The best thing since sliced bread...

ayase said:
Should probably take this opportunity to plug Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou again since I'm re-reading it and it is one of my favourite things of all things that exist.
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Don't suggest things that sound really interesting but don't seem to be available legally in English. Or, at least, let me know if I can try that somewhere legally in English because it sounds interesting (to be fair, I haven't exactly made an extensive search).
 
Smeelia said:
ayase said:
Should probably take this opportunity to plug Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou again since I'm re-reading it and it is one of my favourite things of all things that exist.
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Don't suggest things that sound really interesting but don't seem to be available legally in English. Or, at least, let me know if I can try that somewhere legally in English because it sounds interesting (to be fair, I haven't exactly made an extensive search).
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You could do what I did, and after enjoying the scans and fansubs so much buy the original Japanese versions to compensate the creators. I've done that with a few things, original Japanese manga are pretty damn nice and not particularly expensive.
 
It's just like you're dropping in on and observing the characters' lives for a time without any real need for resolution or story progression in the traditional sense.
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This is basically exactly what glasslip does, and does excellently, and partly why I loved it so much. Although that sentence has wondering if Glasslip is the only real Slice of Life I've seen. What other shows also do this? I thought Glasslip was the first of it's kind.

This thread is incred in bed :) :)

edit: actually there an overarching plot and progression in Glasslip, just no real clean resolution.
 
Agree with ayase, if you're not limiting yourself to series where the A plot is essentially "what mundane thing is happening to these characters at some random time of the day/their lives" and the B plot is the "real" plot, you're treading in murky waters. Macross is for sure not slice-of-life.

I think Glasslip is, er... like a slice-of-slice-of-life? It's almost like a show within a show, because you're watching Kakeru observe the slice-of-life goings on of the rest of the group.

vashdaman said:
I thought Glasslip was the first of it's kind.
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^^; That might be being... generous.
 
ayase said:
You could do what I did, and after enjoying the scans and fansubs so much buy the original Japanese versions to compensate the creators. I've done that with a few things, original Japanese manga are pretty damn nice and not particularly expensive.
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That's a reasonable suggestion, I really don't like to use illegal means at all though. I'd have to think about it and I'd probably feel obliged to buy the manga first (if only to make sure that I ultimately do so and don't procrastinate/forget).

Do Harem shows count as slice-of-life? They tend to primarily consist of a random collection of events and very rarely reach any kind of resolution. I suppose you could say that the fact they have something to resolve and simply choose not to resolve it might count against them.
 
The logic I use is that when something's old or obscure and unlikely to ever be brought out in English (and even if that were to happen, it would probably still be so niche it would lose money for whoever regionalised it) I don't have any problems with scanlations or fansubs. Frankly what I'd like to be able to do is just send the creators a cheque, that would probably be easiest.

Ultimately I'm not going to deny myself things which I'm really interested in because there's no legal way to obtain them. Like I say, it's my favourite manga. And without scanlations I wouldn't have been able to read it.
 
Smeelia said:
Do Harem shows count as slice-of-life? They tend to primarily consist of a random collection of events and very rarely reach any kind of resolution. I suppose you could say that the fact they have something to resolve and simply choose not to resolve it might count against them.
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I think the fact that you can very firmly place them in a specific genre is the main strike against saying they are truly "slice of life".
 
I'm not sure it's necessary but just to clarify, I have no objection to people watching shows/reading manga through illegal means when there's no legal alternative (I'm probably also willing to be flexible if the only legal option is terrible). I just don't like to do it myself, although maybe I could try making the odd exception. If there was no legal way to read Yotsuba, I think I'd struggle (though I suppose that'd rely on me having read Yotsuba to know how great it is, which complicates things further).

ilmaestro said:
I think the fact that you can very firmly place them in a specific genre is the main strike against saying they are truly "slice of life".
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I dunno, I think "Harem" could be a "theme" (or whatever the right term is) in the same way as "slice of life". I think there has to be some degree of flexibility, how would you classify a show about the daily lives of a girl and her harem IN SPACE (joke example but I'm sure someone can tell me an actual show I could be talking about, at least I hope so).

I kind of feel like I'm derailing the thread a bit, so to get back on topic I'd like to mention Daily Lives of High School Boys. I guess it's kind of a parody of "cute girls doing cute things" so it would probably count as slice of life too. I'd say it's the affectionate kind of parody so it's more likely to appeal to fans of "cute girls doing cute things" but parodies can go either way in general. Anyway, it has some interesting things to say about what boys and girls are really like, as well as the pressures to act in certain ways on both. Well, mostly it just has jokes using those things as themes but it still works really well and I loved it. Despite being supposedly centred on boys, I did find that my favourite characters were female but they wouldn't have had the same opportunities for awesome without the boys (and to be fair, the male characters are great on their own too).
 
Smeelia said:
I dunno, I think "Harem" could be a "theme" (or whatever the right term is) in the same way as "slice of life".
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I think it could be, but I'm not sure it plays out that way so often. I think there has to be something slightly more grounded in reality (or at least, the reality of the show) when it comes to slice of life, whereas harem shows are basically designed around an element that rather sticks out from everything around it.
 
To me, harem shows are usually too silly to be slice of life. The basic premise and settings of them is usually too unrealistic I've found, although do correct me if I'm wrong on that count.
 
I guess that makes sense. The only ones I can think of that might be more realistic are (at least arguably) not harems, like Ai Yori Aoshi.

Does Time of Eve count? It's kind of a collection of stories about people living in a particular (admittedly fictional) setting. I guess it's along similar lines to Mushi-shi in a way, maybe that's why I liked it so much. I've only seen the film version but I wouldn't think the episodes are too different. I think it would count, since it's basically about life.
 
For me, for a show to be truly slice of life, the 'life' aspects have to take precedence over other elements of the show - so while something might contain elements of slice of life, if the overwhelming plot arc is romance, then it files more as a romance show.
 
EVE no Jikan might be the best slice-of-life anime, good point. The extra scenes in the movie maybe try to push it further towards a "story", but it probably qualifies.
 
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