The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Cells at Work! Lady

What's It About? 

Life for cells inside a lady's body is a little different. There are different organs to maintain, and a "legend" has been passed down from the endometrial cell to the macrophage about something that may happen one day in the uterus. Between PMS, anemia, and chills, Macrophage the butler does his best to keep his lady's body running perfectly.

Cells at Work! Lady has an original story by Shigemitsu Harada and art by Akari Otokawa. Cells at Work! original creator, Akane Shimizu, supervised the series. The English translation is by Jan Mitsuko Cash with lettering by Viet Phuong Vu. Published by Kodansha Comics (September 12, 2023).

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Maybe it's just me, but I don't love this book's romanticization of the female reproductive system. I understand why that's the direction the creators took: childbirth is something only AFAB bodies can do. Therefore, it's an excellent topic for a Cells at Work! spinoff, and quite frankly, too many people with female bodies don't get enough education about their health. (Particularly as it relates to “icky” things like periods.) Normalizing it is essential. But, uh…do we really need a little macrophage butler who constantly refers to the body as “my lady” and a Virgin Mary-like statue in the chapel of the uterus as the woman's representative? It feels a little too precious as if bodies aren't something you live in.

That said, this book has zero compunctions discussing menstruation, pregnancy, STI and cancer screenings, and all the other wonderful things that come with owning a uterus and vagina. Macrophage and his pals all have to deal with anemia and PMS, as well as the horrors of a transvaginal ultrasound and pap smear, and their reactions are pretty spot-on – aghast but resigned. While this doesn't get into too much detail, it does mention how all of these things affect the body and can be intertwined with each other, which again isn't something that gets a lot of press because of societal discomfort with female bodies and bodily functions.

Because this is a book about a lady body, there are a few new cell types introduced into the mix, primarily the endometrial cells, which all look like especially froofy Victorian maids. They spend their time prepping a gorgeous, fluffy bed for “The Legend,” i.e., a fertilized egg, and again, I'm a bit torn on seeing them weep when none appears and the body's period starts. Yes, it can feel like your body is mad at you at that time of the month, but since not all women want (or can have) children, having the lovely endometrial cells start crying feels one-sided. Just because bodies can do something doesn't mean that they need to, and this is the rare case where the Cells at Work! franchise feels like it loses sight of that.

But really, this does what it says on the tin: it's a book about anthropomorphized human cells in the body of an adult woman. Information is doled out in a reasonably entertaining fashion, and it's pretty fun. It would be a good addition to any middle-grade library about sexuality and sex ed because, as an overview, it's glamorized but still solid.