My Way or the Anime – The Four Facets of Slice-of-Life

And the secret fifth facet, Minoru Shiraishi.

I've been doing a lot of writing for the upcoming season preview lately, and for a while it seemed like every show I was previewing was slice-of-life. I don't know if there are more slice-of-life shows now-a-days or if I just picked every one of them to preview (which is likely), but in trying to figure out which shows to suggest to you, and for what reasons, I inadvertently came up with a framework by which to describe and/or judge slice-of-life shows. These are the four most common facets which modern slice-of-life anime and manga stories employ: atmosphere, characters, cuteness, and comedy, and a special fifth one, because I'm a cheater like that.

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai. 10

Well that affection escalated quickly.

(Ore no Imouto ga Uedingu Doresu o Kiru Wake ga Nai)
"My Little Sister Can't Wear a Wedding Dress"

We're only recovering from one breakup, yet hints of romantic affection are in the air once more! This show isn't slowing down to avoid rebound at all!  
From here on out, non-spoiler tag light novel spoilers will be treated with zero tolerance.