Cells at Work! is a manga series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu which talks about the daily life of cells, represented by human beings, in the human body. The manga chapters talk about a variety of human functions such as blood circulation and cover a broad spectrum of infectious and non-infectious diseases such as Pneumococcus and cancer. David Production produced an anime series on Cells at Work! which first aired from July to September 2018. The anime series has been positively received and has received credit from the teaching and academic communities for its accurate portrayal of the human body in a format that is engaging to young people and young adults. Consequently, from January to March 2021, two new anime series are being aired: the second season of Cells at Work!! produced by David Production and the spin-off Cells at Work! Code Black produced by Liden Films. As well as that, the sixth and final volume of the Cells at Work! manga will be released in Japan on February 9th 2021 with the final chapter focusing on the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
As an Immunology PhD graduate who is passionate about how the human body works in health and disease, I have become fascinated by the manga and anime series. In fact, I completed a blog series where I talked about the science behind each episode of the first season of Cells at Work!. In this series, I provided more information on what happens to the human body in real life and how it compares to the anime.
With the second season of Cells at Work!! currently airing, I will also be starting my new series “The Science behind “Cells at Work!!”! Similar to the first series, I will be talking about the science behind the body process and/or disease shown in each episode to provide context on what is happening. In addition, I will be talking about recent scientific findings behind trending topics in medical research such as the gut microbiota. These blog posts aim to fill in some of the gaps that the anime episode either overlooks or simplifies to provide a fuller picture on how the cells and human body work in real life, both during normal human activity as well as disease.
I have already written a blog post providing an introduction behind the gut microbiota, the collection of commensal bacteria living in your gut. This introductory blog post will give you an excellent introduction on the interesting link between the gut microbiota and human health which has become a focal point in medical research. Have a read through this blog post before the episodes on lactic acid bacteria are aired. In the meantime, look forward to the first blog post of the series where I talk about how platelets develop in the body. See you there!
Hello! I just wanted to thank you for doing these posts about Cells at Work!; they’re incredible helpful even for a person like me, who hasn’t touched a science book since high school. Your writing is really clear and easy to understand, even when it gets very complicated. Thank you!