Cells at Work! is a manga series from Kodansha that has been adapted into its own anime series by Aniplex. This series is unique in that it takes the work cells inside the human body and reimagines them as human characters. The cells are shown doing their daily task but in the manner, humans would do such tasks. The talented Kana Hanazawa, and Tomoaki Maeno lend their voices to Red Blood Cell and White Blood Cell respectively. During Anime Expo 2018,  Aniplex held a panel for Cells at Work! to premiere the first episode of the series days ahead of its official release. Aniplex also invited special guests Tomoaki Maeno, Yohei Ito (Kodansha Producer), Nobutaka Kasama (David Production), and Yuma Takahashi (Aniplex Producer) for a Q&A at the end of the panel.

Fans lined up for the Aniplex Cells at Work! panel early and after a delay, they were greeted by two cosplayers dressed up as White blood cell and Red blood cell, who handed out face masks with the anime logo on them. When everyone was seated, they began the panel and introduced special guest Tomoaki Maeno, who received loud cheers from the fans. He introduced himself to the fans and welcomed them and thanked them for waiting in line for such a long time. He introduced the episode and then walked backstage. After the episode, he would return for the Q&A section of the panel.

The fans reacted well to the screening. The episode paid close attention to key details such as the names of each character/cell and explained their role in the body by having a narrator introduce their functions. One of the scenes that received an awed reaction was when the platelet cells were introduced. The platelet cells are depicted as small school children and since their task is to rebuild the injured parts of the body, they looked very cute as they performed their task. The first episode revolves around Red blood cell, voiced by Kana Hanazawa, whose job is to deliver certain elements (i.e Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide) from one part of the body to others.  However, she doesn’t have the best sense of direction. On her first day, she finds herself in the middle of an attack by pneumococcus germs but is saved by White blood cell, voiced by Tomoaki Maeno. After the attack, she continues her delivery route but encounters White blood cell as he searches for one remaining germ cell. They end up sticking together as they continue the search for the invader. They find and trap the germ and expel it from the body in a rocket, which is their way of imagining a sneeze. The episode was hilarious and full of medical terms and definitions of the cells jobs, but it is quite balanced and doesn’t slow down the pace of the show. Fans might be interested in seeing how each part of the body along with the other cells the body are drawn.

After the episode, it was time for Tomoaki Maeno, Yohei Ito, Nobutaka Kasama, and Yuma Takahashi to come out and join the fans for a Q&A. Fans asked Tomoaki Maeno how he felt when getting cast for the role He said at the audition he was with Kana Hanazawa (Red blood cell) and he thought they would be great for the series and he was happy when they landed the roles. They asked him about the white blood cell having two different personalities [the no mercy side and the kind side], how it was playing both roles and if he finds similarities between himself and the characters. He replied by saying that he enjoyed the ability to play the character with two different extremes and that the only similarity he finds they share is the motivation to their work. The next question was directed to Yohei Ito. He was asked how the anime adaptation from manga to anime came to be. He talked about how the manga panels translate easily to anime and right after that, he got a call from Yuma Takahashi from Aniplex. It was the same thing with David Productions who wanted to be on board with the project. It seemed that everything just fell into place at the right time.

The next question was for Nobutaka Kasama regarding how his studio got involved with this project. He said he loved the manga so much he purchased it right as it came out and they had worked with Aniplex before with the series Inu X Boku Secret Service. At David Productions they also had a discussion on what they would like to animate and Cells at Work! Was suggested and from there they brought director Kenichi Suzuki [from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure] and character designer Takahiko Yoshida on board. Yuma Takahashi was asked why he wanted to premiere it at Anime Expo. He said that Cells at Work! is about how the human body works and even if they are Japanese and we are American, we are the same inside and he thinks this would play well at Anime Expo.

The last part of the panel was the final message to fans, Nobutaka Kasama said he asked director Kenichi Suzuki if he had a message for fans and his response was to look at the background art. Every scene was very detailed and each body part is labeled so fans might have to pull out their Japanese dictionaries. Yohei Ito said that the characters in the series are loveable, just like the fans and he hopes fans come to love their own bodies. Tomoaki Maeno said that this was his first time in the US and he loved the warm welcome that the fans gave him, and he wants them to take care of their bodies as they watch Cells at Work!. Yuma Takahashi just wanted to thank all the fans for coming to the panel and for them to enjoy the Anime.


Cells at Work! begins streaming on Crunchyroll July 7 so make sure you watch to learn more about how your body works.

^{Disclaimer: the delay of 1.5 hours was not Aniplex’s fault but it was due to the Audio and Video department who had issues getting the episode to play on the screen. I would like to let fans know that even when Aniplex was not responsible, they still apologized to them.}