FMmatron said:Ippo has slice of life elements, but I still wouldn't recommend it someone specifically looking for a slice of life, the main appeal is clearly a different one.
With slice of life being the broadest genre of them all, even broader than drama, it needs to be narrowed down to become useful.Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. (Alfred Hitchcock) Any piece of fiction deals with the life of it's protagonists. The two interesting features being changes in the world (story) and in their minds (character development). If there is no progression in either, there is no drama and thus it's usually not fictionalized because it's pure boredom. The degree to which fictionalization and dramatization takes place along with thematic and story elements (e.g. war, romance, supernatural etc.) determines the genre and narrative style. Which means: any piece of fiction has drama and slice of life elements, as any character has a life and a development.FMmatron said:Slice of life elements and slice of life narrative are two different things. A show can be tagged slice of life, but that doesn't say much. You can't compare Sakurasou which is a rom-com, with drama, themes about self growth or pursuing your goals with Non Non Biyori or Barakamon which embrace the plain daily life, or in other words, with a slice of life in it's purest form. Imo only those "pure" shows should be labeled specifically as slice of life. Now, that's your private definition and as good as any other. You basically define SoL as the thrift shop ("Resterampe") of drama. It's certainly not, I strongly disagree. Anidb.net's tag definition is that SoL is "daily life" and has one sub-tag "work life". That definition adds "daily" to something all characters in all fiction already have, a life interesting enough to be fictionalized. In that light, many genres become sub-genres of slice of life, all fiction about people with a defining job for example. Police, athlete, medical doctor, lawyer, detective and so on are all "work life" drama for particular occupations a majority considers "not boring". Which is completely arbitrary, any routine life will do and which occupations are interesting is purely subjective. There is no reason to assume the occupation of a Prima in Aria is "more boring" than than that of an athlete as in Hajime no Ippo.
To flock the dead horse sports individually, sports is extremely close to slice of life in many ways. To the point the border often blurs. Training is a boring, routine occupation whether you do it professionally (->work life), or as part of your character development (->slice of life). The main difference is dramaturgy, i.e. the way sports anime are cut, dramatized, and camera work is used. One may argue that there are no peaks in "pure" SoL, which tourney arcs, duels and matches are for sports. Partly true, and one of the main differences. But what is a "peak" is subjective again. Tourneys are story peaks, where other SoL more goes for character development peaks. The latter are more subtle, but equal.
Example: In Yuru Camp, a scene is reused with protagonists exchanged. Both Nadeshiko and Rin drive up the same forrest path alone. Rin does so in the beginning of the series, Nadeshiko in the end. It symbolizes change: Nadeshiko and Rin now understand each other's way of thinking and share an experience, despite being alone while doing so. That is basically the massive character development of Yuru Camp, well hidden in visual story telling. What I fail to see is how this is more boring and any less powerful and psychological than a fight in a boxing anime. |