Coming of Age/Slice of Life Anime

[Midnight2352]

I would like to watch a coming of age/ slice of life anime that is warm hearted, emotional even or realistic in terms of how the characters respond to a situation.

Drama would be great. I love romance so that would be a huge plus. Comedy is perfectly fine.

Here are some that I enjoyed which fits into what I am looking for:

Aishiteruze Baby
Asatte no Houko
Usagi Drop
Winter Sonata
Barakamon
Michiko e Hatchin
Ginban Kaleidoscope
Hanamaru Kindergarten

Movies are welcomed too! I've seen:

Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki
The Garden of Words
Hotarubi No Mori E
Spirited Away
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
My Neighbour Totoro


That's about what I can think of.

I dislike yaoi/yuri so none of that as well as ecchi i.e fanservice.

If you could provide a summary or link to MyAnimeList on the anime, I would appreciate it.

Thank you very much in advance.

Midnight.

[SeijiSensei]

Hikaru no Go traces the life of a boy from about age 10 through 17. He develops an interest in Go and decides to become a professional player. We see him mature physically, emotionally, and mentally over the course of the 74 episodes.

Kemono no Sou-ja Erin follows a girl from eight to eighteen living in a fantasy Asian society. When it is discovered she has the ability to communicate with certain sacred beasts, she becomes the target for warring political factions. Based on a novel by Uehashi Nahoko, the author of the Moribito series. (Link points to CR, but the fansubs are a better choice for this show.)

Shin Sekai Yori portrays a group of friends from about ten until early adulthood in a future world where people have telekinetic powers.

All of these shows are primarily dramas.

[Darthtabby]

My favorite slice of life drama is probably Tari Tari. It's about a group of five high schoolers who are close to graduating. It initially seems to be about one girl's attempt to form a music club after getting kicked off her school's prestigious choir, but soon focuses on other characters and storylines. One thing I like about it is that even though the main characters are teenagers adult characters come to have a significant presence in the story as it progresses. Also the show looks absolutely gorgeous although the character design can make it hard to tell some of the characters apart for the first few episodes. )

You might also want to check out Summer Wars, which has the same director/writer duo as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Wolf Children. It's definitely got some flashier parts since it involves a VR world as a major element but there are also parts of that movie that I think you might really appreciate.

[RichardFromMarple]

A Ghibli film you've not seen but fits the criteria well is Up On Poppy Hill.

[Cynor]

I remember seeing Summer Wars on TV not long ago. Was pretty good. Definitely some aging and growing up and stuff IIRC.

However, for the ultimate "Slice of Life" anime one needs to look no further than...

Aria

That is all.

What? You want a REASON? It's all about the daily life in what amounts to an olde time city, Venice actually. Though it's not Venice, it's not even on Earth, it's on Mars. Plus it'll just mellow you right out.

Just look at the opening...

[Flower]

My favorite categories!

I will second many of the excellent suggestions already given here:

The three seasons and the OVA and Picture dramas of Aria and Kemono no Souja Erin are two of my favorite animes ever.

I would add the Key Visual Novel adaptations that have been done as well - Clannad/Clannad After Story, Kanon, Air and Little Busters/Little Busters Refrain as well. All of these involve some supernatural elements to varying degrees, but they are very moving stories.

The Tamayura series (there are three - the OVA's, Hitotose and Futatose) is only barely behind Aria, Kemono no Souja Erin and Clannad/Clannad After Story for me....

Hikaru no Go is a very solid choice as well. You might enjoy the two seasons of Chihayafuru as well. Shin Sekai Yori is another excellent suggestion, and is quite intense and well done. I also enjoyed Shion no Ou, but that is rather dark in places.

Other good ones are Sketchbook Full Colors, the two seasons of Kimi ni Todoke, the three full seasons and the 5 ep OVA series of Maria-sama ga Miteru (though the novels themselves are much better in my opinion), Ikoku Meiro no Croisee is also quite interesting, the two seasons of Spice and Wolf were amazingly well done, the four seasons of Natsume Yuuchinjou and the four seasons of Hidamari Sketch are also excellent.

Other recently aired series I enjoyed include Kiniro Mosaic, Engaged to the Unidentified, Soredemo no Sekai, the two seasons of Silver Spoon, Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka and Gingitsune.

Are you watching the currently airing Hanayamata?

I was only a little surprised you did not include the Ghibli film Only Yesterday - it is my favorite of them all but is relatively little known. You also might enjoy the Anime Mirai 2014 production Harmonie. I also notice that the movie Five Centimeters per Second was also not on your list of movies.

Hmm ... all I can think of off the top of my head....

[SuitUp]

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned what could very possibly be the best slice of life I've ever watched (possibly only matched by Gin No Saji), Honey and Clover, it follows the life of several art students through their college years, and has it all, romance, character development, drama, comedy, and one of the most creative OP's there has ever existed...

[Dawnstorm]

My take on the shows that have already been recommended, AND that I'd recommend as well:

Kemono Souja no Erin: About as coming-of-age as it gets. It's a fantasy drama with excellent display of emotions that seamlessly fits into the also excellent world-building.

Shin Sekai Yori: An excellent SF dystopia. It has strong coming-of-age aspects, but they're more examplary than personal. The obvious focus is on world building. I'm not sure what you mean with "yaoi/yuri", but SSY does feature same-sex relationships (as part of the setting in a Brave-New-World way, if you're familiar with that). As a show, I'd definitely recommend it, but it's perhaps a bit of a shaky fit.

Tari Tari: Is an excellent show in the slice of life department. Coming-of-age aspects don't exceed the try-hard-and-exceed tropes but are well executed. The show has a music component (choral singing, songwriting) it takes series, and a our-schoo-closes-down plot line that's executed with pitch-perfect sentimentality. A sweet and entertaining show, one of the best in its genre.

Tamayura: There's an OVA and two seasons; watch the OVA first; it gives you context. Girl re-connects to life and her recently deceased father, by picking up his old camera and getting into photography. It's slow and safe and utterly sweet, but at the same time it doesn't downplay grief (I think there were positive reactions to that in the thread for the second season). It's not a show you want to marathon; the episodes need time to work (at least they did for me). The show's focus in on experiencing the world through the senses, with each of the girls representing one (vision, sound, smell and taste). This show is the very epitome of healing anime: if you're feeling down open yourself to the world, and it'll be all right.

Kimi ni Todoke: There are two seasons of this show; the first one is a masterpiece, but the second one is still pretty good, and gives you a very rewarding ending. It's a romance, but the key attraction, I think, is watching the main character, an outsider, come out of her shell and make friends.

Natsume Yuujinchou: Is a supernatural slice-of-life show, with episodes that cover the whole spectrum from whimsical, funny, touching, gruesome, scary... There are four seasons of it, with the second being my favourite. The maincharacter has always been able to see youkai, which has made him an outsider, and now that he inherited his grandmother's "Book of friends" he has to deal with them. Basically, the main character is growing into two separate worlds, socially - the one of humans and the one of spirits, and balancing that isn't easy.

Omoide Poporo (= Only Yesterday): A woman on vacation in the country to escape city stress remembers her childhood. A show that plays exactly to what, IMO, is Isao Takahata's strength: observing human interaction without judging. As a result you get a show that tells you how good cheer can be a front and genuine at the same time.

My own additions:

Hourou Musuko: Transgender kids try to figure out their identity. Soft colours and a great soundtrack make this a rather unusual experience from an animation point of view. The show itself often relies more on bodylanguage and situational timing than dialogue. It's one of the few shows that tackles this topic and takes it seriously. A masterpiece, IMO.

Ichigo Marshmallow: A comedy in the genre of cute-girls-do-cute-things-cutely. But in this case they have a caretaker: one of the girl's older sister. She smokes, rides a motercycle and has to make money while the others play. The girls themselves are slightly younger than usual (11 - 13). As a result, the show feels "grounded" in a way many of its genre colleagues don't. Humour is subjective, but I find the show hilarious. Every now and then, though, you get scenes the break through the comedy and hit you through the heart (one in particular). There are OVA, but I'd recommend to ignore those. They're not in the same spirit as the TV-show.

Haibane Renmei: An emotionally powerful and straightforward show in a surreal setting. A girl dreams of falling from the sky, and shortly after bursts from a cocoon. She has no memories of her former life and finds she's now a "Haibane", identifiable by the little angel wings on her back (that don't allow her to fly). The show will never tell you what's going on, but the core story is emotional anyway: you have some time to work through your issues. If you don't, your wings go black, and then... The show uses the surreal setting expertly to heighten the emotional impact of the show, and the ending is pretty intense.

[Sackett]

Some suggestions:

Cross Game
Kimi ni Todoke
Clannad
Clannad: After Story
Kotoura-San
Maison Ikkoku

Coming of Age in more sci-fi/fantasy like situations:

Crest of the Stars
Chrono Crusade
Madoka Magica
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

[Senden]

Coming of age story where Characters respond to situations? Providing you don't mind well implemented fantasy elements, watch Nagi no Asukara.

[SuitUp]

Not my thread, but I wanna thank Darthtabby and Dawnstorm both for recommending Tari Tari, I had never even heard of it's existence and I throughly enjoyed it's 13 episodes, so, thank you.