Summary
Seeing a shōnen hero unlock their full potential to vaporize the big bad guy, a group of superheroes save all reality from some omega-level threat, or magical girls use the power of friendship to overcome evil makes for fantastic climaxes. But when someone sees spectacle after spectacle, it can become less thrilling over time, and it makes them yearn for something more down-to-earth.
“Slice-of-life” suggests its media, including manga, is more plain and mundane, since it usually sticks to the real world and its real problems. No mutants, Saiyans, or Sailor Guardians. Just zany antics, overcoming neuroses, finding love, and the end of the world. “Slice-of-life” can be more exciting than the term lets on, as the genre’s best manga proves.
10A Man And His Cat
As Straightforward As It Sounds
When people think “slice-of-life,” they likely think of manga likeA Man and His Cat. As the title suggests, it’s about Fuyuki, an old man who adopts a cat he calls Fukumaru. It’s kind of like a cuddlierGarfield, as the two toddle through life together happily, with nary a mention of Mondays or lasagna. Which might be why it’s also a popular iyashikei (“healing”) strip.
This subgenre is meant to give readers comforting stories without riling them up. The closest to drama is in how Fuyuki found a kindred spirit in the big cat. Fukumaru was passed over at the pet shop for being bigger and less cute than the kittens, while Fuyuki was left alone after his kids left home and his wife passed away. This serves asa heartwarming startto their adventures.
9Azumanga Daioh
Finding The Insane In The Mundane
Speaking of cats, it might be hard to seeAzumanga Daiohas a slice-of-life strip when it often gets rather wacky. Like when Chiyo’s dad turns out to be a big yellow cat that can play baseball, resist bullets, and speak English (“I WISH I WAS A BIRD!”). But he only turns up in the dreams of Chiyo’s classmates, Sakaki and Ayumu “Osaka” Kasuga. Beyond that, it’s about funny schoolgirls doing funny things in their day-to-day life.
Like when Sakaki tries to get on a real cat’s good side, only to get bitten. Chiyo tries to cook something, and ends up making something inexplicable. Or when Ayumu gets her “Osaka” nickname because her teacher, classmates, and practically everyone around her expect her to act like a stereotype. As wacky as it gets, there’s a touch of realism beneath its antics.
8Nodame Cantabile
Making A Mismatched Couple Feel Real
Romance stories seem ordinary, as most people have fallen in love in one way or another. Though they rarely resemble the meet-cute ways in manga. It can end up being more testing and awkward, like inNodame Cantabile. It’s partly a meet-cute, as professionally trained musician Shinichi Chiaki must work with the talented but unorthodox pianist Megumi “Nodame” Noda.
But it’s not a typical opposites-attract story. The two work together to help each other overcome their flaws, musically and otherwise. Shinichi learns to appreciate unconventional approaches to music from Nodame, who in turn, learns to overcome her fear of performing publicly from Shinichi. It just takes effort on both sides to get there and beyond, which makes their unlikely romance feel more authentic than many of its rivals.
7Barakamon
Narcissistic Calligrapher Gets Sent To The Sticks
Shinichi had to voluntarily test his limits and take risks to become a better person inNodame Cantabile.Barakamon’s Handa had that choice taken away when his vanity got him in trouble. He let his masterful talent at calligraphy get to his head, and when a critic dismissed his award-winning efforts as “bland,” things didn’t end well.
As punishment, his father sends him off to live in the Goto Islands, way off the coast of Nagasaki Prefecture, where Handa will have to learn how to live in the sticks without the creature comforts of the city. Though as he adjusts to a simpler life, dealing with the locals and their rowdy kids,he learns to be humbler, and develops his calligraphy in new, more interesting ways.
6Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou
Happiness In Humanity’s Twilight
One of the themes inYokohama Kaidashi Kikouis appreciating things while they last, because they won’t be around forever. Japanese literary critics call it “mono no aware” (“the pathos of things”), and it’sbeen a concept in Japanese writingsince the Heian Period (794-1185 CE). It’s usually brought up to describe reflections on the passage of time, growing out of childhood, or moving on in life.
YKKuses it for the end of the world. An environmental disaster has left humanity on the wane, making them retreat from the ruined cities and towns to live simpler lives in what’s left of the countryside. In time, they will all die out, leaving robots like the coffee shop owner Alpha behind. Nothing lasts forever, but so long as they last in the present, the people Alpha meets and forms connections with make life worthwhile.
5Girls’ Last Tour
The Lighter Side Of Post-Apocalyptic Life
InYKK, humanity is dying out, but there are still communities of people around for Alpha to interact with. As opposed toGirls’ Last Tour, where the only group of people shown is Yuri and Chito. They ride around the post-apocalyptic winter in their Kettenkrad (a motorbike with tracks), seeking out food and supplies, and occasionally find the odd, usually single, survivors among the ruins.
Like Yuri and Chito, they’re doing what they can to survive, and even plan to seek out other cities, like Ishii, when she tries to fix her airplane. Though humanity’s fate isn’t looking any better inGLTthan it is inYKK, it shows that people can still learn new things, make new friends, and live a life that’s still worth living, even after the end of the world.
4March Comes In Like A Lion
Shogi Player Leaves Home And Finds A Family
For something less bleak,March Comes in Like a Liongoes back toNodame CantabileandBarakamon’s themes ofprodigious talents with serious issues. In Rei’s case, he’s an elite-level shogi player, but he’s also a teenager with a lot of emotional baggage. He’s trying to keep up with the shogi community’s expectations, while still grieving for his parents and little sister, who died in an accident when he was a kid.
After the incident, he was brought up by a foster family, but he thought he was just causing them more trouble, and he moved out to handle things on his own, albeit to no avail. Things change when he comes across Akari, Hinata, and Momo, the Kawamoto sisters. Through their friendship and shared experiences, he slowly gains the confidence to face his problems head-on.
3A Silent Voice
The Difficulty Of Earning Forgiveness
It’s one thing to sympathize withMarch’s Rei or seeBarakamon’s Handa get humbled. Feeling sorry for a bully is another.A Silent Voicesaw Shoya join in on bullying the deaf transfer student, Shoko, only to end up singled out for it when the tide turned. The stigma stuck with him throughout the rest of his childhood, leaving him as a suicidal, clinically depressed adult.
He decides to try and make things right with Shoko and confront his trauma directly before checking out. The manga is realistic in its portrayal of bullying, the hypocrisy of Shoya’s classmates, and how hard the path to redemption can be, if it’s attainable at all. It can make for a harsh read, but it just makes its events all the sweeter and more uplifting as it goes on.
2Yotsuba&!
A Little Girl Sees The Extraordinary In Ordinary Things
This might be a surprise to some.Azumanga Daiohis more well-known, as it was adapted into an anime. But Kiyohiko Azuma’s follow-up work,Yotsuba&!, might be his most lauded. It’s about Yotsuba, a 5-year-old girl, and her foster father, Yosuke, as they move into a new city, explore their new neighborhood, and make new friends, like their neighbors in the Ayase family.
It’s simple, straightforward, sweet, and charming, as ordinary things like air conditioners, doorbells, and swings spark Yotsuba’s imagination. The manga won awards, including the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Grand Prize, and inspired all kinds of merchandise. The only thing ithasn’t received is an anime, as Azuma felt the manga wasn’t a good fit for the medium, which might be why it feels like a hidden gem compared to its zany predecessor.
1Oyasumi Punpun
The Dark Side Of Coming-Of-Age Tales
Whether it’s the post-apocalyptic likes ofYKK, the charisma ofYotsuba&!, or the bittersweet tale ofA Silent Voice, slice-of-life stories can be anything but mundane, depicting life as it can end up being more dramatic and traumatic than any supernatural cataclysm. Some of its entries can be so raw that they can hit a little too close to home for some readers.
For example, Inio Asano didn’t intend towrite a bleak storylikeOyasumi Punpunfor bleakness’ sake. He just wanted to make a manga that depicted life as it was. Where families can be dysfunctional yet stick together, friendships can be broken yet come back around, and people can become toxic, yet can also get better. It’s not fully happy, yet not fully sad either. It’s just how life goes sometimes.
