Anime Hajime Review: Cells at Work!!

Original Run: January 9, 2021 - February 27, 2021
Number of Episodes: 8
Genre: Comedy
Based on the Series Created By: Akane Shimizu

***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Cells at Work!!. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

Inside every one of us, there are trillions of cells working around the clock to keep our bodies running smoothly. To maintain such an important — not to mention, massive — operation, there need to be cells that can deliver energy to the system and cells that can defend it from harmful invaders.

Chapter two.

Once again, follow the story of the hardworking Red Blood Cell AE3803 and the ever dedicated White Blood Cell U-1146 (voiced respectively by Hana Kanazawa and Tomoaki Maeno) as they live their lives trying to ensure a safe and healthy body.

Series Positives

If there has ever been a time to appreciate the systems in our bodies that keep us healthy, it’s now.

Cells at Work!! (Cells at Work 2) was the sequel you should expect from the Cells at Work series. If you are a fan of the first season, it is almost inconceivable you wouldn’t like this installment. The same explosive comedy, the same fun premise, and the same cleverness that made the original so great all returned here.

Plus, this season is also only eight episodes long. So, you don’t even need to invest that much of your time.

I guess what I’m getting at is, there is practically nothing stopping you from giving Cells at Work 2 a chance.

In fact, Cells at Work 2 was so much like its predecessor that writing this review is proving to be complicated and redundant. There isn’t a whole hell of a lot more I can add.

This season found itself in a classic if-it’s-not-broken-don’t-fix-it situation.

While saying that doesn’t allow Cells at Work 2 much hype, you can, at least, expect it to deliver a good time and a relatively decent biology lesson. But like I said in season one’s review:

I was always better at history than anatomy while in school. Thus I can’t comment on this show’s scientific accuracy. But this series doesn’t come off as grossly inaccurate. However, if you’re confident you can perform surgery based on the knowledge you gleaned from some anime you saw, maybe back up a step.

As for anything “new” about this season, Common Cell and the Lactic Acid Bacteria were enjoyable additions. They were the only characters in this series that had anything close to growth. While that does sound bad, remember what you’re watching. Given the nature of this show, Cells at Work can’t really have a cast that can go off to become better people. Everyone’s role was their role, and in a healthy body, that shouldn’t be changing.

Nevertheless, with Common Cell and the Lactic Acid Bacteria, Cells at Work 2 managed to get around this dilemma.

Common Cell didn’t do anything too extreme, and he wasn’t the one who ended up saving the day. Still, Common Cell did contribute well enough to illustrate an evolution from the character’s introduction.

Additionally, the Lactic Acid Bacteria were just freaking cute. Younger, middle school me, who was always trying to stay awake while learning mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell, would never have imagined an instance where those words would ever come out of my mouth.

While Cells at Work 2 was airing, it shared space with the Cells at Work spin-off series, Cells at Work! CODE BLACK. As of the writing of this review (April 2021), I know little about this segment of the franchise. And yet, I can make some guesses before writing CODE BLACK’s own review sometime in May 2021.

It really did feel as though Cells at Work 2 was a pallet cleanser before we dive into something truly insane.

Regardless, it was nice to come back to one of the most unique anime out there. Even it was only for a brief moment.

Series Negatives

There is a chance I am misremembering the first season. Still, I don’t recall the original Cells at Work’s animation being this bad.

When Cells at Work 2 was having an action scene or was up close with its characters, the visuals were fine. However, when the show needed to fill the backgrounds with the billions upon billions of other cells, things did not look as great.

These filler characters were impossible not to notice. Luckily, they weren’t distracting. But like I said, I remember this season’s predecessor having much better animation.

So, aside from the occasional poor backdrop visuals, was there anything really wrong with Cells at Work 2?

Well, apart from the fact I am most likely not going to remember a damn thing about this season in a few weeks, no.

We talked about this show’s most significant problem in the previous section: it was too much like season one. There was nothing to distinguish itself, which was a shame. And yet, that’s not all that surprising.

Cells at Work’s premise is terrific and all, but there is only so much you can do with it. And all that could be done with it happened in season one. What was there left for Cells at Work 2 to do? Fortunately, this installment had two things going for it:

1. It was only eight episodes long, so it was well aware it did not have much material left.
2. CODE BLACK can fill the void.

Again, I don’t much about the spin-off series, but I do know this. Cells at Work proper was what a HEALTHY body should be. Supposedly, CODE BLACK shows us what the opposite looks like.

Final Thoughts

I was looking forward to this season, and I was happy it hit all the right boxes.

Yes, it’s hard to say there was anything new about this installment. Nevertheless, it had all the same elements that made its predecessor the mega surprise that it was.

That makes this show worth a look in my book.

Cells at Work!! has earned a recommendation.

But these were just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this series? How would you advise Cells at Work!!? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.

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For Anime Hajime, I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.