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

Sabagebu isn't really Slice of Life though its a sports comedy series. If we included the more general School Girl Series like that then Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C 3 Bu would be another. But calling those So L would be like calling Gundam Build Fighters one.

And S3 of Yuru Yuri stripped out the Yuru and only had the Yuri.

edited 1st Feb '16 12:14:05 PM by Memers

I wouldn't consider Mushi-shi Sliceof Life in the traditional sense, firstly because Sliceof Life isn't typically applied to more fantastical/historical settings (which tend to be things that make it less mundane) and because it's about fantastical phenomena.

The funny thing about Mushishi is that it ticks off most of what's expected in an "atmospheric" SOL show. Relaxed pacing, an appreciation of transience and impermanence, and an episodic nature? Yep.

The fact that we had what amounts to a wandering witchdoctor-medicine man as a main character, curing fantastic ills, doesn't detract from those at all.

In that case, do So Ra No Wo To and/or Haibane Renmei count as slice of life?

Mushishi and Haibane Renmei are atmospheric and slow-paced, but also have clear dramatic narratives (episodic for the home-visit shaman, taking over across the run for the budding angels). They also use never-fully-explained mystery as part of that atmosphere. So I wouldn't call them slice-of-life, though Haibane Renmei starts off very mundane, and it's a good recommendation if you want that aspect with something more to keep you invested.

It's kind of mincing details really. It's up to the person to ask themselves then whether the conceit of the show took primacy to simply showing its characters enjoy their day-by-day, with the knowledge that the memories of their experiences are the only things they could bring with them after the fact.

It's not perfect, I think, but it's what I use to see whether or not a show was held the proper "atmosphere" (kuuki, I suppose), rather than being a show of another genre that just HAPPENED to have slice of life stylings.

In the case of Sora No Woto for example, I think 70% of the show simply showed the lives of the girls at the garrison and town, and 30% to the fact that the place they're in happened to be the front line of a cold war that might just turn hot again.

And then compare this to any random episode of ARIA that wasn't connected at ALL to becoming Primas.

edited 1st Feb '16 6:59:55 PM by MyssaRei

Almost forgot Midori no Hibi counts I think. There's sort of an overall goal. But 90% of it is still SOL.

Sora no Woto is interesting because not only the slice of life content occurs in a setting different from the usual school life in Japan setup, but also because the postwar setting creates a partial dissonance. If only it was longer...

I suggest Honey And Clover and 3-gatsu no Lion (the latter is only a manga for now, but an anime should start soon). With Honey And Clover the manga has better pacing, but the anime is extremely pretty.

x3 Mushishi and Haibane Renmei definitely ticks all So L traits, but doesn't belong to the Iyashikei (healing) subgenre. Instead, they're Mono no Aware.

Isn't Sora No Woto like K-On! in the military? That's...odd.

That reminds me of one of the things I dislike the most about cute high school girl SOL stories - in real life, girls would be eaten alive by today's cynical society. I don't know if that's a problem with the girls or society, though.

Iyashikei series, which I assume is what you are referring to, is an escape from that 'eaten alive' world and into a world where the worst result never happens or at least the worst result is funny in a lighthearted sort of way.

Its made to relieve stress and just relax and enjoy the lighthearted situations and light comedy.

If you dont want that then watch shows with a 'drama' tag on it.

edited 3rd Feb '16 12:22:34 PM by Memers

Not all SOL series are that genre, though. Azumanga Daioh, for example.

Azumanga Daioh is very much one if slightly more absurd than most, as is Yotsuba.

But yes Iyashikei is a subgenre of Slice of Life, others have 'plot, conflict and resolution'.

edited 3rd Feb '16 2:41:01 PM by Memers

Not all SOL shows are the same. As noted several times, many shows exist to be relaxing reprieves from the daily grind of real life. They're meant to HEAL (hence Iyashikei), and as such do not usually adhere to Western notions of "plot" (conflict - resolution).

edited 4th Feb '16 6:27:04 AM by MyssaRei

Separating the post, so it'll be more notable.

There's a post here on this very forum, buried in all these threads, that kind of elegantly describes the difference between your typical show with plot, and a very typical SOL-Mono no Aware/Wabi-Sabi show, through two 4-panel comics.

The first example (working from memory here) shows: Girl trying to buy drink from vending machine —> Girl finds that vending machine doesn't give her the drink she ordered —> Girl gives machine Percussive Maintenance via kick —> Girl gets drink from dispenser. So we have a conflict, and a resolution, which Westerners, or those used to western ideas of plotting, expect.

The second strip shows something that starts somewhat similarly, but doesn't follow the same expectations: —> Girl tries to buy drink from vending machine —> Girl sees that the machine has issues —> Shows an entirely different scene, with a boy peacefully looking up at the sky —> Girl comes and sits beside him, smiling, with drinks in hand.

There's a bit of difference, don't you think, and kind of epitomizes what make "pure" SOL shows as they are. They're less about the destination (if there even is one), than the experiences getting there, and how it affects the characters in the process. It's why a lot of SOL shows are character-driven than plot-driven, really.

Hence I'm convince that you're not actually looking for SOL shows per se, but shows of other genres that just happen to have SOL aspects.

See the recommendations by the other posters: Fumoffu, bless its ridiculousness, it's more of a comedy foremost, while Honey and Clover is primarily a josei romance/growing up story.

And you mentioned K-On and Sora No Woto — the only real similarity they have is that they share a character concept designer, and focus on a group of young girls. This is ignoring the fact that in the latter the girls are actually part of the military, and man a garrison in a place that, while quiet backwater now, borders a hostile country, one of the senior members is a veteran suffering from PTSD, and another is a princess who's trying to ignore her family history with all her might.

edited 4th Feb '16 6:47:53 AM by MyssaRei