As we've spent the last several months living through a Pandemic, it only seems fitting to watch a Show about how the human body works.
Instead of the pesky Magic School Bus, I chose Cells At Work!, an Anime currently on Netflix.
It's...weird. Let me just get into it...
The Show has a fun, quirky way of being both very literal and very loose with the facts.
Red Blood Cells carry nutrients through the body in real life, so they carry picnic baskets full of food in the Show!
Despite being important to the body, these Cells are kind of useless for anything else.
What happens when the body has to fight infections (represented as monsters)?
They call upon White Blood Cells, who are basically trained Commandos armed with knives and nerves of steel!
One of them befriends a Red Blood Cell, since every Show has to have a 'Sam & Diane.'
Other Cells you will see include T-Cells, Memory Cells and, best of all, the Platelets.
They are represented by adorable little kids with flags and spunky spirits. Wacky.
Every Episode deals with an ailment of some kind, be it Hearburn, Seasonal Allergies or worse.
To be educational, they stop the Show cold every time they need to explain the Science.
The Show Episodes are mostly one-and-done, but they do give a nice 2-Part Finale.
The biggest question I still have after 13 Episodes- if they are Cells (including Blood Cells), then what are they covered in every time they 'kill' a Virus?
It is weird. It is silly. It is a bit formulaic. Even so, I kind of love it. The Show has a strange kind of charm that is just hard to ignore. Most of the Episodes are one-and-done stories involving some sort of Virus/Infection that must be dealt with. They find a way to continually introduce new, different Cells that are needed to best each one. Supposedly the Science is pretty consistent here & the Show is recommended by some Teachers and Doctors for kids to learn. As an Adult, I pretend like I know more, but I really don't. Regardless of how much they get things right or wrong, the Show has plenty of fun with everything. Arguably the weakest Episodes are the 2 ones they do that are separate Flashback Episodes. It is a pretty common thing in Shows like this, but I could have done without them. The second one was especially unnecessary as it was just showing how two different Cells- who are C-Level Characters- were once friends. Yea? I do continue to wonder what the blood-like substance we see all of the time coming out of the Viruses/Creatures is. Is there a smaller world of Cells that make up the blood that ends up coating Blood Cells inside of the body? Regardless of the logic, it allows them to be way over-the-top with the violence, since they aren't real things. It's the 'bloodiest' Kid's Show you'll ever see. Apparently we will get a Season 2 (in Japan) sometime early next Year and a Rule 63 spin-off Show called Cells at Work!: Black later. Why not?
If your love Anime or are a casual fan (like I am), give the Show a try. It's fun, wacky and kind of heartwarming in a twisted kind of way.
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