Go read Concrete Badger’s post about slice of life anime. It’s what inspired this post after all and presents quite a few good points on the matter of closure.

My own take on this sort of thing is that the critics of Slice of Life series’ are generally users, rather than receivers (we’ve talked about this). Receiving a series means asking questions, studying it, allowing it to be what it is and then doing interpretation. Using a thing means fulfilling an expectation and moving quickly onto closure. Users want the event, the conclusion, the closure of things if you will. Closure is when the moment ends. Viewers who desire closure have no time for nor interest in exploration. They receive information only inasmuch as is useful to them. They use said information to get a sense of gratification from a show — that it has pleased them and that is the sum total of its worth. By the same token, the typical fan of music cares nothing for the message or the actual instruments, only that the tune is “good”.

C.S. Lewis is a frequent source I return to, because his Experiment In Criticism is so astonishingly accurate and atypical a viewpoint. While his lens on cartoons and comic strips was rather narrow (and I don’t blame him for that, the mediums were in their infancy and not very well expressed), he was otherwise rather correct on the matter of literature and its audience. It’s not an extreme jump to extend those insights into television, because once again we are dealing with storytelling.

Slice of Life shows typically ask the viewer to explore the moment. They are built for the patient listener, someone who has a vested interest in what is actually going on, rather than how fast things are moving. There is dialogue that mirrors actual conversation and invites the viewer to partake, rather than an effectual scripted dialogue that pulls the audience with it.

Now on the one hand, we have the issue that some viewers of Slice of Life shows are using them in a different way than is at first obvious. While they are not apparent like their antitype, they are using the show in that they are expecting certain things from it. Typically these are either drama or comedy, and often ignore characterisation for it. They are not interested in the actual structure or circumstances of the show, only that it presents its events, albeit at a slow tempo. While they do not appear to be event-mongers, they in fact are, only with a different perspective on time.

Slice of Life shows like Honey and Clover are somewhat servile to those sort of viewers. Don’t get me wrong, I am in fact a Honey and Clover fan. Nonetheless, the show does some pandering to the event-oriented viewer, and skimps on narration because of it. The only two characters in which this is restraint is, oddly, Morita and, more expectedly, Hagu.

Morita’s events are many, but the revelations of why are not. You rarely get closure with Morita, and his events are dysfunctional. While he brings a great deal of comedy to the show, Morita gives less long-standing closure than any other character. Hagu is more apparent in this, because of her hesitance. Where Morita’s nature is to be expressive and therefore his lack of closure is not quite as noticed, Hagu’s reticent personality keeps the viewer wondering. Hagu’s traditional archetype — the quiet loner girl — is usually based around closure. She would ordinarily be something of a monotone. Shinobu from Love Hina is an example of this. We know what to expect from Shinobu, she fits her archetype very accurately. Hagu escapes that archetype in her unpredictable responses to some things. As much as it frustrates her various suitors, it also frustrates the viewer. Takamoto cannot get his head around her very often, and so she defies closure.

Yamada on the other hand is the frequent source of closure, even when she has none. We know what to expect from Yamada and so she becomes somewhat predictable. The same applies to Mayama, whose petulant (and creepy) obsession with Rika becomes a standard object around which the show rotates. Mind you, none of these things are bad at all (except the creepy stalking), they are however closure-based.

Perhaps we need to discuss the word “closure” and how I’m using it here. Closure ordinarily means the summation of a thing. That is to say, the Yamada-Mayama-Rika circle of jealousy, lust, and upset has no structural closure. Here it defies the event-monger. But it is creating a constant closure in the event-monger’s mind. They know to expect that this event will continue to be a useful source of entertainment. Thus they need not interpret it or receive it at all. It caters to their whims. Morita and Hagu, while useful on the outside, require a great deal of reception in order to be interpreted. Takamoto is the viewer’s device much of the time for doing this with Hagu, but in Morita’s case, it becomes rather difficult until the end.

I use Honey and Clover as the example because it’s fresh in people’s minds and has a great amount of breadth where the subject of event-vs-narration is concerned. It walks in andante much of the time, save during one of Yamada’s upsets or Morita’s zany stunts. But its content is geared towards a type of event-monger, which makes it less a a Slice of Life series and more a regular drama.

Haibane Renmei is another issue altogether. This is a truer Slice of Life series because of how much introspection and attention is required from the viewer. While one may occasionally argue that Haibane Renmei fits squarely in the realm of fantasy or science-fiction, or even approaches “epic” storytelling, all these are reaching. Haibane Renmei is a Slice of Life story, which does little to let the viewer expect the event. Or if they are expecting the event, to prolong its closure by exploring the event’s circumstances. It does so from the very first moment with the idea of the dream — that the first dream you have is how you get your name. As we find out, this sort of thing has very long-reach consequences on a person. We are also left with many questions. What happens when a Haibane has their Day of Flight? What happens to Kana and Nemu, to our main protagonist Rakka? What exactly IS the Day of Flight? Is it a metaphor for a Christian-esque ascension into Heaven, or is it perhaps more Buddhist in its telling — passing through one’s pain to be reborn in a happier or more beneficial life? These questions arise for exploration.

In this, Haibane Renmei is a series that can only be received. Its very structure will bore the event-monger to tears. There is little interest for a user in the series because it provides so much exploratory material. Yet as Concrete Badger pointed out, “there are so many loose ends but the central theme, that of friendship and redemption surrounding Reki’s character, is adequately dealt with”. That much is excellent for closure, because it takes its time getting there and asking some important questions along the way. It also allows its world to remain open for interpretation (though not of the fanfiction writer’s kind), with a number of questions both mundane and philosophical along the way.

I would say that event-mongers are often the most active critics of Slice of Life series’, largely because they are bored. Even the second type, the event-monger with patience, is less likely to be entertained by such series’ as Haibane Renmei, but at least have a middle-ground with products like Honey and Clover. While they have more of an ear for the instruments being played, they are still obsessed with the tune. Yet at least there is a thought process going on. That much is important to reception, and is, in my mind, the mark of a good critic.