To explain the cause of this post, I’ll be short and quick: Thanks to Baka-Raptor, I’m never going to watch Cromartie High School, EVER.
It’s every man’s dream. Find me a man who won’t ignite the fire on his loins while looking at this picture, and I might gladly kill myself. Wait, Shin’s one. OHSHI-
Why? Why decline a non-realistic show that aims, or at least pretends to be, slice-of-life? Why not settle for it because it passed the Three Tests To Determine If A Show Is Slice-Of-Life? Or maybe not either of those. The real question is this: Does it pay to hate it not because the entirety of the show pretended to be slice-of-life, but because the manliness of the show made it pretend it’s slice-of-life?
Cromartie High School? Slice-of-life? Holy shit, that would kick ass! I would do anything to live in a world where it’s plausible, let alone ordinary, to go to school with a sentient robot, a sushi-making gorilla, and Freddie Mercury. Unfortunately, Cromartie High School is the least realistic anime I have ever seen.
Baka-Raptor (1/10/2010)
Let’s take Great Teacher Onizuka as an example of a show that is both rated as manly and slice-of-life: Onizuka applies as a teacher, Onizuka gets a problem class. Then, Onizuka falls down from the Nth floor of the school building, severely crushing the vice-principal’s poor Cresta below, while being nearly unharmed himself. And oh, did I mention he’s also into BDSM, kidnapping, and suicide? I don’t know if any of that is slice-of-life to you, but that’s plenty manly, if not GAR, to anyone.
Let’s take another example: Golden Boy. We have an intelligent guy who knows a lot of things, who travels the Earth and electric poles using his miracle bicycle that can outrun motorbikes. Speed? We have it! Electric bio-insulation? Not a problem! Programming and coding of a high-class, thesis-caliber company program BY MERE OBSERVATION? Piece of cake! Harem route? Wait, whatthisissliceofliferightoramirite?
Golden Boy is a story of manliness.
Well, no, not really. It’s a story of life, of the energy and ambition of youth, and-
No, no, it’s not that either. It’s a story of the manliness of youth, the energy and ambition that only true men have.
ETERNAL (1/3/2010)
Men. They have already been known in the past as the gender that never fails to impress… almost. If there’s anything inclined to insanity, murder, or anything that involves the extreme and the absurd, all eyes point their gazes on the man. They think of themselves as someone who thinks outside of the box. They think of themselves as invincible, passionate, juvenile, indestructible, taboo, the pinnacle of anything and everything that will claim everyone’s hearts, especially the girls. Attention whoring, be it direct or indirect, or we can just call mating and procreation instinct bullshit.
Maybe it’s true. Manliness is sometimes what labels a show as slice-of-life. It shows how the insanity is labeled as something normal, if not something positive, interesting, or impressive altogether. It shows and explores the capabilities of what men, or mankind in general, can do. It may or may not have a plot. It may or may not be what is or was intended to be. It may be stupid, absurd, unbelievable, or something that’s not really going to appeal to the general public. Then again, if there’s so much man in your slice-of-life, wouldn’t it be better to call it slice-of-man instead?
Slice-of-Man: not the way the world is, but the way it should be.
Ain’t it, or ain’t it? Depends how manly you are, and how willing you are to elaborate.
Holy crap my silly little line has become a blog post.
Also Shance, I coined that term in a fit of lulz.
Go ahead. Nobody’s stopping you.