Cells At Work: Nice Learning Experience

Upfront, I have to admit that due to my streaming setup, I was unable to read the little boxes of information in Cells at Work. Which, no doubt, add even more to the viewing experience—but it’s a testament to the skill of the anime that I still feel like I learned something.

Because for those who do not know, Cells at Work is an educational action anime that wants to teach the viewer about the human body, and not just in the usual Magic School Bus method of making a show, but in-depth, microscopic details about specific cells and what functions they serve.

And that alone makes it interesting; it’s enjoyable to learn something new in a way that’s visually entertaining, and the interpretations of biological functions, and how it’s used to inform how the characters act, shows the creativity of the show and makes it fun to work out the logic of it.

Creativity Abounds Everywhere In Cells At Work

But we have to talk about an odd aspect of Cells at Work: it’s absurdly gory. The white blood cells butcher with serrated knives the “monsters” they find, and scenes sometimes devolve into blood spraying everywhere, gore staining weapons and clothing, and action shots of disembowelment. The scenes are somehow still lighthearted, and the evil germs and viruses and bacteria give out comical screams as they die, but it’s still kind of horrific. I don’t know how children are in Japan, but I can’t imagine an American kid being allowed to see violence like this at the same age where an educational biology lesson would be recommended.

Cells At Work Has Some Serious Tonal Whiplash

But perhaps that’s part of Cells at Work’s brilliance. The show takes a useful topic to learn and presents it with things like demon-looking monsters and zombies. A kid, drawn to the “edgy show,” will end up learning a lot about biology.

Furthermore, Cells at Work teaches good morals about doing one’s share of work for a group, and about teamwork, and about trying hard and improving, and yet does it with usual anime silliness. It has a light, quick-moving, and breezy style. It’s very watchable.

Cells At Work Is A Nice And Pleasant Watch

Cells At Work’s characters, villains, plot lines, may all be very archetypical, and its animation…spotty… but there are worse ways to spend a half-hour. If you’ve ever had an interest in anatomy and biology, this is your kind of show. I don’t recommend binging Cells at Work, as it’s episodic and repetitive, but, after a hard day, it’s nice to see what amazing things our body is doing to keep us alive—both in a fictional world and in real life.

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