Slice-of-life anime can be a really weird genre to many Westerners. We’re used to our entertainment being plot-driven with fairly high stakes and climactic drama. Even lighthearted fare has some sort of semblance to classic story structure and writing.
Slice-of-life anime lets the drama take a back seat and turns the stakes way down. These are shows you can just chill out on the couch and watch without fear of being grabbed too hard. Often these shows are set on a very narrow stage. A school, a particular shop, or some other framing device. The closest equivalent I can think of on American TV would be something like Cheers – a sitcom set in a bar where the story is told as the character’s experiences intersect with it. Slice-of-life anime are, however, NOT like sitcoms and don’t follow their genre convention.
Story arcs tend to be short and self contained, with less emphasis on continuity. It’s not uncommon for one episode to actually consist of two stories. Alternatively, some slice-of-life anime is very short. Each episode only being a few minutes long. Here are ten shows I think together offer something for everyone.
Restaurant to Another World
This is one of the most recent shows that I’ve seen myself, but it made such an impact on me that I felt it had to be on this list. The setting for this anime is a “Western style” Japanese restaurant by the name of Nekoya. Basically this means they don’t serve native Japanese food there, but only food imported into Japan. So far, so unremarkable.
The thing that makes Nekoya so special is that every “Day of Satur” (i.e. once a week on Saturdays) the door opens up into a fantasy world. It appears in several places in the fantasy world, which means the patrons are medieval humans, fairies, elves, and all manner of monsterfolk. Here, they come and experience some of the finest dishes the chef can muster.
It’s a simple yet imaginative concept, and the creators of the show go to a lot of effort when describing and depicting the food. Each episode focuses on two dishes and uses them to tell the backstory of the world and the people that live in it. Restaurant to Another World is replete with interesting characters, each with a little vignette that helps you form an attachment with them.
It’s an off-beat concept, but boy – does it work! This anime is beautifully animated, has great character design and a fresh approach to telling interesting small stories that all connect in some way. As I write this there has only been one season to watch, but I’m confident this will go down as a classic of the genre.
Azumanga Daioh
I have a real love-hate relationship with Azumanga Daioh. In many ways this show is THE slice-of-life anime – the one that mainstreamed the genre in the West, at least. On the other hand, I don’t particularly care for it much myself, mainly because it’s too “kawaii” for even a hardened anime fan such as myself. You can’t deny the cultural impact of Azumanga Daioh on anime fandom, though. For example, the term “waifu’, which is now a standard part of the lexicon, comes from the creepy Kimura-sensei.
The story centers on six school girls and two of their female teachers. Each of them has some sort of serious adjustment problem or personality quirk, which is the main source of comedy in the show. The program itself follows their daily struggles and is admittedly quite funny at times. However, Azumanga Daioh takes a seriously chilled attitude towards pacing. If you want at least a moderate pulse in your relaxation, viewing it may not be for you. On the other hand, people that love Azumanga Daioh REALLY love it. There’s doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground here.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
This is another fairly recent show that’s really raised the bar for the genre in my opinion. The title of the show pretty much says it all. It revolves around Miss Kobayashi, an almost middle-aged programmer who lives by herself and occasionally goes out to drink with her co-worker. Kobayashi is basically a female version of the geek slacker, but with better personal hygiene.
One night she accidentally runs into a dragon and manages to help her out of a tough spot. Soon after, the dragon shows up at her front door offering to be her live-in maid as a way to thank her for her help. Tohru, as she’s called, is however a very lively and rowdy room mate, quickly proving a little too much for the chronically tired and occasionally hung-over Kobayashi. To make matters worse, Tohru’s dragon acquaintances soon start popping up, curious about what Tohru’s doing in the human world. The run of episodes deals with how Kobayashi adjusts to this new normal in her life and reflects on everything she’s missed out on.
On top of this, Tohru seems very much in love with Kobayashi – something which the series has only begun to explore in the first season. Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid is a lovingly made, beautiful, and heartwarming show that older viewers will really love.
Tonari No Seki Kun
One of my personal favorites, Tonari no Seki Kun or “My Neighbor Seki” tells the story of a school boy, Toshinari Seki and his female classmate Rumi Yokoi. Seki is the master of playing around and slacking off in class. In every episode he comes up with incredibly creative way to turn his desk into the ultimate playground. Yokoi tries her best to dissuade him, since he’s getting in the way of her learning. In the end, however, she invariably gets caught up in whatever Seki’s doing. Somehow Seki never gets caught, but occasionally Yokoi is the one who gets in trouble.
I really love this short-form anime. Seki himself never speaks, with everything narrated from Yokoi’s point of view. She quickly gets what Seki’s trying to achieve and has to grudgingly admit his genius from time to time. From building an elaborate eraser-domino display to … well, I don’t want to spoil any more of them.
Tonari no Seki Kun is an absolute delight to watch and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to give the slice-of-life genre a fair try.
Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto
Have you ever heard of a “Mary Sue” character? It’s a fictional character that seems to be perfect in every way. They are skilled at everything they try and always have all the answers. Often you find them in fanfiction, where the author wants to put him- or her- self into the story.
Mary Sue characters generally make for poor writing and cringe-worthy viewing. At first glance the titular Sakamoto seems to be just this kind of character. Sakamoto is cool and talented. All the girls love him and all the boys want to be him. I don’t think author Nami Sano was going for that at all.
You see, although Sakamoto is a perfect genius who can solve any problem, the actual problems he faces are so surreal that his solutions have to match their bizarreness. The point of the show is not the fact that Sakamoto is so cool and perfect at everything he does. It’s that it doesn’t matter, in the context of his world’s stupidity. Sakamoto is a comedy more along the lines of surreal slapstick comedies like National Lampoon’s films. It’s not for everyone, but if you “get” the humor, this popular slice of life show could be for you.
Detroit Metal City
I’ve been into heavy metal for most of my life and have played in my share of metal and rock bands, which is why Detroit Metal City immediately caught my eye. This is a short, 12-episode OVA (Original Video Animation – straight to video) based on a manga of the same name. The episodes are only 13 minutes long, so really it’s more like a 6-episode OVA in length.
The premise of Detroit Metal City is hilarious. The main character, Soichi Negishi, is a talented musician who wants to do nothing more than become a Swedish Pop music star. He loves the sort of music you’d get from ABBA, Roxette, and the like. Unfortunately, his career is having a hard time taking off, which means he has to take money where he can get it. This leads to him becoming the front man and guitarist of a black metal band named Detroit Metal City. Under heaps of KISS-like makeup and a brutal costume, he becomes Johannes Krauser II, a demonic, rapist beast persona that the fans just can’t get enough of. Despite the fact that Soichi HATES the violent music he is making, he is also incredibly good at it. DMC just keeps rising, pushing the band towards stardom.
The show details this day-to-day conflict between mild-mannered Soichi and his Krauser persona. It’s especially funny when the Krauser side of Soichi comes out at the worst of times. Throw into this a budding romance with a girl who also loves Swedish pop, but has NO idea that Soichi is Krauser, and you have a great recipe for comedy.
Dagashi Kashi
Dagashi Kashi is another food-related slice-of-life anime that really caught me by surprise. It also taught me about an entire side of Japanese culture I had no idea about. “Dagashi” are cheap candies and other snacks aimed specifically at the small allowances of young children. They come in all sorts of shapes, types, and sizes. Many even have a small toy or prize in them. Dagashi shops are pretty rare nowadays since kids have way more money to spend, but for decades during the Japanese economic boom in the 20th century they were a mainstay.
Dagashi Kashi centers on the son of a Dagashiya (dagashi shop) owner and a mysterious girl who comes to their town. Kokonotsu Shikada absolutely does not want to take over his dad’s shop. Instead he wants to become a mangaka (a graphic novel author), but his dad’s not convinced.
One day Hotaru Shidare comes to their shop in order to recruit his dad for her family’s major snack corporation. He agrees on the condition that Hotaru can convince Kokonotsu to take over the Dagashiya. Hotaru is up for the challenge and moves into town with the goal of changing Kokonotsu’s mind. Hotaru is also a total Dagashi NUT. She begins to use her expert knowledge of these snack foods to convince Kokonotsu of how great they are. The show follows these exploits, along with a romantic subplot involving Kokonotsu, Hotaru, and a childhood friend named Says Endo – something Hotaru seems completely oblivious to.
Dagashi Kashi is a feel-good show with great characters and enjoyable humor. At the same time, it’s a education about a very specific time in Japanese history. If you have any interest in Japan as a country at all, that alone makes it worth a watch.
ToraDora
ToraDora is an incredibly popular slice-of-life romantic comedy that aired back in 2008. It often tops the slice-of-life anime lists of various sites and remains a strong recommendation to this day.
It tells the story of Taiga and Ryuuji, two schoolboys who have crushes in each other’s best friends. They don’t like each other much, but their interests align. They make a deal to help one another hook up with their respective crushes. The show mainly focuses on the various situations these two engineer in order to get their crushes to spend time with them and begin to build relationships. The comedy of the series revolves around how these attempts usually backfire in some way or another. Even worse, since these two are seen palling around so much, a rumor starts going around that Taiga and Ryuuji themselves are a couple – a situation that obviously doesn’t help their ambitions.
ToraDora has become a beloved show that both slice-of-life and romance fans often gush about. If you like either of those things, you’ll like this.
Mysterious Girlfriend X
While ToraDora really is a great show, Mysterious Girlfriend X is much more my speed. I actually read the manga series long before seeing the show, so I didn’t get to experience the full mystery, as it were, but you shouldn’t feel compelled to do the same.
Mysterious Girlfriend X starts with one of the most worn-out tropes in anime – a new transfer student. She’s a girl named Mikoto Urabe and she’s a real enigma. Sultry and strange, there’s just something about her. Through a series of events that I won’t describe here, our hero Akira Tsubaki ingests some of Urabe’s drool. Yes, you read that right. It turns out that her drool is addictive, something she says is a love sickness. So begins the weird and twisted relationship between our two main characters.
I honestly don’t want to say too much about the details since one of the best things about this show is the weird places it goes, but if you want a romance that’s truly original yet still endearing, this is a good show to try.
ReLIFE
How many of us have wished that we could give high school another go, with all of our memories of the first time intact? That’s exactly the chance offered to Arata Kaizaki. He’s an unemployed 27-year old man who gets along by doing part-time work where he can. One day he gets contacted by a company called ReLIFE. They’re looking for research test subjects and Kaizaki fits the profile they are looking for. Their technology rolls back his age by 10 years and he’s tasked with going back to high school. The idea is that this second chance can be a type of therapy to help Kaizaki deal with his personal problems.
The show covers Kaizaki’s second attempt at school with the added complication that he absolutely cannot have romantic relationships with anyone due to their true age differences. However, because he’s seen as a mature guy it also makes him more attractive than when he really was 17, which is the source of all sorts of problems.
ReLIFE is one of the more serious slice-of-life shows, with more of the dramatic backstory revealed as things go on. It’s not as dour as some “proper” dramas, but it does tug from time at the old heartstrings connected to sad feelings. If Azumanga Daioh has you overloaded on the saccharine feels, ReLIFE is a welcome alternative.
Living a Slice at a Time
If you’ve grown up on American TV then adjusting to the pace of slice-of-life shows can be jarring. If you do get into the groove you’ll find a broad range of programming that really just lets you kick your feet up and let the entertainment wash over you. It’s a refreshing take on storytelling, and even within the genre you’ll find massive variation in plot, subgenre, and framing.
It’s worth sticking through the adjustment period of this type of show; those of us who “get” slice-of-life programming will always have a place for it in our viewing schedules.