News

Crunchyroll to Stream VladLove, Cells at Work!!, Cells at Work! Code Black Anime

Crunchyroll announced on Thursday that it will stream the Vladlove, Cells at Work!!, and Cells at Work! Code Black anime.

Crunchyroll will begin streaming Ichigo Animation and Mamoru Oshii's new anime series Vladlove this month in North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The anime will debut online on February 14 on ABEMA and Amazon Prime Video in Japan, alongside other subscription and rental streaming services in Japan. The 12-episode anime was originally slated to debut last fall but was delayed due to the effects of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Vladlove's official website describes the anime:

Mitsugu Bamba is a high school girl who is crazy about donating her blood, to the point that she feels compelled to visit a local blood bank despite the unfriendly nurse. One day, Mitsugu encounters a beautiful girl there who looks like she has come from overseas. The girl is so pale that she appears ready to faint. Instead, she suddenly starts trashing the blood bank. The girl then loses consciousness and so Mitsugu takes her home...

Oshii is the executive director and is credited with the original work, and Junji Nishimura (Ranma ½, You're Under Arrest: The Motion Picture, True Tears) is directing the anime. Kei Yamamura (The Next Generation -Patlabor-) is penning the scripts with Oshii. Issei Aragaki (Monogatari Series key animator/episode animation director) is designing the characters.

Daisuke Miyachi is the music producer for the anime. Comic Animation is credited for the production, and Drive is credited for the animation production. Production I.G is credited for production cooperation. Ichigo Animation, the subsidiary of the Ichigo Japanese real estate and energy company, is funding the project to promote its Akiba Cultures Zone retail building in Tokyo's Akihabara district.

Crunchyroll began streaming an English-subtitled trailer:

Crunchyroll will begin streaming Cells at Work!!, the second season based on Akane Shimizu's Cells at Work! manga, on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. EST in North America, Central America, South America, The Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K, Ireland, and South Africa.

The anime premiered in Japan on January 9. Funimation is streaming the anime as it airs in Japan.

Hirofumi Ogura (Black Butler II, Null & Peta) is the new director of the second season (and the accompanying theatrical anime) at david production. Yuuko Kakihara is returning to write and oversee the series scripts. Takahiko Yoshida is returning as the character designer, and Kenichiro Suehiro and MAYUKO are returning to compose the music. The anime will also feature a returning cast. The cast is singing the opening theme song "Go! Go! Saibō Festa!" (Go! Go! Cell Festa). The duo ClariS is performing the ending theme song "Fight!!."

The first television anime of the original manga premiered in July 2018 and aired for 13 episodes. Aniplex of America streamed the series on Crunchyroll, and Funimation added the show in February. The company released the anime on Blu-ray Disc with an English dub in August 2019. A new anime special aired in December 2018, and Crunchyroll is streaming the special.

Crunchyroll will begin streaming the Cells at Work! Code Black anime on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. EST in North America, Central America, South America, The Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Ireland, and South Africa.

The anime premiered on January 9. The anime airs right after the second season of the main Cells at Work!! anime for the "Cells at Work! Hour." Funimation is streaming the anime as it airs in Japan.

Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga, and it describes the story:

In this new spinoff of the hit manga, a newbie Red Blood Cell is one of 37 trillion working to keep this body running. But something's wrong! Stress hormones keep yelling at him to go faster. The blood vessels are crusted over with cholesterol. Ulcers, fatty liver, trouble (ahem) downstairs... It's hard for a cell to keep working when every day is a CODE BLACK!

The manga and anime Cells at Work!! showed you what happens when a young, healthy body gets in trouble... but what if the body wasn't so young, and was never very healthy? This new take stars a fresh-faced Red Blood Cell and his friend, the buxom White Blood Cell, as they struggle to keep themselves and their world together through alcoholism, smoking, erectile dysfunction, athlete's foot, gout... it's literal body horror! Whoever this guy is, he's lucky his cells can't go on strike!

Hideyo Yamamoto (Strike the Blood, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka) is directing the series at LIDEN FILMS. Hayashi Mori (The Snack World, Layton Mystery Tanteisha: Katori no Nazotoki File) is supervising and writing the series scripts. Eiji Abiko (Last Hope, Baby Blue) is designing the characters, and Yūgo Kanno (Psycho-Pass, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable) is composing the music. In addition to performing the opening theme song "Hashire! with Yamasaki Seiya (Kyūso Nekokami)" (Run!), the rock band POLYSICS is performing the ending theme song "Ue o Mukaite Hakobō with Sekkekkyū/Hakkekkyū" (Look Up and Carry on with Red/White Blood Cells" with lead cast members Junya Enoki and Yōko Hikasa.

Source: Crunchyroll (link 2)