Inside the human body, roughly 37.2 trillion cells work energetically 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Fresh out of training, the cheerful and somewhat airheaded Sekkekkyuu AE3803 is ready to take on the ever-so-important task of transporting oxygen. As usual, Hakkekkyuu U-1146 is hard at work patrolling and eliminating foreign bacteria seeking to make the body their new lair. Elsewhere, little platelets are lining up for a new construction project.
Dealing with wounds and allergies, getting lost on the way to the lungs, and bickering with similar cell types, the daily lives of cells are always hectic as they work together to keep the body healthy!
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Zaber_san
"The human body is the best work of art." - Jess C. Scott Science is the study of everything around us. From the early stages of our universe, to the ancient civilizations in the past that leads us to our modern and technological society. Then we come to society. What makes a society even? The people. Humanity have transcended and evolved for generations and generations and will continue evolving like an endless cycle of life. What does a human compose of? Cells, organs, organ system, tissues, atoms, molecules, ions and so on and so forth. This things, particularly the cells, are the ones that keeps on givinghumanity life as we know it. From RBCs transporting oxygen throughout the body, to the WBCs fighting and defending our body against foreign invaders. Truly, the human body is indeed the best work of art. And then an anime based on this heroic beings finally aired this Summer 2018 as being one of the unique anime this season.
Story:
This anime "Cells At Work." doesn't have a chronological order in terms of the plot because, as we know it, the story of it is about the cells of our body. What they do against diseases, injuries and other life-threatening phenomenons that can happen to our body. Each character or cells of the story contributes on every episode because of their functionality. For example, the Blood Circulation episode which is of course mainly for Red Blood Cell, while the Thymocytes episode is about the childhood life of Killer, Regular, and Helper T Cell. We get to know on each episode how artistic, beautiful and smart the author of Cells At Work manga (which the anime based on) in plotting out different things about the cells different capabilities based on their real life counterpart. It is honestly very hard to make a manga or anime out of this characters as cells on our body are really hard to describe on, draw to different anime characters and have traits on them contributing to a anime world full of cells. For example, White Blood Cell (Neutrophil) is killing those bacteria, viruses or any type of foreign invaders with a knife and sprayin them afterwards. That is one of the smart moves I've seen that the author applied to be on an anime character because if they base it on the real WBC then it will just look.... weird and hideous as the WBC on our body actually engulfs and then digests the invader with enzymes, powerful enough to kill it (Phagocytosis). Another example of how the anime presented White Blood Cells' migration process to being like them passing through pipes and killing the enemy. Another smart move of the author is the settings and environment of the story. I love how each place whether it is the heart, lungs, or even the stomach have details that we viewers can understand and is accurate to the real life progression of this organs. From the heart being like a temple/shrine depicting how holy or important it is to the normal places where cells are on their apartment buildings, its easy to say the artist of the anime or manga really work so hard on this anime. We also cannot forget how the anime have some comedic elements revolving the adventures of the Red Blood Cell. This element is not that important but if you look at it, it does as it makes the show more entertaining not overall being a show to present only what cells are doing. It also have dramatic elements from the fight scenes and especially the Cancer episode. Who would've thought some of us audience gets pity on cancer just because how dramatic the scene was. Another great factor of Cells At Work is that it is an educational anime where everyone can watch it even though you have a failing grade in Biology or you just hate it. It provides small and summarized text about a certain cell, method, disease and pathogens which makes it very informative not only fun to watch. Overall, the story's accuracy comparing it to the real life cells and systems are just a masterpiece to look at as well as its representation of the cells on their role on any biological terms (or the episodes).
Characters:
In terms of characters, we get to see alot of characters here since this is literally about your body which comprimises of trillions of cells. Its diversity of characters, fitting them all together with no one being as important as any one because of their functions makes the show a worth to watch if you're interest is Biology. We have the RBC's who carry oxygen through our body, WBC that defends us from pathogens as well as Macrophages, T-Cells, B-Cell and NK-Cell. (there are alot more so I ain't going to list those cells). Then the pathogens either a virus, bacteria or even cancer have roles to the story depending on the episode where they shine to be the antagonist threatening our human body. What I like about the characters is that even though they all have different purposes, on some instances everyone needs to be there, working out together to counter either a scrape wound, virus attack or cancer. I can say as well that we humans are the hidden characters as well on the story. Why? Because if you take a look at the episodes of Cells At Work, on some instances, our cells cannot do anything on their own. For example, the heat stroke episode, where every cell in the body are already dying of heat and just praying for the heavens to rain and then suddenly a big tube coming from the heavens showed up to provide a solution to our body (Transfusion). Hence, characters in Cells At Work is literally just your heroic cells but turn into a more artistic view on TV.
Art:
Since the producer of this anime is David Production, which is the company that made Jojo's art phenomenal, I can see some instances that the art is reflected to Jojos'. For example is the faces of the Killer T-Cells and White Blood Cell, especially when Naive T-Cell turned into a bulky man. The visuals of the anime are really well-done and fits its theme. Who knew Platelets can be this cute?.. Aside from it being well-done, the art of the settings like I said earlier are a genius way to represent the human body systems in a manner that everyone can understand. Not like showing some microscopic things that we the audience that are not professionals on the field of Biology cannot understand at all. Its creativity on everything along with the character designs already a worth to watch anime.
Sound:
I cannot stress out how much I love the Opening and Ending of this show. The opening is really catchy. Having lyrics about the cells on how they work and work and we see them doing their functions on the opening is a great way to start or introduce the characters. The ending song is probably my most favorite by ClaRiS so far. It is a song where you can sing along (well you can try even if you don't know japanese) and it makes you feel really joyful. It is also a song to take away your stress. No issues at all on the background music as they all fit the sequence.
Overall thoughts and Enjoyment:
As a student who loves studying Biology, I totally enjoyed this show. The fact that anime can transcend even into our bloodstream is just amazing when you look at it. I always have the moment of excitement when I watch this because I can relate some of what's happening because of Biology class. It is very creative, very well-done and a masterpiece. This shows that anime can literally make everything good. Overall, I really really love this show and it is such a fine work of art as well as a masterpiece. I recommend you to watch this if you like a summarize version of what's happening on our human body everyday.
CordobezEverdeen
Hataraku Saibou or Cells at Work has been highly praised despite his lack of story and the lack of characters just because it's unique and innovative. If Hataraku Saibou can do something is to show that originality is not a guarantee of a good anime. The show lacks something that i still cannot precisely explain. After the initial shock you quickly realize that despite its originality this anime is incredibly generic (does that make sense? i dunno but thats how i felt while watching this). Story: There is no story, this is kind of a simpsons slice of life where at the end of the day everything isfine and dandy. Episode 12 and 13 were the most entertaining of all of them because the story felt real even if just a little. Sadly i personally felt that the ep 13 was the worst animated of all them so it took a little bit of the magic of the finale to this anime.
Art: It's David Production. It's good.
Sound: The VA's were perfect and both the opening and the ending are incredibly catchy.
Characters: Probably the lowest point of the anime and the most cringy side of the anime fanbase stems from this part.
Aside from probably the MC the rest of the characters hold no value.
Yeah yeah platelet is cute but its a one trick pony that on my opinion exhausts its charm fairly quickly.
White Blood Cell is interesting but we never get to know him at all so he ends up at being plain and it feels like he is just a secondary character that its there.
In the last episode we barely see him a few seconds until the finale.
Enjoyment: If you like gag mangas where nothing really matters then you might enjoy Hataraku Saibou.
Overall: The show lacks value and intensity. If i were to be a weeb i still wouldnt like it because there is no waifu material fight me.
If i were to treat Hataraku Saibou as a normal anime i wouldnt give it more than a 6.
Stark700
It’s almost impossible to ignore biology when it comes to the human body. Hataraku Saibou (Cells at Work!) has the confidence to be its own series. It’s like you take the cartoony Osmosis & Jones and turns it into an educational exploration. The human body is complex and that alone really made me wonder how this show could capture its magic. I’d say making this show takes a creative mind and the audience should feel connected when watching this anime. Right from the start, the show reveals the human body and what it’s made up of which is essentially red blood cells. It takes place inan anonymous person but one should presume that it’s healthy until it faces conflicts inside. This is where the meat of the show really comes in. The human body is vulnerable and we face consequences every day in our lives.
But that’s not really the problem, is it? The main course of the anime is composed of human body anatomy. Main characters are composed of Red Blood Cells, in particular one girl voiced by Kana Hanazawa. There’s also a variety of others cells that includes white blood, Killer-T, Macrophage, Memory, and in general, the types that you’d find in any human body. Let’s face it, our human body is made up of trillion of cells. Every cell has its own role whether it’s providing oxygen, getting rid of carbon dioxide, or muscle strengthening. Manga creator Akane Shimizu made this work through innovative thoughts of the actions going on in our bodies.
With 6+ volumes and counting, the show is only consists of 13 episodes. It became obvious that the story had to limit itself with exploring the full potential of what the human body can do. However, I will say right off the bat that this shouldn’t be something to overlook. Because the more I watched this show, the more I realized how informative it can be. Surprisingly enough, the details of the human body is explored with an accurate representation. There’s information that details with the context of the cells while also examining at the invaders that enters our body. This include germs, virus, and any foreign pathogen that threatens a person. From the first few episodes alone, we realize that our human body is very vulnerable if we don’t take care of it. God gave us our bodies but didn’t make us immortal. Hataraku Saibou definitely shows why.
Naturally, anyone coming into this show should be wondering how the plot will be structured. While not following a direct linear plot, there’s common recurring themes with pathogens invading the human body. The major selling points of the show is examining how our body works with an innovative way of storytelling. Every action has a consequence and it’s easy to see why. The first few episodes shows this when a group of Pneumococus bacteria attacks a red blood cell before being recused by a white blood cell. The traditional concepts of the show is how characters deal with their problems like the way our human body does. As I mentioned before, our body is very vulnerable and is exposed every day. Even a simple wound opens opportunities for catastrophe if the body isn’t prepared enough. This almost happens in some of the earlier episodes. Other times, the body may not be ready in the first place such as against cases of allergies, heat waves, or food poisoning. When it comes down to it, I think the creator really looked at exploring our bodies’ problems in many ways.
When the show deploys its character cast well, it’s definitely hard to take eyes off of them. From the variety of cells to the foreign pathogens, there’s colorful cinematography. It would be nice to live in a world where our body is perfect but accidents happen. When they do, your body has to fend them off or there could be disastrous consequences. This is where our cells comes in to take care of the problems and the action in this show wastes no time to showcase that. It’s thrown with an innovative style such as the White Blood Cells brutalizing pathogens or Macrophages showcasing their terrifying skills. Even the cute little platelets in this series has their own duties by reconstructing our body. Many other T-Cells (Helper, Regulatory, Effector) perform their own duties to make sure our body is healthy. I’m not going to lie though, watching this series reminds me to take care good of our own bodies. Realistically, more people die by diseases than any other causes in the world. You can blame that on heart disease, cancer, strokes, infections, etc. The big picture here is that the show also feels very real when we see what our body can do.
Creative ideas take a creative mind. And I say this with the belief that we definitely needed a talented staff and studio to make this show believable. Thankfully, director Kenichi Suzuki applied his craft that made the show as stylish as it can be. His previous work with Jojo: Stardust Creators and Drifters can occasionally be noticeable with the amount of bizarreness going on. There’s personality injected into the various characters while cinematography is beautifully crafted. There’s also respect to be given to talented voice cast too especially for taking on the roles of these characters. Everyone in the show felt meaningful and there’s not one moment that should be discarded as meaningless. Similarly, the theme songs has a playful energy and atmosphere that never leaves the show.
I won’t say this anime is easy to watch from first glance. It’s about the human body and in my many years of watching anime, there’s very few that took on this concept. (the closest one that came to mind is Moyashimon) As such, Hataraku Saibou is quite unique with how it manages its ideas, selling its craft, and making it into a reality.
KANLen09
This series was one of the most unique ones that most have been anticipating since the start of the year, and when it arrived in the lackluster Summer season, aside from the certainty that does not disappoint, it is entertaining to the mildest degree, while having a lot of *pokes* at the function of the most important system: us human beings. Now, I don't care that whether you have studied subjects that are close to this, but I'm fairly certain that no matter our background as people whom have learned about cells in one way or another, Hataraku Saibou, or Cells at Work!, will definitely pleaseyour senses that you are learning about yourself, and the cells that work hard to be able to sustain you in the long run and grow stronger. With that said, everyone, be it otaku or non-otaku, have at least witnessed this anime, and it really broke the conventional walls that this is something that speaks to everyone, as it did magnificently.
The story is as clear-cut as it gets: Everything that you see within a microscope, are your daily drivers, the cells at work where every funcion is as important as the other. Now, I get it, it's a series that's worth the educational take, but thankfully it's not like a heavy plot pointer of info-dumped force-wrecker, and at least just demonstrates just about right and doesn't force it on us, which is a good thing. And as usual, the Black Clover aesthetics come back with the usual body-explaining capped-repeat to make sure that you understand what is going with your own body, and then addresses the episodic issue at hand. Honestly though? This is about as entertaining as it gets for anime to get very personal with its viewers, and it succeeds well in that regard.
The host of characters, oh sorry I mean cells, are the strongest suit of the series. As with portraying the exact minute details of the cells right down to the extreme, I'd say this is a faithful adaptation of the human body. I mean sure, we all know what the Red (Erythrocyte) and White (Neutrophil) blood cells (voiced by the wonderful Kana Hanazawa and Tomoaki Maeno) do and their properties that keep our body safe from harm, but have we ever wondered: "What about the other cells, like the silent killers Macrophage, the disease-preventing killer and helper T cells, the body reconstructing Platelets (ravioli, ravoli, don't lewd loli platelets!), the weak-willed but strong Eosinophil, to name a few?" The monster designs were weird as hell, especially for the viruses like the mucus-grotesque cedar pollen ones that are easy to kill to the major ones that could cause a disease that could cause serious consequences like heat stroke, hemorrhagic shock and food poisoning. Overall, props to character designer Takahiko Yoshida for his pretty work here.
David Production, the same studio behind Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, was a surprise pick for a studio to work on because their work of repertiore really varies from strength to strength, and adding to this, Hataraku Saibou becomes a fan favourite due to their quality of work done here. For example, the "sneeze" segment (that was meant to feel like an explosion) right at Episode 1 was hilarious and insanely funny, and right after that in Episode 2 we're introduced to the children-like loli platelets (which has become a favourite meme and the pivotal point of the "pressing the loli cheek" smiles), not to mention that to put the icing on the cake, the killer T cells in Episode 3 are the perfect reference to Jojo with the bastardized character figure and the single ponytail hair, that was anything but a fine reference. And in order to make our cells feel like they're at "real" work, the action scenes around the white blood cells in all types against the numerous viruses with the bloody scenes and over-the-top action. The reason for the drop in score is because some episodes had a minor drop in quality (but not by much), but it is still a visual treat nonetheless. With careful planning and perfect replication, this is a good series to boot its animation quality.
The music is one where it might get on your nerves, but for what it is, I liked it a hell lot. The OP which is just a collaboration work between the character VAs for Red and White Blood, Killer T and Macrophage really sounded like the mission to keep the human body working, is mundane but the essence is what gives it a home-run strike. There was one episode where the OP was replaced with Killer T and Macrophage VAs, and people are wondering what was that, and that's just the 2nd cour of the song, which still is good to boot. And oh good god the ED, ClariS nails it once again (as is with every song that they made) with the happy visuals and tones. The background scenes were just as adequate to provide much needed movement for the overall setting, and it's A-OK!
If there was that one definite show that will stand the test of time, it will be this one, much lauded for its "breaking the fourth wall" attention that aside from many casual anime watchers, EVEN the workers of true professions (doctors etc.) find that this anime is really a testament to how much knowledge it is given and took all of that into great consideration to keep it as linear as real life as possible. For the Summer 2018 season alone, this one could be many people's AOTS material and for excellent reasons. if you were skeptical of how the anime medium takes cells into consideration, I highly, HIGHLY plea you to watch this anime, it's definitely very responsive, reliant and relatable to all of us as imperfect human beings. Now, if you excuse me, I'm gonna take notes and learn as much as I can to regulate my body for the better!
...Or is it, waiting until the spin-off, Cells at Work! BLACK to be made???
backdoornight
The Summer season of 2018 seemed to rely heavily on original adaptations when compared to the previous seasons of the same year, especially Spring, when more than half of the top ten most popular anime on this site were sequels. Various well-received returning and continuing anime fought for the position of best show of the cour, all of them with very high ratings; but new releases also held up competently, bringing both classic manga and recent visual and light novels to the screen, along with its fair share of originals. Among the new names of Summer 2018, Hataraku Saibou (Cells at Work!) deservedly warranted muchattention, establishing itself as one of the most hyped shows over the course of its successful run. Brought to life by David Production, the show also acted as a testament of the staying power of the relatively new studio as one of the most relevant producers in activity today.
In a year that kicked off with the lovely Earth-chan springing up everywhere and followed on with other original creations like Tidepod-chan and Explorer-chan, it was guaranteed that the next anime with characters based on inanimate objects would generate a large amount of buzz. And with the premise of showing us a fantastical interpretation of the adventures of the cells in our bodies, Hataraku Saibou drew in countless viewers and absolutely left its mark on the community. As a Pharmacy student, I waited eagerly for this show to start ever since it was announced, and the final result was still way beyond my expectations.
STORY: 7
Some people describe Hataraku Saibou as an educational anime, a label with which I disagree. Its purpose is pure, unadulterated entertainment, only using scientific concepts as a background, quite like how the Fate franchise handles History in its unique way. Hataraku Saibou avoids simply relying on its gimmick. Its structure is similar to many popular anime, particularly from the shonen genre/demographic, and incorporates exciting action scenes, short but well-crafted character arcs and frenzied twists in the latter parts of each episode. The first episode is a excellent summary of the basic formula and will most certainly captivate everyone who's open to the experience within its 24 minutes. Personal opinion incoming: anyone who didn't enjoy the conclusion of that first episode, where after a long chase, a lone germ is contained and put inside a missile named "Sneeze" which is then launched and detonated as cells all around rejoice and salute may be just too cynical to enjoy any work that's more light-hearted than Berserk.
Latter episodes up the game by incorporating more intricate concepts that interpolate artistic vision and scientific knowledge, such as Memory Cells being portrayed as conspiracy theorists who warn other cells against an improbable catastrophe - just the way we know how allergy works - taking that chance to present conflicts among the characters. Drugs are represented as robots whose actions expire after a certain time and are seen as a total mystery by the human-styled cells. There are also episodes that provide backstory to some of the main characters and a moving redemption arc for a major villain later on.
ART: 7
Overall, the art style is nice and the animation is decent, though there is some variation in quality at times. The recycling of sequences and some visible bail-outs in regards to animation were noticeable in the TV broadcast, though DP is already known for its drastic retouches in its blu-ray releases. The overtly detailed and vibrant backgrounds may just be the greatest part of the art direction. Location design gets increasingly captivating with every new episode and we also have a major change in ambience in a final, more serious arc. The visual gags, one of the most universal aspects of Japanese comedy, are also very solid. Fights are extremely over-the-top, with blood flying everywhere and staining the white bodies of the Neutrophils, something which decidedly requires some effort to animate. The carefulness of the work is even surprising, knowing that at that moment, David Production was also busy with the year-long series Captain Tsubasa '18 and the much expected new season of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
CHARACTER: 10
Aaaand here we have the strongest suit of Hataraku Saibou. The character design is simply one the best and most charismatically handled in recent memory, with the likeness of the main characters featuring heavily in fanart sites and in social networks. Even without any given names or complex backstories for many of them, we see an incredible, unique method characterization whose charm lies in its simplicity and faithfulness to the original concept - the human body itself. Knowing the biological properties of the cells beforehand, one can already expect some of the characters to have some specific traits, such as the Macrophage being an insanely powerful fighter. The Basophils and T-cells were also other personal favorites of mine. The monster design is spectacularly creative and all of the locations, as I implied before when praising the backgrounds, are evocative and very well-constructed. Trust me, you'll find yourself eagerly waiting to see how the next group of cells or organs look like.
And of course, there's still the moe side of it all. The Platelets, for one, were an instant hit with the anime community and it's very easy to see why. The show goes all out on wives, too; fan favorites include Macrophage, NK Cell and Eosinophil. Fan theories, like the main character being a defective sickle cell, also run wild, showing the strong engagement that's already formed between these amazing characters and the fandom.
SOUND: 7
The soundtrack is fairly competent, with tense tracks playing during the fights and crises faced by the characters, triumphant fanfares at arc conclusions and comfy mood music during the Slice of Life sections. The opening theme is a fun collaboration among the voice actors; the ED is more on the generic side, but that is already decent enough for ClariS. Nevertheless, who steals the scene in the sound department are the CVs themselves, an all-star cast of seiyuu such as Kana Hanazawa, Daisuke Ono, Tomokazu Sugita, and a personal favorite as the narrator: Mamiko Noto. The snippets with them exclaiming the show's title between breaks will put a smile on your face.
ENJOYMENT: 10
Your mileage may vary on this one. Over the past few years I've been studying Histology, Immunology, Hematology and Microbiology, among many other subjects, and all of them converge into the deliciously entertaining mix that is Hataraku Saibou, covering my overlapping interests in both Biology and anime.
Yet, in my opinion, the final result is so ridiculously appealing that being overtly familiar with the subject matter is not a prerequisite to fully enjoy the series. One might even learn a thing or two here, or just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Hataraku Saibou is definitely worth the try as one of the most relevant anime from its season and hopefully, it will stand the test of time, bringing along the adaptations of the manga's next chapters and of its spin-offs.
ItIsIDio
Hataraku Saibou is an abstract interpretation of how the human body operates as a system, portraying the human body as a society of people (or rather cells) in which all these people have certain tasks to do. This system is constantly under attack, with the main drive of the series being to showcase how this society endures all of the threats placed upon it. There's not exactly a market for this type of show since biology, an exact science, represented as an abstract concept, by being rebuilt into a system that retains the basic notions within the exat science and changed into something else, isnot exactly something that rolls off the tongue, just like this description of the show.
However, I find that this show can be a good experience for anyone that enjoys observing how systems work, as the show mainly deals with how this society works and how it keeps itself alive as well and the body they are within. Every cell has a role within the body which mostly revolves around it remaining functional. The average episode presents a certain issue that is occurring inside the body and then the cells combat things such as diseases, injuries and even allergies to solve it. Through this episodic process a variety of cell types are presented, as well as how they act within the body and what role they have. The general purpose of each cell is there, as well as that of every ailment, so you can get a general idea of how everything works inside your body if you lacked the knowledge. Observing the imagination behind the parallels between how the human body behaves normally from ailments that we have all suffered and how they are presented on screen can have great entertainment value as well. As long as you do not expect a comprehensive and realistic interpretation of the body, you can find some enjoyment out of observing this system at work.
The series itself is simple and it has an outlandish idea, which can bring a lot of appeal to itself. But I can foresee it being a negative experience if you seek meaning out of the system it presents. You see I consider that in world building whenever you create a setup, two rules often determine its quality. The first rule, is that you can easily change the setup of the world and the story would continue making sense. The second rule is that while the setup the series has is not mandatory to its success, the fact that it was setup that way enhances the experience in a way changing it would not. In the case of this show, changing the setup would cause the series to lose both appeal, and stop functioning properly. What it presents only functions in its own box. There's not a lot to analyze the series on, and all you an take in is how the author reimagined the body working as. As a result the world is flawed and this very thing can cause problems, which it indeed does.
For instance, while the system created within the story and how the body breaks down whenever it suffers of a certain problem can be interesting, the characters couldn't be any further from being interesting. You see, the cause of this is essentially due to the show doing a great job at showing what every cell is capable of and their duty. The setup they are part of forced them to act in only an one note way because that's the only way they will make sense in it. Because of this, every character is entirely predictable and there is little to no variation in how these characters act. So whenever the series either tries to do that dumb japanese character driven style of humor, you can predict every joke to come and find it unfunny as a result. Not to mention that because all characters retain the same behavior consistently and a lot of them are copy pastes of each other, not only are the jokes predictable from the very start, but they also get repeated. A lot. So it is hard to even consider this show a comedy. The second issue characters have is that, since you know the exact behavior they will have or are supposed to have, you know exactly what character arc they will have. This is a critical issue when presenting backstory episodes, which are inconsequential and meaningless since you can end up having to sit through 20 minutes of something you could determine on your very own in 30 seconds about the characters. Since the characters are only interesting when related to the system and how they combat an internal problem, focusing on them individually is gonna hurt the watching experience.
I also have to warn you, that because the series has an episodic format, if the basic essence of what the series does is not going to grip you from the very beginning, things won't change whatsoever later down in the series. Characters don't have any motivations and it's not like the body evolves or has any plotlines happening inside of itself, as the goal of this series is not to tell a story, but present the author's way of envisioning how the body works. There's no story for you to consume, and as a result there's nothing you can want or expect out of this series. What you see is what you get and the decision can be comfortably made by your level of interest in biology and how well battle shounen tropes resonate with you, as the series does treat itself as such during action moments. Which the series contains plenty of. Your first experience with the series can easily be used as your point of reference in regards to continuing to watch this series or not as it constantly delivers the same experience over and over, except for the times it attempts to be character driven.
Hataraku Saibou is a pretty simple experience despite its original idea. It suffers of a great deal of flaws but it is fairly easy to decide whether or not to watch it. If you enjoy the idea behind the basic premise of the show, I am sure that at the very least the show can be interesting. As long as you do not expect anything complex and just watch for entertainment value, it shouldn't have much difficulty to get you there. It's also a very low risk series to try out since, by the time your first experience with the show is done, you know exactly how every future episode will be structured and can form healthy expectations. As long as the backstory won't harm you, you should be good if you determine this is something you can enjoy. However, all this series presents you is an idea and a system. It presents you with no story, no noteworthy characters and a world that you know exactly how will behave. It has the static feeling of a slice of life but also contains battle shounen elements, which is an odd combination that I can see failing for a lot of people. But at the same time I can just as easily picture people being charmed by it due to what it presents being one of a kind and something closely related to everyone.
Kakita_Ookami
While there is no denying that Hataraku Saibou is unique and innovative, people seem to believe this, by itself, makes it a great anime. It does not. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this anime, and thought it would be a great idea to teach kids about biology, but the anime itself is lackluster. Story: 4/10 A slice of life anime that follows the daily activities of a red and white blood cell. We get to see in detail how the body reacts to different problems and learn more about how the body works. HS gets points for accurate biology and for a novel idea, but unlike yourtypical SOL anime, It's impossible to relate to the characters, because A) They're blood cells. And B) They're tropes, exaggerated with the intent to amuse kids. Also, since episodes are designed to be stand alone, it defeats the purpose of a SOL anime.
In addition to this, because the story is sub-par and to make sure they appeal to kids, they also made it a shounen battle anime. Where nobody important ever dies, the good guys always win, and it's the weak character we were just introduced to who doubts themselves only to be the hero and defeat the bad guy at the end. But it's also a Shounen battle anime, where we don't really care about any of the characters, and villains are introduced and defeated in single episodes which is very tedious.
Art: 6/10
Nothing mind blowing or innovative, but it's still good quality, and pleasing to look at. Excpet the fight scenes. Boy are they lacking in excitement.
Sound: 6/10
Meh. Nothing bad. Just nothing memorable, or catchy.
Characters: 4/10
Oh boy. I mean, I know they're cells. One of trillions of virtually identical cells, but that's still not a good reason to make them all the same. You could literally swap out the main characters in HS, for another of the same cell, and the series would be exactly the same. All characters are tropes, and no attempt is made at development, aside from hints at some kind of attraction between Red and White.
Enjoyment: 5/10
I really enjoyed the first 2-3 episodes. It was very educational, and biologically correct, which I really enjoyed, but then I realized that a novel idea and biological accuracy were the only things this show had going for it. I think the entire anime maybe got a handful of chuckles out of me, which as a gag anime, is quite pathetic. It became a chore to watch the following episodes, hoping against hope that maybe the show might develop into something good. (It doesn't).
Overall: 5/10
The gimmick of following the Cells in your body is interesting, but not enough to put up with such a boring story, bad writing, and 2D generic trope characters who you don't care about. If anyone remembers the show Ozzy and Drix, it was a similar idea, but one much better executed (albeit with worse art).
If I ever have kids, I might watch it again for educational reasons, but aside from that, I never want to see this show again.
poisonousfay
This is my first review here on MAL and this anime deserves it (: "Stuff like this is always happening around me!" -Red Blood Cell. This is an awesome anime that teaches you about what goes inside your body at all times, it will leave you wondering how strong your body really is and how many different kinds of mechanisms it has to keep YOU safe. It might seem like a boring idea at first but fight scenes are incredibly well done and they leave you wondering how it will turn out, because sometimes it looks like the bad guys are stronger than the good ones. It's not onlyenjoyable but it will also help you learn a lot of interest things about how the human body works, I'm a health science student at university and i even learnt things from it; seriously it's very much worth watching.
Story - 7
It's true that the story isn't it's strong spot as many people say, it doesn't have a continuity itself besides the way some characters evolve. This is because this anime's purpose isn't to have a complex intriguing story, but to be unique in its own way and to make you learn. Still, every episode has an enjoyable plot by itself!
Art - 9
The art itself it's very good. But the character design is AWESOME. Everything of the desing of every characterer has its reason, going from the white cells (completely white, yeah) to the tip of the hat of erytrocites that gets taken away when they graduate (their nucleus) or why platelets are children (it's because those cells are way smaller than the rest of blood cells in real life). The design of the human body it's also very well thought and it resembles the real life one with the arteries/veins paths, the heart structure... Summarizing, it's not overcomplicated while it resembles the reality amazingly.
Sound - 6
I can't really say anything here since it's one of its weakest spots, the intro song is fun though (:
Character - 10
As every cell in our body has its own function, every character here has its own thing to do and their personality according to it; which makes everyone unique on their own and with their own way of doing things while having an objective in mind which is protecting the body.
Main characters have a slow (in a good way) and step by step development pushed by the situations each go through. Secondary characters don't evolve as much but get to see some of them's background and what makes them be what they are right now.
Enjoyment - 10
If i could, i would give this one an infinite score out of ten. Seriously, I enjoyed this enjoyed as if i were a little kid, learning, laughing, and being anxious when i didn't know which way the situation could be solved. It even made me have mixed feelings at times (with the cancer cell, if you've seen it you know what i'm talking about); and overall makes you think about all the things that happen to your body which you don't even imagine.
A little cut on your finger could be nothing for you but there you'll have all your blood cells trying to fix it for you closing the wound without getting it infected. Isn't it awesome?
Overall - 10
I would recommend anyone to watch it, I promise it's very unique and you'll learn a lot of things from it. This anime deserves more recognition than it already has!
VeiledEdge
I don't think I've ever seen a more average anime than Cells at Work. The art is average, the sound is average, the writing is average (from a literary perspective), the characters are average, the themes are average, just everything. Obviously, I wasn't expecting Legend of the Galactic Heroes when I started watching Cells at Work though, so I can't complain about its average-ness. I didn't watch it for the plot. The highlight of Cells at Work is its educational content. Cells at work entertainingly teaches you microbiology. It should win a Nobel Prize for doing that. Cells at work teaches the viewer the essentialfunctions of the body and the immune system. I don't think I can say this about another anime, but if everyone in the world watched Cells at Work, the world would be a better, safer, and more educated place. And I'm not just saying that because the world is dying from the coronavirus right now (way to date my own review lol), I mean it.
Gundroog
Hataraku Saibou might be one of if not the best educational anime out there. While feeding you information on a pretty wide variety of biology and anatomy related topic it managed to mix it with a healthy dose of comedy, action and drama without feeling any of those feeling tacked on. The show revolves around a human body being represented as one huge city, inside which the human looking cells diligently go about doing their jobs the keep everything in good condition. Just from this it should be clear that there’s plenty of artistic license taken when it comes to depicting a human body and everythingwithin in but the show remains surprisingly faithful the topic and doesn’t mislead the viewer or try to distort facts enough to make a narrative out of it.
If have a google search license you can try and find a bunch of threads where an actual doctor breaks down what happens in the episodes in detail to see the full extent of it. Even something that might seem unrelated to biology or unrealistic might turn out to be rooted deep in reality. The show won’t go on explaining you a lot of this stuff cause a lot of it is fairly advanced but it’s nice to know that author has a good understanding of what he’s working with and dedicated to implementing into the world and story. Maybe people with more specialized knowledge will be able to get a lot more enjoyment out of this show than the average viewer.
Not that you need to know anything at all to enjoy this show. The main narrative is usually centered around things that a easier to explain like how blood circulates, what body does to combat various types of bacteria and viruses, how allergy or heat stroke affect your body, what happens when you get a wound, etc. On top of that we’re usually seeing this all from the perspective of our clueless protagonist,AE-3803, a clumsy red blood cell who just recently started her duty of delivering oxygen and nutrients to other cells.
With this premise show manages to effortlessly go between comedy, drama and action incredibly smoothly. First of all there a lot of SoL and humorous bits that usually revolve around how characters interact with each other or their environment which all feel fresh even if you’ve seen similar gags before simply because of the premise. There’s not that many comedic anime I can really connect to but this one managed to get a solid laugh out of me almost every episode. It helps a lot that this time around pretty much every joke is based on something every living human can probably relate to.
Each episode also usually has some form of treat present in one way or another. For example aforementioned wound is a disaster for cells in and of itself but a wound also means that it’s easier for germs and bacteria to get in and try to start mess inside your body. When it’s nothing serious the show will stick to just starting a hilarious bloodbath with battle crazy neutrophils but surprisingly enough there’s more nuance to be had here.
While it’s obviously a step away from the more scientific elements of the show, at times we get to see how cells feel about what’s happening in your body and about their dangerous but important duty to keep the host safe and working. It might not teach you anything new but I’d bet a lot of people leave this show wanting to take better care of their body after seeing a dramatic depiction of what we consider completely trivial. Things like cells inside your body being created and taught how to do their job or how much of a threat it can be to get a cold or go on without proper nutrition. Part of makes this seemingly nonsensical dramatic part work is that it doesn’t quite linger on anything to act like you should be on the edge of your seat, waiting to see if the body will manage to overcome the problem that you likely faced yourself many times but instead smoothly transitions into solution and a sweet and cheerful conclusion of everything being put into order and cells celebrating another victory for them and the body they live in. Show’s finale was extremely satisfying because it took everything I mentioned before and put them in a tight package during the final episodes that took the show to a new high on almost every level except for visual.
Probably most unfortunate part of HS is that while it’s an very entertaining and wholesome show, I feel like its strength most of the time come from the manga and anime doesn’t quite offer that much compared to it. Sure, having everything voiced is nice but the visual department is lacking a lot. There are many places where instead of proper animation we get to see a shaky screen or a camera pan over a still frame or short animation loop, which is shame cause when action in HS can look pretty cool when depicted well. A lot of the shots feel like an uninspired panel to panel adaptation which almost never looks good when brought over to a different medium. Color palette is pleasing enough to the eyes during brighter sections of the show but when it shifts to darker colors it starts to look very dull when uninteresting shots are couples with poor color composition, last two episodes are one of the few exceptions where they show that those sections could’ve looked much better. This is once again the biggest downfall of the show to me cause it constantly affect the quality of scenes that could’ve had much more impact.
Music is a bit of a mixed bag too but it leans towards a better side. While there’s plenty of fairly generic tracks that do their bare minimum to enhance the scene, the battle tracks are pretty damn good across the board. They do a great job of adding to the scale and threat when a disaster occurs. Either way the characters are talking so often that music is rarely allowed to take over, at times even being mixed so low that you can barely notice it’s there at all.
While not at all flawless, Hataraku Saibou is still a great package overall that I can recommend to pretty much everyone. It’s relatively unique in its premise and execution. It will probably teach you something new about your body and possibly make you appreciate it just a bit more.
Leon_Trotsky_
Cells at Work sets out to tell the story of a new (and very clumsy) red blood cell struggle to learn her job as a cell, a hardened white blood cell in his day-to-day defence of the body, and their unexpected friendship. Humanizing the microorganisms and cells of the body into characters just doing their job, laying out the arteries as highways, fat tissue as housing, and the body as a sprawling city of billions of regular workers. Plus, it's educational! The concept itself isn't half bad, and I was excited to see what kinda story they would be able to make with this extremely uniquesetting.
The animation is nice, the music is upbeat, and the fight scenes are good, the two main characters are enjoyable, especially the red blood cell.
However, to my disappointment, the anime was unbelievably boring and the opposite of captivating. Why you may ask? Because it lacks an actual story.
The "story" is told episodically with each episode focusing on different parts, diseases or functions of the body. Laying out like a biology lesson, but with anime characters and their actions in the place of a textbook. This alone is fine, I don't mind being tricked into watching something educational however this heavy focus on being educational, and less focus on the main characters (who in many instances get little to no screentime in episodes or only appear by happenstance) leads to the anime only being a collection of various lessons with the minor subplot of the two "main" characters friendship/life in an attempt to pretend like there's actual plot progression going on.
The anime would have heavily benefited from focusing more on one main function or combating a specific disease within the body, or the struggles of the main characters in the taxing job of keeping the body operational, instead of various lessons with no connection to one another with the main characters only being used as vessels to explain body functions through their conversations.
I won't rate the anime too poorly as I understand what it was trying to do, and as a pure entertainment educational piece, it works very well. If you want to learn about the body in a more entertaining form than a textbook or you have a biology exam coming up I would highly recommend giving it a watch. However if like me, you expect a story you will sadly be disappointed as this anime is nothing more than biology class with more anime.
LegendLostSoul
It's actually a very unexpected anime for me. At first I thought it would be very boring and typical. The same characters, the same situations. But I was wrong. The functioning of our body cells, viruses and bacteria and the battles between them made this anime a good show to watch and relax. Sometimes you even forget that all the events are happening in someone's body that can actually be very vulnerable. By this I mean that the owner of the body is not important and for cells - person`s body is a home at first place which they have to secure and protect. In theend, you may not consider this anime to be a masterpiece, but it will at least is can give you some ground for reflection and improve your biology knowledge a little bit (though keep in mind that this is an anime, not some scientific work).
8/10.
BlacRocWednesday
Mmmk, hol up. Hol TF up. Ya'll ever sit back and look at your body? And I mean LOOK at your body. Ever be feelin yourself and you just start vibin? Thinkin about all that delicious thicc weebness you're radiating? Well, if you wanna know why you're so irresistible, check out this Anime for a FULL break down. Ow, guess what? I cut my hand. But hol up. It'll be alright because my WHOLESOME ASS PLATELETS ARE ON THE JOB. Take a detour because you ain't interrupting this CONSTRUCTION CUTENESS. This is what the anime is all about. Making you FEEL yourself while watching yourself, feel me? Art?BANGING and a UNIQUE look into what's going on under that sexy skin of ours. 10/10.
Story? Story of US, how can it NOT be 10/10. You ever see a white blood cell mercilessly KILL some germs? Do you want to? You're damn right you do and you'll love every second of it. TEN OUT OF TEN
Enjoyment? TEN out of 10. If you don't enjoy this you must be dead inside and if that's the case you'll enjoy Hataraku Saibou: BLACK.
You wanna study biology? Of course you do. What better way than with the most cultured way out there. Lets be real here, we're all experts in anime already.
Blue_Maroon
Disappointing. I was surprised by how educational this show was (not in a bad way), but I was also suprised by how generic many of its plotlines were. For a concept with as much potential as personifying the aspects of the human body, they took the route of presenting it in recognizable anime tropes. This was clearly done to better educate its audience on the functions of the human body (made evident by how it feels targeted to a younger demographic). However, this made it feel like a lesson instead of entertainment and I don’t think I learned that much from it in that regard.The animation looked good in static key frames, but also looked cheap during the fight scenes. I didn’t feel much for the characters, but they at least gave a little development to some characters. The music was whatever, don’t really remember it. Unless the sequel is more acclaimed, I probably won’t watch it. It is closer to a 5 than a 7.
JoeGar96
Cells of work is a fun anime that is very charming contains a lot of love for biology and the human body, it's very well researched. However its not more than a bit of fun, at least in terms of its story and characters. Cells at work takes places in the human body and every episode there is a new threat, a new evil germ or condition which threatens it, its resolved and we move on to the next one, that is it. Its fun seeing all the bloody fights and the characters themselves are charming and so is this show in general, but there isn'tanything to this narrative. Villains are fun but incredibly one note and super evil, characters don't really get much development, and the story is monster of the week.
I guess the simplicity and repetitive nature comes from the concept, its more about showing cells and science in an imaginative and charming way, whilst still having a good level of accuracy. It does succeed here, but its still very simple and underdeveloped in terms of plot, story and characters.
The animation and action looks good, there is nothing to complain about here, no shitty CG, the action sequences do look well choreographed.
The music is something I didn't really notice that much, though I loved the opening and quite liked the ED. The general OST did its job but was rather forgettable.
And that's it..... this is one of my shortest reviews but there just isn't much to say here. Its a rather charming show, its concept is pretty unique it contains a love of biology and is well researched. BUT there is nothing to it, its monster of the week, no plot or character development, its simple, charming, but nothing more than a bit of fun, because its very underdeveloped. I enjoyed my time with this, but due to how shallow and repetitive it is, it only gets a 6 from me.
Hoochfox
Here's another one for the 'better than it should be' file. It lacks the ingredients for a good show, but substitutes science and humour for them in a way that actually makes it both very enjoyable and educational. I feel like my life might have gone very differently if my education had focussed on turning education into entertainment instead of boring, unpaid child labour. I've tried learning about the immune system before, but watching this show helped me to absorb and retain vastly more information than any textbook could. There are a lot of intriguing, subtle nods to scientific facts. This isreally cool, but sometimes leaves me wondering whether some things are intentional references or just random filler detail. For example, is Red Blood Cell's inability to navigate her way out of a bathroom stall (not literally) just a 'clueless protagonist' trope, or is it a reference to red blood cells (lower case) ending up wherever they end up at the whim of the circulatory system? Does White Blood Cell's knife symbolize something about the particular way in which white blood cells attack foreign organisms? There are a lot of details like this that make me curious—but maybe that curiosity is the point.
BabaORiley
In this anime are we following an idiot og a red bloodcell who can't flow through the bodies blood streams without help frol white bloodcell Josuke Higashikata from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. I liked everything about the show from learning about how the body operates to the banter between the characters. However, I hated every second when the idiot red bloodcell came on screen. It really sucked thefun out of the show for me. You shoud watch it. Just be prepared for the annoying main character. Macrophage is best girl don't @ me. The show would have been average if not for the learning experianse. You couldsay that it is a slice of life inside the body. There is no plot other than the problem the characters face that episode. I didn't like that they reused alot of assets. I understand that some shows have reused assets but then you only have one animation for the Josuke Higashikata bloodcell going in for the kill, at that point it's just lazy and very noticeble. Go watch it if you want to learn how the body works I guess. And for the love of god . . . DROP THE MEAT.
CanAKATheIndigo
Who would have thought that an anime based on the daily life of the cells of the human body would be one of the revelations of the year 2018? Based on the manga of the same name, written by Akana Shimizu, Hataraku Saibo has enchanted both locals and strangers. I do not lie when I tell that I think I have learned more from this series than in my entire school life with my biology classes. And, it is not secret that even doctors and specialists recommend the series for its veracity, precision and ingenuity. I must also confess that the videos of doctors commentingon the series are some of the most enjoyed as a complement to this journey, as it not only validates the resources and narrative proposals of the series from the theoretical, but also complements the knowledge that it tries to extend to the audience. 'Learning was never more entertaining' is one of the phrases that is used a lot to describe this series and, clearly, I can not agree more.
In general, the series tells the adventures and misadventures of two of our protagonists: The red blood cell AE-3803 - the main thread of the adventure - and a white blood cell U-1146. Also, in each chapter we are faced with a problem that can range from a cold to the appearance of cancer cells, which will also involve the introduction of new cells (characters) that will enrich the cast and win our hearts. While the series takes the format of a narration of particular stories that will involve the characters depending on the case treated, not providing a complex linear proposal, the characters and narrated cases are made enjoyable, fun and witty. How do our cells work in different scenarios? The series responds to this question through an approach that uses comic and action quite well, which means that, for example, the elimination of a bacterium is entertaining or that the elimination of cancer cells gives us a bloody grief.
The anthropomorphization of our cells and their environment (the human body) is also made in a good way, since it is also quite entertaining to discover all the references that are sometimes camouflaged (eg, the hat and the reversible jacket of our protagonist ). Although the quality of the animation is untidy in some parts, the visual proposal fulfills the task quite well. I must also emphasize that the design of characters and the visual proposal to portray this type of story fascinates me and it seems quite intelligent (claps for the mangaka for tremendous proposal). Likewise, the music accompanies the series well, providing energy and a fun atmosphere to the story. The OP becomes iconic with its sticky "1 2 3 4. We are Cells At Work. 1 2 3 4. We are hataraku huu "and not to mention the cast of endearing voices that give life to the cells.
In conclusion, the series is a light entertainment worthwhile. I would say, clearly and simply, that it is a series that makes you happy. With adequate doses of comedy and a lot of constant energy from the plot and its characters, is a series that is easy to follow. In addition, it raises interesting and more than informative stories that makes you interested in the characters aka the cells of the body, and want to investigate more about them (their nature, their functioning, etc). Therefore, the series also plays an educational role that works, an element that very few products can boast. In short, one of the most interesting proposals of the year 2018. 7.5/10.
Midget_King
The one sure word I can describe this show is that... It is very... Educational. This helps if you are currently studying biology. Cells of the human body to be precise. I never really liked studying so I kind of disliked this show at first.. Anyway, it has a very unique plot and storyline. Japan never ceases to amaze you.... Even Cells have been affected by the Japanizing beam. The artstyle is centered around making everything, especially the characters as cute as possible and the anime knows it as well. Yes, this is a series you can watch with the family regardless of the bloody fight scenes.Since this anime is child-friendly, older audience might find it boring.
I fall asleep during my biology class in school. To be honest, I also fell asleep many times when I was watching this show. This proves that the education from this anime is legit.
Oddly enough, parents can watch this along with their kids because there is a sense of humour for adults that kids would not understand.
So.. regarding recommendation if you should watch this series is... If you're really into biology, then this series is for you.. If you only want to see this because you stumbled upon it as an internet fad and you want to see it for meme material, then I suggest you think twice about it.. Because you're only going to drop the series after the first episode, I guarantee it.
It was a decent show to be honest. I can't say much though.
