Tezuka Zone

Thanks funnily enough to Superman vs. Meshi (which I talked about in my recent post about Superhero comics) I’ve been reminded that I love slice-of-life manga and I have been reading a lot of it!

Slice-of-life manga are stories about everyday life. They often center domestic labor, and feature community building. (These are things that I want in cosy SFF but have had mixed luck finding.) I find slice-of-life manga soothing but also I appreciate that they focus on things that often aren’t considered “story worthy” but are important.

The manga often have a wealth of detail about specific crafts or professions. What kind of tools people use, how things are made, etc. I always find this interesting and fun to learn about!

Slice-of-life manga are generally sweet and cute. They often feature small everyday moments and family and friends bonding. I have a special fondness for the ones that have very detailed descriptions of food, when characters say stuff like “The X and Y in this dish really brings out the Z” even though it makes me hungry sometimes.

Slice-of-life manga can overlap with all kinds of genres. The ones I’ve recced here are all set in contemporary Japan but I’ve also read a couple of post-apocliptic and historical slice-of-life stories, and I know there are other genres out there like fantasy that I haven’t explored yet.

I’m still learning the genre but I wanted to share a few of my favorites so far:

Hirayasumi by Keigo Shinzō— A story about two cousins living together in a small house in Tokyo. The younger cousin is an 18-yearold woman who just moved to Tokyo for art school, and the older cousin is a 29-year-old man who works a kinda dead-end job. He inherited the house from an old woman he befriended who didn't have any relatives. It’s very charming, I find both of the cousins relatable in different ways.

I really enjoy all the environments in this! The characters' rooms feel like a little glimpse into who they are. And the cityscapes are so warm and lived in!

(This is very popular at my library at the moment so this rec is for volumes 1-4)

Laid-Back Camp Vol. 15-17 by Afro— This is about a club of high school girls who go camping both together and separately. There are lots and lots of details about food and camping equipment, but I also enjoy the relationships between the girls and their growing friendships.

This also has wonderful landscapes. There are scenic campsites, of course, featuring lakes, mountains, trees, etc. But there are also good scenes of people traveling on buses, trains, roads through the mountains, etc.

Yotsuba&! #15 by Kiyohiko Azuma— A very cute manga about Yotsuba, a preschool girl, her adoptive dad, and their friends and family. It’s just full of everyday things like going shopping, trying new foods, and looking for rocks. Yotsuba is so lovable and also determined in everything she does, she really makes the whole thing work.

Silver Spoon, vol 14-15 by Hiromu Arakawa—This is a charming story about a city kid who goes to an agricultural high school to get away from everything. I love all the details about food, farming equipment, and rural life. The types of issues that Japanese farming families deal with in this book feel very familiar and true to life, from my limited experience of US rural life. They worry about things like land succession, how much to invest in big machines, etc. The author grew up on a farm and is clearly drawing from that experience.
Content note: death of named animals

Have you read any of these? What did you think? What other slice-of-life manga would you recommend?