Cells at Work! (はたらく細胞, Hataraku Saibō) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu. It features the anthropomorphized cells of a human body, with the two main protagonists being a red blood cell, and a neutrophil she frequently encounters. The manga was serialized in Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Sirius starting in March 2015. It is licensed in North America by Kodansha USA. An anime television series adaptation by David Production debuted on July 8, 2018.[2]
Plot
The story takes place inside the human body, where trillions of anthropomorphic cells each do their job to keep the body healthy. The series largely focuses on two such cells; a rookie red blood cell, AE3803, who often gets lost during deliveries, and a relentless white blood cell, U-1146, who fights against any germs that invade the body.
A red blood cell who has just started her job, delivering oxygen, carbon dioxide and different nutrients all over the body. She meets Neutrophil when he saves her from an attacking pneumococcus bacterium. She is clumsy and gets lost often, but determined to perform to the best of her ability.
A type of white blood cell, whose job is to kill pathogens infecting the body. Despite his ruthless occupation, he's actually quite soft-spoken and gentle.
A type of white blood cell. She and her kind appear as lovely maids in big dresses, armed with a variety of large weapons to fight various invasive pathogens, and are often shown smiling cheerfully even in the middle of combat. While inside blood vessels, she and her kind take on the role of monocytes, and wear hazmat suits over their dresses.
A type of white blood cell that recognizes and kills various foreign matter and unhealthy cells. He is aggressive, pompous and rowdy, brutally taking pleasure in slaughtering pathogens and unhealthy cells. He especially looks down on white blood cells forming various relationships with non-white blood cells, like Neutrophil's close friendship with Red Blood Cell. He is the sergeant of the Killer T Cells and is a harsh teacher to his students, the Naive T Cells. He has negative relationships with Helper T Cell and NK Cell, the former being his superior in the Killer T Division. In his youth, he was considered to be weak like the rest of the young T Cells, being only able to survive and complete training through the help of Helper T Cell, which at least made him stronger.
A type of cell responsible for reconstructing the body from various injuries. They are depicted as cute children, due to their small cell size and act as construction and repair crew within the body. One platelet serves as their leader and she is most prominently featured in the show.
A type of T Cell that determines strategy and courses of action for dealing with foreign invaders. He is the main commander of the Killer T Cells and has an intellectual and smooth disposition, putting him at big odds with the rough and tough Killer T Cell, despite having underwent T Cell training together with him.
A T Cell who usually acts as Helper T Cell's secretary, though she is capable of fighting when necessary. She went through T Cell training alongside Killer T Cell and Helper T Cell.
A rookie T Cell who is too frightened to fight invasive microorganisms, until Dendritic Cell helps him transform into Effector T Cell. He and his kind are the students of Killer T Cell, from whom they receive harsh treatment and austere training.
A Naive T Cell transformed into a large, muscular and powerful T Cell. His design and mannerisms are a parody of the various male protagonists from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
A type of white blood cell who is acquainted with White Blood Cell since they grew up in the same bone marrow. She feels inferior to the other immune cells because of her inability to fight off bacteria and viruses, but she shows her true worth by killing a parasitic Anisakis when the other cells could not. She handles a bident as her weapon of choice.
Depicted as a messenger dressed in green stationed inside a call center resembling a tree. He can stimulate Naive T Cells and transform them into Effector T Cells. He owns a camera which he always uses to take pictures of events he deems important and stores them in picture albums, some of which are sources of shame and humiliation for the other cells.
A paranoid and neurotic cell whose job is to remember past infections and allergies so that the immunity system can be ready for them. However, he is scatterbrained and it is difficult for him to sort out his memories, often panicking and screaming whenever disaster strikes.
A cell whose job is to monitor and release histamines in response to allergic and inflammatory reactions. She always follows the instructions in her book no matter the situations and is unpopular due to her lack of consideration of what her actions do to the other cells. Also known as "Fat Cell", she gets irked whenever she is referred to with that name.
Senpai Red Blood Cell (AA5100) (先輩赤血球, Senpai Sekkekkyū)
A white blood cell who carries a weapon that shoots antibodies. He is often annoyed and jealous about not receiving as much credit as the Killer T Cells do. He also has an antagonistic relationship with Mast Cell, as their combined functions only cause grave disasters for the other cells.
A mysterious and poetic character whose real occupation is unknown, appearing during a food-borne infection to make cryptic commentaries on the disastrous events unfolding.
She patrols the whole body for viruses, bacteria and abnormal cells, with her weapon of choice being a machete. She has a smug demeanor, is somewhat condescending towards other cells and her relationship with Killer T Cell is akin to that of an intense sibling rivalry.
An antagonistic cell bent on creating a world where cells no longer have to kill each other, even if it means risking the life of the body.[8] He appears in only two episodes in the anime, but is a recurring character in the manga.
The manga was launched in Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Sirius in March 2015.[9] Kodansha has collected the manga into five tankōbon volumes as of October 2017[update].[10]
The manga received a spinoff in the May 2017 issue of Nakayoshi called Hataraku Saikin (はたらく細菌; "Bacteria at Work") by Haruyuki Kichida, which follows the lives of good and bad bacteria in the intestines.[11]
Another spinoff, titled Hatarakanai Saibō (はたらかない細胞; "Cells That Don't Work") by Moe Sugimoto, about immature red blood cells (erythroblasts) that do not want to work, was launched in the September 2017 issue of Monthly Shōnen Sirius.[12]Kodansha USA announced that it had licensed Cells at Work! in North America on March 21, 2016.[9] The manga is also licensed in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing.[13]
The manga received another spinoff titled Hataraku Saibō Black (はたらく細胞 BLACK), set in a "black" environment of a human body suffering an unhealthy lifestyle, that runs in Weekly Morning since June 7, 2018. It is written by Shigemitsu Harada, with illustrations by Issei Hatsuyoshi and supervision by Shimizu.[14]
An anime television series adaptation was announced in January 2018. It is directed by Kenichi Suzuki and animated by David Production, with scripts written by Suzuki and Yūko Kakihara, character designs by Takahiko Yoshida and music by Kenichirō Suehiro. The anime series premiered on July 8, 2018 on Tokyo MX and other channels.[5][26] The series ran for 13 episodes.[27]Aniplex of America have licensed the series in North America, and simulcasting it on Crunchyroll.[28] The opening theme is "Mission! Ken - Kō - Dai - Ichi" (ミッション！ 健・康・第・イチ, Mission! Health First) by Kana Hanazawa, Tomoaki Maeno, Daisuke Ono and Kikuko Inoue,[5] while the ending theme is "CheerS" by ClariS.[29]
Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network highlighted the educational aspect of the manga despite flaws in presentation of information, and ultimately found the manga entertaining with likable characters.[30] Sean Gaffney of Manga Bookshelf called it a "very fun shonen action manga", complimenting the manga's ridiculousness and humor.[31]
The 2016 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook listed the manga as the seventh top manga for male readers.[32]Paul Gravett included the manga in his list of "Top 22 Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga" for October 2016.[33] As of July, 2017, the manga had over 1.3 million copies in print.[34] The manga had over 1.5 million copies in print as of January 2018.[35]
Dr. Satoru Otsuka, postdoctoral fellow in the molecular neuro-oncology department of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, praise the series' depiction of cancer cells during the series' seventh episode.[36] Biology teachers at a high school affiliated with China's Southwest University were so impressed with the accuracy of the series they assigned it as homework for their students.[37]
