Hataraku Saibou Black

Due to poor lifestyle choices, a certain human's body is in constant turmoil. With germs, bacteria, and foreign substances abound, the jobs of various cells become increasingly difficult and dangerous. As some of the unfortunate ones who matured in this chaotic environment, Sekkekkyuu AA2153 and Hakkekkyuu U-1196 strive to fulfill their duties—even if it means seeing many of their fellow cells lose their lives in duty.

Set in an environment vastly different from its parent story, Hataraku Saibou Black portrays the cells' struggles as they try to maintain the body's health. However, the human's condition continues to deteriorate, and whether or not these efforts will amount to something concrete depends on the cells!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hakkekkyuu U-1196 Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Sekkekkyuu AA2153 Main

Enoki, Junya Japanese

Sekkekkyuu AC1677 Supporting

KENN Japanese

Kesshouban Supporting

Kubo, Yurika Japanese

Kan Saibou Supporting

Bridcutt, Sarah Emi Japanese

Hakkekkyuu 1212 Supporting

Uchiyama, Yumi Japanese

Nou Saibou Supporting

Hirakawa, Daisuke Japanese

Narrator Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Macrophage Supporting

Shiina, Hekiru Japanese

Hakkekkyuu 8787 Supporting

Lynn Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Takahashi, Yuuma Producer

Itou, Youhei Producer

Kitazawa, Shiryuu Producer

Reviews

Mar 18, 2021

debochca

Recommended

What happens when you put something as wholesome as Cells at Work with addictions and bad habits in a blender? Well, Cells at Work Black is what you get.

Cells at Work Black is an anime that I refused to watch in a beginning. I thought it was going to be a blunder. When I first saw it would come out, I thought that it was going to be the same but with reversed roles. How wrong I was! If some people disliked Cells at Work because of the lack of characters as such, with this one there shouldn’t be many complaints.

The story is Cells at ... Work but with a body of an stressed adult that smokes, drinks a lot and doesn’t have not one good habit. In consequence, everything is destroyed: the blood vessels are a mess, the defenses are pretty mediocre and the body is exposed to a big lot of germs and toxins, the white cells can’t have a break and let’s not get started with the red blood cells, that are so few that they have to double they job in order to survive in that hell of a world. They are exploted day by day, they are misstreated and don’t understand anything about their surroundings, and what’s most important, they are aware of themselves. They learn that they are disposable and that if they don’t work, they all will die. They are exposed to danger all the time and the main character sees a lot of fellows perish. And all this, my friend, is what you do to your cells when you get drunk and smoke like a chimney.

What I love the most about this is how realistic this anime is. Not only because that’s how the body really reacts when the person has very bad habits and don’t care about themself, but because of the red blood cell that is our main character. He is the bare representation of the baby chick that gets out of the nest just to find out how rotten the world is. All the red blood cells madurate in the bone marrow and are educated in how they are going to work once they graduate. They show them tutorial videos, they give them guides in order to teach them that work is above everything, and these little red blood cells just want to get out as soon as posible so they could work and know that world that everybody is painting for them. But as soon as they do that, they realize that nothing is like the pictures, nothing in life can be solved with a written guide, and that even the people that appears in those videotypes are not what they seemed to be. They start working and waits for their superiors to teach them, but they just go like “you have to work, I have no time for you” and they are just left by their own. That’s what real world is once you grow up and you get to know the fact that you are on your own, and that there is no advice that can solve all your problems, and that school doesn’t prepare you to anything that comes beyond. A child dreams of growing up and living at their expectations, but when they are adults they realize that nothing is like they dreamed, and that sometimes, living to the expectations is a lot harder than imagined. That’s why Cells at Work Black finds a way of connecting two things that are as real as the day you live: the biology nature of the humans, and the dark nature of the humans.

When we talk about dark or Black, I mean it. Different from the original Cells at Work, Black can give you just one or two laughs per episode, but a lot of sadness to carry during the episode. Letting the red blood cells aside, the rest of the cast is shookingly different from the original. The macrophagues are sick of killing in an infested body, raving and mumbering to themselves; Platelets, that are often the best and most cheerful part of Cells at Work, in Black are grumpy, sad and dull, frustrated by the state of the blood vessels that are full of shit and that are more and more unstable. In the first episode, in the first day and with his first colleague, the main character gets traumatized by his crudes words about “you just have to pretend you are okay and supress your emotions. That’s the only way to go on”, and then his death. Amazing. I cried a lot because I’m a pussy but that’s another story. The main character carries those words and his legacy for the rest of the series, getting him more and more frustrated. His emotions eat him alive, so he progressevely starts to supress his emotions and to live a shitty life. Just like that, a lot of other cells come to his life, leaves him some words and story to remember, and they disappear like that, making him more and more damaged and scared.
Another realistic thing about it is how akin it is to some workers that are really exploted and that don’t have another options. It’s an anime that glorifies its name, because it’s all about the dark side of work; monotony, envy, workaholics. Everything represented in the same main cast, and treated with a subtlety that I enjoyed a lot. Their changes and growing are slow, are delicate, and so real. Is just great.

In terms of visuals, this anime deserves a congratulation. Is a cheap art with low budget, but exactly that is what makes it so good, because it fits with the dark atmosphere, and is so loose and poor that envolves you even more in that world where everything crumbles. It’s a good example of a good use of what you have. And about sound… I hated the ending but now I just have it inside my head.

In conclusion, I’m thankful for this anime. I needed this Code Black for Hataraku Saibou, and even if you don’t understand anything of biology, you need it too. It’s a crude anime in disguise, that will make you wonder why you make your cells suffer like that when you get stressed. Don’t be selfish, take care of them.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 21, 2021

Valinis

Mixed Feelings

Not a whole lot to say about this one. If you enjoyed the regular Hataraku Saibou you'll most likely enjoy this one as well. Follows much the same premise though focuses more on how bad habits can negatively affect the body. It remains a fairly interesting and informative insight into the human physiology. The main cast are essentially genderbent from the original which is an interesting touch.

I did however find myself a little bored towards the end and didn't really care too much about the characters, but in fairness the setting kind of makes characters difficult to really get attached to.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 8, 2021

JCPrp

Not Recommended

Preliminary (4/13 eps)

Imagine the original Cells At Work, now revamp the characters and make the host body a stressed out, anxiety ridden person and create a new story based on the complications of stress and anxiety. It will be pretty clear if you will like the show or not by the first episode.

This is basically a darker version of the original cells at work, with very uninspired and overall flawed character and a decent alternate story and you have code black.

This is not an anime I am jumping out of my seat to recommend, its an average anime at best, I feel like you will know if ... this anime is for you right off of the bat.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Hataraku Saibou Black (TV) Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) removed-user - Mar 18, 2021	169 replies	by deijiplays »» Nov 6, 6:40 AM
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