Thursday, February 15, 2018
A slice of Japanese life
A slice of Japanese life
The "slice-of-life" genre (manga and anime) intersects, but should not be confused with, "slice-of-realistic-life." Bunny Drop gives us a slice of life, but its not quite "slice-of-life." Rather, its better described as a family melodrama (quite a good one, in fact).
To put it in Studio Ghibli terms, Only Yesterday is slice-of-realistic-life (another good one). Whisper of the Heart is slice-of-life.
Of course, genre categories always get blurry at the edges. Hanasaku Iroha qualifies as a standard melodrama, replete with character development, a plot, and an ending. But its setting and emphasis on day-to-day life at a rural inn also tips it toward slice-of-life.
More importantly, a slice-of-life story doesnt weigh down the audience with heavy attitudes or a ponderous plot (at least not for long) and goes easy on the "meaning of it all." The tone is upbeat, the characters optimistic. If there are issues, people get over them.
In short, "stuff happens, mostly pleasant." A healthy serving of moe makes it easy on the eyes too. A touch of magical realism and nostalgia calms the nerves, even in the future. Aria and Yokohama Shopping Trip are two classic slice-of-life science fiction series.
As Wikipedia describes Yokohama Shopping Trip,
Whole chapters are devoted to brewing coffee, taking photographs, or repairing a model aircraft engine, sometimes with only a few lines of dialogue. [This emphasis on] the small wonders of everyday life makes the reader aware of their passing. In evoking a nostalgia for this loss, [the author] is following the Japanese aesthetic tradition of mono no aware.
In fact, the stories can be so plotless and meandering as to create a slight remove from reality. But not too far removed from reality, even when fantasy elements dominate the narrative.
Tamako Market is narrated by a talking bird. Kamichu! starts with Yurie getting turned into a Shinto goddess. Gingitsune is about a shrine maiden who can talk to her shrines fox god. Flying Witch features, well, a flying witch (who, as it turns out, doesnt fly very much).
To the ninety-plus percent of Japans urban population, these are magical settings that, as with NHKs perennial historical dramas, conjure up feelings of nostalgia for a bygone age that isnt quite yet gone for good in modern Japan.
(Here and here are side-by-side comparisons of the settings in Flying Witch and their real-life counterparts. Somebody at the studio did a lot of location scouting, probably also using the enormously useful Google Street View.)
Though theres nothing wrong with the cities and the suburbs. Consider the ever-popular K-On and Tamako Market (both recognizably made by the same production crew) and Strawberry Marshmallow.
The slice-of-life comedy typically has one live wire to play the boke (funny man) to the rest of the tsukkomi (straight man) and lead our little gang into one (minor) crisis after another. Our boke neednt be a comedienne or ha-ha funny. Quirky will do. It usually does.
Such as Yui, who joins a band when she cant play an instrument (K-On). Or Miu, a bundle of unconstrained kid id (Strawberry Marshmallow). Dera Mochimazzi, the talking bird in Tamako Market, is basically Bob Hope in the "Road" pictures he did with Bing Crosby.
But in all these cases, "real life" (or a close approximation thereof) eventually asserts itself, though with a focus on finding delight in the run-of-the-mill and beauty in the commonplace.
Related links
Aria (Netflix)
Barakamon (Yahoo)
Flying Witch (CR)
Gingitsune (Yahoo CR)
Hanasaku Iroha (CR)
Kamichu! (Netflix)
K-On (Yahoo)
Non Non Biyori (CR)
Strawberry Marshmallow (Amazon)
Tamako Market (Amazon)
