So the ever-brilliant Ospreyshire nominated me for this fun tag a couple of weeks ago and, while it’s taken me a bit of thinking to settle on all of my choices, I’m finally ready to do this. Without further ado let’s get this show on the road, first what’re the rules of this tag?

RULES

#1 Share your favourite stories—movies/books/anime/manga/drama/songs—by classifying them on these seven colours’ traits:

• red: passionate, exciting, invigorating
• blue: peaceful, calming
• pink: romantic, caring
• orange: warm, motivating
• black: mysterious, thrilling
• green: fresh, unexpected
• white: random

#2 Send this challenge invitation to at least one of your friends. Let them fear your superiority, as you—decide their fate.

#3 Link back to the original post here! And, enjoy!

Red – Haikyu!!

How can you get more passionate, exciting and invigorating than watching a group of people taking part in an activity they all clearly love and giving it their all? I only started watching this series last year and it genuinely blew me away. There are many, many great things about this series, but what I think takes it to another level is that it makes you understand the driving factors of each and every character. Any other sports anime just has you rooting for the underdog team, but Haikyuu goes the step further and makes you care and root for both sides of the conflict. After all the other teams are just as eager to win as our protagonists. This series always leaves me feeling pumped and eager for the next episode.

Blue – Laid-Back Camp

After exerting ourselves with some high octane sporting activities, what could be better than settling down by a camp fire with some beautiful scenery and good company? You can’t get be more peaceful and calming than a show that literally has ‘laid-back’ in the title and while this is a very idyllic look at camping, it also puts the chill in chill out anime. The characters are endlessly endearing, the scenery on display is often breath-taking and the atmosphere is so warm and cosy I can practically feel the fire whenever I watch this show. After a stressful day there’s no better prescription than settling down with this show for half an hour or so.

Pink – Given

I’ve stated several times on this blog that I’m not much of a romance person, and yet with shows like this and Horimiya I feel that may be changing. Given is a show that gives me the warm fuzzies just thinking about it, I love each of the principle characters (though watching the movie has taught me that I’m very much a Mafuyu and Uenoyama shipper) and I would happily spend all day just hanging out with them. Watching each of their relationships develop over the course of the first season and the movie has been a privilege and I’m really hoping we’ll get another season soon.

Orange – Witch Hat Atelier

This one took some thinking. There are plenty of series that I’d describe as warm, I just talked about two of them, but one that also leaves me feeling motivated? It took a perusal of my bookshelves to come up with the only answer for me. Witch Hat Atelier is a series that I discovered a couple of years ago and I adore it with every fibre of my being. Not only is the world beautifully drawn and endlessly fascinating, the characters are just so sweet and charming without ever venturing into saccharine. What motivates me with this series though is the clear parallels to what it’s like to learn to draw or enter any kind of creative profession. As any regular readers will know, I like to draw and this series always leaves me eager to break out my pens and pencils.

Black – The Promised Neverland (Season 1)

This feels like a bitter sweet choice because I’m currently in the middle of season 2 and to say I have issues with it is a massive understatement. Let’s go back to happier times though and the astounding season 1. It’s a perfect little puzzle box of a series, the question being less about what’s going on and more about how our heroes are going to get out of the terrible situation they’ve found themselves in. Every setback and twist just ratcheted up the tension higher and higher until that exhilarating conclusion when everything came together. I know you can’t see me so I’ll just let you know I’m doing one of those chef’s kisses right now.

Green – Princess Connect! Re:Dive

This is here more for the unexpected qualifier, rather than being fresh. I did not have high hopes for this show before I started watching it, all the promo art and the fact that it was based on a mobile game just lead me to believe this was going to be the typical harem nonsense that just isn’t my thing. I was bored though, so I watched an episode and was blown away by how different it was to my expectations. The characters are all loveable, the action and comedy are top notch and it even manages to introduce a plethora of new characters each episode without feeling likes its overburdening the series with too many pointless cameos. Bring on season 2!

White – Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai

I know this series hasn’t finished airing yet, but I feel the need to talk about this little gem of a show because not enough people are giving it the attention it deserves. I don’t really know that much about the Dragon Quest franchise, other than the fact that it exists, but this series has blown me away with just some good old fashioned fantasy adventure. The characters are often stock archetypes and the plot is best described as predictable, but there’s so much passion and love put into this series that is all feels fresh and new. Also this series looks amazing. Someone is having a great time bringing this classic to life and I’m having a great time experiencing it.

That’s it for my choices, for my nominees I think I’ll pick,

Lynn Sheridan

Yomu

Al’s Manga Blog

Crow

Hope you have as much fun as I did with this list, see everyone back here on Friday for a regular review. It’s March so why don’t we start the month off with some mecha?

Chris Joynson, aka the Infallible Fish, is a writer, blogger and lover of animation living in Sheffield. The blog updates every Friday or you can follow me on Twitter @ChrisGJoynson.