn out to be a little humorous. Now depending on whether or not you like SoLs, this may be a good or bad thing. Personally, I like SoLs very much and I am also a big fan of the World Transfer stories, so this combination worked out well for me.

The plot is fairly episodic. As I mentioned, don't expect a Game of Thrones style epic continent-encompassing battle with a hero standing out with a golden halo. Think less of Mushoku Tensei and more along the lines of Shield Hero when he is busy building his village of demi-humans. This novel shines best when the MC is chilling at home, making things from his world and we get to see the reactions of the people around him. The world is pretty well made with a lot of cities and different political systems. The people at the top level of these places also happen to be pretty quirky folks.

The characters don't undergo much development so far in the story. I don't think it is more than halfway into the whole plot yet anyway, and there is a lot left to be seen yet -- at least that is the case with the translation I am reading -- and so we can still expect more from it. Even so, the characters are pretty nice and the interactions between them are fun. The girls in the harem are all -- on some level -- cliches, but that is not necessarily bad here. The MC is a super pure guy and the girls are the more assertive ones in the whole deal. If you don't like it, as I said, stay away. Also, God is a very chilled grandpa in this novel. Reminded me a bit of General Iroh in Avatar.

As for enjoyment, I liked it. It was fun. I think if I were accidentally transferred to another world, I would like to spend my time a bit more like this. Testosterone pumping fights are great and all, but sometimes it is better to take it easy. Just don't have extremely high expectations of the MC. He's a calm dude who wants to take it easy in the new world he happens to find himself in. Don't expect him to put his life on the line and fight off people just because he can -- though invariably he does end up fighting anyway.

I gave this an 8 overall. I intend to continue reading it so long as the translator find it in him to continue his service to the community.

In Another World With My, Smartphone gives off a generic isekai vibe from the title itself, which puts people off. But I feel that the title is the weakest part of the light novel.

The series presents us with the main character dying and being sent to a new fantasy world which is very generic for the isekai genre. But it is Touya's actions and the events that happen around him that show the character naturally learning about the world around him. Which helps to show a natural world development.


Touya's actions are what makes the story so enjoyable. His use of dirty handed tactics in ... battle help to define him as a character and helps to further engross the reader into wanting to read more. Which was the main driving force for my enjoyment with this series. This helps to further humanize the main character. Another drive for enjoyment was his reference to entertainment from Earth. Which helps to humanize him and make him more relatable.

The other 9 main characters that you meet along the way at first deceive you into thinking they are generic one-sided characters. For example, Elze at first is presented to be the generic tsundere of the group but as the story continues you see that she is just a tomboy who is shy about her emotions but when confronted with her emotions still shows them. Rather than the generic tsundere that hides her emotions and never accepts them and shows them. Which gave me more enjoyment because rather than having to go through the tropes that usually come with a tsundere you get someone who you can relate to. This combined with the comical dirty handed tactics gives the series a sense of parody on the isekai genre.

Overall, the series is an enjoyable read for those who like a harem based isekai that slightly parodies the genre. The author uses the baseline of the generic isekai and introduces a drastic change from the generic after a few volumes which help to change up the pace and explore different genres rather than sticking to the generic isekai model of going to complete mission after mission.

Just a review showing why I think this is not worth anyone's time. For whoever sees the anime and thinks the novel should be way better it is. But the anime is utter garbage and this only slightly better.
The WN and LN don't have any major differences so I read the both of them to some point and afterwards only the WN.

First of all the good stuff. So what's the good stuff? I guess that it is an isekai which is really popular right now and that is it!

Now towards the world building. The world is not really complex and gets slightly widened as the ... time goes on but stays relatively easy. No complicated relations between countries or groups and only a very basic system of magic.

The MC is some ridiculously lucky bland and uninteresting guy whom gets cheat powers granted buy god and a harem thrown after him.
While he has those powers he basically excels in nothing. A true master of the art is always better than him in their respective art but he still defeats everybody and everything with ease due to him being a legendary jack of all traits and his "unique" magic (s). He does not seem willing nor do I see him develop in the future.
On top of that he is a good guy with no redeeming features aside from being lucky.

On a side note: the smart phone is only another form of cheat.

Because this is an OP MC this should rather be funny instead of action oriented right? Not really. The start is a bit funny but as time passes it's just gets annoying. No funny puns, no funny tsukomis!

The female cast is not better. They are 1-dimensional beings whom fall for the MC for no apparent reason. The interactions seem often times forced and aside from a single characteristic they just like the MC are boring.

The writing style is not very good but also not bad either. Pretty basic and short sentences and therefore easy to understand (I guess in order to learn Japanese or if your English is not as good this should still be easy to understand).
Developments are not predictable in the long run but only due to his luck/fate that he seems to run into situation after situation for which he has just the right ability bringing him in better and better positions.

After all this ranting it feels like I rated this series too high but in all honesty after a couple chapters it becomes a boring read but if you don't use your brain all the time and turn it down a bit in order to read this it is just a bland story. Nothing that will make you smash your PC on the wall.
I heard that the story kicks in way later (in the hundredths of the WN) but I am of the opinion that I should not have to torment oneself for so long in order to get to the better part.