Slice of life is a genre that uses everyday situations as a form of entertainment. To some, slice of life can be considered boring, as the characters do mundane things such as: go to school, find part-time jobs, worry about careers, etc. However, this genre is a popular topic for mangakas to write about, so this article would discuss the appeal of slice of life, and why people watch or read it. Information can include: demographics, manga examples, and the formula for slice of life.
TV tropes is, as always, an excellent resource for this sort of discussion.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SliceOfLife One part of Slice of Life that TVT mentions is its escapist qualities. The essential notion here is that when building a slice of life world, it may not necessarily reflect real life. Many people seem to personally define Slice of Life as a genre of the ordinary. The environment might be mundane, but viewers are not engaged by material more boring than their own lives. The characters have to bring humor, or drama, or something to the table. The lives of the characters have to be interesting. The context of Slice of Life stories function as a restriction to writers. Therefore, writing the setting should not require much thought. The writer must focus on the characters, keeping in mind what qualities of the characters--their dynamic--makes the story interesting. – pigrocket9 years ago
Two reasons: first, people are endlessly curious about the things they don't know. Imagine being a tourist in a country that you've never been to before, one that seems to exotic to you, say, Guatemala. Yet to the Guatemalans their country is their everyday; it may even be mundane to them. They, however, may find the perpetually grey, rainy England skies endlessly fascinating. Therein lies the appeal to the slice of life genre - everything through a stranger's eyes; someone else's small, normal, boring or annoying is your fascinating. It's a quick, easy and cheap way to escape your mundane life into someone else's, and there is none or little of the fake, touristy stuff. And second: everyone is a bit of a voyeur. Everyone. – lizardxu7 years ago
I believe a helpful look at its negatives would've made this piece richer. It's a bit too one-sided. – SarahKhan894 years ago
