Cells at Work! anime series has given all viewers, fans, and manga readers a much better appreciation for the cells in our body who tirelessly, or rather tired but cannot quit anyway, work to keep our bodies healthy and strong to fight off the viruses, bacteria, or any bodily impurities around the human being.
The medical anime series follows anthropomorphized cells inside a human with the red blood cell, a rookie AE3803 who often gets lost while making deliveries, and the white blood cell, U-1146, who is a relentless worker fighting off germs invading the body as the main protagonists of the show.
The anime series Cells at Work! is produced by David Production directed by Kenichi Suzuki for the first season and Hirofumi Ogura for the second season, written by Yūko Kakihara and Kenichi Suzuki.
The series is currently in its second season with a spin-off series of Cells at Work! Code Black animated by Liden Films and directed by Hideyo Yamamoto showing the character designs of Eiji Abiko.
Indeed, an innovative and creative idea for an anime series, is based on a shōnen manga series of the same name created by Akane Shimizu. The manga series started publishing in Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Sirius way back in March 2015.
Kodansha USA secured the license to distribute the manga series in the USA, publishing the manga in English.
The manga series has been entirely successful giving birth to several spin-offs throughout the years: Cells at Work! Code Black by Shigemitsu Harada and Issei Hatsuyoshiya which is set in a black environment of a human who suffers from an unhealthy lifestyle, and Cells at Work! Bacteria! by Haruyuki Yoshida follows the good and bad bacteria living inside the intestines.
Other spin-offs are Cells NOT at Work! by Moe Sugimoto which focuses on the immature blood cells that are not working, Cells at Work and Friends! by Kanna Kurono and Mio Izumi where Killer T Cell finds time to have fun during his free time, and Cells At Work! WHITE by Tetsuji Kanie.
Along with the other spin-offs are Cells at Work! Platelets! by Kanna Kurono and Mio Izumi which tackles the life of the platelets, Cells at Work! Baby! by Yasuhiro Fukuda where it focuses on the cells of a baby from 40 weeks after its conception and the cells know nothing yet, and Cells at Work! Lady! by Shigemitsu Harada and Akari Otokawa focuses on the cells of an adult woman.
All these spin-off series are limited which means that after its release, it did not have a follow-up or a second release.
Just last year, it could be remembered that the creator of the mother series Cells at Work!, Akane Shimizu, took a two-year hiatus break from 2018 and returned only last October 26, 2020.
The manga series, unfortunately, finally closed its doors last January 2021 when it released the final chapter of the manga focuses on a very timely issue, the coronavirus disease. Kodansha released the sixth and final volume of the manga in Japan on February 9, 2021.
A light novel was also released for Cells at Work! titled Shōsetsu Hataraku Saibō which was published by Kodansha on July 12, 2012, written by Yui Tokiumi, and illustrated by Akane Shimizu. The light novel, however, did not have a sequel to it.
As for the animated series, it is still ongoing, both Cells at Work!! (with two exclamation points signifying that it is in its second season) with 8 episodes listed, and Cells at Work! Code Black with 13 episodes all in all.
Both Cells at Work!! and Cells at Work! Code Black is released weekly every Sunday via Funimation.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
Anime