Cells at Work! Season 3 Release Date: Renewed or Canceled?

Cells at Work!, known in Japan as Hataraku saibō, is a manga series written and drawn by Akane Shimizu. She presents the anthropomorphized cells of a human body, whose two main protagonists are a red blood cell (red blood cell) and a leukocyte (white blood cell) that she often encounters. The series was published in Kōdansha’s Monthly Shōnen Sirius shōnen manga magazine between January 2015 and January 2021 and is compiled into a total of 6 volumes. A 13-episode anime television series adaptation by David Production first aired between July and September 2018, with a special episode airing in December 2018; a second season aired between January and February 2021. Among the eight spin-off manga, also published by Kōdansha, the spin-off series Cells at Work! Code Black was also adapted into an animated television series. The series’ second season ended only last year and in this article, we are going to tell you whether you can expect a third season of Cells at Work! anytime soon.

The third season of Cells at Work! still hasn’t been confirmed or canceled yet. The second season aired only a year ago and while there still is one volume of the manga left for adapating, the third season is still uncertain. Having said all of this, Cells at Work! is a very popular series and was extremely talked-about, especially during the pandemic, and based on all the known facts, a third season is not impossible. We just don’t know when it could happen.

The rest of this article will bring you all the known and unknown information related to a potential season three of Cells at Work!. You’re going to find out about its potential release date, whether there is a trailer, what the story could be about, and much more about this exciting anime series whose future is still somewhat uncertain.

What we know about Season 3 of Cells at Work!?

The manga launched in Kodansha ‘s shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Sirius in March 2015. Kodansha has collected the manga into six tankōbon volumes, concluding in January 2021. The manga received a spinoff in the May 2017 issue by Nakayoshi, titled Hataraku Saikin by Haruyuki Yoshida, which follows the life of good and bad bacteria in the intestines.

Another spin-off titled Hatarakanai Saibō by Moe Sugimoto, about immature red blood cells (erythroblasts) that don’t want to work, was released in the September 2017 issue of Monthly Shōnen Sirius. The manga received another spinoff titled Hataraku Saibō Black, set in a “black” environment of a human body suffering from an unhealthy lifestyle, which ran in Weekly Morning from June 7, 2018 to March 21, 2021.

It was written by Shigemitsu Harada, with illustrations by Issei Hatsuyoshi and supervision by Shimizu. He is usually strict with himself and others, but wanted to have fun during his free time. He also wanted to make friends, but he didn’t want to ruin his reputation. Another spin-off series focused on the platelet characters, titled Hataraku Kesshōban-chan written by Kanna Kurono and illustrated by Mio Izumi , began serialization in the June issue of Monthly Shonen Sirius which was released on May 25, 2019.

Kodansha USA announced that it had licensed Cells at Work! in North America on March 21, 2016.

An anime television series adaptation was announced in January 2018. It was directed by Kenichi Suzuki and animated by David Production, with scripts written by Suzuki and Yūko Kakihara, and character designs by Takahiko Yoshida. The music for the series was composed by Kenichiro Suehiro and MAYUKO.

The anime series premiered on July 8, 2018 on Tokyo MX and other channels. The series ran for 13 episodes. Aniplex of America licensed the series in North America and simulcast it on Crunchyroll. Madman Entertainment simulcast it to Australia and New Zealand on AnimeLab, while Animax Asia simulcast the series for the Southeast Asia region. MVM Entertainment acquired the series for distribution in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The opening theme was “Mission! Health First” by Kana Hanazawa, Tomoaki Maeno, Daisuke Ono and Kikuko Inoue in Japanese and Cherami Leigh, Billy Kametz, Robbie Daymond and Laura Post in English, while the ending theme is “CheerS” by ClariS. A special episode premiered on December 27, 2018. Aniplex of America released the English dub on August 27, 2019.

On March 23, 2019, the official Twitter account announced that the series would receive a second season. The season premiered in January 2021. David Production’s main staff returned to produce the second season, with the exception that director Kenichi Suzuki was replaced by director Hirofumi Ogura.

The future of the Cells at Work! anime is still quite uncertain at this moment, but the good thing is that it is not because there’s no interest or because there’s a lack of material. The series was very popular and we’ll just have to see whether there is enough interest for a continuation to make any proper predictions about the potential continuation of the series. Namely, the anime never adapted the last volume of the manga series, but the final volume is so short that it doesn’t merit a proper season, so it’s unclear what will happen with the series in the future.

In any case, the earliest we could see a potential third season is late 2023, but we’d have to get some confirmation on the future during 2022 or easily 2023; 2024 is also a strong possibility. The fans are demanding a new season, but we’ll just have to see how it goes; as far as things stand now, a cancelation has not been confirmed, but we cannot rule it out either.

What could Season 3 of Cells at Work! be about?

In the case of Cells at Work!, we actually know that the final season would probably adapt the remaining sixth volume of the original manga series. This is the final volume of the manga that was left unadapted and that would probably be the main focus of the season, although – due to the small number of chapters included in Volume 6 – the season would probably have either fillers or scenes from some of the spin-off series, because Volume 6 by itself doesn’t merit a whole season. Here is an overview of the general plotline of the series:

Inside a human body, a red blood cell (red blood cell) registered as AE3803 is saved from a sudden attack by a cluster of Streptococcus pneumoniae by a leukocyte (white blood cell) registered as U-1446. Later, when AE3803 tries to force its way into the lungs to perform its delivery, it spots one of the bacteria that has escaped and intends to attack the lungs.

Therefore, it and U-1446 go together in the lungs to track surviving pneumococci. When the red blood cells reach the lungs and separate from U-1446, they discover that the bacterium had been hiding in its packaging all along, waiting to target the red blood cells arriving in the alveoli of the lungs for their nutrients.

However, U-1446, who figured out the Germ’s plan, arrives in time and lures the bacteria into a trap, where they are eventually ejected from the lungs by a sneeze. The red blood cells run into trouble when the blood vessel they pass through is ruptured by a scratch, while the U-1446 and other white blood cells are forced to take care of any fledgling bacteria.

While the bacteria were there to eliminate all the neutrophils before reinforcements arrived, the leukocytes manage to hold them back while the platelets coagulate the wound, preventing the microbes from multiplying. Naive T cells patrol the body as the flu virus multiplies. But since he has never attacked the enemy before, he is completely scared and useless.

He eventually escapes from the battlefield where experienced neutrophils and killer T cells are fighting. The naive T cell hates itself until the dendritic cell sees it and talks nice to it. This encouragement transforms them into a regulatory T cell, a much bolder and stronger form that joins other immune cells in eliminating the flu virus. B cells (plasma cells) also participate in the fight.

However, a surviving virus mutates and multiplies, forcing immune cells to painfully prepare for a new fight. A band of bacteria of the genus Vibrio invades the stomach. The basophil warns the immune cells about this, but confuses everyone by speaking in a cryptic way. The immune cells defeated the invaders, but one of them, the eosinophil, didn’t work well and had to be rescued.

The other cells laugh at her and call her weak, except for AE3803 and U-1146. The stomach is then invaded by a giant Anisakis parasite. Immune cells can’t resist it, but Eosinophil explains that it was designed to fight parasites and kill them all at once. The other cells apologize for making fun of her and praise her as a heroine. The body breathes in cypress pollen which releases gigantic allergens.

Although U-1146 states that the creatures are harmless and non-malevolent, Memory Cell claims that they will cause impending doom. B cells easily destroy allergens, but mast cells release histamine into the body, causing violent allergic reactions that harm the environment. When all the other cells blame the mast cell for the damage, the body takes a steroid (corticosteroid) to treat the allergy.

The latter comes in the form of a robot that will indiscriminately destroy anything in front of it until it runs out of power. The survivors realize that this was all caused by following the Memory Cell claims and trying to attack the allergens. AE3803 is lost again and ends up in its birthplace, the red bone marrow. She remembers when she was a young normoblast fueled by a macrophage to become a real red blood cell.

One day, while practicing an evacuation drill in case of bacterial invasion, she got lost and was separated from the others. She was captured by a Pseudomonas aeruginosa which intended to torture and kill her before attacking other blood cells. A young myelocyte came to her rescue, and although it was no match for the bacteria, it bought itself enough time for the macrophages and a neutrophil to arrive and kill the bacteria.

She thanked Myelocyte for her help and broke up, hoping to meet again one day. In the present, she encounters U-1146 again. When he offers to guide her to her destination, she wonders if the myelocyte that saved her younger could be U-1146.