Although the most popular anime tends to deal with epic fights and super-powerful characters, sometimes it is good to sit down and enjoy a calmer show. This is where the slice-of-life genre comes in, bringing us sweet, heartfelt, and relatable stories that warm our hearts and give us valuable life lessons.
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Slice-of-Life, while less known than Shonen, Shojo, or Seinen, has an ample catalog, with everything from high school romances to tragic lovers. Below, we will give fans looking for a Slice-of-Life anime the 10 best series of this genre.
A List of 10 Amazing Slice-of-Life Anime
Violet Evergarden
Ever since she was a child, Violet has known nothing but the horrors of war. She survived the gruesome conflict and was given her original life back. Alone and with no memory of who she was, Violet struggles to fit into a society that she was never a part of.
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The government gave her a job where she could interact with others to learn how to act in public, as a letter writer for those who cannot do it themselves. It is through this profession that the young woman learns about love, loss, and what it means to be human.
March Comes in Like a Lion
Rei is a professional Shogi player whose life has been filled with tragedy. He lost his parents and younger sister in a tragic accident, forcing him to live with Mr. Koda, a friend of his father. As soon as Rei became 17, he left Koda’s house to live independently, believing he was a burden to the family that took him in.
However, with independence also comes adult issues that Rei will now have to learn how to solve. He will be accompanied by his best friends, the three Kawamoto sisters, Akari, Hinata, and Momo. They will support him not only in his career as a Shogi player but also as he discovers who he truly is.
Skip and Loafer
Motivated by her dream of helping Japan become a better place, Mitsumi moved to Tokyo to study her high school years. Tragically, as she has always lived in a small town with almost no people, she gets lost in the big city. Things do not seem to be going Mitsumi’s way, at least not until she meets a polite young man named Sousuke.
The boy, who happens to be Mitsumi’s schoolmate, helps her get to school, without any more complications. Their classmates, who do not have a positive opinion of the pair due to their tardiness, notice immediately how friendly Sousuke seems to be with Mitsumi. So, a new and odd friendship is born, which could turn out to be the best thing to happen to Mitsumi.
Kimi Ni Todoke
Sawako is a young high school student who has always been mocked and isolated by her classmates for her unkempt appearance. Most of her classmates call her Sadako, an evil Japanese ghost who haunts people. The young woman has struggled to make any friends and prefers to be alone most of the time.
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This changes when Kazehaya, a handsome and popular classmate, begins talking to her, trying to befriend Sawako. Along with her new friend, our protagonist will begin a journey of self-discovery, opening up to others and even falling in love.
Komi Can’t Communicate
Komi is a celebrity in her school, both because she is truly stunning and because of her distant behavior. Yet, behind her cold attitude towards others, hides a deeply anxious girl who finds it difficult to talk out loud. Hitohito, a boy who sits by her side in class and is hated due to this, is the first one to find out about Komi’s condition.
The young man becomes Komi’s first friend, promising the girl that he will help her overcome her problem. Thus, the duo begins looking for ways to help Komi communicate with others, while also discovering the world around them.
Sweetness and Lightning
Inuzuka is a single father who simply wants the best for his small daughter Tsumugi. Despite his best efforts, he is sorely lacking in both cooking experience and time, since he is a teacher with many students under his care. One of his pupils, Kotori, is the daughter of a restaurant owner and she has been pleading for the teacher to bring his daughter to her family’s restaurant for a meal.
After many pleas, Inuzuka finally agrees, taking Tsumugi with him and enjoying a nice homemade meal with Kotori. From that point on, the trio begins to cook and eat together as often as possible, giving the lonely Kotori someone to eat with her, Tsumugi a proper meal, and Inuzuka time to appreciate the life he has.
Hyouka
Oreki’s deepest desire is to live a bland life while not putting too much effort into his obligations. His plans get thwarted when his older sister forces him to join the Classics Club, which will soon be closed due to its lack of members. Despite his reluctance, Oreki agrees, only to find an energetic girl named Chitanda who has already signed up to become a member.
Captivated by the girl’s personality Oreki joins the club, beginning a new chapter in his life. With Chitanda and his friends by his side, Oreki will navigate through life, all while learning that his previous goals may not have been all that great to begin with.
Anohana
Summer has arrived, and Jintan wants nothing more than to stay home and play video games. Woefully, the ghost of his childhood friend Menma, who died 10 years prior, is not leaving him alone. The boy believes this is punishment for not preventing the girl’s demise, but Menma assures him that she just wants help crossing over to the other side.
Tasked with granting his friend peace, Jintan is forced to reconnect with his former friends, all of whom stopped talking to him after Menma died. While difficult, this task will help Jintan spend more time with Menma, let go of the grief he has been carrying for years, and restore the friendships that made his childhood so special.
Your Lie in April
When he was a child, Kousei was a piano child prodigy, said to be the best in all of Japan. One day and without explanation, the boy retired from the piano, shortly after the death of his mother. Years have passed since that day and Kousei is now a teenager who finds himself in front of a beautiful girl playing a harmonica.
The girl, named Kaori, confesses to Kousei that she is in love with the boy’s best friend and wants the pianist’s help in asking him out. Although Kousei has a crush on Kaori, he accepts to help her, without knowing that this will be the beginning of a painful but joyous adventure.
Clannad
Tomoya has been going through life believing he will never leave a mark on this world. As such, he has become a lonely delinquent who most people at school avoid. One day, Tomoya decided to skip class, leading to an encounter with an odd girl named Nagisa who screamed the name of a food to him.
Nagisa proclaims that she and Tomoya are now friends, to which the young man refuses. Yet, a few days later, he reluctantly agrees to befriend the girl who asks for his help to save the school’s drama club. Along the way, Tomoya will also help four other girls with their problems, changing his perspective in life and becoming happier than ever.
