#this is about the season one of haikyuu this is about bakugo almost dying this is about all might learning to live without his quirk

[rabbitindisguise]

I know that sometimes stories end badly and the characters I want to live die but there is no amount of sadness, no matter how big, that makes me think it isn't worth daring to hope that the characters I like win and save the day with no casualties

[nissakii]

Hataraku Saibou, journey through your body continues! [Breakfast Anime]

The inside of the body is the home of roughly 37 trillion cells who work eagerly and energetically each day to keep the body working.

Hataraku Saibou the journey through our body!

Let’s start our new series with our own body, diving into the next anime you can watch while enjoying your daily breakfast!

What exactly is a breakfast anime you may ask?

Basically something more light-hearted to watch in the morning while you eat your breakfast, while Hataraku Saibou may not be a typical breakfast anime for everyone it was still something that lifted up the mood and started the day thinking about our own body before heading into the rush of life once more.

In this post I will give you a slight insight of Hataraku Saibou 2 and why you should watch it, spoiler-free of course.

Hataraku Saibou or also known as Cells at work! is an anime that is not only for entertainment but also accurately teaches the viewer things about our own body and what is going on inside, making us more aware that all what we are doing is affecting our body in the end.

We already got to know a lot of characters in season one with its 13 Episodes back in 2018 and since the popular anime seemed like it wasn’t enough to tell all the viewers who enjoyed the show about our own cells, in the beginning of 2020 the second season started airing adding another 8 Episodes on top!

As the first season showed us all kinds of interesting scenarios such as allergies, colds, hemorrhage and even the conflict of cancer cells in our body in many interesting ways the second season doesn’t come short with even more special scenarios happening inside.

While we got to know about the overall concept and how the cells work with each other in season two for those who forgot there are still short introductions coming for each single character.

Plot

Like mentioned before as the first season already showed us many interesting fights, correlations between characters and even an almost dramatic end of the body with one of our main characters the red blood cell AE3803 dying, as well as the birth and death of cancer cells and the way they perceive themselves of being just an equal cell as any other cell in the body.

In season two we get to learn about new things, as we slowly get a recap in little bits of relevant pieces of what had happened before, characters being reintroduced or important processes with new information are explained.

Also what makes the anime plot so fascinating is that this isn’t just simply a little story about some cells but very true to the reality of what is happening in our body just a bit easier explained, as you can see even some little things out of our biology classes being shown there in much more detail than expected.

From Antigens and Antibodies, to the usual routine of white blood cells the second season keeps the amount of action, splatter and comedy as well as the interesting dynamics like those of T-killer cells, NK cell, Mast cell and all the other characters that we know just like in the first season if not even a bit better due to many new things happening.

To not tell you too much, the second season yet again turns the tables towards the end as many (and not only one) plot-twists make the ending unnerving as we do not know if the body could see it through or not.

The topic being about the body makes you wonder if the author could just turn it all around like in our daily lives, sudden deaths or accidents happen which would also affect it on the inside as seen in season one.

Unlike season one, season two had much more bigger arcs that covered more than two episodes despite it being a short anime with only 8.

Concluding, season two did not make a repeating plot which could bore you after watching 13 Episodes already but makes you wonder what the next episodes are about since each and every episode tells us another scenario happening in our bodies.

Characters

New season, new characters at least that’s what most people think and there is also a truth to it yet we see many recurring characters.

Red Blood Cells

Just like in season one we already see in the beginning of season two all of the familiar faces and especially our cute little deliveryservice the Red Blood Cells!

In the rush of getting nutrients and oxygen to every cell no matter how tight the alley might be, the job of many red blood cells is to cover every and each one of them so the cells can function properly.

Our main character from season one and also in season two is the red blood cell AE3803 who is among the red blood cell a very clumsy one and known to get lost easily and being a tad simple-minded, yet worries a lot and cares about her new underling the new red blood cell at her side who might seem like the older one sometimes. We also see her being the one who cares a lot about the white blood cell U1146 as she always checks if he is resting properly, cheers him on or even searches for him after a fight since they grew very close after season one. She also is very fond of the platelets as she is easily carried away to either spoil them, play with them or take care of them making her forget about her own work from time to time, she never ceases to find them less cute no matter how often she sees them.

White Blood Cells

Another character we know well is among the white blood cells we also get to see even more often in the second season, especially the ones affiliated with our main character U1146 who surely had more screen time than any other character this season.

Despite his aggressive nature to protect the body from germs at all costs, U1146 has a very soft spot for the red blood cell AE3803, platelets and a few other characters but the formers are maybe the one he just cannot leave out of his vision.

He is often patrolling the body, seen killing germs or helping around even if it is not his job as we already saw in season one that he tried his best to also help the red blood cells and other cells around him when there is not something he has to take care of first.

Despite that being eager and narrow-minded considering his only target to kill germs, he is often viewed as an idiot or softie by Killer T cells and also as scary by some other cells since he doesn’t hesitate just like his other companions the row down any germ that appears.

Killer T Cells

Despite that we have the white blood cells that protect the body from germs there are also Killer T cells who are even stronger than the white blood cells as they can kill germs with just one punch if needed.

Killer T are depicted as much stronger and almost military-like people in the body next to the other cells as they march around in their daily routine and are more on the harsh side as the commander of Killer T cell often looks down on U1146 telling him he is a softie for being considerate towards the other cells and helping them instead of using his time to train and only focus on germs.

As we saw in season one along with the NK cell Killer T was able to even defeat cancer cells when needed and is shown to be able to punch through tissues of the body easily. He is very strong-built but also obnoxiously loud and a hothead as he is easily offended and has a big ego. 

Despite that he is shown to have a kind and soft core as he used to be very weak prior to becoming a T cell in his apprenticeship, making the T helper cell one of his childhood friends but also a strong rival.

Platelets

For their size they are still important  when damage happens like wounds as they are the little constructor workers of the body.

Under the supervision of the white blood cells the little platelets show off their flexibility and agility as they work together to stop the blood from rushing out of the wound and form a fibrin net to stop the bleeding and glue the wound back together.

They are well-liked by everyone as they are smaller than the usual cells or red and white blood cells yet work their hardest to transport things in boxes usually bigger than their own size.

Never seen alone and always in a group the most reliable of the platelets is their leader who keeps the others in track.

Germs

As the antagonists the germs in their many forms and sizes appear throughout season one but also in season two with different designs for each bacteria. Despite them being always defeated by other immune cells they don’t back off and try to invade the body through any opening that comes their way. They even take hostages if needed or cheat. Surprisingly the design often matches the germ’s name as it’s not far away from what it’s supposed to represent.

Animation

Like in season one the animation still keeps depicting many fighting scenes and doesn’t cut off with dynamic and action scenes in a very good quality. The character’s appearance almost stayed the same if not with slight changes that are almost unnoticeable. Especially towards the last episodes the many action-filled and dramatic fights that appeared had a good animation in which the viewer firstly is sucked into the whole tragedy of it all but also is not left with empty hands when a good fight is happening.

 Voices

One thing that we can appreciate as well are the ever so familiar voices we find again in Hataraku Saibou season 2. As for example many popular japanese voice actors like Nobuhiko (voice of Bakugo, Nishinoya, Accelerator etc) as the Dendritic cell whose soft personality has a little bit of a twist in it but also Hanazawa as the red blood cell (known for her voice of Mitsuri in Demon slayer, Chiaki from Danganronpa 2 or Mayuri from Steins Gate). We also have many others under them Daisuke Ono as Killer T or Kikuo Inoue as Macrophage. Even the Memory T Cell who shares his overdramatic personality with many characters who Yuichi Nakamura voices ( Kuroo from Haikyuu, Hawks from BNHA and Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen).

I personally love to see the voice actors of many characters I enjoyed in other series sharing the same voice in another series, it’s fun to suddenly hear them in a totally different environment as seeing Nobuhiko who is known for his eccentric characters he voices suddenly voicing the Dendritic Cell.

 Spin-off

Already watched Hataraku Saibou and just didn’t get enough? Or maybe it was a tad too happy for your tastes?

Maybe for the darker mode of Hataraku Saibou you should watch the spin-off that is still airing: Hataraku Saibou Black!

Despite it being very close in a sense of the dynamics and character construction it’s a much sadder version since it plays in a body that is living an unhealthy lifestyle consumes alcohol, smokes and even more making you overthink how your actions play out inside of your body.

I didn’t watch it yet but already the trailer sent down shivers as I watched especially the other version of the red blood cells looking much more gloomy and living through an almost dystopian like world compared to an almost healthy body of the original first work.

Many Manga readers of Hataraku Saibou black already mentioned that they overthought and became more aware of their own body and how they treat it after reading the many tragedies happening in a body that is functioning on high stress, junk food and so on.

This is not the only spin-off but the franchise today splits into many others as there is a Cell not at work version, a bacteria one and even the platelets have their own time to shine as well in their own series.

Conclusion

All in All  Hataraku Saibou is a very good anime to watch when not wanting something overly dramatic yet interesting that also boosts your awareness throughout the day. It may not be the perfect breakfast anime due to the splatter and maybe some people may find the idea of watching something correlated to the inside of one’s own body while eating breakfast a bit bewildering but it has a good potential if you are not sensitive to the factors stated.

It also puts a little smile on the faces with the little comedic dynamics and heart-touching moments, as well as learning something new about the body since even the knowledge shared in the anime is accurate to what is happening in real life just a bit more simplified.

Until then, let’s kill all the germs!

-Makii

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