I can’t imagine Cells at Work! getting any grander than a fight with cancer so having a reprieve from all the shenanigans seems appropriate right now. Honestly, I almost took it for granted that all Red needs to do for a living is deliver items to people so perhaps it’s a good thing to remind audiences that this job can be done without such violent and absurd interruptions.
Spicing things up is the use of Red and White’s chemistry. For today, Red has decided that she’ll finally get to her destination without anyone else’s help for the first time in her career. She even exudes a fiery aura to prove her point. Unbeknownst to her, White keeps a clandestine eye on her to make sure nothing bad happens. It’s an amusing song and dance as we see Red persevere through the heart while White secretly recovers items she accidentally loses and stealth kill germs that’ll get in her way. To be honest, I’m stunned White even manages to pull this plan off. There are times where he seems almost as bad as stealth as Red is at navigation. Plenty of nearby cells grow suspicious of him and it says something about an trained assassin if a group of adorable children catch him in the act. Never underestimate the Platelets.
While I wouldn’t say Cells is the most nuanced anime out there, the human body is admittedly a great metaphor for social commentary. If you think about it, we’re all walking societies ourselves as we’re composed of trillions of cells all working together to keep you going. In the case of this specific episode, there’s some truth to White’s speech about Red’s hard work. While it’s true that no Red Blood Cell is good at fighting, that doesn’t make their hard work any less valid. Delivering resources to other cells helps keeps this society functioning; their duties are just as important as any other cell’s. And while Red isn’t the best at her job, she’s still determined to get it done and that diligence and perseverance is worth acknowledging.
Other Thoughts:
- I love that glucose is visualized as ice cream. Lucky Red Blood Cells.
- Why the Heart has a distinctly Eastern look to it eludes me a bit. The Yin and Yang symbol, however, kind of fits with the the conversion of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
- There’s been some tweets pointing out that Red’s ahoge is a nod to sickle red blood cells and I find that to be a really neat detail if that is the case. It may also fit with her being lost all the time unlike the other red blood cells.
Thanks for reading!
Watch Cells at Work! on Crunchyroll
Read My Cells at Work! Reviews
Support the Blog via:
Find Me At:
Xenodude's Scribbles 