What this genre is
Azumanga Daioh invented the unremarkable everyday life of cute girls. Through K-On! and Yuru Camp, it made a case for the richness of nothing much happening.
Gag & Comedy — about this band: The lineage of laughter Akatsuka Fujio systematised — nonsense, absurdism, and the slice-of-life that followed.
Connections
Three kinds of line: direct evolution, influence, and born in reaction against.
↓ Flowed into this
Key works
The unremarkable everyday life of high-school girls, in four panels. The starting point of the slice-of-life genre.
Yotsuba, a girl made entirely of curiosity, and the unremarkable days of the people around her. The high point of slice-of-life, by the author of Azumanga Daioh.
Easygoing four-panel strips about otaku high-school girls. The anime produced a pilgrimage boom and came to stand for slice-of-life culture.
Gags in which a flat everyday suddenly collapses into surrealism. Its particular timing and absurdity have devoted fans.
Four-panel strips about the easy days of the girls in a light-music club. The anime made it a phenomenon and created the slice-of-life-plus-band boom.
Girls camping gently outdoors in winter. Careful landscape drawing and a restful air made it the spark for a camping boom.
Gag & Comedy — walk the band
Genres in the same band, in order of year. You are at the highlighted one.
- 1962 Akatsuka Gag↓
- 1970 Nonsense & Parody↓
- 1980 Yonkoma↓
- 1988 Absurdist Gag↓
- 2002 Slice-of-Life Yonkoma（you are here）
All genres
About this entry
Genre boundaries are drawn where the network of manga happens to concentrate, not by decree. Years are approximate. Where opinions differ, this page says so rather than picking a winner.