Title: In Another World with My Smartphone Vol. 14
Author: Patora Fuyuhara (Story), Soto (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 144
Genre: Isekai, Fantasy
Publication Date: June 24, 2024
The Story
The fourteenth volume of In Another World with My Smartphone begins with Touya meeting with the Western Alliance about the incoming attack of the Phrase, which are currently attacking the capital of Yulong. Some are against it because of political reasons; however, with humanity itself at stake, they all agree that they should pilot the frame gears and eliminate the Phrase. Prior to this, Ende ends up acquiring a frame gear from Touya in exchange for these data sticks that contain a copy of the Sovereign’s frequency that will attract the Phrase.
The battle is large-scale, but just when they are about to claim victory, Ende shows up and warns them that an Advanced-Class Phrase is about to break through the barrier. While they are able to defeat it, there are dire results to the battle.
After the dust has settled, Touya is paid a visit by Princess Hildegarde and her perverted grandfather who is the former King of Lestia. After some shenanigans that see Hildegarde (now just Hilde) join the ever-growing harem, it’s off to Lestia, where Touya was summoned to repair an ancient ceremonial sword. After reading its inscription, he learns who made the sword and repairs it.
Next, we visit the new Brunnhilde branch of the Adventurer’s Guild when there is a commotion outside. Pam has returned and informs Touya that she wants his babies! There is a deeper reason as every ten years, the treetop tribes do battle with the winning tribe getting to lord above the others. Pam has already given up this year, but hopes to bear Touya’s child, thinking it would be a secret weapon to win the next battle ten years from now. Rather than go through all of that, Touya and his harem agree to become temporary members of Pam’s tribe and help them win the battle, but can they?
Characters
A miracle has happened! We added zero new characters in this volume, which means that the harem has stopped expa—oh, wait, never mind. They just had to introduce a new character in the final five pages of the volume, didn’t they? We don’t have a name yet, but she is a spirit of the Great Tree that rules the Sea of Trees, Pam’s homeland. Not much is known about her for now, but I’m sure we’ll add her to the spreadsheet in the next volume.
Hilde becoming Touya’s seventh fiancée? Yeah, I think even Ray Charles saw that one coming. I wish I could count this as development, but it’s following the same formula as everyone else. Girl meets Touya, Girl gets the hots for Touya, Girl is indecisive about becoming Touya’s fiancée, Girl becomes his fiancée anyway. Well, at least he has two slots left.
Pam did get some backstory about her way of life, her tribes, and how an event called The Pruning decides who will lead them for the next ten years. We got a glimpse into how some of the tribes operate, one of which adheres to old-world ideologies that women must obey men or be banished or cast aside. It’s also nice to see that Pam has picked up the ability to speak, allowing her to communicate effectively. She has grown since the previous volume!
That was quite the promotion for Relisha in the span of one volume. From just a member of the Adventurer Guild’s staff to becoming the head of the brand-new Brunnhilde Branch! She simply saw the opportunity and took it. She’s still not part of the harem, yet, but there are two more slots left, so give it time!
Finally, we have Ende. It was a little peculiar that he wanted a frame gear, and even though he did fairly trade for it, it was highly suspicious that he was suddenly “tired” and needed to leave right before the Advanced Class Phrase showed up. That’s not suspicious or anything! He continues to be an enigma for now!
Final Thoughts
The pacing slowed down a bit in this one as the majority of the volume was taken up by the battle against the Phrase. Then we had that short intermission with Hilde and her grandfather, and now it looks to be picking back up with Touya and company helping Pam out with The Pruning. For some reason, I can’t see The Pruning arc lasting all too long, so I would suspect that we will wrap it up in volume 15.
This volume did a nice job setting up a future Phrase invasion by talking about the weakening barrier; however, it’s still a bit odd how the barrier works. So, it can expand to let an Advanced Class Phrase through, and then just shrink again? If that’s the case, wouldn’t it make sense for it to shrink completely once the other Phrase passed through? Stating that it would shrink implies that it is self-healing; however, it can’t self-heal to seal its own breach. It’s a little confusing, but it was also implied that it did re-seal once this wave of Phrase came through, but it’s just odd that it wouldn’t re-seal when they came pouring in, but it did immediately once the Advance-Class came through.
In any event, this was a pretty decent volume. I would have thought that the battle against the Advanced-Class Phrase would have lasted longer, but they kind of took it down with speed, which kind of killed the drama associated with it breaking through. Other than that, this felt like a standard volume. Not the best one I’ve read, but far from the worst. Still pretty good, overall.
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