On cute girls doing slice-of-life correctly

Let′s talk about slice of life, what it is, its shortcomings and how to fix them, all using the example of the best iyashikei show I have ever seen, the relaxing cute-girls-go-camping soothe-the-shit-out-of-you juggernaut of 2018: Yuru camp.
     
First of all, I want to present a case for the terms ″slice of life″ and ″iyashikei″ (pieces of media with a rather slow pace and little in terms of conflict, that are intended to provide escapism from the stress and fear that the human condition inflicts us with), as referring to anime, to be synonymous, as shows that present a conflict filled daily life would be labeled as ″drama″ and such that showcase more exciting lives would be labeled ″action″ or ″adventure″. The only reason anyone, especially anime analyst type people, would ever use ″iyashikei″ is because they are pretentious douchebags, to whom the mere thought of knowing a Japanese word and not showing it off seems utterly incomprehensible.
The question now becomes how one show in this genre can be so revolutionarily superior to its predecessors and contemporaries alike, as the only requirements for a good iyashikei seem to be sufficient cuteness of the girls and the things they do. No storytelling capabilities needed. With a format so unfuckupably simple you might assume that writing ″cute girls do ____″-type shows is the easiest thing on the planet, and the anime industry, having produced hundreds of versions of the same show, with only slight variations in polish and obtrusiveness of the pandering, would apparently agree with you. They are nevertheless woefully mistaken, as the surface-level simplicity and restricted narrative options are in fact what makes writing great iyashikei incredibly difficult.
     
I do not hate slice of life shows, in fact I am quite fond of them. They are however more formulaic than shounen action series, to an extent where most fans could effortlessly predict half of the dialogue in an anime they have never seen, which does seem rather disconcerting, ″relaxing″ should not be confused with ″boring″ after all. There is a glaring problem with the idea, that filling the ____ with some new activity that hasn′t been done before is in any way what makes an anime interesting, which demonstrably is not true. No one watched Hidamari sketch out of an interest in art school or Takunomi because they love communal living and drinking. If one or two camping nuts with no prior interest in anime were won over by Yuru camp, that′s great, but it doesn′t change the fact that the purpose of whatever theme a series has is merely to provide context for the interactions of the main characters, that is the actual driving force behind slice of life.
So, if the most important aspect of this kind of show is the presence of fun personalities to bounce off of each other, I do have to wonder who decided that there are only like seven permissible archetypes that everyone has been sick if for years, and that badly ripping off ″K-On!″ is the best way of writing them. 
    
The word that lies at the root of this problem is ″Moe″, and while I don′t want to be anywhere near the warzone that is internet discussion of what ″Moe″ means, I am almost sure the majority of people would agree, that it can refer to a variety of character traits and combinations of them, and that using a ″waifu-mold″ is cynical in a way that could only in the most esoteric edge-case of ″gap-moe″ be considered cute by anyone. I won′t pretend that I am not fully aware of the reasons for why this depressing trope reliance became so prevalent, the easiest way to avoid conflict is to make all the girls very agreeable, which severely limits your character options, and a pernicious ″never change a running system″-attitude has plagued the anime industry since the dawn of time, but it is far from the only way, as Yuru camp beautifully demonstrates.
    
I find it hard to relay to you the state of utter disbelief this one line of inner monologue put me in. This is one member of the cute girls squad expressing a sincere dislike for another, and rightfully so, as Chiaki is kind of a huge weirdo, that many would find annoying. This isn′t an accident. The show gives her a personal straight man in the form of Aoi. A lot of People have been giving Yuru camp praise for allowing Shimarin to remain a loner, and not be fully assimilated into the club, as is to be expected from a demographic that consist primarily of agoraphobic twenty-somethings living in their parents basement and generating income by ranting about Japanese cartoons (don′t look at me, I′m doing this for free), failing to notice that what is truly groundbreaking is the fact that she is even in this show, being not only far from a people person, but also an unabashed dick toward cute animals and her ″friends″. While I find her snarky demeanor to be the greatest thing ever, it is at points shockingly reminiscent of Chitose from ″Giarish number″, someone who is intended to appear unlikable. Nonetheless she is endearing to introverts and closet abrasive shitheads alike and we only get to enjoy her because she  generally keeps her distance from the main cast.
The whole attribution of cause and effect is completely wrong, Rin being somewhere on her own for the most part is necessary, because the established cast of believable characters would rather quickly get tired of her shit after prolonged exposure. At one point she drives away on her scooter and leaves Chiaki and Aoi to carry wood up a mountain by foot, instead of driving slowly alongside them, or even really trying to fit more firewood on her bike, which just doesn′t seem like the kind of behavior one could get away with for very long. Giving this inharmonious cast breathing room is what allows yuru camp to avoid conflict, while showcasing the most realistic friend group I have ever seen is slice of life. ″camping″ isn′t perfunctorily slapped onto a show that could have worked just as well with any other activity, instead it is used to justify the characters, their interactions and their relations to each other. This is a modern classic, and it is gorgeous, go watch it.
    
I for one am agog with excitement for a second season and the possibility that this is the beginning of the end of Iyashikeis creative stasis. Someone in the industry must have looked at the blu-ray sales and realized that innovation might be more profitable than strict adherence to the status quo after all.
    

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