Sometimes all you want to do is sit down and ignore the character development, action, and dark themes to just watch some Slice of Life Anime that are lighthearted. Here are 16 shows that fit that happy context.
Best Heartwarming Slice of Life Anime
1. Kakushigotou
Have you ever lived a life that you don’t want to show other people? Is it something so embarrassing that you can’t show or is it because you don’t want people seeing that side of you because of respect and adoration? Meet Kakushi Gotou, a popular mangaka who writes dirty-humor manga for a living. He loves writing manga and enjoys what he does but with one downside: he can NEVER let his elementary-school daughter Hime know about it. Hime is a sweet, innocent girl who cares deeply for her single father, causing Kakushi to do anything within his power to hide his occupation from his daughter out of fear that she will start to never respect or like him again. Ranging from setting up elaborate trips that coincide with her daughter’s school excursions, changing clothes in a nearby convenience store, remodeling his work office, hiring doppelgangers, etc. Kakushi will do anything to keep his job a secret in this hilariously sweet slice-of-life anime.
At first, this concept seemed pretty mundane to me, and watching an anime about elaborate lies and schemes to hide his career from his daughter didn’t seem like something I thought I could get myself into. Boy was I wrong; this anime is the personification of diabetes and happiness. The light comedy and eccentric characters made me literally laugh out loud so many times just because of how crazy Kakushi was in his plots. Although this might seem like some unfinished slice-of-life anime, it actually follows a well-developed plot and ends on a very filling note towards the last episode. I highly recommend watching this if you want to feel good after a bad day or two.
2. Barakamon
Seishuu Handa is a professional calligrapher who prides himself on his amazing, clear-cut style of calligraphy. Almost a little too prideful. After a professional calligraphy veteran bluntly criticizes his work, in a rage, Handa punches him and is forced to live in a small-town island to “find himself and his inspiration” by his father. Reluctantly, Handa agrees and moves into his new home. However, getting to write calligraphy proves to be extremely difficult as his nosy neighbors always want to play and mess around with him. Forming new relationships as well as deepening his love for calligraphy, Handa experiences an intrinsic revelation as he deals with the daily life on the island
Handa is portrayed as an arrogant and self-absorbed calligrapher who only cares about the art. This might annoy some people but early on in the show, you can gradually see how his character develops to be more humble and accepting, seeing the world in a new light thanks to the people he meets and the connections he makes. Barakamon is only 12 episodes and the anime gives a very fulfilling ending so I highly recommend checking this show out.
3. Teasing Master Takagi-San
You bush, you lose! Meet Nishikata, a regular junior-high student who loves games, sports, manga, and other typical boy things. Although he might not be the smartest in the class, there is one thing he puts all his brainpower on: defeating his seatmate Takagi by trying to get back at all the teasing she does to him and make her blush. Takagi, the clever, mischievous, and caring junior-high student, loves teasing Nishikata every day in and out of class. Nishikata comes up with elaborate plans but always loses when Takagi makes the move on him. Is there a deeper meaning behind Takagi’s teasing? Will Nishikata ever win?
This is probably one of the cutest anime you can watch. Takagi always pranks Nishikata but always draws a boundary between teasing and straight harassing him, which many people misunderstand. Every episode is composed of different little stories of Takagi and Nishikata hanging out with Nishikata having to deal with Takagi’s interesting ways of having fun and playing around. It’s a light-hearted romantic comedy that’s very well-done and is so sweet that you’ll be wishing you had a Takagi in your life.
4. Handa-kun
A prequel to Barakamon, this show follows Seishu Handa as a high-schooler. Handa goes throughout his daily high school life avoiding everyone except his childhood friend Kawafugi. The reason behind this is that Handa is hated by almost everyone in the school, developing his timid and introverted personality. However, this is all in his head. Handa is actually the most popular boy in school with girls always fawning over him and the guys envying and admiring him. Handa-kun follows Handa as he misconstrues his classmates’ actions and gets himself in hilarious situations.
As the prequel story to Barakamon, this anime definitely isn’t as good as the original was but it still can live up to its predecessor’s name. The light-hearted comedy and hilarious misunderstandings will surely make you feel warm and light-hearted.
5. Tonikawa
Nasa Yuzaki wants to be amazing. Ranking 1st on the mock high-school entrance exams and numerous scientific achievements, Nasa aims to become a scientist that the world will never forget. He has his whole life set out for him, but things aren’t that easy. On a snowy night, Nasa Yuzaki is walking home and spots a beautiful girl standing at the other side of the road. Bewitched, Nasa tries to approach her, not knowing the truck that was heading straight for him. Moments later, he wakes up, surprised to see he’s alive thanks to that same girl saving him from the truck. Eternally grateful for saving his life and the girl’s beauty, he asks her out of the blue to date him. Unexpectedly, she says yes but she asks him to wait for her and that she’ll only do it if she marries him! Years later, the girl, Tsukasa, shows up at Nasa’s apartment and tells him that she’s his wife from now on!
This anime is very cute and heartwarming as it follows the daily life of Nasa and Tsukasa as they get adjusted to their married life. Nasa ends up never going to high school to wait for Tsukasa and now that they’re both 19 living in a small apartment, they make many changes to adjust to their new lifestyle. There is some slight minor conflict with outsiders opposed to the marriage but that conflict never lasts more than 2 episodes, allowing the show to progress towards a sweet romantic comedy about a happily-married couple
6. Engaged to the Unidentified
Kobeni Yonomori is an average high-school girl that gets a shocking surprise for her 16th birthday: a fiancee and little sister-in-law. A result of Kobeni’s late grandfather’s decision, 16-year old Hakuya Mitsumine and his younger sister Mashiro move in to live with Kobeni, her obsessive sis-con older sister Benio, and their mother. As some unexpected events come into light about Hakuya and Mashiro, Kobeni has to deal with her new life and the events that develop
This is more slice-of-life than romance in terms of how the story develops but each episode reveals more about the innocent and pure-hearted relationship that Kobeni and Hakuya develop with Kobeni’s uneasiness and Hakuya’s drive to protect Kobeni. I wouldn’t watch this anime mainly for romance but for slice-of-life. However, the romance does tie together in a very coherent and warm fashion.
7. Tanaka-kun is always Listless
Have you ever felt tired? Feel like you just wanna sit quietly and observe the flow of the universe? Sometimes you just wanna close your eyes and doze off, floating away from the world. Well, there’s someone who’s the absolute master of this. Meet Tanaka-kun, a high-school boy known for his lax and inattentive behavior, prone to falling asleep wherever and whenever the mood allows. Every day, he aims to preserve his listless lifestyle at any costs. With his extremely dependable friend Oota who helps him out with his lifestyle, Tanaka starts to experience events that prevent him from perfect listlessness but is that really a bad thing for him?
This anime is one of the most laid-back, calming anime I’ve ever seen. There were many times where Tanaka-kun’s soft voice put me to sleep in broad daylight. Not saying that this is an anime that will bore you but the tranquil vibe that this anime gives off will relax you more than you’ve ever been watching anything. The mellow blend of colors complements the art style well and each character is so unique and amiable that you just can’t help but loving this show
8. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-Kun
Chiyo Sakura is a regular, cheerful high-school girl who has a crush on the boy in her same class Umetarou Nozaki. One day, she musters up the courage to confess to him. When she does, she’s greatly confused as she’s handed an autograph. Nozaki, in reality, is a serialized romance mangaka who writes for a shoujo magazine and Nozaki mistook Chiyo’s confession as her confession as his fan! Chiyo, embarrassed, accepts the autograph and through a series of misunderstandings, she becomes one of Nozaki’s manga assistants. Follow Chiyo as she discovers more people involved with Nozaki’s manga and weird classmates all around her in this hilarious rom-com.
When I mention hilariously innocent romantic comedy animes, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun is always one of the first ones I mention. It is a really sweet and light-hearted rom-com that highlights the platonic yet slightly romantic relationship that exists between Nozaki and Chiyo. Like many romantic comedy anime adaptations, this one does not completely finish by the end of the season as there is only one, but it’s such a good anime that it’ll make you want to find more about the relationship that exists between Nozaki, Chiyo, and the many other eccentric characters that you’ll meet
9. Gakuen Babysitters
After the tragic plane crash that resulted in both his parents losing their lives, Ryuuichi Kashima has to take care of his much younger brother Kotarou as they get adjusted to their new lives. At their funeral of the people who died in the crash, the brothers are approached by Youko Morinomiya, the head chairman of an elite academy who offers to take them in on the condition that Ryuuichi helps out in the school’s daycare for the teachers’ children in his free periods, or in other words, become the school babysitter. Not only does he have to take care of his brother, he now has a handful of other children to take care of with unique personalities.
This is an anime if you’re really not looking for some kind of plot or any kind of development but just interested in a nice slice-of-life anime about a boy who gets to know new friends and learn the responsibilities of childcare at such a young age. The people he meets at his new school and the connections he makes with the existing babysitter as well as his new adoptive guardian make for an amazingly cute anime with hilarious comedy stuck in between.
10. Hinamatsuri
Admiring his brand-new, expensive vase, yakuza member Yoshifumi Nitta is disturbed by an odd capsule that flies through his ceiling and opens in his living room. From the capsule comes a young, blue-haired girl who only knows her name: Hina. With no one else to look after her, Nitta reluctantly becomes her caregiver. To his surprise, Hina possesses immense esper powers and can’t control them very well. In an agreement for her to use her powers to not let them get out of control, Nitta lets her use her powers indiscreetly once in a while. However, one day, Nitta’s yakuza boss gets attacked and the responsibility is thrown to Nitta to take care of the issue. He steels himself and brazenly goes to the rival yakuza hideout but Hina follows him and to Nitta’s shock, she wipes out the entire gang. Hina now becomes a valuable asset to Nitta, much unknown to his gang who believes that Hina is his daughter and forces him to take care of her as well. Stuck in this huge mess, Hina and Nitta develop a bond no one would ever see coming.
Similar to classics like Usagi Drop, Kakushigotou, Baby and Me, and Aishteruze Baby, this anime is one of those cute tropes when an older boy/man is forced to take care of a girl who becomes sort of a daughter figure. Fitting with the same cuteness feeling, Hinamatsuri never fails to deliver on the gut-wrenching comedy and kicks mixed in with the most eccentric characters. A manipulative bartender, yakuza members who are actually really kind and caring, another esper alien, etc. These characters will make you fall in love with the show more and more as you explore the relationships between them.
11. Listen to what Papa Says!
When Yuuta Segawa was a young boy, his parents passed away tragically and his sister, Yuri, took the responsibility on herself to raise him by herself and provide the love that they both lost from their parents. Now, as a freshman in college, Yuuta gets called by his now-married sister to come visit their house and babysit her three daughters Hina, Sora and Miu while she and her husband go on a business trip. Yuuta accepts but is devastated as their plane goes missing and the entire crew and passengers are presumed dead. Alone with the three girls and not wanting them to be separated, he runs away with them and decides to raise them in his tiny apartment, just as his sister took him in when he had no one else. Now Yuuta has to juggle multiple responsibilities like becoming a father, the newest member of the Street Observation Research Society, a club for people watching, and a guardian while the girls come to term with the loss of their parents.
Although this anime might not be 100% fully-heartwarming the entire time, there are many moments that will make you tear up in amazement on how beautiful this anime is. The story of a young college student taking care of three daughters, putting them through education, working multiple jobs and keeping up with school work, and so many other responsibilities that many college students cannot even fathom accomplishing. The story about the relationship that these girls and Yuuta form is something that I will never forget and will continue to inspire me and possibly, you too, to do great things and work hard in life.
12. Tsurezure Children
Young love takes a myriad of forms from not being able to confess to the one that makes your heart flutter, finding out what real love is, moving past what you might call “friends,” and so many more obstacles. These obstacles are nothing but slight buffers in the road to love that everyone will take and in the springtime of youth, finding out what love is and making your way to your heart is something that is new for everyone. In Tsurezure Children, I found myself falling in love with every single pairing that was shown. From the friends holding mutual feelings, the teasing upperclassmen-kouhai duo, the Yankee girl, and more, these relationships develop more and more in the show to the future. This is an extremely light-hearted romance anime that will honestly give you diabetes on how sweet it is.
13. Myriad Colors Phantom World
In this world, there are supernatural entities that exist from the past emotions left over by humans known as phantoms (also known as youkai or ghosts). Until recently, they were believed to be superstition but a certain virus spread across humanity that allowed everyone to be able to see them and it also affected the next generations in giving them abilities that they can hone to combat these phantoms. Haruhiko Ichijou and Mai Kawakami are a duo of phantom sealers in Team E of Hosea Academy, a school focused around sealing phantoms. In a world where the real and surreal are indistinguishable, Haruhiko and Mai gain new team members and go on adventures to prove themselves to be the greatest phantom sealers ever.
Myriad Colors Phantom World, or also known as Musaigen no Phantom World, is animated by KYOTO Animation Studio, famous for shows like K-On!, Tamako Market, and Nichijou! These shows are perfect examples that Musaigen no Phantom World is no different in terms of its light-hearted comedy and emotional and sweet relationships that form between the Haruhiko, Mai, and the future members of Team E. Filled with amazing action, animation, and a cute story and characters, this is definitely a show that you’ll love
14. Danchigai
Haruki Nakano is your regular high-schooler except his parents are mostly away for work and he shares an apartment with his eldest sister Mutsuki who acts as a mother-figure, junior-high sister Yaoi who is a violent tsundere, and grade school twins Uzuki and Satsuki, who loves playing pranks on Haruki. This crazy family goes through all sorts of things in this short, light-hearted slice-of-life.
Danchigai is not your typical anime because it’s extremely short. Each episode is only around 3 minutes long and with 12 episodes. However, the interactions between the sisters and Haruki are so hilariously outrageous and cute that you can’t help wanting to get more of this family. Each sister has her own specific quirks and behaviors that mash together amazingly all amidst the classic straight man Haruki
15. Daily Lives of High School Boys
In Sanada North High School, an all-boys institution stars three comrades: an eccentric ringleader with a wild imagination Hidenori, a blond-haired passionate idiot Yoshitake, and the rational and shrewd Tadakuni. Together, these boys get themselves involved in outrageous schemes and wild skits that surpass anything anyone can imagine. Love, sword-fighting, giant monster robots, and so much more are involved in their everyday lives but who doesn’t want to enjoy their high school life?
This is a really light-hearted comedy-heavy show that focuses on various different boys in Sanada High. Every episode has multiple different stories with each involving different characters and they go together somewhat. This is probably one of the funniest anime I’ve ever watched. With many voice actors from Gintama and the choppy scene transitions akin to Grand Blue, this anime couples great voice acting with hilarious short stories every episode. Each character is so unique and has their own quirks and passions that when you jumble them all together, it makes for a show that you cannot stop clicking “Next Episode” on.
16.Hyouka:
Some would say Hyouka is more of mystery anime than slice of life but at its core Hyouka is more about mundane life. The story revolves around our lazy and beloved character Oreki. His world then is turned upside down when he meets Chitanda, who is the exact opposite of Oreki. Hyouka is the work of studio Kyoto Animation, and Kyoto Animation has done a phenomenal job on this anime. Trust me when I say Hyouka have the one of the best backgrounds art and music. You will come to like the interactions between Oreki and chitanda as anime goes on. Hyouka depicts life as it is in real life and it’s soothing to watch.
17.Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Mahou:
This anime is set in the 1955 rural area of Japan. The story is about a young girl Shinko who lives with her grandpa and becomes friends with a newly moved girl named Kiiko. I have spent my childhood in a rural area and I can say this anime captures the feel of rural damn near perfectly. One thing Mai-Mai Miracle does right is depicting the children and their actions right, kids feel like kids and do not do things which look out of place for a kid. If you want aesthetically good looking anime with a touch of rural area then this anime is for you.
18.Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon:
This one is a little bit strange because it involves maid dragons and loli dragon daughter. But all things considered miss kobayashi’s maid dragon at heart is a fun anime that somehow with NEET dragons and all still manages to put a smile on your face. If you like dragons and strong characters driven anime then this one’s for you.
19.Flying Witch:
Ah I remember watching this anime like yesterday but it’s been more than a year before I watched it but I still have fond memories of this anime. Thats because characters like Makoto and Chinatsu are so fun to watch. It has witch training in the urban area of japan and some diabetes inducing characters.
20.Non Non Biyori:
You know how they say after the story it’s characters who carry the story and this one has fun characters that fit this anime very well. You might Renge to be the most fun to watch because she is the youngest among all the characters but interactions between Komari and Hotaru are the best in my opinion. There is no dull moment when any two are talking and are doing anything because their chemistry is good throughout all the characters. I will suggest taking it slow and paying attention to the background art of this anime because it is surreal and beautiful. It’s like it was the director’s intention to go the extra mile to make it beautiful so viewers can pay attention to it. Non Non Biyori has 2 seasons plus a movie and the third is coming next year.
21.Nichijou:
I do not know how to describe Nichijou, NIchijou is anything but ordinary that’s for sure. One would expect any anime to have a linear story but Nichijou does not have that. There is a 7 years old who is a scientist, a robot and talking cat. You see Nichijou is full of zany characters. But one thing’s for sure comedy in here will have you laughing on the floor the whole time.
22.Comic Girls:
The story is about a young girl who wants to become Mangaka (Comic author), she moves into a residence where she meets with three other girls who also are Mangaka. This anime is what you would call cute girls doing cute things, if you like that kind of anime then anime is for you.
23.Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou:
This one is really close to my heart because it reminded me of my high school days and how accurate it was depicting those days. Title gives it away what anime is about, there are not many anime which capture the feel of high school life so accurately, not only that but there are not many slice of life anime that totally revolve around boys, so I am glad this one exists. It will give you a sincere portrayal of high school life and if you are not in high school anymore then it will give you a chance to relive that high school life once more.
24.Ichigo Mashimaro:
This one is also about cute girls doing cute things anime. If I had to choose my favorite characters then it would be Nubue and Miu. Whenever Nubue and Miu are on screen they always manage to make me laugh. This anime is a little bit old and you may not find this anime up to your standards but give it a try and believe me you will like it.