Hataraku Saibou

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]

Hakkekkyuu U-1146 Main

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Sekkekkyuu AE3803 Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Kesshouban Supporting

Naganawa, Maria Japanese

Macrophage Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Killer T Saibou Supporting

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Jujou Saibou Supporting

Okamoto, Nobuhiko Japanese

Gan Saibou Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Kousankyuu Supporting

Ichimichi, Mao Japanese

NK Saibou Supporting

Yukinari, Toa Japanese

B Saibou Supporting

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Takahashi, Yuuma Producer

Itou, Youhei Producer

Kasama, Nobutaka Producer

Suzuki, Kenichi Director, Script

Reviews

Sep 29, 2018

Zaber_san

Recommended

"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 giving ... humanity 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 29, 2018

CordobezEverdeen

Mixed Feelings

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 is ... fine 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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 7, 2019

OmegaCTH

Not Recommended

Funny

This show first attracted me because I thought it looked novel, and it was. For the first four episodes. After that I was really bored with this show. I couldn't sit through the show as the story repeated over and over with no effective change. The stories follow a certain format. Red Blood Cell finds either a germ, white blood cell, or a friend red blood cell and then they act afraid as the immune system fight the germs or that episode. The show failed to make me care about any of the characters. The art doesn't look back but it can be really ... lazy at times such as in the ED and is some walking animations.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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