Yeah, but you said it yourself; the key is smoothness. Not only is repetitive uses of timeskips not smooth (especially in a written medium, versus a visual one), the use of jump cuts to show everything that isn't relevant to;

-Classes
-Missions
-Combat

Is most definitely [i]not[/i] smooth. It'd be like if every quiet scene in the show was handled via a flashback. Actually, that's not even what it'd be like; that's what it is.