― Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Whoa, not so fast Dickens. While yes, the first half of this series was certainly one the best times I've ever had in anime, the second wasn't nearly as bad as some of the worst stuff I've seen. However, it was probably the worst disappointment I've ever had, so I still think the sentence fits. As such, what follows is an analysis of the first half of this show (which wasn't exactly a 10/10 just because of episode 5, the only 'mid' one), followed by a quick rundown of what made the second half a sad ~6.
1st half (eps 1-7):
Whether it is the Ara Ara lady Macrophage, the shonen MC Naive T cell, the rom com pairing of White Blood Cell and Red Blood Cell, the adorableness of the Platelets, or the villain-with-a-character-arc Cancer Cell, this half is masterful at taking the tropes we all know and love in anime and weave them seamlessly into the setting. What really gets me every time is precisely this juxtaposition of these classic anime archetypes with the completely real inner workings of our body, is just genius really, and made me laugh every episode.
Also, it is not only that they take and insert these tropes, they master them. It is not just an appropriation of the romance genre, it's one of the finest pairings I've ever seen. It is not just a copy of the shonen empowerment episode, it's one of the best shonen empowerment episodes! And how are you even allowed to have that freaking thriller-like plot twist? In a scientific comedy!!!
Regarding the setting/plot, unlike any other kind of world in anime, even works based on the real world, we know all the rules for the human body, or rather, we know that everything we are seeing is based on a scientific fact. Therefore, in the 1st half of Hataraku Saibou there is never a moment where you scratch your head or are at a loss in reaction to the plot progression or how a character acts, which is an almost impossible to achieve utopic trait for any other anime (or work of fiction for that matter).
Finally, the music. This is by far the most surprising aspect of this show (this aspect still applies to the 2nd half), and you could say it is in fact the cherry on top of the cake. It is just flexing from David Production at this point, since your show would already be exceptional with all of the above, but hiring Suehiro (composer of the outstanding Re:zero soundtrack), and having him create your score is what establishes Hataraku Saibou as a masterpiece. Seriously, I should not literally get up from my seat in excitement from watching generic villains I just met fight our heroes in this kind of show with stakes that are not taken very seriously, but that's what "This World Will Never End" made me do.
2nd half (eps 8-13):
Why are we watching another teenage training backstory? Why are we watching once again the same enemy, only this time in XL?? And by God, why are we spending an ENTIRE episode just following Red Blood Cell around??? And the last 3 episodes are just a disgrace in terms of building tension and achieving resolution.
Remember what I said about never being at a loss about the plot progression? Scratch that for this half, because here, while you don't question why something is happening, you will certainly ask yourself why would anyone think this is interesting to follow. There even were some pretty interesting episode ideas, like Heat Stroke, but the author completely failed at adapting them in an interesting fashion. Also, to make matters even worse, I'm pretty sure the animation goes on a downward spiral in this half.
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So there you go, the best of times, and the most disappointing of times. Globally, it should average to an 8, but since the first half does also have a weak episode, and the order of the halfs is from best to worst, I personally graded it as a 7.5.
