What’s the show? Cells At Work!, Episode 6.
So what over dramatised dastardly illness do the cells have to battle this week? Cancer.
Oh. Yeah…
I see… well that kinda puts a downer on this whole review… Well not exactly, the first half of the episode is a super light-hearted flashback to when AE3803 was just a kid living in bone marrow and if you thought Platelets were adorable—well they’re still the most adorable thing in anime but our protagonist Red Blood Cell is pretty damn close! Also White Blood Cell U-1146 knew her as a kid too and was (trying) to save her all the way back then too! But though she doesn’t remember the face of the boy who saved her so she can’t confirm the fact that they’re destined to be together!
Well I guess all Blood Cells do kinda look the same… Wow, that’s actually very racist I can’t believe you just said that!
Wait, no! What?! Just kidding. But yeah this flashback was ~probably~ unnecessary but it’s cuteness and adding the extra layer to their “relationship” felt like it was probably going to be important some time later… Or maybe they just wanted Cute Cells Doing Cute Things, either way I enjoyed it!
And so then the second half is about Cancer? Well~ kinda, more of a prologue to what will be the ‘main event’ next time—this episode is just setting it all up. Also it allows us to be introduced to a brand new character so they don’t have to bother with introductions in the next one and can just focus on beating that no-good disease!
Oh yeah? Who’s the new character? It’s the super powerful NK Cell whose whole job is seeking out dangerous viruses and cancer cells and she’s an absolute badass! And it’s great that we have a women kicking some butt here, while Macrophage had a few awesome moments early on most of the fighting in this series seems to be done by the muscular White Blood Cells and the super macho Killer T Cells. More powerful female fighting cells like NK Cell please! Also, obligatory “more Platelets” comment—because it wouldn’t be a review of Cells At Work without that!
So a good episode then? Yeah, the opening half was a nice change of pace for the episode, it even managed to squeak out a tear from me when little AE3803 was saying “bye bye” to U-1146 (so sweet!). Plus NK Cell is great and will make for a strong addition to the team. Yes it could be argued that it’s more of the same but it’s more of good same, and I’m not going to start complaining about that. It’s not like this is a hundred+ episode Shōnen series, it’s 13 episodes and we should all enjoy each one of them while we can because we’re sure as heck gonna miss it once it’s over!
Previous Cells At Work Reviews:
Who Knew Blood Cells Could Be So Attractive? – Episode 1 Review
Made In Abrasion – Episode 2 Review
World War Sneeze – Episode 3 Review
Codzilla – Episode 4 Review
Rise of the Medication – Episode 5 Review
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Anime QandA 
I’m really surprised that they are taking this show down that, what might become, a very dark road. Still…you are right, there is very little to complain about this series and it’s definitely been a lot of fun watching this so far. Oh yeah…before I forget: we need more platelets 😂😂
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As much as I’m not normally for slice of life, I could definitely get behind more segments of cute cells doing cute things just because. The first half of this episode was solid entertainment (and adorable). I really enjoyed the set up for next week as well though it seems like it will be a bit darker than what this show has delivered up until now.
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Yeah it was almost going for a horror-esque vibe which I guess is appropriate considering what cancer cells do to regular cells…
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I’m surprised they introduced cancer so early on here. I was thinking they might save that for “the end” so to speak, unless it continues to re-appear as an enemy throughout this second half of the season.
I liked this ep though because it was a change of pace. We got a backstory peace AND a cliffhanger for the next episode!
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Yeah that’s probably true about the recurring thing, I think cancer being what it is means it’s not going to be a simple thing to get rid of in just one episode.
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