Why do people say anime has too many slice of life shows?

  • Thread starter Thread starter RJay_64
  • Start date Start date
R

RJay_64

Guest
Slice of Life my favorite genre...

I've only been watching anime since last fall though, so there's a lot I don't know about the industry. But the ratio of slice of life shows compared to other genres seems pretty even.

Not only that, but the "shonen" shows seem to get picked up for American release more easily, and when anime is shown on major American networks, it always seems to be stuff like Dragon Ball Z. I could be generalizing and I might be biased since I love slice of life shows though.

The reason I like slice of life is because those type of shows contain minimal violence and are very funny most of the time. Or maybe I just like seeing cute girls do nothing. Who knows? But as a straight male, I cannot seem to be motivated to see the "mainstream" anime like Bleach.

Anyways though, the main point was, it does not seem like there's too much slice of life comedies out there. Then again, I have not paid attention to this industry for long.
 
I will admit, I don't feel that there is really that much of a vast amount of slice of life shows myself or at least if I compared all the slice-of-life shows I heard of or seen to every other anime show I've seen in my life. That being said, since you did mention that you've been watching anime for nearly a year now, I think you've started getting into anime in the middle of what I believe to be a recent "trend." I mean I got into anime since the late 90s during the Toonami/Pokemon era and what-not and back then there wasn't a vast amount of slice of life shows and I think the same concept could apply for those that got into anime in the early-mid 90s, or the mid-late 80s or something.

Now I don't think many of us fans from any one of those time periods hate slice of life shows neccesarily. It's just that the stuff that got us into anime back then probably wasn't slice-of-life. It wasn't those types of shows that got us hooked into exploring more and more anime in the first place. It was other shows like Gundam, Akira, studio Ghibli films, Dragon Ball Z, Robotech, Cowboy Bebop, Yu Yu Hakusho, etc. So as fans from back then looking at anime in 2010 and witnessing K-ON, Lucky Star, or even many, many shows featuring girls or even boys in school uniforms with supposedly appealing personalities will make us think, "really?! This is how people are getting into anime now? What happened to you in the past several years Japan?"

Now I don't hate slice-of-life myself. I actually like K-ON. It's not like making me love anime like I did all over again, but I like it. The problem is it feels like a trend to me and if I'm gonna watch slice-of-life shows, I can only watch one at a time. And it is a trend when you think about it. For example, once Lucky Star ended beyond the OVA, it I don't recalling reading people talk much about it on the internet anymore. Actually while I did give my lengthy answer, an anime script writer named Dai Sato actually expresses what bothered him about slice of life or what he likes to call "atmospheric shows" flooding anime and there not being enough attention in Japan for the in-depth type of shows with strong messages behind the story or "difficult shows" as he labels it. He doesn't hate slice-of life or anything, he just feels there's not enough love for the "difficult type" of shows.

As a storywriter, Sato had a big axe to grind about the place of the story in Japanese anime. He complained that his works are labeled “difficult-type” (muzukashii-kei), something like the opposite of “atmosphere type” (kuuki-kei) anime. The latter is the type where nothing happens, or there is no significant plot, narrative or development. They tend to focus on cute characters and be very popular with moe fans. Sato said guys like him get no work, even as “Hollywood rips off our ideas.”

He did not say that he disliked “atmosphere-type” works like “K-On!” – rather he likes the incredible designs. He also did not criticize fan service, because, just as many Japanese film directors came from the “pink movie” industry, many animators are coming from a background in erotic material (doujinshi, eroge or ero-anime/manga). Sexual desire is part of the creative drive. But he sees them as moving towards characters and wasting time seeing just how nice they can make the images and movements look. This undermines the special anime-like movements, the visual vocabulary, that came out limited TV anime in the 1970s. There is also the issue of dumbing anime down.

“No one wants to hear about NEET [the unemployed],” Sato said. “They’d rather watch a group of high school girls in a band asking, ‘How do I play this note?’” By this point, he was livid and practically spitting in disgust at these fans who “luv anime” (anime daichuki). “If we are always escaping from reality and real problems, when will we face them?”
Click to expand...

I hope what I said makes sense.
 
Do people say that? I don't think I have ever heard anyone say there was too much "slice of life" stuff in Anime. Too much Moe perhaps. But let's not start THAT debate again lol.

Also you are really not the only one who can't get into shows like bleach. It's an opinion I share. Forgive me if I am reading you wrong but you seem to think that Anime is centered around Shounen shows like Bleach,Naruto,OP etc. While for sure these are major contributers to the industry Anime is much much bigger than just the shounen juggernaughts. Not that they don't have their place.

Still it's not surprising that more shounen shows get licenses here. Since it's target audience is one that is used to swallowing animation as a viable offering. Even westerners who would enjoy such "slice of life" dramas will pass over Anime because of preconceptions about animated material. Still things are much better now than in the past most shows can look forward to a PAL release eventually. And even then region free dvd players are far more available making Region 1 imports and increasingly viable option. For this I am afraid even us crusty old Bleach,Naruto hating beggers must swallow our pride and aknowledge that such shows are probably the cause as fans of such shows have grown up they have saught more Anime. Creating a market for more niche material. Even I have to admit that I came into Anime through shows like DragonballZ and the Super Robot shows.

I realise that it kinda sucks alot of the stuff you like isn't released in you're region but unfortunately this is the way of the world.
 
It's rare for newcomers to anime to be attracted to the slice-of-life genre above others. This is because they may feel alienated by the cultural references, and unfamiliar comedy formats that are not as necessary in action and fighting shows that usually bring in fans. So I applaud the OP for being so adventurous in taking up an interest in anime with a genre that normally takes seasoned fans some time to get used to.

My "first" anime (where I recognized myself as a fan rather than someone who happened to just catch it on tv) was Project A-Ko. There was so much to it that I didn't understand with all the references to other shows, the strange pacing that was unlike anything else I've ever seen, but at the same time it was all just so silly and random that I fell in love instantly.

I think many of the people who say anime has too much slice-of-life are the same people who don't appreciate it. So they think anime creators should spend less time on those and more time on "more exciting" genres.
 
@Hypeathon
It's a bit languid, but clear nevertheless. Yeah sure, it's different from how people are getting into anime over slice-of-life shows when a lot of people like us got started with Pokemon or DBZ. I actually welcome slice-of-life shows as gateways to anime fandom because it allows people to like anime at a different perspective; a lot of anime fans who grew up with DBZ, Gundam, Pokemon, etc probably liked anime for its action and being different from "cartoons" (it's all the same really), but the ones who are liking slice-of-life will like them for gags, dialogue, and to see if these characters' lives aren't very different from our own. Plus, people can discuss why the characters live the way do and probably connect it to popular culture. Maybe I'm overthinking a bit, but I think slice-of-life shows that have depth in characters and life itself can create a pretty damn smart fanbase. I know I'll get so much flack for that statement :lol:

I've said too much... and also, would people even discuss this stuff? I know I would.
 
You're confusing slice of life (daily life) and moe (cute girls doing cute things). Most of the time moe is slice of life, but just because a series is slice of life doesn't mean that it's moe. Look at Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. That's my favorite slice of life series, and it's definitely not moe.
 
“No one wants to hear about NEET [the unemployed],” Sato said. “They’d rather watch a group of high school girls in a band asking, ‘How do I play this note?’” By this point, he was livid and practically spitting in disgust at these fans who “luv anime” (anime daichuki). “If we are always escaping from reality and real problems, when will we face them?”
Click to expand...
As much as one can understand what motivates a stance such as his, one can still accuse the writer in question of falsely presuming the profession of anime production (as opposed to the act of anime consumption) to bear certain social responsibilities. Whilst there may be non-aesthetic merit in depicting genuine problems as a means of motivating the viewer to resolve them, it is not obvious that those who produce anime — or for that matter any fictional content — have a duty to address the ills of their viewers.

Whilst the escapism of a slice-of-life show might not motivate viewing persons to make their lives more useful or productive, it can still be argued that such titles make their lives more enjoyable, insofar as they provide them the joy of immersion within an idealised fictional world.

The matter of whether this pursuit of happiness hinders personal utility remains, but one suspects this matter is one whose resolution is to be resolved by the viewers and not the providers of their entertainment. Such viewers may require certain motivation, though there are other agents and agencies who can provide them with such an impetus.
 
ArsenicSteel said:
^ you would be confusing moe with something bad and Zetsubo Sensei has moe.
Click to expand...
But Jamie is right in that these two terms are confused, while moe and slice of life can overlap, they are not the same, there are shows that are slice of life, but are moe-free, for example: Nodame Cantabile, Natsume Yuujinchou, Kino's Journey, Mushishi etc.
 
I never felt recent anime has had to many SOL shows. Sure we may have to much MOE (which can be good or bad depending on the show.) but not slice of life in general. We DO have to much Ecchi & Genaric Shonen though (this coming from a guy who actually likes shonen, lol. :lol: )

But yea, I would say we have a just right amount of SOL Animes.
 
I was going to say that Slice of Life though being kind of escape, it is relateable to our everyday life. While the more fantasy types are more of a total escape, and is what is usually made an American release because a majority of American anime viewers are looking for the total escape.
 
Jaymie said:
You're confusing slice of life (daily life) and moe (cute girls doing cute things). Most of the time moe is slice of life, but just because a series is slice of life doesn't mean that it's moe. Look at Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. That's my favorite slice of life series, and it's definitely not moe.
Click to expand...
You're right I shouldn't have lumped them all into the same category.

I have heard from several people that there are too many shows like Lucky Star, so that was the basis for my original post.

After reading everyone's response, I probably was too quick to conclude that people assume there's too much slice of life. I do hope more of them come to America though (I'd definitely be first in line if Minami-ke ever showed up here...but after researching the possibility I gave up hope lol).

I guess I just have to buy a Region Free DVD player for the ones that don't come here, or at least trick my computer into running them.
 
RJay_64 said:
I have heard from several people that there are too many shows like Lucky Star, so that was the basis for my original post.
Click to expand...
Hmm....nah, I don't really think so.

I think it's just that the shows that get really popular and are like Lucky Star overshadow the other stuff some times.
 
DuskyPredator said:
I was going to say that Slice of Life though being kind of escape, it is relateable to our everyday life. While the more fantasy types are more of a total escape, and is what is usually made an American release because a majority of American anime viewers are looking for the total escape.
Click to expand...
AskJohn had an article about this topic a couple years back. To summarize, he said that Japanese viewers see anime as something comfortable and familiar, while Western viewers see anime as something exotic and exciting This goes a long way towards explaining how slice-of-life goes over with the different fanbases.

Another problem is simply "definition creep." It's not so much a problem here, but if you look at places like MAL, just about any show without pervasive action, sci-fi, martial arts, magic, or other fantastical elements gets called "slice-of-life" by forumgoers and reviewers. Even shows like AIR, which is pretty far from the "ordinary daily life with no overarching narrative or conclusion" definition. So that's why people say anime is overloaded with slife -- they're applying that label to too many anime.
 
if you look at places like MAL, just about any show without pervasive action, sci-fi, martial arts, magic, or other fantastical elements gets called "slice-of-life" by forumgoers and reviewers.
Click to expand...
Yes, there's a thing that bothers me a lot. Slice of whose life is Marimite? if we think about psychology of the characters it can't beat LOGH that nobody would call realistic.
Lack of fantasy elements doesn't make show realistic. It's easy to make show about fantasies, but showing world with all it's nuances needs is hard to do
 
Back
Top