First Impressions / Hataraku Saibou

“Erythroblasts and Myelocytes”


「赤芽球と骨髄球」 (Akamekyuu to Kotsuzuikyuu)

So it wasn’t merely the story behind White Blood Cell (WBC), as I had anticipated the previous week. We got the complete package of Blood Cells: The Origination! When Red Blood Cell (RBC) reminisced about her time in the bone marrow nursery, it turns out she had already met WBC. As a wee little lass who accidentally stumbled across a bacterium, WBC had previously saved her life, even earning himself the moniker of onii-chan! We know the WBC + RBC pairing has been aggressively shipped, but now I’m starting to feel slightly uncomfortable with all this cell-cest. That said, it seems a bit convenient how she is unable to connect WBC in the present to that young chap from the past. But my head-canon is perfectly fine with assuming that he’s perfectly aware that she is his imouto from before – hence why he always seems to be there for her, like a protective guardian from the shadows.

Then we had NK cell show up out of nowhere, completely flooring Killer T with a two footed stomp. As far as first impressions go she wow’d my socks off! I loved how she took no nonsense, squabbled with Killer T in such a petty way, before indisputably proving her top dog status by wrecking his established hardass in single combat. However, it wouldn’t be Hataraku Saibou if we didn’t have a regular dose of things going wrong in the body. It seems like budget Touma has been harbouring an unfortunate secret all this time, one significant enough to destroy the world of Hataraku Saibou as we know it to be – he is a cancer cell. With how little preview we are getting, and ominous music replacing the usual tune, we know that shit is about to go down. And it only makes sense. This was a relatively ‘easy to animate’ episode if you know what I mean, so they’ve probably transferred manpower and resources into making the next episode. A prelude to the tumultuous storm is in motion. And you know what? I’ll be waiting bated breath on the edge of my seat, fully prepared to witness pure epicness that David Productions are going to pump out of the pipeline.

Full-length images: 6.

26 Comments

    2. Sickle RBC are deformed to not being able to hold as much O2 as normal RBC. Sickle Cell is actually an survival adaptive mechanism to malaria. The recessive carrier of that gene is highly resistant to being infected by malaria parasites.

      BigFire
      Reply

  2. now the spoiler is out of the bag…
    I hate being right.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DO0kxKMHIA
    thats how i felt when they revealed “Touma” true identity as cancer cell.
    I guess they are following old adage
    “series is best started with earthquake, and then tension should only rise”
    brace yourself for impact
    shit truck is about to hit turbofan engine

    and regarding cell-cest… I am willing to forget it since cells technically can’t reproduce bwtween them (apart from the obvious ones used in real procreation, but I bet we wont be seeing any of them)

    also I loved every bit of NK cell screentime
    she’s badass chick with a sword

    ewok40k
    Reply

    2. If they ever get around to doing season 2, the budget Touma will actually get to also voice the normal cell, since they’re using the exact same voice actor for both Cancer and Normal Cell. The normal cell is the central character in the Common Cold chapter and takes the place of RBC AE 3803 as the audience surrogate in the volume 5 of the manga where they actually have one continuous story arc across 5 chapters.

      BigFire
      Reply

  7. I can’t with this. Why? Why does this anime have to be even cuter than it already is?? Now we need a Erythrocyte plushie! And now we also know they are long lost childhood friends and they don’t know it!

    And for those who only follow the anime, there’s a REASON the preview at the end doesn’t show new footage like usual. We are in for some MAJOR drama next week!

    starss
    Reply

  11. As a biologist, I honestly have a problem with the use of “cancer cell”… It gives to the misconception that cancer originates from only one pathway. There are many different types of cancers that develop in different types of cells and how that cancer behaves diffes a lot depending of the type of cancer and type of cell. I know they have to simplify things… But oversimplification leads to miss information…
    I am losing my original excitement on this series… 🙁

    Asoch_3
    Reply

      1. And what way is it? I actually didn’t have a problem with the way they explained random mutation and copying mistakes in the DNA. But random mutation doesn’t only lead to cancer. Most cells with random mutations don’t even develope into cancer. Random mutations also give rise to evolution… Also, did you know that not all cancers metastasize? A good doctor will not tell you: “Sir, I am very sorry you have cancer cells”. They would tell you “Sir you have a melanoma, carcinoma, etc.” If your doctor tells you: “you have cancer cells”… then go to another doctor.

        There are different categories of cancer cell, defined according to the cell type from which they originate.[2]

        Carcinoma, the majority of cancer cells are epithelial in origin, beginning in the membranous tissues that line the surfaces of the body.
        Leukaemia, originate in the tissues responsible for producing new blood cells, most commonly in the bone marrow.
        Lymphoma and myeloma, derived from cells of the immune system.
        Sarcoma, originating in connective tissue, including fat, muscle and bone.
        Central nervous system, derived from cells of the brain and spinal cord.
        Mesothelioma, originating in the mesothelium; the lining of body cavities.

        If it is a show about immunity they should have an immonologist help them or at least use Wikipedia. The big bang has physicists and neurobiologist. That’s all… Now go enjoy the world filled of random mutations in which we exist…

        Asoch_3
        Reply

    2. After which it’s up to the audience to search further into the topic if they remain interested. We all knew from the beginning that the anime could only do so much (by which they’ve done a decent job so far IMO). It’s no big deal at the end of the day.

      yoloalchemist
      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *