run on is such an amazing slice of life kdrama I think you missed that

Greast post! Slice of life is one of my fave genres/styles so it was nice to see a shout-out to it here. Like Junny ahead of me said, Japan has turned slice of life to an art form. On the whole their dramas tend to be more down to earth as it is. There are loads of great ones out there, if you can find them. Availability is unfortunately an issue with jdramas, unless you are willing to go for the dark side.

As for kdramas, my fave is probably Yoo Na’s Street. It’s a rare kdrama that doesn’t have any chaebols or geniuses, just ‘ordinary’ people from the bit shadier side of the street (the core cast has e.g a petty criminal, ex gangster, an unemployed mature student, a bumbling slacker, a bar proprietress, a dancehall owner). It’s also a nice found family story with this certain kind of warmth to it. Loved it! Then there is I Live in Cheongdam-dong which I might call a slice of life sitcom, ha. It’s one of the funniest kdramas I’ve ever watched and good way to boost up one’s spirits. One of those ‘happy pils’. It’s a pity the full show was never subbed but Viki has the ‘abridged’ version (19 epis). I’d also put The Light in Your Eyes / Dazzling in this genre, though it has other things mixed in as well.

Hi Kfangurl, once again, thank you for a great post. I love slice of life dramas. Its maybe not action packed, but that’s what I prefer. Life, love and some personal growth. There’s nothing I hate more than unnecessary destruction whilst trying to create some action.😁 I did not love The third charm though, because I think I can only stand so much angst 😬but I did love many of the other dramas you’ve recommended. I’m watching Navillera at the moment and it’s wonderful. I’ve been holding off on Life is Beautiful, just because it has so many episodes, but I’m going to watch it next because I know you love it. I’ve watched Father is Strange twice😁, so think I’ll invest my time in it rather than watching something else again, because I’ve just been a little picky lately. I value your opinion, so I trust you 😁Thanx for recommendations. 💜💜💜

A beautiful K slice of life film would be Christmas in August with a young Han Seok Kyu as the lead, understated, poetic, and poignant. Another–Little Forest with Kim Tae Ri, which I cannot recommend more highly–a delicious, refreshing as a simple napa cabbage and mayo sandwich on a hot summer afternoon or for those who like dessert, as wonderous as a creme brulee for a little kid made right before her eyes by mom slice of life. I would very much like to see Keys to the Heart with Lee Byung Hun and Yoon Yuh Jung (see KFG’s review) but it is not available on any streaming service in the US, not even as a pay for.

For me personally, I wouldn’t have thought that “slice-of-life” is a style I would be that interested in, but then… I just wanted to note for the record that the the 3 Reply series (88, 94, 97) as well as Prison Playbook and Hospital Playlist, are all by the same creative team: director (Shin Won-ho) and writer (Lee Woo-jung)(PP credits Jung Bo-hoon as writer, but credits Lee Woo-jung as “creator,” and says Jung was a “junior writer” on the other shows).

And I think it shows, as they have such an assured, confident grasp on dialogue and plotting and character. As I said elsewhere once, this is a team that is working right in my wheelhouse, creatively speaking. When I started Prison Playbook, I almost immediately felt warm and cozy, in spite of the potentially heavy subject matter. These folks know how to make the most quotidian of narratives compelling.

Wonderful question, Yin, and, as always, insightful comments from kfangull and the other regulars here.

Slice-of-life is probably my favorite single genre, along with romantic comedy – and they often overlap. My pleasure in k-drama SoFs goes back to my earliest watches, when a big part of the allure was what I’ll call the travel-replacement: simply getting to see another culture, how people live, what they do, what everything looks like. Two of my earliest drama faves had strong SoF elements: the Age of Youth series (both of which I liked more than kfangurl) and the Let’s Eat series, and I think the sense that I was visiting another country was a big part of why they took such a hold of me.

Yin: I would suggest that American film has many, many examples, although often hidden in trappings of other genres. Many situation comedies fit into this mold: think Cheers, Friends, Big Bang Theory, or for an extreme example, the sardonic-to-a-fault Seinfeld, which had the express mission of being a “show about nothing”. An example that jumps to mind is the film “Waitress”, which is about a short span in a specific person’s life. I’ll think of more suggestions for tomorrow.

Hey KFG thanks for a thoughtful post. I don’t have much to add as I agree with you – just glad that now there’s a list of shows that I should watch since I love slice of life shows!!

What I like about good slice of life drama:
they generally support large ensembles of actors who are good character actors, not simply pretty faces to create that kind of realistic feel. It is hard in such stories to get away with mere place holder actors as one can in other types of series. The ensembles in My Mister, Reply 1988, Dear My Friends are astonishingly deep and very good to a character.
they tend to be multi-generational in pov. As someone older I appreciate that. Sorry to report it to some folks, but romance among twenty year olds, like diapers, is a passing phase.
in addition, they feature older actors, often given smaller roles in other types of dramas, meaty roles to chew on worthy of their chops, and they depict a lot of the hard truths elder folk face in their lives. As one ages one realizes one tends to disappear somewhat; slice of life stories give us a face. There is a scene early on in the ongoing series Navillera in which the main character a seventy two year old man, who is taking up ballet, and after a particularly strenuous day practicing, the next morning wakes up, finding it nearly impossible to even sit up. In The Jaunt, the main character, is shown on more than one occasion slowly coming to consciousness waking up. Humorous, sympathetic, they go to the heart of what every morning is like for so many old people. And thus for an old person, it registers that someone sees us.
they tend to be forgiving of our foibles, even those that cause others and ourselves difficulty and pain, forgiving of our quirkiness, our stubborn, wonderful, maddening individuality, and in the same way we might remember someone who has passed from our lives, accentuate those little quirks that give us our particular flavor.
they are not shy about the mixed blessings and curses of family life,
and they are about friendship, not just with friends, but family and partners as well, the durability and rhythms, what makes them maddening, what makes them such a refuge.
they depict people as constantly growing and changing.

Other genres when they are really working often work because they partake of these qualities, but these qualities are what define for me good slice of life drama. They can be comic, tragic, crises driven, or filled with small wonders, but the good ones are so humane, and thus comforting.

This is actually something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I’m a U.S. high school student working on my personal statement to apply to college. It’s actually recommended that people write about mundane, “slice-of-life” topics, rather than big, cool-sounding experiences. I think in both personal statements and dramas, the goal is really to get to know about the character and their growth as opposed to having a gripping plot. The effect on this in terms of audience reception is that viewers really relate to and root for the characters (and admissions officers root for certain students).

Unfortunately, slice of life dramas are significantly longer than a 650 word essay, and I think a big contributing factor to the “amazingness” of certain dramas like R88 is the length (lots of time to get to know characters and watch them grow). So I’m still struggling to find a topic… I do think it’s an interesting comparison though so I wanted to share!

https://www.wheninmanila.com/korean-slice-of-life-drama-is-a-genre-that-deserves-your-attention-and-love-heres-why/ – Yin, this is a similar article that might be helpful, by the way!

So initially in my K drama journey I avoided slice of life because I wanted cracktastic dramas to take me away from lockdown. But oh my, My Mister took my breath away and I still catch myself thinking about the leads. I was so late to the party with Misaeng foolishly actively avoiding it but it is definitely a top tier drama for me. Hospital Playlist so superb again avoided as not so keen on hospital dramas. And as for Do you like Brahms despite appearances one of the best FL’s I have seen. Yes soft on the outside but so resilient and determines on the inside.

Uhh KFG, I LIVE for a good slice-of-life story. I was initially exposed to the style via mangas in my late high-school and early college days, with stories set around 20 year-olds trying figure out life in general.💕These were stories labelled mostly as josei (adult-shoujo), romance, family, growing-pains etc, and hence my belated realization at how often the ‘slice-of-life’ tag flies undetected under these broad umbrella-categories!~

You can also probably imagine my soft-spot for j-doramas, who I feel invariably do this genre better: it’s a more visceral and grounded depiction of day-to-day life. [the best example would be the midnight-diner franchise from both the countries, the j-version being the far more superior cousin] ✨The fairytale-esque treatment of k-dramas (esp in this genre) prevent me from getting as involved and absorbed, which I feel is better suited for light-hearted romcoms instead 😉

The biggest gripe with this ‘style’ is usually its meandering execution of the story, not ever really reaching a destination. And I have seen ‘slice-of-life’ abused as a poor excuse for a story so unfulfilling and purposeless, when it falls into the hands of a sub-standard writer.😒
I feel k-ent does this genre of story-telling better in smaller nuggets like movies and drama specials! That said, I’m yet to watch masterpieces like HP, MM, and R88, so I might get change my ‘puritan’ opinions soon 😀
— Currently looking forward to ‘Iki o hisomete’ (a post-pandemic slice-of-life ensemble-drama by Hulu Japan) ^^

I would add Chocolate to this beautiful list of great, down-to-earth dramas! thank you all for your inputs!

I’m not sure if this will be of any help to you, Yin, but in Spanish literature there is a genre called Costumbrismo that seems to have a lot of elements in common with the Slice-of-life genre. Spanish Costumbrismo influenced other genres, other European writers and also travelled to the Americas… It may be worth to check it out. It is not exactly slice-of-life, as I believe it is the environment, rather than the people or characters, what is the main focus of these stories. Here is a wiki link where you could find other sources. Good luck with your research!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costumbrismo

Thank you for the response, Kfangurl! I agree with you so much that it’s not that slice-of-life is devoid of drama, but that it uncovers the drama of real life and thereby transforms our perspective toward it. In a way, the slide-of-life feels more like a style than a genre, in that anything that pays attention to daily life counts: a rom-com, an office drama, a family show. Heck, I’d love to see a slice-of-life thriller—I wonder if that would be pushing the genre boundaries too much, though Korean television in general is so good at genre hybridity!

I thoroughly enjoyed Misaeng, Father Is Strange Answer Me 1988, and My Mister, and you already know I loved The Third Charm, but there’s so much in your list that I haven’t watched and I can’t wait to start on them. Thank you for the recommendations! I’d also add Because This Life Is My First to the list—I love how the writer took a fairly conventional romcom premise and infused it with such lyrical sensibility. For anyone who watched We Married As A Job, I’m curious how the two compare.

Thank you again for the thoughtful and detailed answer, and for your generosity in cultivating and holding this space for us. 🙂

An interesting exploration of the slice of life genre and why it appeals to so many people. I’m a bit of an odd duck in that I’m not a big fan of the slice of life genre myself. I do enjoy them from time to time, but it’s a lot harder for them to win me over.

I prefer grand plots, and yes, I could even watch parallel world dramas over and over 😂 But I also feel that “big” dramas that use devices like time travel or serial murderers can also accomplish one of the main things that many find appealing about slice of life dramas…identifying with the characters.

For me personally, I don’t need to to see someone in my exact situation or even an ordinary one to identify with them. I just need to identify with the core emotions. So if the characters are teased out well in a bigger type genre, I get the same experience only with a bit more fun.

Slice of life dramas often feel a bit mundane for me, and honestly, I watch dramas for a bit of escapism rather than to experience more real life. That being said, I do enjoy them at times. Just like the bigger dramas, if a slice of life drama really nails the characters and gives me an emotional and heartwarming story and journey, I still thoroughly enjoy it. It’s just a bit of a harder sell, hehe 🙂

More later. But My Unfamiliar Family and My Dear Friends, even Be Melodramatic (the episode of the day they all spent at the beach boardwalk would almost provide a definition of “slice of life”), and from what I have seen so far Navilerra currently showing on Netflix would also be examples.
The why I think has to do with something Oh Na Ra said about performing in My Mister to the effect of how important for drama to have a beating human heart to it. I have not seen Minari yet, but one gets that its success has a great deal to do with that kind of slice of life mentality, and it features two actresses from Korea who have a bunch of experience with those kinds of roles.