Which Animes are the most like real life

[JWR]

I was thinking a bit as to which anime series I have seen have been presented with stories I could easily believe could actually happen in real life.

The one that came to mind first was Toradora which all of the interactions are very believable. You might even know someone who reminds you of one of them.

Even though it is set in an "Aternate" future the story in Stellvia is one I could see actually happening with all the "futuristic" technology being based in known facts and rendered in realistic designs one could actually envision being built.

Any more you can think of?

[animeobsessed]

This season's Usagi Drop could really happen. After his grandfather's funeral, the thirty-year-old bachelor, Daikichi, finds out the old man had an illegitimate child with a younger lover who ran off. He is the only one in the family who volunteers to take care of the 6 year old girl, Rin.

Also, Working or Wagnaria!! has a real setting, a family restaurant in Hokkaido. The characters have quirky personalities but that's what makes the show interesting. Besides it shows how even with different backgrounds, people tend to try to help and get along with their co-workers.

Ookiku Furikabutte, Oofuri or Big Windup in the US is about a school baseball team with a kid who lacks confidence and is helped by his teammates so they can have a chance at winning. Pretty realistic.

Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi also has some realism to the main storyline - having to work for a boss who was your lover 10 years ago. It could happen.

[Yupa]

Looking through my watched list...
-5 Centimeters per Second
-Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
-Genshiken
-Great Teacher Onizuka
-Kimi ni Todoke
-Only Yesterday
-Welcome to the NHK

Those are the most realistic anime I could find. I prefer anime which are not like real life, so I haven't seen many slice-of-life anime.

[D123]

I think Whisper of the Heart would count it was one of the few non fantasy Ghibli films, a coming of age story I believe

[Keropi]

Based off what I've run across, heard and can remember I would say the most realistic feeling to me were:

I Can Hear the Sea
Nineteen
Only Yesterday
Rail of the Star
Ristorante Paradiso

and to a lesser extent:

Barefoot Gen - a true story, but the presentation made it feel less real than some of the others
Bartender
Cross Game

and it's been more than fourteen years since I seen Whisper of the Heart so I've kinda forgotten how it went.

The Usagi Drop anime will probably end up feeling pretty realistic if they only adapt the first half of the manga.

[iceman57]

Only yesterday is definitively one of my favorite.
Hajime No Ippo (training part, not fights) is extremely deep into boxers' mind.

[D123]

and it's been more than fourteen years since I seen Whisper of the Heart so I've kinda forgotten how it went.

It’s been a few years for me too, the story I believe goes

a young girl named Shizuku who loves books, every book she rents at the library was also rented once by the same person from those sign cards. She eventually finds out it’s a young boy named Seiji who is learning to become a violin maker they kind of date he goes away for a little while comes back and proposes end of movie

that’s my quick run down from memory without looking it up please correct me if I’m wrong *very lazy today *

[theultimatebrucelee]

I can almost see school days happen in real life. well maybe not that last 5 mins of last ep but maybe in Japan its possible

[Yupa]

My memory of Whisper of the Heart isn't clear either, but wasn't the Baron in it? I don't know anymore if he was alive like in The Cat Returns.

[D123]

My memory of Whisper of the Heart isn't clear either, but wasn't the Baron in it? I don't know anymore if he was alive like in The Cat Returns.

No he was just a statue they brought him to life in the sequel “The Cat Returns” which I haven’t seen yet

[JWR]

My wife Maria adds a few more

Ai Yori Aoshi (don't know how I forgot that one )
Lucky Star
Kare Kano

[Keropi]

It's strange how I can recall several scenes from every Ghibli film that I've seen except for Whisper of the Heart. For Whisper of the Heart I can only recall the opening scene, the ending scene and the violin playing scene. Then again I suppose that old C-ko's video helped me remember the Only Yesterday scenes.

Thanks for the summary D123!

[D123]

Thanks for the summary D123!

no problem

[ginga123]

NANA and School Rumble seemed most like a real life stories

I know for a fact that the author of SR based his main character Harima off the real life stories of friends and their personal stories about school days though. I am not sure how or what inspired the author of NANA to lay out the plot the way it did. (I just hope the author has recovered from their illness and decided to continue the manga and anime and finish it.)

[Shampoo]

I'd say most romantic comedies and slice-of-life
animes have a tendency to be realistic. But
ones I find more sensible and down-to-Earth
are the stories that include believable drama like
paying bills, compensating due to past, growing
pains, and/or natural character flaws like ego, jealousy,
and stubborness.

These spring to my mind in those regards:

-REC
-Welcome to NHK
-Kimi ni Todoke
-Paradise Kiss
-Koi Kaze (thou controversial, it does exist in r/l)

and to some extent... on the larger, underground scale
-Noir
-Eden of the East
-Monster