U-1196

U-1196 is one of the two protagonists of Cells at Work! BLACK. She is a Neutrophil in a poorly maintained body that is subject to high stress, inadequate exercise, and imbalanced nutrition.

Appearance
U-1196 has white hair, clothes and skin. Her hair is loose and long, it reaches past her shoulders. In some volume cover art and color pages, her hair is shaded a pale blue.

Her uniform consists of her White Blood Cell cap, a loose coat-like uniform with sleeves that reach the elbow (she has no undershirt or garments underneath, which appears to be the norm for neutrophils in U-1196's origin body), a pair of white pants, high top sneakers, and fingerless MMA gloves. Her main weapon is a katana. The vest that contains the L-selectin and radar functions is worn outside of her shirt, across her lower back.

Personality
U-1196 is very set on her mission and never complains about the hardships of working in the bad work conditions or the poor treatment they receive, but still appreciates support and shows respect to other cells. She is described as a "heroic elder sister" who works hard for the sake of her mission. Though an overall a calm and caring cell, she has the tendency to be critical of herself and overwork. She displays a fierceness and relentlessness in combat that is not evident in her demeanor in casual circumstances. She is good friends with two unidentified neutrophil soldiers, and with the erythrocyte AA2153.

After being tranfused into a new body with even worse conditions, U-1196 quickly earns the trust of the local neutrophils due to her fearlessness and tireless work ethic, and she soon becomes their leader. J-1178 initially assumes U-1196 is cold and unsympathetic to how overworked the neutrophils are, but later realizes that she is trying to be proactive against even more dire threats to the body. She comes to regard U-1196 as a mentor and partner, and calls her "big sister" out of respect. The two band together in what is hailed as "the strongest partnership", and prove to be a formidable duo in battle. U-1196 is often the first on the scene in a crisis, and encourages her fellow neutrophils to never stop fighting.

Abilities
She is generally equipped with a katana. As a neutrophil, she can:
 * Overall Abilities: As one of the most abundant white blood cells, she can terminate any kind of harmful cells to the body such as bacteria.
 * Phagocytosis: White blood cells can analyze an unknown foreign cell by eating them which will help them identify its species.
 * Receptor: All neutrophils have a receptor that acts like a radar which alerts them whenever a threat is near.
 * Wandering Cell: A cell that is not fixed in place and able to move freely around the blood vessel.
 * Transmigrate: Ability to move through blood vessel walls to reach her destination much faster.

Trivia

 * When asked where her number is, she said it is written on the underside of her shirt. When she offered to show it, AA2153 stopped her out of embarrassment.
 * The "96" in her number can be read in goroawase as "kuro", which translates to "black" in Japanese.
 * It is the opposite of U-1146's number, which ends with "46" (read as "shiro"; white).

Reference
U-1196