Highlights
- Slice-of-life anime offers a refreshing change from intense battle-focused shonen series, focusing instead on the mundane daily lives of its characters.
- Shows like Beastars, The Way of the Househusband, and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. offer unique and compelling stories within the slice-of-life genre.
- These slice-of-life anime series incorporate elements of action, drama, humor, and relatability, making them worth watching for even the most dedicated shonen fan.
When discussing anime, shonen more times than not takes the spotlight with titles like Dragon Ball Z, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen all falling into this popular genre. Shonen, meaning 'boy' in Japanese, traditionally targets a younger male audience and is known for its intense battles, interesting characters, and gripping story arcs. However, there are various other anime genres, including shojo, magical girl with female protagonists possessing magical powers, mecha focusing on robots or human-controlled robotic machines, and the often overlooked slice-of-life. As the name suggests, slice-of-life anime focuses on the mundane daily lives of its characters, featuring activities like cooking, cleaning, and working.
While it may not immediately captivate fans of Goku's Super Saiyan God transformations or Luffy's physics-defying Gear 5, there are slice-of-life series that incorporates action, drama, and more. Not all slice-of-life anime are the same. Here are five anime that might intrigue even the most dedicated shonen purist.
5 Beastars
Complex and Compelling
- Studio: Orange Co.
- Number of Episodes: 24
- Release Year: 2019
Beastars follows Legoshi, a shy anthropomorphic wolf who is in high school. One night, an alpaca named Tem is murdered. This tragic event deepens the already existing divide between carnivore and herbivore students. Soon, Legoshi's life takes a complex turn when he begins to develop feelings for Haru, a rabbit entangled in her own romantic dilemmas.
While there are romantic elements in Beastars, a love story is not the focus of this intense anime. With a blend of action, drama, and suspense, and the exploration of identity and morality, Beastars would be a good watch for any shonen fan.
4 Kotaro Lives Alone
Hilarious and Heartbreaking
- Studio: Liden Films
- Number of Episodes: 10
- Release Year: 2022
Kotaro Lives Alone centers on 4-year-old Satо̄ Kotarо̄, who moves into an apartment building by himself. His neighbor is the unsuccessful manga artist Shin Karino.
Despite Kotaro's maturity and independence, he's still very much a child, often wielding a plastic toy sword to impersonate his favorite cartoon character, Tonosaman. The series, while not action-packed, is known for its emotional depth and tear-jerking moments; qualities common in many shonen series.
3 The Way of the Househusband
Action-Packed Chores
- Studio: J.C.Staff
- Number of Episodes: 15
- Release Year: 2021
The Way of the Househusband follows the story of Tatsu, a devoted husband who becomes a househusband to help support his wife, Miku, a career woman. As he goes through his daily life of cooking, cleaning, gardening, taking yoga classes, and grocery shopping, there is always something just under the surface. The thing is - Tatsu is a retired yakuza boss nicknamed "the Immortal Dragon". While he tries to live his daily life, he has frequent run-ins with former yakuza associates and rivals which usually results in hilarious moments.
Other characters include Miku, his anime-obsessed career wife, Masa, Tatsu’s former gang underling who now assists with his house husband duties, and Torajirō, a retired yakuza boss who owns a food truck selling crêpes and still holds a grudge against Tatsu, turning their conflicts from crime to household duties. Househusband Tatsu's comedic clashes with his yakuza criminal past offer an action-packed story that is sure to appeal to shonen fans.
2 Aggretsuko
Funny and Relatable
- Studio: Fanworks
- Number of Episodes: 50 and 1 special
- Release Year: 2018
Like Beastars, this slice-of-life anime is not only focused on the life of humans but also anthropomorphic animals. Aggretsuko follows Retsuko, a 25-year-old red panda accountant. While the series is incredibly relatable to most working adults, focusing on common experiences like work dissatisfaction, dealing with a less-than-kind boss, trying to date, and the overall confusion of navigating being an adult, Retsuko harbors a secret she keeps from almost everyone, especially at the beginning of the series: she releases her frustration by singing death metal at a local karaoke bar after work. Initially centered on Retsuko coping with her mean pig boss, Ton, while receiving advice from her co-workers and friends - secretary bird Washimi, gorilla Gori, fennec fox Fenneko, and hyena Haida, who has a crush on Retsuko - the series expands as Retsuko explores love with oblivious red panda Resasuke and rich tech wizard donkey Tadano.
While the series' first season focuses on the workplace, later seasons do start to veer away as we see Retsuko becoming an idol singer and politician. Despite the shift in focus, the show maintains a unique blend of workplace humor and personal struggles. Also, Aggretsuko features many musical moments, in addition to the death metal singing. The blend of humor and relatability, as well as the sheer adorableness of the characters themselves, makes Aggretsuko an anime worth watching.
1 The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
Supernatural Everyday Life
- Studio: J.C.Staff
- Number of Episodes: 120
- Release Year: 2016
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., often referred to just as Saiki K., centers around its titular character, Saiki Kusuo, a 16-year-old pink-haired high school student. The series follows his everyday adventures, like going to school, navigating his eccentric family and friends, and participating in mundane activities like attending a birthday party or seeking his favorite dessert - coffee jelly. However, Saiki’s life is far from ordinary, as he is a psychic born with powerful abilities despite his non-psychic parents. These abilities include astral projection, x-ray vision, clairvoyance, and invisibility, just to name a few. Saiki does not move his mouth and communicates through telepathy. He can time travel. He wears antennae to prevent world destruction and uses glasses to avoid turning people to stone.
The humor arises from his attempts to appear normal, despite the challenges posed by his eccentric friends and family, such as Riki Nendo, whose mind Saiki cannot read due to sheer lack of intelligence, Kokomi Teruhashi, universally admired except by Saiki, who develops a crush on him, and Saiki's parents, whose love borders on the obsessive. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. is a humorous blend of comedy and supernatural action that could appeal to even the most die-hard shonen connoisseur.
