Cells At Work! - Episode 2 (Review)
By: MithrandielMiss our previous review of Cells At Work? You can find it here!
Summary
When our directionally-challenged Red Blood Cell (RBC) gets lost once again, a more experienced RBC volunteers to help her find her way. Suddenly, they hear the familiar sound of the Platelets, quite possibly the cutest incarnation of the series so far.
After overcoming the harrowing challenge of a set of stairs, the platelets take on the task of washing and preparing fibrin - a tool used for when they have to cover or repair damage to the skin.
RBC and her guide leave them to their work, discussing the fact that things seem so "peaceful" in this town near the surface of the skin. Of course, just as they're reflecting on the quiet day, a massive explosion rocks the city! Blood cells go flying, sucked into the vast crater now formed in the middle of the city.
White Blood Cell rushes to the rescue of RBC just as she's about to get sucked through the Abrasion, and from then on it's a frantic battle against an onslaught of germs as they make their way through the new vulnerability in the skin!
Leading the charge is a particularly nasty Staph-based germ. Having heard rumors about the pneumonia bug that was squashed in the last episode (do germs get together and gossip at bars or something?) she claims to have done all the necessary research to make their invasion as smooth as possible. Unfortunately for them, they failed to account for something very important: the platelets!
With the abrasion clotted, and no new germs invading, the white blood cells quickly finish off the straggling infections. As everyone breathes a sigh of relief, the platelets then get to work gathering up blood cells to cover the massive clot!
Savage!
Review
I'm really torn about Cells At Work! On the one hand, it's thoroughly entertaining and (from what I've seen/read) accurate to the point of being educational. Not only that, the battles are among some of the more intense that we've seen so far in the Summer series. Who knew that blood cells had so much blood in them?At the same time, there's no real over-arching plot to connect the characters to one another as of yet. Sure, it seems as though RBC has a crush on the White Blood Cell, but other than that it's just one educational opportunity after another, punctured (haha) with dramatically violent combat.With that said, everything else is pretty solid. Striking character designs, great animation quality, well-delivered humor that occasionally causes you to grin ear to ear...an all around well made series aside from the fact that it sometimes feels thin from a narrative standpoint.The more I think about it, the more I feel that the disjointed, episodic nature would do better in a shorter format: 2-5 minute episodes seem like they could really deliver solid entertainment more reliably. Still, we've only got a couple episodes behind us so far. Maybe they can tie things together and create a broader, more compelling plot.Until then, it's definitely worth a watch if for no other reason than to press your emotional reset button. We'll be keeping our eyes on this one!
