Cells At Work! is A Constructive Watch That Makes Learning Fun

Being able to find educational content related to our academia in anime is a testament to the broadness of the medium. Many anime shows tackle the concept of basic economics while some even teach scientific phenomena like chemical reactions and metaphysical occurrences. Yet one significant branch of education remains neglected in this sphere – the study of human biology and medicine. 

While instances of such knowledge can be found as informative add-ons in some shows, this very subject has been the cornerstone of the niché anime Hataraku Saibou, also known as Cells at Work!.

Unlike in anime, medical science has been a prominent genre in other forms of modern-day media. Shows like Grey's Anatomy, House, E.R., and Good Doctor have been exceedingly popular, especially among doctors, nurses, and medical school students. While these shows brilliantly portray the daily hustle of the people involved in the line of medical care, they often sideline essential details of the inner workings of the human body, only bringing up the specifics on the medical conditions of the patients whenever required for plot progression.

These shows present our bodily functions in a mysterious manner to escalate the curiosity of the viewer, but they barely touch on the comprehensive mechanisms of the processes responsible for keeping our body up and running. On the contrary, the main focus of Cells at Work! is to illustrate the roles of those processes with an easy yet informative approach, while not boring the viewer with a burdensome info dump.

Cells at Work! does not progress linearly and its plot is rather simple, with anthropomorphised cells of the body acting as its main cast. The show's methodology of explanation is to show the bodily functions through the interactions of these cells, which might seem plain and dumbed down, but the end result is rather informative and accurate, something that even doctors and med school students agree with. 

"The show deals with a lot of topics relevant to higher medical studies like physiology and microbiology while explaining them in a non-complicated way," says Marina Masud, a final year student studying at Shahabuddin Medical College, when asked about the contents of the anime.

"Definitions used in the show match with those in my reading materials, but learning them through such entertaining visuals makes them much easier to remember and understand," adds Marina.

While being an enjoyable watch on its own merits, Cells at Work! can also be a convenient and functional source of learning human biology for those interested in the subject. Marina feels that watching this anime can help introduce many to the sphere of medical science and help students get a grasp of important aspects of the human anatomy from an early stage. 

"This anime can be a head start for a lot of students interested in medical science," says Marina. "It can complement their academic curriculum and assist them in understanding difficult topics while also having a great time."

Cells at Work! is unique in its approach to entertaining the viewer while also keeping them well informed about human biology. The show might not cover all major medical concepts, but it properly represents the basics and provides advanced details in many instances. 

This rather cute and charming show is increasing in popularity by the day, with 2 seasons aired and one spin-off also adapted in the name of Cells at Work! Code Black. The hallmark of Cells at Work! is its capability of providing a sense of gratification to the viewer for being able to learn from an anime. However, the more nuanced attribute of this anime is its ability to make a subject like Biology more approachable and learning medical science fun to some extent.