What’s the show? Cells At Work!, Episode 12.
And what’s this episode about? This is the penultimate episode—part one of a two part season finale—and the first half of the episode kind of gets off to a slow start and I was a little bit confused about why we were having AE3803 introduce her new kohai (junior) to literally everyone who’s ever been on the show. I mean not that it’s not absolutely adorable watching AE3803 getting flustered and perturbed by how cool, calm and collected her kohai is but I was ~kind of~ struggling to see the point—and then shit got real…
Oh? Like something out of a disaster movie a bomb goes off, the shockwave evaporating buildings and sending debris flying—the whole place goes into a panic as bodies are strewn everywhere and alarms are sounding.
Oh no, what’s happened? Well the body has taken life-threatening injuries to the head region and as a result everything is bad—the immune cells are being deployed to the site of the incident to make sure germs don’t get in, and the platelet’s are being mobilised, meanwhile blood pressure is skyrocketing meaning our protagonist and her new junior are finding themselves in uncharted territory.
So how’s this ‘serious turn of events’ justify the low-key start aside from being a contrast? Well for one thing it kind of comes out of nowhere, sure we knew something bad was about to happen by virtue of the episode’s title but I don’t think anybody expected it to this extent. Not only that the seriousness of the tone kind of hits hard—like it’s not mucking around, this is legitimately devastating and confusing and terrifying for the cells, which brings me to probably the most important part at least from a character point of view.
And what’s that? Despite all the chaos, AE3803 remains calm and collected—almost the opposite of what she normally is, while her kohai is all manner of panicked. And it’s not just some out-of-character change for AE3803, she’s been through this to varying extents—she’s practically a veteran by this stage, so it makes sense that she’s composed in the face of this emergency.
Anything else you wanted to add? Before all the ~shit~ went down, there’s a moment where White Blood Cell looks back at Red Blood Cell and it was such shameless ‘ship bait but I still loved it! My new goal for this series is for Red and White to share a kiss by the end of the season, maybe I’m expecting too much but I want it so bad now!
Uh-huh, so how’s the episode overall? Probably one of my favourites, if only because the dramatic shift between light-hearted episode and super-serious episode was pulled off with such gravitas and flawless execution that it was hard not to be awed—hopefully next week’s conclusion will be just as excellent!
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
There’s No Place Like Bone – Episode 6 Review
A Cell On Death Row – Episode 7 Review
Taken To Heart – Episode 8 Review
A Tough T-Cell – Episode 9 Review
Over Staphed – Episode 10 Review
A Heat Stroke Of Good Luck – Episode 11 Review
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Anime QandA 
I completely agree. This episode was probably my favorite as well. I was very surprised at the incredible dark tone that all of a sudden enteres this usually happy go lucky series. Not even the episodes when the body was dealing with cancer were as dark as this one. Now…hopefully things are going to end on a positive note. I mean…it will right?
Oh…and I’m with you, I also want to see those two share that kiss 😊
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As much as a dark ending would be a surprise I think it’ll be a happy one.
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This was a really nice episode. I am with you in wanting white to kiss red. It won’t happen but if someone does a fan-made version of it I will be ridiculously happy.
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You never know, they seemingly added more platelet stuff due to fan reactions so anything could happen! (Ps I don’t know if they actually added it in last minute due to fan reaction I’m just assuming.)
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I would not be surprised if the show ended with “the world” ending. The show has been matter of fact throughout about possibilities, but I think we all know the end condition for every person. I don’t know if it’ll go there, but it’s possible.
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There’s no way that’s going to be the ending. Like I’m willing to bet money on the fact that it’ll be a happy ending.
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