I have no idea which of the two Cell at Work! I noted is the first, but this one seemed the main one. In fact, it doesn't matter because they relate to two different things.
The White Brigade is a fresh comedy, with a lot of cute white blood cells for company ... With friends, of course, as well as a few disgusting bacilli. It was very nice company. It further convinced me to try the anime adaptation.

The original opinion in Bulgarian, sorry for the translation errors.

Fans of the existing series will appreciate this. Keeps the same feel with small changes. I'm more likely to suggest this title to younger readers as opposed to my adult manga readers, but that is again consistent with the main series.

These manga series following different cells at work are always so much fun and this one definitely lived up to that!

This one follows a band cell, a lower level white blood cell basically and him learning the ropes and following along with his superiors.

I loved all of their banter and all of the action! And all of the sweet moments between them all within their budding friendships. Definitely a series I plan on continuing! I can’t wait to see what other adventures these characters go on.

4/5 ⭐️

TW: blood, violence.

Really great manga and I feel like I learned a lot about it. If you love the anime, then totally read this manga!

The human body is a vast network of blood, bones, organs, and microscopic entities living inside. Cells at Work! showcased how everything works together to keep bodies healthy, as well as what goes on to heal people from scrapes, bruises, and even diseases. As the body is filled with many different kinds of cells, the idea of doing spinoffs seems like a sure thing. As such, the white cells get a chance to shine on their own with their own series Cells at Work! White Brigade.

White Brigade places its focus on Band Cell, a new trainee to the White Cell sector. He learns the ropes from the veterans, as he trains to take down bacteria and aid other cells with their tasks. As Band Cell takes in his training, he learns that even the toughest of cells out there started as a weakling like him. This fact is what keeps pushing Band Cell to be a better soldier in the war against disease and other things that hinder the human body.

On the surface a spinoff focused on the white blood cells sounds good. As they are tasked to fight off against every form of oddity in the body, one thinks that it’ll result in stories that focus on multiple forms of illnesses and human health follies. However, even when reading the first volume, it’s clear to see that Cells at Work! White Brigade has its work cut out for them. Worse, it already feels like writer/artist Tetsuji Kanie is running out of ideas.

It’s fun to see Band Cell on his first day at work, as well as see him reconnect with his friend Naive T Cell. The chapter involving Band Cell attempting to eat bacteria (which white blood cells have to do in order to survive) offers some solid food-based gags and laughs. However, stories involving a game of tag and Band Cell taking care of a young Myelocyte feel like retreaded ground from its source material. In these chapters, the laughs are scarce and the informative parts appear to be rehashed from the main series.

Even running under 140 pages, Volume One of Cells at Work! White Brigade overstays its welcome. Despite Kanie mimicking Akane Shimizu’s art style wonderfully, the content itself comes off drier than a bad case of psoriasis. Although there’s plenty of room to grow, the introduction to White Brigade doesn’t show much promise.

Thank you Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for the chance to review this manga.

As a fan of the Cells at Work anime the White Blood Cells.
I was beyond excited to read this volume.
I loved how well the story was able to blend all the aspects of the story from a comedic standpoint to the educational bits that give this a new perspective. Learning through comedy is something that this was able to do effortlessly.
Character design was top notch, the character trademarks are very fun to see.
I can’t wait for the next volume!

Many thanks to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for sending me an ebook version of "Cells at Work! White Brigade" vol. 1 in exchange for an honest review.

What attracted me to this manga was the title. I'm not going to lie, I thought that this would be silly and childish. But I was curious, I just had to know how these neutrophils will be portrayed!

And disappointed I was not.

These manga exceeded my expectations. This isn't a gag story about white blood cells having human-like attributes. No, this is something so much more.

First, I want to talk about the characters. The characters are all distinguishable from one another, you won't mix them up easily. Each character has unique trademark characteristics. The variety of cells is cleverly done, from the neutrophils to the T-cells, they are all brilliant. I loved how the bacteria and viruses looked at as well.

Regarding the plot, despite the cutesy appearance of the story overall, there are some dark undertones lurking hidden in the outskirts of the narrative. I can sense that something bad will happen to our beloved neutrophils.

This manga is also quite educational. I have a fair knowledge of the human immune system, but this makes things so much easier for me to picture. This year I've had covid and mononucleosis only a few months apart from one another and I was forced to learn more about neutrophils that way. I have a low count of neutrophils and I'm still trying to strengthen my immune system. The journey has been excruciating, and I shudder at the mere mention of neutrophils. However, this manga has encouraged me to look at these warrior cells in a new light.

I can't wait to find out what will happen in the next volume!

I recommend this to anyone is who looking for a cute but educational read with interesting characters and a dynamic plotline.

This is a spin-off of Cells at Work! where we follow the white blood cells. It includes humor and action while also being informative. My favorite chapters were probably when they played tag so the newbie could learn where to go and when the myelocyte was lost.

My students love the first series Cells at Work! and have been asking for more. I was excited to read this first one in a new series. I think they will really enjoy this manga as it continues the series and focuses on a new set of cells. I know that my Science and Med health teachers will like them as classroom additions. The illustrations are great and the added explanation panels add to the understanding of what is happening. I wish I had had this type of text when I was in school.

If you like Cells At Work there's nothing not to like about White Brigade. This spin off gives you some insight into the "lives" of the white cells and what they do for the body. The text is easy to read and follow and is educational about the human body. There's also some humor and action involved in the story telling.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for an eARC in exchange of an honest review.

The artwork is gorgeous, but I just couldn’t find myself interested in the plotline. Since all of the characters had names that were numbers it was kind of hard to tell who was who most of the time and we didn’t get much character development.

It was still cute enough but I wouldn’t read the manga again or buy a physical copy, and I don’t think I’d continue the series as a result.

I love this group of neutrophils! They're so funny in their own ways. Myelocytes are so cute as well! I hope to see more of them in future volumes. I loved this one more than the one focusing on Red Blood Cells. The White Blood Cells, specifically the neutrophils, are genuinely funny and nice to follow and be around. I want more of them! Their friendship is so adorable and I wished this was longer and showed more adventures with them. The artwork and storyline in this volume are great and fun. I would love to read the following volumes to come!

I received an eCopy of this through Netgalley to review.

This manga was fun, entertaining and I enjoyed the story of the characters growing from their small duties into their larger duties as cells. Cells at Work! is educational but definitely brings fun into learning about biology. This manga does the same as the original manga series with familiar faces and some new ones.

Obsessed?
Understatement.

I loved the anime that was recently released of Cells at Work! I LOVE all things science so when I stumbled across the animation, I knew I wanted to read the manga and more. The dynamics between these characters is so cool to see because they truly work together as a system. I always imagine my own blood cells being like little individual characters. I could go crazy thinking about it.

This is a really good story and I love how all the characters have their own twist. I will always be team White Blood Cell.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Oh my goodness I loved this manga! I had not heard of the original one simply titled "Cells at Work" but I think this is a great series. This manga does a great job of, instead of coming up with their own words, using real cell definitions and workings and explaining this to the reader. I love fiction that throws in teaching methods.

My absolute favorite scenes is when they talk about white cells doing phagocytosis. Which is when white cells engulf dying bacteria to help save the body. The whole scene is the white blood cells eating this bacteria and talking about how it is gross no matter what they do to make it look not gross. In my opinion, it was a brilliant way to explain this.

I highly recommend this to anyone who likes action manga with a bit of comedy and a touch of learning along the way.

Semi-educational manga in the guise of a newbie on the job? Check! Cameo from the original series? Check! Bloody battles with a fun squad? Check! If you like Cells at Work, specifically, the white blood cells, you should like this spin-off!

I received a copy of this manga through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the weirdest mangas I have read. I guess it’s quite educational to read about human body in this way with white blood cells depicted as handsome white-haired guys…Most definitely it’s memorable and unique! 😂

Maybe it's the educator in me (or the happy memories of Bill Nye the Science Guy), but what's lacking in this spinoff of the Cells at Work franchise is the "edu" part of "edutainment." Rather than adding to readers' knowledge of neutrophils' role in the body, it instead focuses on the goofy antics of a squad of them as they train (or "train") a young band cell. It's got plenty of our old pal 1146, the WBC from the main series, but it's very light on the actual biology. Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but that's what I loved about the original iteration of the franchise. If I just wanted character antics, I'd read something else.

This was so much fun!

I have always enjoyed the White Blood Cells in Cells at Work and if you have ever wanted to learn more about them or just read about them specifically like I have, then this manga delivers just that!

I thought it was fun that we follow with a new cell, Band Cell, who is joining the "White Brigade" and it's through his eyes we see the interactions between these guys. At first, I was slightly bummed because I thought we would be following THE White Blood Cell, but I actually really liked how we had a new Cell join the crew. He was so cute and a fun character! It was great seeing another character also admire White Blood Cell 1146 because he's such an admirable character!

I enjoyed the individual chapters quite a bit! While it's not a chapter-upon-chapter kind of building storyline, I found that they really reminded me of the original Cells of Work where the chapters are sort of standalone-ish. However, even more than that, I LOVED the special appearances of some of the other cells and viruses! That was perfect!

Overall, this was a great read! It was exactly what I was hoping for and DEEPLY enjoyed getting to know the other White Blood Cells. Good humor, great bonding, and just a fun story! Definitely recommend to Cells at Work fans!

*(I received an e-copy from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts expressed are my own.)*

Review to come Nov 14th to blog/a bit later to Goodreads.

I received this book from Netgalley/Kodansha in exchange of an honest review.

The second of the Cells at Work manga I got from Netgalley this round and I was VERY HYPED about this one. Because I just love the White Blood Cells, they are kick-ass and strong. So I was looking forward to what kind of story we would get in this new series featuring the awesome WBC!

First up, EEEP, 1146 is also present!! He is my FAVOURITE (sorry, this needs to be in caps) White Blood Cell and I am hyped that he is part of the team/the story. I hadn't expected him, such a wonderful surprise. Also happy to see 3 other White Blood Cells popping along that I know from the other series. Great that we are following this team in this book.

And we are following them through the eyes of a new recruit, a Band Cell! I kind of forgot what that was, but thankfully the book explains what that kind of cell is. Simply put, an immature WB cell! In this fun and hilarious and action-packed (as expected given how blood-thirsty the WBC are) manga we follow this Band Cell and his team of superiors as they beat up baddies, help him out with learning all the things he needs to learn so he can become a great WBC. Like playing tag. Which sounds like not something handy, but actually lets him learn the layout of the body! Also, tag with WBC... you can only just guess how that one goes. XD In the other chapters we learn what the WBC eat, and get some fancy cooking (not improving the flavour though), we see the Kill T Cells, and cute kids and more. Oh and some cute 4-komas! I just had so much fun reading this one, so glad that the WBC team isn't failing me... unlike that other Cells at Work manga I recently read about Neo Bacteria.

I loved that you can keep learning new things about the body and that we get explanations on every corner. Yes, sometimes it is a bit repetitive because they repeat a ton of things, but mostly I am happy with it.

I also love that we saw various other characters from the Cells at Work series and I just went squee when I saw those adorable photographs of our WBC when they were young. Sooo cute!

I love the art in this one, I just love how well each design fits the cells. The WBC look a bit manic. The Killer T's look strong and scary. The platelets are adorable. I love that the art stays close to the original (given that this one isn't done by the same artist just supervised).

Now I just hope that the Macrophage cells also get a manga adaptation! I need that so much!

I would highly recommend this manga to all! This was just too much fun!