Why are mal tags stupid?

you do realize that this is an adventure anime? it's just not like a grandiose adventure like something from lord of the rings. just because it's a slower paced anime doesn't make it slice of life. there is a story here. there's character development. none of that would be present if it was a slice of life since there is no progression in that genre of stories whatsoever

Because it is not a slice of life. Being an adventurer or going on an adventure is not a slice of life thing and it is pretty clear in this show.
As for isekai, in that case you need another world, it is not the case in Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, because that's the same world.

that's not what SOLs are lmao. slice of life is literally taking a slice out of a character's life and following that for the series. SOLs don't have a set story. have you even watched a SOL, because if you did, then you'd know that none of the character's develop nor is there a story present. SOLs are meant to be very chill and laid-back.

yeah, there are other stories that *have* slice of life elements in it but that doesn't automatically make it a SOL. Mob Psycho 100 has a ton of slice of life moments with Shigeo, yet what makes it *not* a slice of life is that there's character development. having character development in any story immediately rules it out of the SOL genre, regardless of execution

SxF has a central plot and a continuity of events that binds the episodes and carries the story consistently. This doesn't qualify it as an SoL.

Just because you do something twice, it does not become your everyday routine. The slice of life is about everyday life, so about things you regularly do. So, you went on an adventure 7 million times, then okay, we could accept it, but even then we should talk about the nature of the adventure. Like if we follow an adventurer who had a lot of adventure, but this will be the first one he wants to defeat a demon lord, then it is not a slice life etc.

Well, certainly Frieren is not an Slice of Life. But woah! It was today I realised Kino doesn't have an SoL tag but Mushishi and Girls' Last Tour has.

I can remember a year or so ago MAL redefined this Slice of Life genre. As a result a lot of shows lost this tag. Even the definition of SoL align quite well with Kino. I'm not sure why it didn't got the tag.

SxF has a central plot and a continuity of events that binds the episodes and carries the story consistently. This doesn't qualify it as an SoL.

also you clearly left out a key detail in your mini description for this anime:

"a near immortal elf, adventuring after her quest is over" is true, but you're forgetting that she's going on a new journey to Aureole so that she can communicate with her loved ones again.

that bit that you left out immediately invalidates the notion that this is a SOL because again, SOLs don't have a set storyline. SOLs follow the everyday menial lives of the characters. these characters in SOL animanga don't have end goals. they neither progress nor regress. frieren is a story about the passing of time and how that impacts someone like frieren, an immortal elf. she's literally retracing the steps she took in the journey to defeat the demon king.

that is the complete opposite of what a SOL is

ok mentioning spy x family as a slice of life proves that you only look at anime at face value.

yes, spy x family is very slow in its pacing, but the core storyline of that show is for anya to develop in both her academic and social skills to help loid in operation strix. every forger, even bond, grows in some sort of manner. the whole point of spy x family is to prevent a war from breaking out between two countries. yes, spy x family *has* SOL elements in it, but that automatically doesn't make it SOL. the nature of the story revolves around a set of characters trying to better themselves for the sake of world peace.

the whole point of SOL, again to reiterate myself, is following the everyday lives of characters. these characters have no end goal. they don't develop at all. they stay virtually the same.

let's take akebi's sailor uniform, an actual slice of life anime that you have seen going off of your list on this platform:

- akebi neither grows nor regresses as a character. she stays virtually the exact same throughout all of the episodes. the only thing that has changed for her is that she is now part of her school's community and has more friends, but that is literally just natural when going to a new school, or any new place for the first time. and again, her character stays the same throughout the entire season.

to circle back to frieren, she is going on another journey to a place to say her final goodbyes to the people she loved. throughout her journey, she learns and takes in the meaning of time and how she shouldn't take the relationships she's built for granted. frieren going on a journey isn't a part of her everyday life.

you've completed missed the entire point of this genre

I have no dog in this conversation other than the fact that Death Parade is most definitely not an isekai. Haven’t gotten around to spirited away yet so I can’t speak on that.

seriously? the plot of sxf is "smaller" compared to the other stuff in the anime? no, literally the reason why the forger family exists is BECAUSE of operation strix. loid constantly is trying to become a better family man all for the sake of his mission.

also to respond to your akebi comment, yes, you can have side characters *somewhat* change, the focus of the series is not on them, and in this case, the center point of that anime is on akebi (it's literally in the damn title lol). akebi doesn't grow. the whole point of that series is to take a static character and insert her in an environment she's never been in. everything else in the anime has to revolve around her. she's not meant to change nor adapt to the circumstances she's now in. that's what makes it slice of life. we follow her everyday life in both her school and her home.

also, you can have slice of life elements in a series that isn't in that genre. I already used mob psycho 100 as an example as there are episodes focused on mob's everyday life both at school and at home. the series uses that to flesh out his character. however, what differentiates that from an actual SOL is that he's constantly growing, both in terms of his abilities and his personality. he learns very valuable lessons from arataka and he embarks on a series of tasks that massively impact him in a way that pushes him forward to his own personal goals.

almost everyone here has been spelling it out to you as to why your view of SOL is flawed, yet everything that, not just me, but everyone says goes past your head

It’s not an isekai because it’s just the afterlife, that’s all that it takes place in. The main cast is set in the main setting of purgatory, never removed, it’s not actually “another world”. Just like how Frieren or any other actual fantasy series isn’t isekai, because that’s just the setting of the story. The characters that pass through are not who we follow throughout the story, so I don’t think it really qualifies as an isekai.

You could maybe try to over explain it and proclaim it is on technicalities, but no one should genuinely be arguing that Death Parade seriously belongs alongside the isekai tag. There’s no need for it. It’s like arguing if heaven or hell is an isekai. Maybe? But who cares.

you're someone who hasn't seen a ton of SOL, yet here you are going on about stuff that isn't SOL.

literally the reason why any of the main characters in sxf do anything is because of the fake family they set up, which again can all go back to operation strix, which is the driving nature behind whatever both loid and anya do. yor has her own reasons to stay in the family, but in short, they are all together to help maintain peace and stability and prevent any war from breaking out. that's the entire reason why this family exists.

using death note in this conversation makes zero sense since the story in that anime revolves around light trying to make his "perfect world" using the death note.

Following MAL's defination, I'll say the same reason why SxF is not an SoL.



Every story needs a plot but how the plot drives the story depends on the narrative style.

As I said, having a plot doesn't immediately disqualifies something from being an SoL. Those shows do not have an overall goal in their stories. Every episode (or a finite set of episodes) individually represents a distinct story. While they have a continuity between episodes, the following episode does not entirely depends on the effects and information of the previous.

As a thumb rule, if you skip an episode, how much information is missed and wheather the following episode becomes unintelligible or not. Also how much freedom you have to watch shuffled episodes yet understand the plot.


PS: I looked up on archive and plenty of shows did have this tag. It seems MAL themselves are not very sure about it either. And at this moment, I doubt, I can even convince myself.

They’re in purgatory, a place between heaven and hell, arguably already a part of the “world they come from” if you wanna frame it that way. I honestly just don’t care to argue further. It’s a silly conversation imo, it doesn’t have the isekai tag and it never will. I hope you have a Merry Christmas

you're someone who hasn't seen a ton of SOL, yet here you are going on about stuff that isn't SOL.

literally the reason why any of the main characters in sxf do anything is because of the fake family they set up, which again can all go back to operation strix, which is the driving nature behind whatever both loid and anya do. yor has her own reasons to stay in the family, but in short, they are all together to help maintain peace and stability and prevent any war from breaking out. that's the entire reason why this family exists.

using death note in this conversation makes zero sense since the story in that anime revolves around light trying to make his "perfect world" using the death note.

Fair enough, I haven’t watched it yet but looking at the description of it, it does feel out of place, I agree with you there. It starts to blur the lines of what is conventionally thought to be isekai, you could almost argue even time travel can be considered isekai because it’s not your world anymore. Like the currently airing 16bit Sensation: Another Layer, or Steins;Gate with the different world lines. That’s a rabbit hole I just don’t wanna travel into lol.

Ive read 'slice of life' so many times in this thread, my brains thinks its tasty or smn.