Japanese anime fans coined the term shin nichijou-kei (新日常系, which I have taken the liberty to translate as neo-slice of life) to describe the genre of Yuki Yuna is a Hero. Like slice of life, both genres have a focus on realism (or at least low-fantasy) sees characters going through daily routine rather than setting off on an adventure. What makes neo-slice of life different is the existential horror.
In an interview with Yuki Yuna is a Hero director Maeda Toshihiro, Maeda says that with Yuki Yuna, he wants to impress on viewers the idea of how precious and irreplaceable normal life can be.
一般的な「日常系アニメ」が、平穏な日常をなだらかに描いていくことで視聴者に安心感や癒しをもたらすのに対し、本作品ではそのような平穏な日常と、その日常を脅かすような過酷な状況を対比して描くことにより、「平穏な日常」が如何にかけがえのないものであるかということを視聴者に強く印象付ける構成になっている。
While Yuki Yuna is the trope namer, it is certainly not the first neo-slice of life anime.
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