News
Cells at Work Reveals Additional Cast, Opening Theme Song, July 7 Premiere
posted on by Karen Ressler
This year's July issue of Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine announced the premiere date, additional cast, and opening theme song information for the television anime adaptation of Akane Shimizu's Cells at Work! (Hataraku Saibō) manga on Saturday.
The anime will premiere on Tokyo MX, BS11, Tochigi TV, and Gunma TV on Saturday, July 7 at 24:00 (effectively midnight on Sunday morning). It will also air on MBD, TV Aichi, Hokkaido Broadcasting, and RKB.
The newly announced cast includes:
- Yūichi Nakamura as Memory Cell
- Ayako Kawasumi as Mast Cell
- Aya Endo as Senpai Red Blood Cell
- Hiroyuki Yoshino as Pneumonia Coccus
Four members of the cast — Kana Hanazawa, Tomoaki Maeno, Daisuke Ono, and Kikuko Inoue — will perform the opening theme song "Mission! Ken - Kō - Dai - Ichi" (Mission! Health First).
The previously announced cast includes:
Tomoaki Maeno as White Blood Cell (Neutrophil)
Kikuko Inoue as Macrophage
Daisuke Ono as Killer T Cell
Maria Naganawa as Platelet
Takahiro Sakurai as Helper T Cell (T Lymphocyte)
Saori Hayami as Regulatory T Cell
M.A.O as Eosinophil
Nobuhiko Okamoto as Dendritic Cell
Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga in English, and it describes the story:
The average human body contains about 60 trillion cells, and each of them has work to do! But when you get injured, viruses or bacteria invade, or when an allergic reaction flares up, everyone from the silent but deadly white blood cells to the brainy neurons has to work together to get through the crisis!
Kenichi Suzuki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Drifters) is directing the anime at david production, and Yuuko Kakihara (Tsukigakirei, Persona 4: The Animation) is in charge of series composition, and both Suzuki and Kakihara will pen the scripts. Takahiko Yoshida (Welcome to the NHK, Yowamushi Pedal) is designing the characters and is also credited as chief animation director, while Kenta Mimuro is credited as cell character designer, prop designer, and animation scene animation director. Keiko Tamaki is credited for sub-character design. Kenichiro Suehiro (Re:ZERO, Girls' Last Tour) is composing the music at MAYUKO.
Other staff include:
- Art Setting: Yoshihiro Sono, Koji Hashiguchi
- Art: atelier Platz
- Color Setting: Aiko Mizuno
- Director of Photography: Yuki Oshima
- 3D CG Director: Yutaka Nakajima
- Editor: Kiyoshi Hirose (editz)
- Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa
- Sound Production: MAGIC CAPSULE
- Produce: Yuma Takahashi
- Animation Producer: Go Wakamatsu
- Production: Aniplex, Kodansha, david production
Musical duo ClariS are performing the ending theme song "CheerS."
Shimizu launched the Cells at Work! manga in the March 2015 issue of Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius, and Kodansha shipped the fifth compiled volume in Japan last August. Kodansha Comics shipped the manga's fifth volume last November. The manga ranked on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook's 2016 list of top graphic novels for male readers. The manga has 1.5 million copies in print. Haruyuki Kichida launched the Hataraku Saikin (Bacteria at Work) spinoff manga in Nakayoshi last April. Moe Sugimoto launched another spinoff manga titled Hatarakanai Saibō (Cells That Don't Work) last July, and Shigemitsu Harada and Issei Hatsuyoshi will launch the Hataraku Saibō BLACK spinoff on June 7.
Source: Monthly Shonen Sirius July issue
