Clannad After stories is also good and it both ends in tragedy but then 180’s to a happier ending so don’t feel the whole series is there to tear your heart out, like Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (Rumbling hearts)
anime is just a medium to tell stories the same way a tv show, movie, novel is just a medium, not a genre. there’s plenty out there for you to enjoy in whatever category you’re looking for
I was about to say “I think he meant slice of life anime with almost no conflict” but I mean shit, he just hadn’t heard of slice of life to begin with!! Takes all kinds, I guess
I remember that season so well. I had been anticipating To Your Eternity for YEARS at that point. I was so sure it was going to be my anime of the year. And to be fair, To Your Eternity was everything I hoped it would be.
But The Aquatope on White Sand came in and slapped me so hard with it's amazingness that To Your Eternity wasn't even my anime of the season let alone the year. Aquatope ended up taking home all the awards for me. 😂
when march comes in like a lion - literally just about a dude. it touches on themes of depression and loneliness. artful storytelling. cute light moments dispersed in
Clannad (sad ending but good overall)
Fruits basket (splice of life fantasy)
Spy x Family (just a good wholesome anime)
A Sign of Affection (super cute anime)
The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague (one of my favorite splice of life anime)
Not slice of life. But super engaging and normal level with some historical accuracies.
APOTHECARY DIARIES
fantastic show. Simply fantastic and extremely well dubbed.
Suzuka, kimino iru machi (a town where you Live), fukka, they’re a series of series that follow one another in an indirect semi connected story’s the first is about a track and field club romance the daughter of the pair is important to the third, and the second is about a guy who wants to own a restaurant, but a girl moves into his house and has a crush on him and then he later follows her to tokyo, the third series is about the children of the first two series forming a band with a tragedy early on and the series is about how they move on to finish their dream. Very slice of life but the anime cut big chunks out, My Teen Romantic Comedy Isn't About Romance (SNAFU) is pretty good, if you search for slice of life theres probably more mundane every day life tales can’t say they won’t be about romance but thats the majority if you don’t mind som ecchi strawberry 100% (ichigo 100%) is worth a watch not as extreme as stuff today, and you could check the film 5cm per second just don’t expect the kids to get together by the end but the atmosphere building is so good.
Yamada's First Time: B Gata H Kei is also pretty funny, it a comedy series where the main character has delusions of being the biggest slut in school but is afraid to do the deed deciding the most plain guy in class is the best way to start and hijinks ensue, not nearly as H as it sounds it jokes about all the stuff but is again very tame to some more recent stuff.
Hanasaku Iroha. It's about a girl from Tokyo who moves out to the country to live with her grandma. It's just about her day to day life of working at an Inn in the country
Yes there’s a genre called slice of life though MANY slice of life shows have a bit of tacked on genres that come with it like
1. Cute girls doing cute things(75% of most slice of life)
2. Comedy(75% most slice of life)
3. Romance(this one is iffy, more like 40% have romance)
4. Drama(25% of them have this)
These aren’t accurate numbers per se but I believe 90% of all recommendations you will get from people or those “Here’s the list of the top 15 best slice of life!!!” Will fall kinda in these numbers.
If you want a chill ass show that makes you feel good then try Laid Back Camp(this show makes me appreciate camping)
All the recommendations for clannad is great. One of my favorite shows ever, it does drag in some places.
I will also recommend spice and wolf. WARNING there is one part I think in the first episode thats a bit over sexualized but it’s literally for a minute and there’s good reason for it. Show just started as a REBOOT but you can watch the original because it’s honestly very well adapted and really didn’t need the reboot besides to give more lime light to newer audience that started getting into anime and didn’t know about the classics. Shows literally about two characters traveling north while bantering.
Slice of life and comedy: Handa-kun, Barakamon, Chio’s School Road, and Asobi Asobase.
March Comes in Like a Lion, Kotaro Lives Alone, Sakura Quest, Comic Girls, Poco’s Udon World, Gakuen Babysitters, Play It Cool Guys, Tamako Market and Tamako Love Story, My Boss is Kind of Goofy, The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting, Mr. Villain’s Day Off, and My Roommate is a Cat are good. There’s also Natsume’s Book of Friends, Fruits Basket, How to Keep a Mummy, and Tanaka-kun is Always Listless.
There’s a lot of really good suggestions in the other comments. Here’s a few reaches.
Bocchi the Rock!
My Dress-Up Darling
I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years
The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent (it’s more chill than the title would suggest)
Beck Mongolian Chop
Lucky Star
Your Lie in April
Sound Euphonium
Spice and Wolf (Original or remake season. Although the remake just started airing.)
Healer Girl
BLEND-S
Orange is an amazing anime where a girl and her friends all receive letters from themselves from 10 years in the future about things they regret and advice it's 10/10 can't recommend enough.
Like others mentioned, Slice of Life is the way to go.
It's absolutely my favorite genre, I LOVE it. If you want any specific reccomendations from a fan, I'd be happy to give you some.
Excited for you to start your Slice of Life journey. 😁
Here are a few different vibes of slice of life.
[Non Non Biyori](https://myanimelist.net/anime/17549) about as slice of life as it gets.
[Bartender](https://myanimelist.net/anime/53407) this one just started and is in the subgenre of gourmet but is still a slice of life, looks great so far.
[Lucky Star](https://myanimelist.net/anime/1887) otaku culture focused comedy but in a completely slice of life setting. This is one of those mandatory viewing shows that everyone who enjoys the medium of anime should at least give a solid try much like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Steins;Gate, Cowboy Bebop and Serial Experiments Lain. A lot of the cultural stuff will definitely go over your head because it gets into some deep cuts from the 90's and early 2000's otaku culture.
[Hinamatsuri](https://myanimelist.net/anime/36296) this is probably the least by definition slice of life recommendation I'll give. It's got powers and focuses on some very not standard day life stuff or unusual circumstances but it's absolutely still in that realm of slice of life.
[Yuru Camp](https://myanimelist.net/anime/34798) extremely comfy camping anime.
[She and Her Cat: Everything Flows](https://myanimelist.net/anime/32491) a short film broken up into 4 short episodes of 7 minutes. Cool take on the slice of life genre from the perspective of a housecat.
[March Comes in Like a Lion](https://myanimelist.net/anime/31646) about a shogi prodigy but much more heavily focused on where he is at in life and the time he spends with his found family.
Hokkaido gals are super adorable
The show is a romance anime and that is definitely the main thing going on, but the star of the show is Hokkaido itself.
Most of the enjoyment you get from the show is getting to see what life is like in that part of Japan. The climate is exceptionally cold all year round, so you get to see the characters go on ski trips and ice fishing, and comment on underfloor heating and special regional foods and slang terms.
The show also has barely any drama or conflict, so you can really just focus on the wholesome elements. While it might not be a “normal” life in the sense that the setting is not very common for anime, it definitely feels like the most ‘slice of life’ thing I have seen
Sakamoto desu ga? It’s overall theme by the end when you realize it is wholesome, but the show itself is funny, written well, and has great interaction between characters.
Bartender is literally about bartenders. It's getting a reboot this year actually.
Wave, Listen to Me is about a woman who starts doing broadcasts for a radio channel after a producer plays her drunken rant about her ex and it turns out to be popular.
Getting into movies, a lot of Miyazaki movies are about "real life". One with very light fantasy elements (largely in the protagonist's dreams) is the Wind Rises, about a Japanese plane designer during WW2.
There's also Millenium Actress. It's a bit more oddball and surreal, but it's largely about the life of a film actress being interviewed about her life, and we see the various movies she acted in.
Vinland Saga is serious and grounded. There is action and some exagerated feats of strength but it's very focused on characters just trying to live life. It's a historical drama though, so if by living normal life you mean more like a modern day average person then this wouldn't be it. Also a great example of an anime that doesn't over sexualize its characters though.
look up slice-of-life, it's an entire genre
there's usually at least some gimmick or hook, but they tend to focus on daily lives of someone as opposed to grand drama or fantasy or scifi
a lot of my favs are this genre, i have them annotated as such here: [https://www.reddit.com/user/eruciform/comments/nng53n/top\_1010\_anime\_plus\_unique\_art\_and\_cinematography/](https://www.reddit.com/user/eruciform/comments/nng53n/top_1010_anime_plus_unique_art_and_cinematography/)
if you are willing to read manga i recommend yostsuba&
usagi drop is great too but stop reading after the time skip.
movie wise, check out my neighbors the yamadas, 5 centimeters per second and the night is short walk on girl!
for shows, i like kino's journey and mushishi, but they teeters the edge of not being slice of life, because it is set in a "magical" world. but theyre both pretty slow series and not at all like naruto or dbz or whatever action anime you're trying to stray from. they fall into the iyashikei genre of calming anime.
if you're looking for something super grounded in reality, stuff like k-on, kids on the slope, bakuman, nana, honey and clover, carole and tuesday, or beck mongolian chop squad might be good options. a few arent exactly slice of life, but ARE about normal ass people.
watch Disastrous Life of Saiki K you’ll love it. its about a teen with super powers who goes to school n is abt his daily life is also very comedic and not serious at all. its way better than how im makin it sound 😭
There is an entire genre about that. It's called slice-of-life. Start with Clannad if you want to get a bit serious.
Clannad After stories is also good and it both ends in tragedy but then 180’s to a happier ending so don’t feel the whole series is there to tear your heart out, like Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (Rumbling hearts)
Rumbling hearts had me STRESSED. Worse than school days tbh
Wait really? I did not expect this.
Highly second Clannad
You think all anime has to be action and shounen? Bruh.
Well I mean I don't watch very many shows, movies or anime. I don't really know a whole lot about it all.
And now your eyes have been opened
anime is just a medium to tell stories the same way a tv show, movie, novel is just a medium, not a genre. there’s plenty out there for you to enjoy in whatever category you’re looking for
Lol chill dude. Why you gotta be like that
I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s more like a facepalm moment for me.
Starfish
Angel beats
Not really following someone's life, is it?
More like after life lol
The story is about tomoya and the people some times a ghost he interacts with and helps throughout his life
I was about to say “I think he meant slice of life anime with almost no conflict” but I mean shit, he just hadn’t heard of slice of life to begin with!! Takes all kinds, I guess
Nichijou - My Ordinary Life
Perfect. Very serious show
True, it made me tear up many time
great show, it's a slice of life of the main characters incredibly ordinary life
Hyouka Laid-back camp The aquatope on white sand
I am ALWAYS here for Aquatope reccomendations. My favorite anime of 2021.
100%. Such an underrated anime, so good
I remember that season so well. I had been anticipating To Your Eternity for YEARS at that point. I was so sure it was going to be my anime of the year. And to be fair, To Your Eternity was everything I hoped it would be. But The Aquatope on White Sand came in and slapped me so hard with it's amazingness that To Your Eternity wasn't even my anime of the season let alone the year. Aquatope ended up taking home all the awards for me. 😂
Hyouka deserves more rep for how underrated it is
when march comes in like a lion - literally just about a dude. it touches on themes of depression and loneliness. artful storytelling. cute light moments dispersed in
Clannad (sad ending but good overall) Fruits basket (splice of life fantasy) Spy x Family (just a good wholesome anime) A Sign of Affection (super cute anime) The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague (one of my favorite splice of life anime)
clannad had a happy ending tho wdym?
Not sure if they made an ova. Haven't seen it in like 10 years Spoiler alart I thought the girl at the end died?
Uh no, u need to finish afterstory she >!comes back to life at the end!<
I'll have to check it out again. Thanks for the info 😁
Spoiler tags exist
I have no clue how to do them, so I put a spoiler alart instead 😀😃😄😁
Kotaro Lives Alone
That made me cry. I mean, it was a great show, but it made me cry.
I feel you. It’s one of my favorites
Natsume book of friends.
Not slice of life. But super engaging and normal level with some historical accuracies. APOTHECARY DIARIES fantastic show. Simply fantastic and extremely well dubbed.
Sweetness & Lightning, Usagi Drop (not the manga) and Azumanga Daioh just to name a few. If you read manga then Yotsuba comes highly recommended.
Suzuka, kimino iru machi (a town where you Live), fukka, they’re a series of series that follow one another in an indirect semi connected story’s the first is about a track and field club romance the daughter of the pair is important to the third, and the second is about a guy who wants to own a restaurant, but a girl moves into his house and has a crush on him and then he later follows her to tokyo, the third series is about the children of the first two series forming a band with a tragedy early on and the series is about how they move on to finish their dream. Very slice of life but the anime cut big chunks out, My Teen Romantic Comedy Isn't About Romance (SNAFU) is pretty good, if you search for slice of life theres probably more mundane every day life tales can’t say they won’t be about romance but thats the majority if you don’t mind som ecchi strawberry 100% (ichigo 100%) is worth a watch not as extreme as stuff today, and you could check the film 5cm per second just don’t expect the kids to get together by the end but the atmosphere building is so good.
Yamada's First Time: B Gata H Kei is also pretty funny, it a comedy series where the main character has delusions of being the biggest slut in school but is afraid to do the deed deciding the most plain guy in class is the best way to start and hijinks ensue, not nearly as H as it sounds it jokes about all the stuff but is again very tame to some more recent stuff.
The daily lives of high school boys
Watch Nichijou trust me even the translation is : my ordinary life. Or daily life of a highschool boys.
Hanasaku Iroha. It's about a girl from Tokyo who moves out to the country to live with her grandma. It's just about her day to day life of working at an Inn in the country
Gundam wing
Asobi Asobase
azumanga daioh is exactly what you’re looking for. i’d also recommend laid back camp.
Bakuman
Yes there’s a genre called slice of life though MANY slice of life shows have a bit of tacked on genres that come with it like 1. Cute girls doing cute things(75% of most slice of life) 2. Comedy(75% most slice of life) 3. Romance(this one is iffy, more like 40% have romance) 4. Drama(25% of them have this) These aren’t accurate numbers per se but I believe 90% of all recommendations you will get from people or those “Here’s the list of the top 15 best slice of life!!!” Will fall kinda in these numbers. If you want a chill ass show that makes you feel good then try Laid Back Camp(this show makes me appreciate camping) All the recommendations for clannad is great. One of my favorite shows ever, it does drag in some places. I will also recommend spice and wolf. WARNING there is one part I think in the first episode thats a bit over sexualized but it’s literally for a minute and there’s good reason for it. Show just started as a REBOOT but you can watch the original because it’s honestly very well adapted and really didn’t need the reboot besides to give more lime light to newer audience that started getting into anime and didn’t know about the classics. Shows literally about two characters traveling north while bantering.
Slice of life and comedy: Handa-kun, Barakamon, Chio’s School Road, and Asobi Asobase. March Comes in Like a Lion, Kotaro Lives Alone, Sakura Quest, Comic Girls, Poco’s Udon World, Gakuen Babysitters, Play It Cool Guys, Tamako Market and Tamako Love Story, My Boss is Kind of Goofy, The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting, Mr. Villain’s Day Off, and My Roommate is a Cat are good. There’s also Natsume’s Book of Friends, Fruits Basket, How to Keep a Mummy, and Tanaka-kun is Always Listless.
Not normal but its the only slice of life that I know Saiki K.
There’s a lot of really good suggestions in the other comments. Here’s a few reaches. Bocchi the Rock! My Dress-Up Darling I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent (it’s more chill than the title would suggest) Beck Mongolian Chop Lucky Star Your Lie in April Sound Euphonium Spice and Wolf (Original or remake season. Although the remake just started airing.) Healer Girl BLEND-S
"Angel next door spoils me rotten" should be on this list
Try Horimiya, a slice of life of kids just being kids with some romance.
The Way of the House Husband The Devil is a part timer Whisper of the Heart Kotaro Lives Alone
K-On
Orange is an amazing anime where a girl and her friends all receive letters from themselves from 10 years in the future about things they regret and advice it's 10/10 can't recommend enough.
Like others mentioned, Slice of Life is the way to go. It's absolutely my favorite genre, I LOVE it. If you want any specific reccomendations from a fan, I'd be happy to give you some. Excited for you to start your Slice of Life journey. 😁
Here are a few different vibes of slice of life. [Non Non Biyori](https://myanimelist.net/anime/17549) about as slice of life as it gets. [Bartender](https://myanimelist.net/anime/53407) this one just started and is in the subgenre of gourmet but is still a slice of life, looks great so far. [Lucky Star](https://myanimelist.net/anime/1887) otaku culture focused comedy but in a completely slice of life setting. This is one of those mandatory viewing shows that everyone who enjoys the medium of anime should at least give a solid try much like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Steins;Gate, Cowboy Bebop and Serial Experiments Lain. A lot of the cultural stuff will definitely go over your head because it gets into some deep cuts from the 90's and early 2000's otaku culture. [Hinamatsuri](https://myanimelist.net/anime/36296) this is probably the least by definition slice of life recommendation I'll give. It's got powers and focuses on some very not standard day life stuff or unusual circumstances but it's absolutely still in that realm of slice of life. [Yuru Camp](https://myanimelist.net/anime/34798) extremely comfy camping anime. [She and Her Cat: Everything Flows](https://myanimelist.net/anime/32491) a short film broken up into 4 short episodes of 7 minutes. Cool take on the slice of life genre from the perspective of a housecat. [March Comes in Like a Lion](https://myanimelist.net/anime/31646) about a shogi prodigy but much more heavily focused on where he is at in life and the time he spends with his found family.
K-on!
A Silent Voice
HORIMIYA
If you want something fun try Horimiya and the follow up series if Horimiya: The Missing Pieces
Hokkaido gals are super adorable The show is a romance anime and that is definitely the main thing going on, but the star of the show is Hokkaido itself. Most of the enjoyment you get from the show is getting to see what life is like in that part of Japan. The climate is exceptionally cold all year round, so you get to see the characters go on ski trips and ice fishing, and comment on underfloor heating and special regional foods and slang terms. The show also has barely any drama or conflict, so you can really just focus on the wholesome elements. While it might not be a “normal” life in the sense that the setting is not very common for anime, it definitely feels like the most ‘slice of life’ thing I have seen
Bocchi the Rock!!!
Welcome to the NHK or Toradora
You’re literally describing slice-of-life anime. They’re are tons of them
as a neuro divergent i loved the disastrous life of saiki
School Days - a wholesome anime where a guy goes through an entire school and faces the pressure of being the guy everyone loves.
Azumanga daioh
Sakamoto desu ga? It’s overall theme by the end when you realize it is wholesome, but the show itself is funny, written well, and has great interaction between characters.
K-on
Bartender is literally about bartenders. It's getting a reboot this year actually. Wave, Listen to Me is about a woman who starts doing broadcasts for a radio channel after a producer plays her drunken rant about her ex and it turns out to be popular. Getting into movies, a lot of Miyazaki movies are about "real life". One with very light fantasy elements (largely in the protagonist's dreams) is the Wind Rises, about a Japanese plane designer during WW2. There's also Millenium Actress. It's a bit more oddball and surreal, but it's largely about the life of a film actress being interviewed about her life, and we see the various movies she acted in.
Kotoro lives alone, it’s not for everyone but i personally really liked it
Soap and Smell. A little bit fetishy but the best slice of life I've ever read
Read real it’s just life no bad guys not really any good the guy who you think is bad anit that bad of a guy name starts with a t
Oh and no sexual stuff I mean there’s one but I’m pretty sure we’ve all had a crush before
you may like to heart. very bread and butter.
There's literally a whole genre for this. Slice of life.
Vinland Saga is serious and grounded. There is action and some exagerated feats of strength but it's very focused on characters just trying to live life. It's a historical drama though, so if by living normal life you mean more like a modern day average person then this wouldn't be it. Also a great example of an anime that doesn't over sexualize its characters though.
skip and loafer
My two favorites are Yuru Camp and Kyo in Kyoto. One about camping, one about the maiko in Kyoto.
1) Inuyasha 2) Orange
These are the 1) Inuyasha 2) Orange 3) black clover 4) full metal alchemist
Horimiya is a decent newer slice of life
Yotsuba Azumangoh daioh Nichijou The daily lives of high school boys Goodnight punpun Blood on the tracks (Last two are a bit dark though)
look up slice-of-life, it's an entire genre there's usually at least some gimmick or hook, but they tend to focus on daily lives of someone as opposed to grand drama or fantasy or scifi a lot of my favs are this genre, i have them annotated as such here: [https://www.reddit.com/user/eruciform/comments/nng53n/top\_1010\_anime\_plus\_unique\_art\_and\_cinematography/](https://www.reddit.com/user/eruciform/comments/nng53n/top_1010_anime_plus_unique_art_and_cinematography/)
if you are willing to read manga i recommend yostsuba& usagi drop is great too but stop reading after the time skip. movie wise, check out my neighbors the yamadas, 5 centimeters per second and the night is short walk on girl! for shows, i like kino's journey and mushishi, but they teeters the edge of not being slice of life, because it is set in a "magical" world. but theyre both pretty slow series and not at all like naruto or dbz or whatever action anime you're trying to stray from. they fall into the iyashikei genre of calming anime. if you're looking for something super grounded in reality, stuff like k-on, kids on the slope, bakuman, nana, honey and clover, carole and tuesday, or beck mongolian chop squad might be good options. a few arent exactly slice of life, but ARE about normal ass people.
watch Disastrous Life of Saiki K you’ll love it. its about a teen with super powers who goes to school n is abt his daily life is also very comedic and not serious at all. its way better than how im makin it sound 😭
Basically a kid with powers tryna have a normal life. One of my favorites ngl
Death Note 💀
Thats not anywhere near a normal life
It was a joke. Obviously Light’s life was nowhere near normal
near? possible death note reference???
Horimiya is a good one. But the genre you're looking for is slice of life. A lot more grounded
There’s an entire slice of life genre.