The epic, ongoing game of catchup!

[essbeejay]

A subject near and dear to my heart: the slice-of-life genre. I wanted to try and throw some stateside stuff on this list, but it's kind of hard to pick out. Like, I can only think of a few things that really fit, like Charlie Brown and Hey Arnold!, and Doug for that matter, but none of those would make my top five (no matter how much I love Helga Pataki and her stalker-crush). King of the Hill is the only thing I can think of that comes close adult-wise, but then I realize that the whole point of the slice-of-life genre is to make the mundane compelling by sheer fact of its... beautiful mundanity. Er. Anyway, I don't think Western entertainment really fits that bill, except Charlie Brown (discounting, you know, Snoopy). All the other shows have elements that we recognize from real life, but they turn it into an event—e.g., Arnold spends an episode trying to have dates with two girls. It's a setup for a comic situation. Whereas in a slice-of-life show, the comedy/emotional response would arise out of the mundanity of him prepping for a single date, the awkwardness on that date, and the unrequited secret stalker-crush love that Helga has for him.

... For example.

Anyway, I later realized that I couldn't throw Western cartoons in there anyway because there was a specific call for anime (which I know, is simply the Japanese word for cartoon/animated material, but in the context of the rest of the world it means Japanese animation so there nyeh).

It was easy for me to come up with four; the fifth title was tied between three anime. I wound up picking the fifth for containing elements that are less present in the other four, even though I didn't have as strong an emotional response to it as the others.

Top Five TV Slice-of-Life Anime

1. Azumanga Daioh. Um, hi, this show is fucking brilliant. An anime about a group of high school girls where the humor isn't based on perverted fanservice (though, well, it does have its elements/characters, but the girls are very conscious of said elements/characters and respond like real girls do—with indignant horror). A lot of the humor for me in this one arises out of a familiarity with Asian culture, but mostly from my memories of hanging out with my girlfriends. Ultimately, that's the strongest point of the show—conveying that sense of camaraderie among a group of high school girls, all with very diverse personalities; the ensemble on the show is fucking fantastic. There is a wonderfully realized, purposefully nostalgic moment where the girls are all out walking—not saying anything, just walking. It serves its purpose: it never fails to make me reminisce about hanging out with my own circle of girlfriends in high school.
2. Honey and Clover (I and II). I've said several times before that this anime utterly destroyed me. If Azumanga Daioh is the quintessential slice-of-life anime about girlfriends in high school, Honey and Clover is the quintessential slice-of-life anime about the college experience. It leaves me flailing for words. It threatens tears. Plus, having studied film, the opening's reference to The Brothers Quay sends my geeklitism barometer skyrocketing. I don't know where to begin. There is something so right about it—where Azumanga Daioh's strength lies in its ensemble, H&C's lies in its depiction of the individual within that ensemble. Everything—how this person falls in love, stays in love, struggles with love, struggles with him or herself—is so exquisitely portrayed. And more than anything there is the frighteningly close onset of adulthood, of not knowing who you are, of watching the rest of the world (your friends included) knowing their paths while you're still fumbling for yours. I can't do this series enough justice with words. It is fantastic and poetic and heartbreakingly resonant, even more so after you've graduated. (It's also on Hulu, though I am not terribly impressed by Viz's translation.)
3. My Neighbors the Yamadas. This is one of my favorite films, and certainly my favorite Studio Ghibli film. It's not a Miyazaki-directed fantastical story with a plucky young heroine (but those are great too!)—it is simply a sweet series of daily events in the life of the Yamada family (with its own taste of the fantastical in some very lovely dream sequences). The situations and arguments exude this warmth in their familiarity (and I daresay that coming from an Asian family/background enhances the humor in this film). It's quiet and sweet, probably the best dub I've seen (though it takes awhile to fall into its comfort zone), and features some stunningly outstanding sketchy watercolor-inspired animation. I mean, it is Ghibli, after all.
4. School Rumble. Yeah, so this is only just barely a slice-of-life anime. A wacky, over-the-top zany comedy first and foremost, once you get over your tears of laughter (and the first eight eps, which draaaaag like nobody's business) you'll find it a very heartfelt take on the love dodecahedrons of high school. The character and relationship development in this series is great, and surprisingly... direct a lot of the time, in terms of how it handles high school crushes and puppy love—people fall in love with people and, much like real life, never tell them, never have their feelings realized, never realize it themselves. If nothing else, once the ensemble cast gets going, it becomes a really, really fun ride! (This is also up on Hulu dubbed, for any interested parties.)
5. Whisper of the Heart. It's a simple story: girl meets boy. (In a way, all but two of the titles I've selected are this. Whatever, I'm a sucker for romance.) It's the gradual romance that develops between a girl who wants to write and a boy who wants to make violins. Despite some really head-scratching moments involving... well, you'll see what I mean if you watch it, the story is handled with such genuine affection—I mean, it's Ghibli, after all. Where this one also excels is the tiny little touches in the animation that make it so perfectly lifelike and real—the simple act of a girl hugging a pillow or pausing to click her mechanical pencil are wonderful examples of the elegance in the details. This one makes a deliberate point of taking its time (about ten minutes shy of two hours) and feels even slower than all the other titles listed here, probably because it only ever focuses on our two leads. But it is a lovely little movie, and always my second non-Miyazaki Ghibli film rec, right after My Neighbors the Yamadas.

Honorable mentions for ATASHIn'CHI and Genshiken, the former of which echoes the family-based humor of My Neighbors the Yamadas (with more cartoonish characters), and the latter of which is remarkably admirable for its portrayal of otaku as real people (while still acknowledging their, you know, “strangeness”). I'm especially fond of Genshiken because of the significant character growth over the course of the manga (the anime is good, but the manga >>>>>>> the anime) and its unwillingness to shy away from the fact that these otaku get involved in the real world.

Er. Trivia will follow tomorrow, along with whatever the hell else I want to post. (I've been busy!)

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[essbeejay.livejournal.com]

AHAHAHAHA God this made me laugh