Heaven's Design Team and How to be Educational and Entertaining.

Heaven's Design Team - Kodansha USA

Heaven's Design Team stands out initially with quirky setting in which god has outsourced the creation of animals to a  group of designers. This setting has many uses but it is perfect because it serves as a means to end for the author to do what he really wants to do with the series and that is explore the intricacies of the natural world. Consequently, every chapter has focus on a few animals, so it has no particular overarching story and the focus is specifically on the particularities of animals. 

The way god gives a certain comment of what he wants from the designers, in this context represents a way the author builds every chapter to have elements of surprise as well as comedy since the vague requests by god are transformed through various experimentation and prototypes until they somehow reach the shape of animals that actually exist. The reader throughout the chapter is kept guessing on what they could possibly be building from their propositions and various ideas until it comes to you. This component makes the series quite engaging as the reader actively follows the narrative and when the conclusion it reached, it is rather satisfying.

Heaven's Design Team - Example of prototype - Heaven's Design Team Anime Commitee

The series because of this exploration of the real natural world has a lot of educational value. In a way it is similar to Cells At Work, another work with an education edge. Heaven's Design Team differs in that it focuses not on the inside workings of the human body but on animals. For people like that have an interest in the natural world there is a lot in this series to enjoy.

The anime managed to capture the original work essence incredibly well. Apart from a few re arrangements in the chronology of the manga chapters, the anime was a 1 to 1 adaptation of the manga. It even added breaks at the middle of the anime to talk more in detail about the animal featured in the episode, a feature the manga also does at the end of every chapter. 

There is not much to complain here. Heaven's Design Team is an entertaining and educational manga which became a likewise a entertaining and educational anime. It is a series I would recommend to anyone even if they do necessarily have any interest in anime as long as they are interested in learning about animals and biomes.