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How do I say "slice of life anime/manga" in Japanese?

I've tried looking this up. Perhaps it is only english speakers who categorize anime this way?

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What does this even mean in English? – istrasci Jul 9 '12 at 16:44
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@istrasci - Anime that doesn't really have a plot, but is basically just about the day to day going on of someone's (or a group of people's) lives. Arguably Seinfeld could be considered to be "slice of life" – rob Jul 9 '12 at 17:16
@RobZ: I don't think there's anything arguable about Seinfeld! :D – istrasci Jul 9 '12 at 17:48

2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

I don't think there's a direct translation of "slice of life" into Japanese in the context of Anime genres, however I think 空気系{くうきけい} would be a close candidate. This genre is also sometimes called 日常系{にちじょうけい} (See also the Japanese Wikipedia article for 空気系).

It means something like "atmosphere type", and refers to Anime which doesn't have any dramatic developments or ongoing plot, and basically consists of everyday life. A lot of them are based on 萌え4コマ (or 4 cell Manga with 萌{も}え characters).

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up vote 1 down vote

Doing some google searching, it looks like

日常生活を描くアニメ

might be a good translation, but since it is such a mouthful I doubt it is a common way to categorize anime in Japanese.

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Hmm... there is also the problem that it could get confused with the anime that is titled "日常". – Muhd Jul 9 '12 at 5:11
Edited. Completely changed the answer. – Muhd Jul 9 '12 at 5:19

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