Slice of life manga/anime series that are actually entertaining?

Because most slice of life series tend to bore the hell out of me for the most part. Especially SOL anime.

edited 30th Jan '16 5:37:30 PM by YasminPerry

The appeal of the genre is in the mundane, in seeing characters deal with everyday or relatively normal problems within the scope of reality. If you find that boring, then I guess you just don't like the genre.

It all depends on what you want from it. There's slice of life absurdity (Ichizon, Go Home Club), there's slice of life that tells an overarching plot (Bakuman, Hayate), there's even a slice of life zombie apocalypse that ran in anime form recently.

So I'd need to you be more specific as to what you enjoy before this is answerable.

The Azumanga manga is like in my top 3 mangas ever. It has great pacing for all the jokes. You may dig it, it's 4koma so every event is brief and to the point, never drags. Also the series ends when it needs to. I'd recommend it to anyone really.

It sounds like you want a comedy series like Azumanga Daioh or Yuru Yuri instead of true So L stuff like Kiniro Mosaic.

I would like a SOL that has more to it than just characters' everyday lives, like Haruhi, which has interesting Sci-Fi stuff going on at various points. Just the everyday lives of average teenagers is incredibly boring to me.

I recommend ARIA. It is a slow paced story about daily life...

...of tour guides in goddamn terraformed Mars.

I really need to get around to reading that. I read Amanchu by the same author and really enjoyed it.

Which coincidentally is another So L manga that I find very enjoyable.

edited 30th Jan '16 6:45:31 PM by 32ndfreeze

I like Shirogane No Nina, also My Girl. I admit, I'm sucker for cute, good-natured little girl and clueless (but well-meaning) father figure. It's just so much adorable....

ARIA looks really interesting; I'll check it out.

Sci-Fi slice of life? Umm Aria, Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, Manabi Straight. Haruhi, Pani Poni Dash are really all I can think of.

So L with really interesting characters hmm? Umm Hyouka, SNAFU, and Yuru Yuri come to mind.

edited 30th Jan '16 7:13:52 PM by Memers

Fumoffu is simply a goddamn masterpiece of humor, yeah, seconding that.

Inio Asano is writing that one cute girl slice-of-life during an alien invasion thing. I haven't actually read it, but it's probably worth checking out.

edited 30th Jan '16 7:23:31 PM by majoraoftime

Nichijou is famous for being slice of life that is anything but what you expect of it.

…I'm laughing just by reading the description. Yikes.

Otherwise, if you don't mind yuri, Ano Kiss is pretty slice-of-life, with a tiny little bit of drama. It all depends on what you call "entertaining" though.

Also, I don't know if you've watched Lucky Star?

Yuki Yuna is a Hero is a great Slice of Life anime.

Literally

I didn't really like Lucky Star. Too many in-jokey references to other series to me, which is the same reason why I didn't really like Scott Pilgrim. I mean, I don't have anything against references or parodies in and of themselves or anything, but when you're making a work of fiction, and 98.9% of it is just referencing/parodying some other work of fiction, then it smacks of uncreativity.

One general reccomendation: watch them dubbed in whatever language you understand. I find that reading subtitles is fine for dialogue that is heavy, dramatic or comedic, but not for the more atmospheric sort. I can't enjoy Lucky Star in the original, but I can in English, even though Wendee Lee does not hold a candle to Aya Hirano.

I think ARIA works better as comic than animation. It needs the reader's own pace.

The appeal of these shows lies in the charm of the cast and sometimes the environment. Kyoto Animation became famous for having girls that are delightful to watch as they are not only well drawn but also well animated, they feel alive and active.

I can suggest Your Lie in April. It does have a plotline, but I don't know if anyone cares about it for most of the run. It's mostly atmosphere and pretty animation. Meanwhile YuruYuri (the first two seasons) has the appeal of "cute girls doing cute things" but combines it with good, slightly daring sketch comedy. And Spice And Wolf combines it with historical economics.

But not everyone "gets" the appeal. It's a matter of what you want out of television.

edited 31st Jan '16 12:22:57 PM by Reymma

I think the big qualifier here is that he seems to be looking a Slice of Life series that ALSO has the hint of movement. The series mentioned here, like ARIA, or heck, Barakamon, is that they all eventually go SOMEWHERE, despite all the cozy and relaxing stuff in between.

Heck, the Tamayura movies have them eventually moving on to graduate, and the final film looks like it will show what Potte and the others lives will be after that.

edited 31st Jan '16 5:19:58 PM by MyssaRei

Why does everybody call me a "he"? Yasmin is not a boy's name, people. [[/endrant]]

But yes, SOL series that actually have Character Development and some semblance of an ongoing plot tend to entertain me, like Haruhi or Clannad.

edited 31st Jan '16 5:20:56 PM by YasminPerry

The Princess Maker avvie doesn't help your case.

In any case, this disqualifies many Slice of Life series that are simply relaxing (see Non Non Biyori or Is The Order A Rabbit).

And Haruhi isn't exactly a good example of a franchise that you can call SOL, as it's a seinen SF series first and foremost, but with SOL aspects. Indeed, the only episode consider even remotely close to a traditional "mono no aware" SOL show is the final episode of the first season.

Hyouka IMO is probably the best one I can think of, the the slice of life with mundane mysteries actually progress and each episode kept me interested in the next.

My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU and Manabi Straight also have arc based story telling.

You do not want Iyashikei works as those are just made to relax and go dawww.

edited 31st Jan '16 5:49:14 PM by Memers

I've read like 3 volumes.

It's pretty good, and between Asano's uncanny ability to write lifelike characters, the great art and the weird sci-fi alien ivasion stuff happening in the background, it's probably exactly what OP is looking for.

It's called Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction by the way. Yes, quite a mouthful.

People keep saying the third season of Yuru Yuri is more pure iyashikei/true CGDCT but I still think it's quite funny. :x

Second season's probably the funniest of all though.

But yeah, second/third/whatevering Azumanga Daioh, Yuru Yuri, and Barakamon, and adding Sabagebu and Mitsudomoe for more zany, comedic SOL.

Also Chis Sweet Home for slice of CAT!!! life.

Sabagebu! is SHOUJO ANIME though. ;P

So yeah, anything without the introspective stillness that typify mono no aware/wabi-sabi work... though I wonder what the OP would think of Mushishi though.