UlasanAnime.com – For those new to this blog, you might not be aware of my particular disdain for certain terms within the fandom space. My long-standing issue with “slice of life” is no secret. I’ve recently developed a new perspective on this genre, defining it as the negative space where Western fans lack the precise vocabulary and tools to articulate their appreciation, leading to a catch-all term for a variety of excellent anime, from Rozen Maiden to Shirobako. I use these examples facetiously to clarify my point.
This theme has been on my mind lately, and today I received a solicitation in my mailbox that prompted a strong reaction. I wanted to laugh, but I was at work. The material was so attention-grabbing that it took me a moment to realize they were charging people to view content they might not even possess the proper licenses for. The flyers included in the email solicitation appeared to be a mix of Photoshop work and what looked like actual manga covers. Are these people anime bloggers? I sincerely hope not, or rather, they are likely doing this precisely because they are not. I’m uncertain, but they clearly don’t understand that they can’t simply “J-List” this and expect to get away with it among serious enthusiasts.
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In a way, I found some peace with the term “slice of life” once I stopped trying to define it descriptively. Perhaps this is why so many people tolerate the imprecise terminology and still find it useful. I simply believe it’s a misguided term that actively encourages people to misinterpret things, as evidenced by that solicitation. If we consider “real life nerds” in anime, it often ends with Genshiken season one. When we liken them to characters on The Big Bang Theory, we are essentially matching people to caricatures. The utility of such an exercise, at this moment, seems outweighed by the inevitable backlash it will cause, not to mention it appears to be a sheer waste of time and effort.
Returning to the solicitation, it also feels like a general lack of context, or perhaps the usual appropriation, guides this line of thinking. However, I won’t dwell on this in detail unless it proves unusually interesting, as most Western social groups centered around anime have to contend with this problem.
I believe they should all sit down and marathon Saekano or Seizon or something similar. They should truly immerse themselves and grasp the underlying messages. The issue of superficial reading might be endemic to anime fandom, but a rigorous examination of these materials can indeed yield insights into why people think and express themselves the way they do in these light novels. This is far more valuable than engaging in pattern recognition without understanding the root cause of the pattern. This superficial approach is likely prevalent because people often don’t want to take entertainment seriously. It’s as if they don’t realize that the Shakespearean plays they studied in school were just as relevant and engaging to people of that era.
