being a huge lover of slice of life, i am constantly on the lookout for any good media about it. there's lots of criteria of it so i won't go into much detail but my main point is that: finding good manga is ___extremely hard._ __ especially for fantasy slice of life.
i read too much of those shit, bc most of them are just horrible depictions of some dude transported/reincarnated into a fantasy world and deciding "i wanna live a slow life!" but cheap plot armor and dog shit antagonists prevents them to do so and its so booooorrrringggg.
i think there was probably one or two that deviates from this general plot and i was extremely surprised when i found out about Shinozaki-kun no Mente Jijou.

the synopsis of a seemingly normal salary-man and a magician intrigued me a bit so i decided to check it out. though the first chapter wasn't super attention-catching, it starts out the general plot of the manga and i think the real fun began in the second chapter.
the eccentric casts of characters literally fell down from the sky and everything about them (behaviors, designs) was the best things i've ever witnessed. it's definitely the main charms of the series itself.

other than that, one other thing i loved is the art. i feel like michiru burio prides herself in composition and i won't blame her bc it's absolutely fucking fantastic. so many interesting uses of perspectives, character placements and especially paneling. it shines in the latter chapters, interacting with the characters themselves. one example is with hazakura-kun and her use of teleportation magic. the straight lines of black boxes turns squiggly as she teleports from one place to another, showing us that her magic is quick and sparkly.

Shinozaki-kun no Mente Jijou absolutely hits the perfect spot for slice of life; keeping it mostly calm while having it's little unusual bits sprinkled every now and then. there isn't any villainy type of characters (as from where im at, ch 15 rn) and i think that's something worth talking about because how? how can the lack of plot armor still make this manga so great?

i think one of the reasons why must be the comedy. shinozaki, the main character, is constantly thrown into extremely unknown bizarre situations and the constant act of being a 'straight man' and being shocked at everything that's happening make this manga so fun to read!
he isn't just a character made to be the viewers' eyes though. his little quirks (that i won't say) make him to be such a lovable character and interesting enough to not be overshadowed by the other characters.

also lastly i just love how shinozaki is a walking factory loool. the new bits of machinery that gets revealed every chapter is another part of why i look forward to reading this manga so much <3