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 much
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attention, 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.
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Sep 29, 2018
Hataraku Saibou
(Anime)
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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 much
...
Nov 10, 2017
Pingu in the City
(Anime)
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Pingu in the City's first weeks in MyAnimeList's database have been rather turbulent. We've got everything from obnoxious, unfunny kids giving it either extremely high or low scores and its occasional inclusion in the overall top 10 through spam-filled, rule-breaking 'reviews' to toxic discussions over its status as an "anime" given the lack of loud, spiky-haired boys and annoying copy/pasted teenaged girls with extremely large eyes among its characters.
Pingu in the City can be better described as a spin-off of sorts to the award-winning European animated series "Pingu". The Western version of this show features the titular Pingu's various stunts and misadventures in a South ... |
