Highlights
- Slice of life manga can be heartwarming or delve into darker subjects like zombie apocalypses or orphan life.
- Some manga mix everyday activities with horror or sci-fi elements, creating unique and engaging stories.
- Each slice of life manga offers a different perspective on life, from dealing with tragedies to chasing dreams.
Slice of life manga usually have a light-hearted, cozy feel to them. They are largely associated with the iyashikei subgenre, which specializes in stories that focus on being healing and soothing. There’s nothing better to unwind from a tough day with than a slice of life manga, and the genre has become incredibly popular because of that.
While most slice of life manga are generally heartwarming, there are some that take the effort to dive into deeper subjects. While they still focus on telling mundane stories centered around every day life, they also delve into darker, more troubling and mature topics. Here are some of the darkest slice of life manga, ranked by their MyAnimeList score.
8 School-Live! (MAL Score: 8.07)
Supporting A Friend After A Breakdown
- Written by Norimitsu Kaihou; illustrated by Sadoru Chiba
- Published in Manga Time Kirara Forward
- 12 volumes
Yuki Takeya is a member of Megurigaoka Private High School’s School Living Club, along with her friends Kurumi, Yuri, and Miki. Though Yuki believes they are all living an ideal high school life, they are in fact living in a world destroyed by a zombie outbreak. Yuki lost her mind in the fallout and now lives in an idealized world her friends are desperate to maintain.
School-Live! is an incredibly rare mix of slice of life and horror, in which everyday school club activities are mixed in with the horrors of a zombie apocalypse. Though the two opposites can be jarring at times, it nevertheless provides for an incredibly unique experience.
7 Twin Spica (MAL Score: 8.15)
A Childhood Dream Marred By Tragedy
- Written & illustrated by Kou Yaginuma
- Published in Monthly Comic Flapper
- 16 volumes
Asumi Kamogawa has always wanted to become an astronaut and go to space, even after the failure of the Lion rocket’s launch causes chaos and tragedy in her home city of Yuigahama. Despite being considered too small to be an astronaut, Asumi insists on following her dream, encouraged by the mysterious Mr. Lion.
Twin Spica is a sci-fi story about a young girl’s experience going through astronaut training. While her story can be warm and encouraging at times, it can also be troubling as her many friends deal with the traumas and tragedies that define their lives.
6 Solanin (MAL Score: 8.22)
The Struggle Of Finding Your Way Through Life
- Written & illustrated by Inio Asano
- Published in Weekly Young Sunday
- 2 volumes
Meiko and Taneda are a young couple both working relatively uninspired jobs neither of them want to be in. Taneda in particular wants to make it big with his rock band, though they have yet to make a splash in any particular way. Needing to make a change in their lives, Meiko quits her job and Taneda begins focusing on music, both unsure of what life will have in store for them.
Solanin is a relatively short coming-of-age story following the lives of young adults who don’t know what to do with their lives. Though the story can be mundane at times, a stroke of tragedy brings home just how important it is to live life the way you want it.
5 Sunny (MAL Score: 8.28)
Daily Life At An Orphanage
- Written & illustrated by Taiyo Matsumoto
- Published in Monthly Ikki
- 6 volumes
The Star Kids home is a facility where orphans and other children who cannot live with their parents are raised. Every child there has their own circumstances and pain to sort through, but they find their way through life with the help of the Sunny, an abandoned car they use to travel to whatever dream world they desire.
Sunny is a slice of life story written by the legendary Taiyo Matsumoto, focusing on the lives of children living at an orphanage. While the children have fun at times, they also struggle with the adversity of being an orphan, and how different their lives are from those of normal children.
4 Planetes (MAL Score: 8.29)
Living Life In Outer Space
- Written & illustrated by Makoto Yukimura
- Published in Morning
- 4 volumes
In a world where humanity has begun to broach the frontier of outer space, clearing the debris left in space is an important job. The four members of the Toy Box, Hachimaki Hoshino, Ai Tanabe, Fee Carmichael, and Yuri Mihairokov, all work to clear space debris, though they each have their own motivations and goals for being in space.
Planetes is a science fiction story centered around a futuristic Earth, written by Makoto Yukimura of Vinland Saga fame. While the story puts most of its focus on building this futuristic world, it dives into deep and dark psychological topics similar to the author’s other work.
3 Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki (MAL Score: 8.33)
A Single Mother With Two Unusual Children
- Written by Mamoru Hosoda; illustrated by Yu
- Published in Young Ace
- 3 volumes
A young college student named Hana falls in love with a mysterious man, who turns out to be a werewolf. Together, they have two children named Ame and Yuki, but when the father dies in an accident, Hana is forced to care for the children on her own.
Wolf Children: Ame & Yuki is the manga adaptation of Mamoru Hosoda’s film of the same name. Though watching Hana raise her children is certainly heartwarming, the tragedy of the father’s death leaves a hole in their lives that all three of them have to get through on their own.
2 Girls’ Last Tour (MAL Score: 8.72)
A Solemn Journey Through The End Of The World
- Written & illustrated by Tsukumizu
- Published in Kurage Bunch
- 6 volumes
Civilization has collapsed, and the world is slowly dying out. In this world where humans are fading away, two young girls, Yuuri and Chito, travel in their tank as they explore this ruined world, searching for supplies and living day-to-day in a ruined world.
Girls’ Last Tour is a post-apocalyptic slice of life manga that, despite its harrowing setting, is fairly laid-back and calm. Even so, there’s a melancholic ambiance that pervades throughout the manga, as the two protagonists make their way through a ruined world.
1 Goodnight Punpun (MAL Score: 9.01)
The Ongoing Struggles Of A Peculiar Boy
- Written and Illustrated by Inio Asano
- Published in Weekly Young Sunday & Big Comic Spirits
- 13 volumes
Punpun Onodera is a young boy who has just fallen in love for the first time in his life with a girl in his class, Aiko Tanaka. With this new discovery comes all kinds of problems, and unfortunately for Punpun, he’ll have to struggle through it on his own.
Goodnight Punpun is an incredibly unique take on slice of life, and its mixture of bizarre imagery and dark storytelling certainly contribute to that reputation. While it may not be as heartwarming as other slice of life manga, its tale is almost certainly something everyone should experience.
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