Cells at Work!!

Alternate Titles

はたらく細胞!!
Hataraku Saibo!!

Synopsis

Learn about the human body and the roughly 37 trillion cells that work hard every day to keep you healthy with the anthropomorphic cast of Cells at Work!! Set inside the human body, which is depicted as cities where cells work together tirelessly to keep things running efficiently, the series follows the everyday lives of AE3803, a ditsy red blood cell who is new to her job and often gets lost, and U-1146, a ruthless yet soft-spoken white blood cell who takes his job very seriously. Together, they endlessly work to keep you healthy, whether delivering oxygen and other nutrients or dealing with hostile invaders!

Background

Cells at Work! is a manga series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu that has been serialized in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine since January 2015. The series has spawned a handful of spin-off manga to date including Cells at Work!: Bacteria!, Cells NOT at Work!, Cells at Work! Code Black. Cells at Work and Friends!, Cells at Work!: Platelets!, Cells at Work!: Baby!, and Cells at Work!: Lady!.

Cells at Work!! is the second season of the TV anime adaptation, which was announced in March 2019. It is once again being animated by David Production and sees returning staff and cast including Hirofumi Ogura as director, Yuuko Kakihara handling series composition and scripts, Takahiko Yoshida handling character designs, and Kenichiro Suehiro and MAYUKO handling the music. The opening theme song is "Go! Go! Saibo Festa!" by the main cast members including Red Blood Cell, White Blood Cell, Killer T Cell, Memory T Cell, Macrophage, Average Cell, and Lactobacillales, and the ending theme song is "Fight!!" by ClariS. The anime premiered on Jan. 9, 2021 on Tokyo MX, BS11, MBS, and other channels and is available to stream in North America online through Funimation.

Characters

Red Blood Cell AE3803 (Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa)
A hard-working red blood cell that delivers oxygen to the body and transports carbon dioxide to the lungs. She has no sense of direction and often gets lost.

White Blood Cell / Neutrophil U1146 (Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno)
Neutrophil’s main job is to eliminate foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses that enter the body. He is calm and serious about his work, and he has a caring personality.

Killer T Cell / Memory T Cell (Voiced by: Daisuke Ono)
Killer T Cell is a type of white blood cell that recognizes and destroys foreign invaders such as virus-infected cells and cancer cells. He is aggressive and serious about his work. He is the sergeant of the Killer T Cells. He looks down on other types of cells like red blood cells as being inferior.

Macrophage (Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue)
Macrophage is responsible for trapping and killing foreign invaders such as bacteria and finding antigens to boost immunity. She wears a white dress and has a gentle personality. Though she seems weak at first glance, she is highly proficient at her job. She is unfazed by large amounts of viruses and hacks them with a smile using a machete and blunt weapons.

[Platelet[(https://otakumode.com/shop/label/Platelet) (Voiced by: Maria Naganawa)
Platelet is responsible for repairing and sealing damaged blood vessels. She along with others like her act as a construction and repair crew inside the body. She is smaller than an ordinary cell.

Regulatory T Cell (Voiced by: Saori Hayami)
Regulatory T Cell helps control and regulate the overall immune response. She acts as Helper T Cell’s secretary. She is calm and collected but is a stickler for the rules, a weakness that is taken advantage of by Cancer Cell.

NK Cell (Voiced by: Toa Yukinari)
NK Cell patrols the entire body looking for cancer cells, viruses, and abnormal cells and attacks them upon discovery. She is an aggressive, muscular woman whose weapon of choice is a machete. She becomes stronger when she is laughing but gets weak when she is stressed.

Dendritic Cell (Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto)
Dendritic Cell works to use fragments of invading bacteria or viruses to create antigens and transmit them to other cells in the immune system. He wears a green uniform and is stationed inside reception-like area that looks like a tree

Average Cell (Voiced by: Yusuke Kobayashi)
Average Cell is a common cell whose job is cell division.

Kuro (Voiced by: Yuri Yoshida)
Kuro is a lactobacillus who breaks down sugar to produce large amounts of lactic acid for the energy needed to grow.

Aka (Voiced by: Rie Takahashi)
Aka is a lactobacillus who breaks down sugar to produce large amounts of lactic acid for the energy needed to grow.

Panda (Voiced by: Natsumi Fujiwara)
Aka is a lactobacillus who breaks down sugar to produce large amounts of lactic acid for the energy needed to grow.

Puchi (Voiced by: Yurika Kubo)
Aka is a lactobacillus who breaks down sugar to produce large amounts of lactic acid for the energy needed to grow.

Cancer Cell (Voiced by: Akira Ishida)
Cancer Cell has a genetic abnormality that causes it to grow uncontrollably. He resents being hunted by the immune cells and plans to take over the body.

Music

• Opening Theme Song: "Go! Go! Saibo Festa!" by Red Blood Cell, White Blood Cell, Killer T Cell, Memory T Cell, Macrophage, Average Cell, and Lactobacillales
• Ending Theme Song:"Fight!!" by ClariS

International Streaming

Funimation

• Anime Site (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator: Akane Shimizu
• Director: Hirofumi Ogura
• Series Composition/Script: Yuuko Kakihara
• Character Design: Takahiko Yoshida
• Bacteria Character Design/Prop Design/Action Animation Director: Kenta Mimuro
• Sub-Character Design: Keiko Tamaki
• Chief Animation Director: Takahiko Yoshida, Keiko Tamaki, Masaru Kitao
• Art Director: Tomoyasu Hosoi (Studio Tulip)
• Art Setting: Yoshihiro Sono
• Color Design: Aiko Mizuno
• Director of Photography: Yuki Oshima
• 3DCG Director: Norihito Ishii
• Editing: Kiyoshi Hirose (Editz)
• Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa
• Sound Production: Magic Capsule
• Music: Kenichiro Suehiro, MAYUKO
• Animation Producer: Go Wakamatsu
• Animation Production: David Production