The Decline of Slice of Life

Hey /anime/. I've been to /a/ and to /lit/ so far, but no other board will take a discussion like this seriously, so I was hoping some of you guys were on. Here's my argument:


Realism is a base for the slice of life genre. New, adapted SoL manga like Nichijou offer a juxtaposition of realism and an "over the top" sort of comedy. Despite Nichijou being a parody of SoL, we can already see it's possible influence in the decision to adapt shows like Daily Lives of High School Boys into anime. The similarity between the two cannot be denied, as /a/ bickers about it every day. Japan is beginning to divert from the original, "old school" SoL anime like Azumanga Daioh, which focused on realism and the idyll as opposed to the shock value and extent of the gags.

The SoL anime being produced recently seems to be moving in this new direction; the otaku of Japan are beginning to tire of realism.

Do you agree? Disagree? Do you even care? Why or why not?

>"old school" SoL anime like Azumanga Daioh
Azumanga had silly gags of its own. Don't you recall Chiyo's "Dad"?
And really, Azumanga is just as off the hinge as newer SOL shows.

You could argue no SoL show is truly "real" because one of the major points of creating a work of media and fiction is to give the reader/viewer an escape into a new world.
SoL shows do this by taking something normal and give it a new spin. It's basically the Japanese equivalent to sitcom shows.

I personally would love to see more Nichijou-esque SoL, I hate Realism most of the times, in my opinion it blocks out all the criative things you can create that are supposed to be art. Note that I'm talking the literary definition of Realism here.

THE RETURN OF THE GIANT NIGGER FAGGOT!

I like series such as Aria. It might have little that is going on, but it has subtle yet significant depth in every episode. Every idea it tells is profound.

Most of those high school series lack any of that, and rely instead on superficial character appeal and cliche gags. Said character appeal and cliche gags aren't necessarily bad on their own, mind you, but new series repeating them every year over and over is the very manifestation of the lack of intellect and creativity most anime is experiencing these days.