Anime Recommendation: Cells at Work

Live a healthy lifestyle for the sake of your hardworking cells!

Cells at Work, or Hataraku Saibou, is an anime that everyone can relate to, and that's because it is an anime about the human body, or specifically the cells that work to keep the human body safe and healthy. Cells at Work follows several different cells as they go about their lives performing their duties and either avoiding, or combating against, dangerous bacteria and viruses.

It's fun to see how simple injuries and illnesses can be grand disasters for Red Blood Cells and epic shonen battles for the White Blood Cells and Killer T Cells. It's also fun to see how cells are depicted, like how the small platelets are hardworking lolis and the White Blood Cells are violent and compulsive warriors. If I had to describe Cells at Work with one word, it would be fun.

Fortunately, I am not limited in using just one word to describe Cells at Work, because there were many times when the series would take a break from dealing with minor antagonists like Cedar Pollen Allergies and Food Poisoning, and take on serious villains like Cancer Cells and dangerous situations like Hemorrhagic Shock. In those moments, Cells at Work would become very dramatic and you're on the edge of your seat wondering if your favorite Red Blood Cell will survive, or if even the body itself will ever recover.

And along with being fun and dramatic, Cells at Work was also very educational, as you might expect from an anime that was pretty much just a series of biology lectures. Whenever a new character was introduced, the anime would pause and explain their job in the human body, for example, the Red Blood Cells are responsible for transporting oxygen throughout the body and they also have a love for glucose, and Eosinophils are a type of White Blood Cell that fight against parasites. Every episode was pretty much another chapter from a biology text book with titles like "Pneumococcus" and "Erythroblast and Myelocytes". I might actually just rewatch Cells at Work and start taking notes in case I have to take a biology exam.

If you're looking for a fun series that is also educational, than I would suggest you check out Cells at Work. And if you're already a biology student and you want to watch something with friends, maybe watch Cells at Work to quiz yourself and show off to your friends how much you know about the cells in the human body.