Cells at Work! - Reviews

The manga revolves around 1146, a white blood cell who starts out like all the other white blood cells--ruthless and bloodthirsty. But after a red blood cell (AE3803) shows fem gratitude for feir efforts, fe becomes more conscious of the other cells around fem and their daily lives and fe begins to become more caring and friendly. We get introduced to many of these other types of cells, usually in fun ways that show off their roles in the body. Most of the stories involve various mundane problems (from our perspective), which are calamities in the world of the body's cells--like allergies or common germs and viruses. There are a few stories which do seem major even from the whole body's perspective--when the body became so dehydrated it needed an IV drip and when the body had so much blood loss it needed a blood transfusion. Even the stories involving the cancer cells don't reach the point of a major bodily threat since they never became a tumor and were able to be destroyed by the body's own immune system.

They do a pretty good job of combining educational material about bodily functions with entertaining stories. The way transmigration of the white blood cells is portrayed is hilarious--just popping out of crevices and vents. I don't really appreciate the warped justice of the cancer cell(s).

[Reviewed at chapter 25]