The Summer 2018 Anime Preview Guide

Cells at Work!

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The human body is composed of tens of trillions of cells, all of which have a specific purpose. This is the story of AE3803, a newbie Red Blood Cell floundering her way through her job of delivering oxygen and CO2, and White Blood Cell 1146, who she meets when he saves her from a germ attack. While looking for the one that got away, he helps her find her way to her destination in the lungs, only for the two of them to discover that the invader has found his way there too! Fortunately, the body has more defenses than just White Blood Cells. Cells at Work! is based on a manga and streams on Crunchyroll, Saturdays at 12:30 PM EST.

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Theron Martin

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I'm from the generation that was raised on Schoolhouse Rock airing between cartoons on Saturday morning TV, and I could not help but think about that institution a lot while watching the first episode of this new series. In fact, if you had to ask what Schoolhouse Rock might look like if done in an anime form targeted at an older audience, this would be the answer.

Of course, Cells at Work doesn't have the catchy song, but that's beside the point. This is a fantastic reimagining of the inner workings of the human body into a multilevel city complex, complete with lungs being represented as the heart of the ventilation system, sneezes being depicted as rockets being fired off, and so forth. Red blood cells wear red messenger uniforms, while white blood cells wear white uniforms against pale skin and are unrelentingly savage in the performance of their duty: eliminating invaders. Dendrites are depicted as manning information booths, while T cells are the elite response force. In the absolute most adorable move imaginable, platelets (the tiny no-nucleus cells responsible for blood clotting) are depicted as a construction team composed of kindergarteners. Meanwhile, some germs are depicted merely as bloblike creatures but the really dangerous ones are nasty-looking alien creatures somewhat reminiscent of a Dragon Ball franchise villain.

The conceptual creativity is the episode's main strength but far from the only factor in its favor. AE3803 and 1146 are instantly-likable contrasts; she's a more hyper but enthusiastic newbie, while he's the seemingly-emotionless guy who's capable of transitioning easily between a stunning display of violence and a very dry wit. They should be fun to watch throughout the season, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind seeing some romance develop there. The rogue Pneumococcus is also satisfyingly nasty as the Villain of the Week. The episode finds a fine balance between providing bursts of bloody violence, delivering light humor, and being educational; if the series can maintain that going forward, then this title has tremendous promise.

The visual effort by David Production shines most in its setting designs, but the character designs also do an excellent job of making the two leads just enough distinctive from others of their type to stand out. The Pneumocci also look very sharp and menacing. The animation effort isn't the strongest in places, but that's the only real negative. Director Kenichi Suzuki is much better-known for helming brassy action pieces like the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure franchise and Drifters, but he shows with this work that he's quite capable with lighter-hearted fare too.

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Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

I would have loved to have been able to watch this show in biology class back in school. (Or read the manga, but we're talking about anime here.) Cells at Work is very definitely an educational family-friendly show aimed at roughly the same age group as GeGeGe no Kitaro but with a very different goal: to teach basic human biology from the inside out. It stars anthropomorphized cells living in a world that looks like a city but is actually the human body, creating an easy way for viewers to grasp the basic concepts of how the body works by making it so that the body is actually working – as in each cell's job is framed as delivery, security, construction, etc. It's a neat way to present it.

The episode itself is therefore plenty of fun. Our heroine is Red Blood Cell, who has just entered the workforce and is still trying to find her way around. She's taken under the proverbial wing of White Blood Cell (technically a neutrophil in charge of protecting the body from bacteria and germs), and together they manage to deal with Pneumococcus, an alien-like monster that, if left unchecked, can cause a variety of horrible diseases including pneumonia. Mostly this does mean that Red Blood Cell is in a damsel-in-distress position, because Pneumococcus consumes the nutrient-bearing red blood cells and so White Blood Cell is able to basically save her and use her as bait. But since it culminates in one of my favorite scenes from the manga, visualizing sneezing as shooting a torpedo out your nose, I can forgive the random gendering of cells.

What's unfortunate is the Red Blood Cell spends what feels like most of the episode screaming or shrieking, which is significantly more annoying in a medium with sound. She's well within her rights, and oftentimes the situation is more funny than not, such as when she and White Blood Cell are trapped in a bacteria capsule and he's dragging her and her dolly loaded with CO2 around, but it does begin to grate after a while. The character designs translated quite well, especially Pneumococcus with all of his waving tentacles, but there's definitely something weird about White Blood Cell's ass that I can't quite figure out. The platelets are suitably adorable, however, and the beefy Killer T Cells are pitch perfect from their brawny builds to their synchronized laughing.

Since it's a family show, Cells at Work won't be for everyone. But if you're up for a little sixth grade biology framed in a fun way, this episode is entertaining and may even help you some old lessons.