If you know me, you know that I have a VERY strong opinion about slice of life, magical girl, and shounen anime. For those who are new to these terms:
Slice of life is a genre of media that focuses on the mundane and day-to-day life of its characters.
Magical girl is a type of anime, usually geared towards young girls and women, which involves a girl or group of girls who can use magic. Usually, they can tap into their magical abilities through an alter ego which they transform into.
Shounen/Shōnen anime is a type of anime that is geared towards a younger audience, but overtime has geared more towards young boys and men as the key demographic. It’s mostly an anime that centers around a young male hero or heroes and focuses mostly on adventure, action, and fighting.
Throughout the world, but especially in the U.S., shounen anime and manga are easily the most popular forms of this type of media. I don’t have all the specific stats for you on that, but for me growing up it was magical girl and shounen. But after a while, it felt like it became just shounen. No other magical girl anime has been able to unseat Sailor Moon as the top Magical Girl series of the past 30 years, and while some may argue series like Tokyo Mew Mew or Puella Madoka Magica are in the running, Sailor Moon is still super popular in the US. For the sake of argument and this article, however, we’ll say that the most actively popular type of anime and manga is shounen.
If you had to ask a random person on the street what the most popular shounen series is, you would find very few people that wouldn’t claim that Dragonball Z is still king. Naruto, One Piece, Bleach have always been heralded as “The Big Three” in terms of sales and popularity both in Japan and abroad. Super dedicated fans would add Yu Yu Hakusho to that list as well. Nowadays, the most popular series are definitely My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. And if you’re someone who is even deeper in the know of shounen and their adjacents, you might throw in Baki and Kengan Ashura, but they’re nowhere near as popular or aggressively mainstream as the likes of a Naruto or Jujutsu.
With all that said, there are still other genres of anime and studio names that are popular and show up casually. We’re talking about the increase in Japanese horror anime like works from renowned creator Junji Ito. Studio Ghibli works, such as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, will always be popular to some degree, but will still have a harder time of grabbing the level of popularity that shounen series currently hold in popular culture. I’m not saying shounen is the only type of anime making waves, but when you can play as Goku or Deku in Fortnite, it’s a pretty safe assumption that shounen dominates mainstream anime conversations.
So, what does slice of life have to do with this? Why is slice of life such a special genre to me? Well to be honest, this came about because a guy I matched with on a dating app annoyed me. Like every other nerdy person looking for other nerdy people on these apps, the conversation eventually led to anime. I gave my favorites and some slice of life/slice of life adjacent movies I adore, and he basically popped my sails. He said that he found slice of life anime to be boring and that struck a nerve in me. It wasn’t so much an issue of “oh someone is shitting on my favs and hurting my feelings.” It was more that it felt like he, like others, don’t truly give slice of life/slice of life adjacent animes a fair shot before writing them off.
In comparison to the more popular genres of anime, the slice of life genre isn’t always action packed. Slice of life anime, by definition, is a genre/subgenre of anime that is “focused on a seemingly random and mundane period of the main characters’ lives.” This is a type of anime that will usually be slow paced and resolve conflict, if any, in a not overly dramatic or fantastical way. Now, to explain why I say slice of life adjacent; not every slow-paced anime is a slice of life anime, it could just be a dramatic story that moves slowly. Also, like other genres, slice of life can sometimes be combined with other genres or lumped into other genres like Coming of Age or Romance.
To get back on topic, slice of life animes are naturally slow paced and more thoughtful. There isn’t always a dramatic fighting scene or huge declarations of battle. This type of genre focuses on the everyday lives of its characters and somehow finds a way to sneak in some kind of deeper meaning or life lesson for the viewer. These can range from lighthearted things like high school growth to overcoming heavy things like childhood trauma or grief. To me, these are the kinds of stories that remind me of how human we are. As humans our emotions are beautiful and scary at the same time. We love strongly and beautifully. We hurt, get hurt, become guarded because trauma is real, and slowly but surely open back up when we feel safe and loved. We’re not always super confident and sure of ourselves, the people around us, or the decisions we make. We’re flawed, but we can find beauty in those flaws.
Now, I’m not saying other genres of anime, like shounen, can’t showcase that. What I’m saying is that just because the anime may be slower paced and possibly monotonous doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve the same respect and appreciation as a fast paced, action-packed series. If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s fine but I believe that if we can give every shounen anime that gets popular a chance and say it’s the best anime ever, you can at least try giving a 2-hour slice of life/slice of life adjacent movie a shot.
And I’m going to help you! It says in my bio that I’m great with recommendations, so let me at least try to honor that. The following are a mix of my favorite slice of life/slice of life adjacent anime series and movies. You don’t have to watch ALL of them, but give at least one of them a try. I would appreciate it!
Ashley’s Slice of Life/Slice of Life Adjacent Recommendations:
A Silent Voice (Movie) [TW/CW”: Bullying, suicide attempts, talks of suicide]
Synopsis: Shouya Ishida was a kid in elementary school who was wild and bored. New transfer student Shouko Nishimiya is welcomed to his class. What makes her stand out is that she is deaf and introduces herself using a notebook. Ishida and his group of friends bully her, but he after being egged on he takes it up a notch. In the end, he receives all the blame and is ostracized until his senior year of high school. Still plagued by the wrongdoings of his youth, Ishida dedicates his life on a journey of redemption and forgiveness in the chance he meets Nishimiya again. The movie tells a story of forgiveness and redemption as the two people reunite and see if forgiveness is in the cards.
For those truly curious, I wrote a review on the movie and was very vulnerable.
Synopsis: The story follows Sawako Kuronuma who is a quiet and sweet girl, but is feared and misunderstood by her classmates because of her appearance being similar to Sadako from The Ring. She is nicknamed Sadako and rumors started circulating that she can see ghosts and curse people. Since she has been shunned for so long, making friends is a foreign concept to her so she doesn’t know how to approach people or make friends. It’s not until popular boy Shota Kazehaya starts talking to her does she gain confidence in reaching out to people and making solid connections. All the while, a slow but sweet love blossoms between her and Kazehaya and naturally every obstacle you can think of shows up to try and pull them apart.
Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish (Movie)
Synopsis: Tsuneo Suzukawa is a college student who is studying marine biology and is working towards graduate school in Mexico. On his way home after work, he saves a paraplegic young woman named Kumiko Yamamura or Josee. As he walks her and her grandmother home after the ordeal, the grandmother later asks him if he would be Josee’s caretaker. At first, Josee is not receptive to him whatsoever and she puts him through a series of tests. Feeling deflated, Suzukawa decides to resign. Right before he resigns, Josee has gone missing. He eventually finds her and learns that she wanted to go to see the sea. Suzukawa takes her to the sea, and they have a wonderful time. Josee smiles and opens up and it changes Suzukawa’s perspective and feelings about the job. As the two start to bond, tragedy strikes and threatens Josee’s livelihood and the friendship and other feelings growing between the two.
Honorable Mentions (may or may not be Slice of Life/Slice of Life adjacent):
Your Lie in April [TW/CW: Physical and emotional abuse between a parent and child, PTSD]
I Want to Eat Your Pancreas [TW/CW: Talking about death, just in case]
NerdyBebop 