Hataraku Saibou (or Cells at Work) perhaps is the most unique anime this summer that transcends the interest of normal anime fans as my friends at work were the ones who introduced to me. As people working in healthcare, we all studied biology before and Hataraku Saibou is basically biology as an anime.
I cannot remember much beyond the basic functions of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets so I cannot really comment on the accuracy of the biology presented here. That is actually a good thing because it allows me to simply enjoy the anime as an anime, instead of looking out for factual accuracy.
Hataraku Saibou tells a story of anthropomorphised blood cells in a human body fighting various diseases in typical over-the-top anime ways. I enjoy the anime and find it hilarious as I view it as a fun 'biology in animation'. However, there are still serious moments when the narrator introduced new characters and their physiological functions or the disease conditions. This keeps the biology portion somewhat grounded.
Putting biology knowledge aside and watching this just as an anime, the series gets repetitive with each episode following the same formula albeit with new or different characters involvement depending on the featured diseases. There are attempts to break away from this formula with few episodes on the characters' past when they are younger and in training. These are done pretty well with reference to the actual physiological process of blood cells differentiation.
The characters tend to be one dimensional as like the actual cells, each cell is highly specialised with own functions and fits into a particular mold (no pun intended so I am not referring to fungi here lol). This is a double edged sword as it works well for the comedy through over-dramatisation of their characteristics but it makes little possibility of character development through the episodes.
I hardly follow in-season anime as I hate to wait a week for the next episode. Hataraku Saibou is interesting and special enough to make me following it weekly. I also think it is worth repeated watching for the biology part. I learnt and got reminded of few things here and there while watching this. It is unfortunate that the final episode does not leave a nice wrap up and feels anticlimactic. The penultimate episode sets up the severity of hemorrhagic shock really well as a possible doomsday scenario but the resolution with the blood transfusion is just eww... They do it so much better with the IV fluid during the heat stroke episode.
Thumbs up to the creators of the series as it takes great creativity to make boring topic of blood cells into a fun anime. Leave it to the Japanese and they can even add in touching moments. The episode on cancer cells is really mind-blowing. We associate cancer as a bad disease although in reality there are always cancer cells in the body. Watching these mutated cells have to be killed in an anime creates such a furore while in reality we all want that to happen with our bodies.
There is a spin-off manga called Hataraku Saibou Black which takes place in an unhealthy body. Hmm the word unhealthy is controversial here because even in the original one, the body keeps falling sick. Lol. A body in poor health (imagine chronic diseases) is more appropriate to describe the Black. I read the English translation and wow.. it really gives a completely different vibe.
After watching Hataraku Saibou and reading Hataraku Saibou Black, I feel more conscious about my health as it is quite poor thing for the cells inside me if I don't take a good care of my health. I am also pretty sure this series will inspire some kids who watch this to become medical professionals in the future. Who says anime cannot be a positive influence?
Anyway with the knowledge of the blood cells in reality, there are 2 things that bother me. First is how these blood cells and bacteria are depicted to bleed. Second but the most important is about the physiological age of these blood cells in the body, how will the mangaka approach this? Lol.
Thumbs up to the creators of the series as it takes great creativity to make boring topic of blood cells into a fun anime. Leave it to the Japanese and they can even add in touching moments. The episode on cancer cells is really mind-blowing. We associate cancer as a bad disease although in reality there are always cancer cells in the body. Watching these mutated cells have to be killed in an anime creates such a furore while in reality we all want that to happen with our bodies.
There is a spin-off manga called Hataraku Saibou Black which takes place in an unhealthy body. Hmm the word unhealthy is controversial here because even in the original one, the body keeps falling sick. Lol. A body in poor health (imagine chronic diseases) is more appropriate to describe the Black. I read the English translation and wow.. it really gives a completely different vibe.
After watching Hataraku Saibou and reading Hataraku Saibou Black, I feel more conscious about my health as it is quite poor thing for the cells inside me if I don't take a good care of my health. I am also pretty sure this series will inspire some kids who watch this to become medical professionals in the future. Who says anime cannot be a positive influence?
Anyway with the knowledge of the blood cells in reality, there are 2 things that bother me. First is how these blood cells and bacteria are depicted to bleed. Second but the most important is about the physiological age of these blood cells in the body, how will the mangaka approach this? Lol.
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