Our first discussion will center around slice of life shows, specifically their quality.  I have heard rumblings that they are all of equal excellence, but I disagree.  Watching 30 seconds of Nichijou should convince anyone that in terms of technical aspects, something like Hidamari Sketch provides no competition.  Likewise, in terms of quality, there are disparities.

Now, the quality question is difficult for me to approach.  (As a note, when I say technical aspects I mean animation and voice acting, whereas with quality I refer to the story, characters, and so on.)  It's easy to say that all slice of life shows are hindered by their simply being slice of life, lacking overarching plot lines and the typical construction of a true story.  Shows about nothing if you will.  Assertions are made that it's a flimsy excuse to watch cute anime girls prance around, and in some cases that maybe be true.  But I challenge you to watch K-On! and tell me that there is no greater struggle, no parallel to one's own tribulations here.  This is not a show merely about food and shampoo (Lucky Star), but a story of four girls trying to do the best they can to become musical sensations, to bring pleasure and excitement to the masses, but most importantly to their friends and loved ones.  Here it becomes clear that things are not as simple as they seem, and that some shows possess far more depth than others despite all being part of the maligned "slice of life" genre.

anime sux

I read a bit of the Fruits Basket manga online. I couldn't get into it, too many anime cliches.

Hidamari Sketch is pretty sloppily animated. As I recall there are literally entire scenes where the characters are represented by a black X, an outline of glasses, a few squiggles and a pawprint against some abstract background. It kind of lulls you into a numb state of "oh my god this is so bad why am I still watching this" but then a scene of brilliance comes from out of nowhere and makes you laugh because you're so shocked it happened such as the scene where Yuno puts on sunglasses in high detail (for this show) for no other reason than to sneak up to the roof. The enjoyment from some of the shows and very much Hidamari Sketch comes from the expectation of long periods of boredom suddenly being interrupted by highly kawaii bursts of mind stimulation. And somehow even though they're really deformed unsexy characters they manage to have AT LEAST 1 bath scene per episode.

My thoughts on Hidamari Sketch more series to be analyzed later.

So far, the only anime series I've ever watched all the way through and enjoyed is Soul Eater.  This may disqualify me from being a part of the discussion, as I am told that the otakummunity thinks Soul Eater is a ripoff of Bleach (which I haven't seen and don't care to).  I might watch Deathnote at some point, if only to find out what's so compelling about an emo kid writing in his diary.

Jesus Christ Zmann stop being a POINDEXTER and watch Lucky Star TIMOTEII~

Why?

Yeah, my fav Slice of Life Anime:

i like dbz

I like outlaw star

why in the hell would you read Fruits Basket, it's so obviously awful and intended for girls.

Soul Eater sounds dumb, and if it's a ripoff of Bleach then it must be the worst poo poo ever.  Death Note sucks to watch too.

if you idiots are going to try to try anime you could at least ask the authority on taste (me) before succumbing to the same dumb crap everyone else watches and writing it off.

Strike Witches

hanamaru kindergarten

Hanamaru Kindergarten is pretty sweet. It's like taking Kodomo no Jikan and instead of cranking it up to 11, cranking it down to 4.

you were a dumb kid