Slice of Life (genre)
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Synonym(s) | Day to Day, Moments of Life, Everyday Life, Snapshots of Life |
| Related tropes/genres | Curtainfic, Domestic |
| See also | Sitcom |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Slice of Life is a genre that consists of telling moments of the daily life of the characters that appear in said work. The plot goes into the background, to focus on the experiences of the protagonists. The scenarios that appear are usually everyday things that the audience would experience at some point in their lives like going to school or working or leading an ordinary life.
Although the term is commonly associated with manga and anime, it is also used fannishly for fanworks that capture on a certain moment in the life of the protagonists and leaving the context or the future up to the reader's imagination.
In fanworks, slice of life differs from curtainfic or domestic AU in that it doesn't necessarily have to be mundane, although both tropes tend to overlap sometimes.
Manganime & Visual Novel
Slice of Life is used to refer to series with simple plots that take place in everyday settings.
Examples
Fannish Use
The term is more popular in Asian fandoms with less frequent use in Western fandoms. As of November 2022, more than 80,000 fanfics have been tagged as "slice of life" or synonyms on AO3.
Examples
- May You Enjoy Your New Life by Aimmyarrowshigh -- One Direction (2012)
- Cryptids, Emotions, And The Possible End of The World by BamSara -- Invader Zim (2019)
- Some Ado About Reðr, Archived version by oneiriad --Beforeigners (2021)