Trying to precisely define slice-of-life is really tough though. I mean, you could put ARIA to that definition, and well say that it stopped being slice-of-life about half way through its final series, arguably even before that.
Ep 1
It feels like a lifetime ago since I watched Someday's Dreamer, (and in a lot of ways, it was). I remember that, when I finished it, I was rather indifferent to it for some reason. Part of it, I think, was that it'd been hyped up by the time I got around to see it, and I just don't think I got quite what I expected. I'll probably see it in a much different light if I ever watched it again. I'm a lot different a person now than I was back then.
But this was great. As far as Osamu Kobayashi is concerned, I loved BECK, but thought Paradise Kiss was a big disappointment, and it really fizzled in the end. I think he's a capable director on his day, but I have a suspicion that he's more suited to a certain type of story, and that's whatever Paradise Kiss wasn't. Maybe it's coming-of-age stories, which is what BECK was, and what I largely suspect this will be (almost
always good territory for this brand of anime). But, never mind Kobayashi, this being a HAL Film Maker anime is awesome... almost everything they've touched recently has turned to gold. Especially their slice-of-life pieces (whether this is one is still open to debate).
I thought they did an outstanding job with the laid-back country atmosphere and the artistic photographed backgrounds. Yes, arguably it jars with the 2D character art (which is rather lacking in detail, unfortunately), but the shots have been so well chosen and can be appreciated on their own. There's almost a Shinkai-esque rhythm to the way some of the scenes have been paced as well. It resembles some of the earlier parts of his films where the characters really take time to dwell on the little, meaningless conversations, which do a great job of painting and exhibiting the states of relationships between characters. They're interesting characters as well, particularly Sora, but certainly, we don't know much about them at this stage. Also, just to clarify something:
I'm looking forward to this one. Hidamari Sketch fills my quota for a more manic type of slice-of-life (they way only Hidamari Sketch could), but this is something much more relaxing. This has potential, especially in the hands of HAL Film Maker.