November 26th, 2020
Slice of life...and death.
Anime Relations: Non Non Biyori
During my rambles across MAL I've seen a few people comment that they "don't understand" slice of life anime or that it's "boring" and nothing happens.
These are valid criticisms. It is true that in most slice of life anime nothing much does happen and for people looking for entertainment I can see why that would be boring. Some people watch it because it's cute. Or chill. Or relaxing.
I subscribe to those reasons too, but for me the main draw of SoL anime comes from a different place.
I'm a 34 year old man. I haven't lived the worst life on earth, but it hasn't been easy either. I lost my sister to suicide some years ago (sadly, I found her after she had died) which was a contributing factor in the breakdown of relations between myself and the girlfriend I had at the time...and four years later I lost my father to lung cancer. These are just the "crowning achievements" of the last 20 years or so. Since I was fifteen years old most of my family has struggled with mental health issues, depression, alcoholism, various unrelated health issues and during all of that time I've had an extremely complicated (but loving) relationship with my mother who is now in her seventies and needing me to care for her, which I am glad I am able to do.
As for me, I'm fit, healthy, fairly well adjusted and have a solid, caring circle of friends but it would be disingenuous of me to say that watching the people I love the most in the world struggle with their lives hasn't had a profound effect on me. It has. Grief and sadness in one form or another have been my constant companions for the last decade, and they say grief never leaves...it just changes shape. I'm finding that to be true.
But what's all this got to do with slice of life anime? Well, if I told most people I know that watching a show about some young kids pootling around a town engaging in various low-key activities sometimes fills me with a sense of peace that I find hard to achieve in other ways (running until I'm completely worn out has been one other way, I used to run half-marathons on the regular but, man...it takes a lot of effort) they would think I'd gone off the deep end. "Bloody hell, Johna's lost the fucking plot!" they would say.
But it's true. It gives me great comfort to immerse myself in a show where I know there is no threat. No looming conflict around the corner. No sense of dread for the future. Just a feeling of nostalgia for my own time of innocence. Not only that, but if it's an SoL about some younger characters, it gives me a glimpse of what having kids someday might be like. On an emotional level at least. I'm not totally divorced from reality.
I spoke with another MAL user on some thread the other day about Non-Non Biyori and he managed to say exactly what I felt that it was about. I can't remember what he said verbatim so I'll just tell you why it's my favourite SoL anime. It's beautiful, it's colourful and most of all it reminds me of a time long before I had to face the difficulties that my life had in store for me. It's like a warm memory. Because my childhood was actually pretty great. My parents were kind to me, I had good friends, a stable home, my school life wasn't terrible, and I went on holiday to a lot of great places with my family. And memories do tend to take on that rose coloured hue; the bad is diminished with the passage of time, but the good is enriched, and it's the good memories that truly stay with you.
Another reason it's my favourite is that it also acknowledges that innocence must one day be lost, and it does it in a very soft way. I won't post any spoilers but there is an episode where Ren-chon, the youngest of the gang, discovers what death is. For me, it hit home pretty hard, given my own experiences, and I guess I appreciated the show's efforts in that direction. Grief is brutal and complicated but also, in a weird way, it can be beautiful. If you want to watch a single scene from the show connected to that without spoiling it for yourself :- this is it.
So yeah. I just felt like I wanted to write this down. Maybe MAL isn't the place to do it but I know that no one I know in the flesh will read this (because no one I know likes anime anywhere near as much as I do) and they say writing stuff down sometimes helps so...if I can natter a bit about one of my favourite shows as well as splurging some feelings then, fuck it, why not.
If you've stumbled across this blog post and happen to be someone that "doesn't get" slice of life shows or can't stand them then I hope this might give you a glimpse into the reasons why someone might.
Peace.
These are valid criticisms. It is true that in most slice of life anime nothing much does happen and for people looking for entertainment I can see why that would be boring. Some people watch it because it's cute. Or chill. Or relaxing.
I subscribe to those reasons too, but for me the main draw of SoL anime comes from a different place.
I'm a 34 year old man. I haven't lived the worst life on earth, but it hasn't been easy either. I lost my sister to suicide some years ago (sadly, I found her after she had died) which was a contributing factor in the breakdown of relations between myself and the girlfriend I had at the time...and four years later I lost my father to lung cancer. These are just the "crowning achievements" of the last 20 years or so. Since I was fifteen years old most of my family has struggled with mental health issues, depression, alcoholism, various unrelated health issues and during all of that time I've had an extremely complicated (but loving) relationship with my mother who is now in her seventies and needing me to care for her, which I am glad I am able to do.
As for me, I'm fit, healthy, fairly well adjusted and have a solid, caring circle of friends but it would be disingenuous of me to say that watching the people I love the most in the world struggle with their lives hasn't had a profound effect on me. It has. Grief and sadness in one form or another have been my constant companions for the last decade, and they say grief never leaves...it just changes shape. I'm finding that to be true.
But what's all this got to do with slice of life anime? Well, if I told most people I know that watching a show about some young kids pootling around a town engaging in various low-key activities sometimes fills me with a sense of peace that I find hard to achieve in other ways (running until I'm completely worn out has been one other way, I used to run half-marathons on the regular but, man...it takes a lot of effort) they would think I'd gone off the deep end. "Bloody hell, Johna's lost the fucking plot!" they would say.
But it's true. It gives me great comfort to immerse myself in a show where I know there is no threat. No looming conflict around the corner. No sense of dread for the future. Just a feeling of nostalgia for my own time of innocence. Not only that, but if it's an SoL about some younger characters, it gives me a glimpse of what having kids someday might be like. On an emotional level at least. I'm not totally divorced from reality.
I spoke with another MAL user on some thread the other day about Non-Non Biyori and he managed to say exactly what I felt that it was about. I can't remember what he said verbatim so I'll just tell you why it's my favourite SoL anime. It's beautiful, it's colourful and most of all it reminds me of a time long before I had to face the difficulties that my life had in store for me. It's like a warm memory. Because my childhood was actually pretty great. My parents were kind to me, I had good friends, a stable home, my school life wasn't terrible, and I went on holiday to a lot of great places with my family. And memories do tend to take on that rose coloured hue; the bad is diminished with the passage of time, but the good is enriched, and it's the good memories that truly stay with you.
Another reason it's my favourite is that it also acknowledges that innocence must one day be lost, and it does it in a very soft way. I won't post any spoilers but there is an episode where Ren-chon, the youngest of the gang, discovers what death is. For me, it hit home pretty hard, given my own experiences, and I guess I appreciated the show's efforts in that direction. Grief is brutal and complicated but also, in a weird way, it can be beautiful. If you want to watch a single scene from the show connected to that without spoiling it for yourself :- this is it.
So yeah. I just felt like I wanted to write this down. Maybe MAL isn't the place to do it but I know that no one I know in the flesh will read this (because no one I know likes anime anywhere near as much as I do) and they say writing stuff down sometimes helps so...if I can natter a bit about one of my favourite shows as well as splurging some feelings then, fuck it, why not.
If you've stumbled across this blog post and happen to be someone that "doesn't get" slice of life shows or can't stand them then I hope this might give you a glimpse into the reasons why someone might.
Peace.
Posted by CallMeHoot | Nov 26, 2020 3:43 AM | 1 comments