English Dub Review: In Another World With My Smartphone “Daily Life, and Onward to Eashen”

Everyone gets a ride on the Mary Sue bicycle today In Another World with my Smartphone.

What is In Another World With My Smartphone? At first, the series opens as if it’ll be a narrative starring our Mary Sue Touya as he traverses and discovers this grand new magical world he has been dropped in, maybe along the way being roped into a grand overarching adventure. But at times it’s the most mundane slice of life drama stories which seems unfitting with the series introduction and the magical setting. I am not iterating that such a show wouldn’t work as a series but with Touya written as the instantly overpowered character he is, having him and his girl gang riding bicycles seems out of place and forcibly “cute.”

OVERVIEW (Spoilers Below)

That basically sums up the first half of the episode. Touya gets some supplies to make bicycles and then all of the girls take turns riding those bicycles to impress Touya. A vapid and forced attempt to show these girls’ rivalry for Touya’s affections? You bet your butt it is. To break down the rest of the episode we get another example of why Touya is so sickeningly perfect as he brings an orphan girl in off the streets to work for him as a maid in his mansion and Leen shows up to ask Touya for some help in unraveling the actual story of the series. If you remember in a previous episode the Touya squad fought a weird creature with a crystal core (that was beaten easily by Touya) and now Leen has arrived to bring the crew to Eashen to investigate it.

Finally, something of an overarching narrative has reared its ugly head and I can’t really care. Episode 8 and now is the time where the writers finally remember to progress the narrative? Plus, bundling that with two pointless slices of life subplots which only just proves what we already know that Touya is so perfect. We as the audience already get it. Touya is a great guy. Sweet, a bit ditsy and has the powers of a literal god. Slice of life narratives is supposed to be little windows into the average daily turmoil of characters. Just a means to enjoy the more calm and mundane drama brought on by smaller events rather than monumental ones. What I find distressing for In Another World With My Smartphone is that it has no idea if it wants to be a show about the mundane daily life or push towards more world building and bigger world goals.

It cannot be both as clearly trying to be both make the show dull as sand. The romantic aspect comes across as contrived as the main character has to be written has quirkily oblivious. Any big threats have to be dealt with instantly to not take away from the whimsy of the slice of life. Finally, any world building writing comes across as hollow as the show is more interested in the gang doing meandering activities to build on the mundane quirkiness. It’s a slice of life series that has nothing to fill that slice.

OUR TAKE

Dull and bland are the only words that could best describe the show. While at this point, my expectations have plateaued to the point where being dull is at least consistent writing-wise, there is nothing to recommend. The only mild novelty this episode offers is the ridiculousness of how all the girls desperately and rather pathetically try to win Touya’s praise by riding a bike. That is just plain sad.