Feb 14, 2020
STORY:
As far as stories go, this one is straightforward and all in the title; it's about the human body's cells at work on a daily basis. It's episodic, with every episode dealing with a different part of being alive, or mostly the risks that human bodies face daily without us even noticing. Save for the last two episodes, there's no overarcing story.
The idea of personifying and humanizing every cell and function of the human body is strange and silly, and it's difficult to invest in any kind of stakes the show sets up when you think about it too much. When it has serious situations
...
that should keep a serious tone, it breaks whatever immersion it's built up with comic relief.
That being said, it's an educational show that uses people as a vehicle to explain the body. Not knowing much about the biological functions of the body mysself, I don't know how accurate the information is, but it's a clever way to get information across.
Overall, the story does what it's supposed to and it's nothing extraordinary, but it's fun. (7/10)
CHARACTERS:
The characters are the strongest part of the show. It's silly that every single individual cell has a personality, but it's the most engaging part. The main character is an airhead learning the ropes of being a red blood cell in a human body, and through her, we also get to learn the jobs and functions of various other cells. It's kind of hysterical if you think about it too hard, but the fact that they managed to give every type of cell a distinctive personality type is what makes it good.
Red Blood Cell (Red) stumbles through her job, trying to get things right and ends up unwittingly entangled in trouble most of the time, which can get annoying if you're not into that, but she's plucky and a fun protagonist to carry us through—not to mention that her voice actress does a stellar job.
Red's counterpart is a white blood cell (White) who plays foil to her as a cell competent and a veteran to his job. His personality isn't serious so much as it is... deadpan. He's goofy in his own way and complements Red well, and it's nice to see a male counterpart that isn't gruff and aggressive—albeit, white blood cells in the show are fantastically violent when it comes to their immunity jobs, and White is no different.
I won't go into detail here, but the rest of the characters are about the same. Every type of cell has a personality type, and they're all fun to be introduced to and get to see more of. (8/10)
ART:
I've never watched anything else from David Productions (yes, not even Jojo) so I don't have any of their other work to compare it to. As far as it goes, it's pretty standard and nothing impressive.
In the first few episodes, the quality is good, but it lulls quiet a bit in episodes 6–11, episodes 10 and 11 being the lowest peak of quality, which was very noticeable. Fortunately because the last two episodes were a two-part finale, the quality picked up a lot.
One of the things I did like about it was the comical art where chibi types and stick figures and exaggerated expressions would come into play, they were lots of fun. (6/10)
MUSIC:
The in-show music is very fitting to the situations and tones whichever scenes are trying to convey. I especially like the explosion of dramatic music when the situations are dire because it's especially fitting, but the rest of the upbeast stuff that accompanies the diligence of [clears throat] ...cells at work... is fun and easy on the ears.
As for the OP&ED, I have no special opinion. "Mission! Ken Kou Dai Ichi" is an attack on the ears I could go without but sums up everything perfectly (but its type of song is not as fun as say, Hoozuki no Reitetsu's "Jigoku no Sata mo Kimi Shindai") and is fitting.
Meanwhile, ClariS is always a good time and "CheerS," while not their best, is still an easy listen to smile to. (7/10)
As you may have seen, the overall summary of my review is "Not incredible or mind-blowing, but not the worst anime in the world either. Somewhere above average." Cells At Work is a good anime if you're looking to kill some time and maybe learn something too! It's a nice palette cleanser and not to hard on the brain or heart, even when the finale has the single most emotional moment in the anime. I don't highly recommend it, but it doesn't hurt to watch!
TOTAL SCORE: 7/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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