If anything that's how I'd describe this series.
Having already watched in the past other series of the genre "Isekai" I couldn't help but to roll my eyes so far up my skull the first time I knew about this one that I could see my brain for a second; and even so I gave it a try, you know, just for the sake of it. And in the end I gotta say... I was surprised by how this series managed to actually do things in a way it actually ended up being fun.
Now don't get me wrong, the series is STILL trash in many ways, and uses so many of the clichés in the book that I'm surprised I didn't actually dropped it halfway through. In some scenes the backgrounds were so badly rendered into the final product you could tell they completely overlooked the quality control. The story is nothing extraordinary from the Isekai genre aside of the elements where the MC uses his smartphone and the fact he's probably the most powerful being in that world, and on top of that it's also a freaking HAREM. And BOY, don't even get me started with the animation.
But still, what I found enjoyable was that despite being bad, it wasn't being a total tryhard in becoming a serious series and just focused on being exactly what the premise shows: a fun adventure in a fantasy world. The MC (who is possibly the blandest, most generic character at the beginning of the series) doesn't get too much of a progression until the end of the series where he actually starts making decisions a normal 15 year old teenager would do. It also manages to break (in some really, REALLY few occasions) some clichés from the standard anime harems, which was also a pleasant surprise. The MC's absolutely ridiculous overpowering is put to good use and he knows it. He has the power of God and Waifus on his side anyway.
Back to the story, and as mentioned before, there's nothing extraordinary aside of the character having a smartphone and being super OP. Not only that, but it also manages to actually go through so many stories in the span of 12 episodes which gives the viewer something to be entertained despite knowing that in the end it's all gonna be ok for the cast. Other Isekai series would probably go for 2 or 3 arcs per season, but this series managed to solve everything on the span of 24 minutes and then pass onto another scenario to bring more elements to the story, becoming an actual episodic series. A missed opportunity for character development? Sadly yes, but it doesn't really matter for this story.
I also found some magical elements and the world building to be pretty decent and even interesting too. For a character who can wield virtually any type of magic, he knows exactly what to do when the situation arises, and even bringing stuff from our world into there. A decision so painfully obvious anyone would do had we also get that amount of power into another world.
The characters are also just archetypes, they're not characters per se since none of them have any actual motivation other than wanting to bone the MC. Despite that, they manage to be charming in their way and provide good support to the cast in the end. They sadly get little to none progression in the season, but hey, at least they manage to set their feelings straight at some point. A prowess so monumental in other series that it's impressive a series like Isekai wa Smartphone beat them in that. Bonus points there. If a Season 2 ever hits, I hope we get to see more of their pasts and deeper, more meaningful motivations. But who am I kidding? We probably won't see that.
So in the end, this series is bad but not a total trainwreck. It's not mediocre either, but not a masterpiece at all. I'd say it's pretty decent at most. The story moves fast so it's not boring or slow, and the characters have their own charm, which compensates for the lack of character development. It's just a series to have fun with and not take seriously in the end. Anime elitists will pan this one, obviously, and younger viewers with not too much experience with anime will probably love it. And I? I personally liked it. I knew it was gonna be bad, but at least it managed to make me invested in Touya and the girls for 12 weeks straight. Here's for a better produced season 2 someday. Or also just read the LN.
FINAL SCORE: Guilty Pleasure / 10.
Also watch the dub for a better enjoyment. There the characters sound less painfully bland and it has more humor. No, really, they managed to do a good work with that. Major props.
