Cells at Work! is a manga series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu. Set in a typical human body, the series tells the daily lives of blood cells represented by human beings and what they do during homeostasis and disease. In particular, the series focuses on a Red Blood Cell codenamed AE3803 and the white blood cell (neutrophil) U-1146 who frequently meet each other in the series. David Production produced an anime series which was screened from July to September 2018. In anticipation of the second season of the anime which is currently in production, I will be starting a series where I explain the science behind each episode of Cells at Work!
I am passionate in exploring and explaining how the human body works, particularly in how it defends itself against infection. In fact, I completed my majors in physiology and immunology in my undergraduate science degree and I recently completed my PhD in immunology. Hence, I have a good background of how your body works which helps in understanding what is happening in each episode and whether each episode is reflective of real-life.
Given my scientific background, this blog series won’t just touch on the medical side of the episodes. I will also go through the science of what is happening in each episode to explain how your body works in health and disease. In addition, I won’t explain every part of the episode. Instead, I will focus on the main topic of the episode and explain to you some things that the anime series either simplifies or overlooks. I hope that my blog posts will complement your experience of the anime series so that you have a fuller picture of how your body works while understanding what is going on in each episode.
Tune into the next blog post where I will introduce the characters of the anime series (i.e., your cells) and what they look like in real life. From there, look forward to a blog post weekly where I explain the science behind each episode. See you there!