English Dub Review: Cells at Work: Code Black “The Liver, Alcohol, and Pride”

Overview:

It’s the second episode and things aren’t looking much better for the rookie red blood cell. He’s tired, overworked, and almost gets killed by a Macrophage (Suzie Yeung). He and his fellow rookies get more work thrust upon them so they can “learn the ropes” a bit easier. When taking a delivery of oxygen to the mouth all hell breaks loose.

Due to a canker sore, the whole area is on fire, and after it bursts bacteria floods in. Thanks to the appearance of the white blood cell all is well though. As a way of coping, alcohol is ingested (we’ve all been there) and the red blood cells need to be detoxified. They go to the liver to let loose since it is kind of like the nightlife area. Here hepatocytes act like your typical hostess and get the red blood cells what they need to unwind. Their senpai passes away in the arms of a hepatocyte coming full circle so they see what possibly awaits them in the future.

Our Take:

I do not mean this in a bad way but at the very least if you end up not liking this show you will definitely learn something. Sure it puts a cutesy, and fun anime spin on most things but a lot of it is still pretty accurate. I feel like every episode is going to make me something like this but man I feel bad for our cells. I have to say between this and the main series I am constantly impressed with their unique take on different bodily functions which makes me even more excited for next week’s episode.

A canker sore that causes inflammation was shown as literally setting the cells in the mouth on fire. To try and alleviate this the person begins to gargle mouthwash, which almost washes red blood cell away! Then the person begins to drink alcohol as well which is shown as a fire sprinkler would work at an office building. Our red blood cell has finally had enough! Luckily, there’s an older red blood cell who wants to treat them to a break.

He takes them to the liver so they can meet with Hepatocyte (Lauren Landa) to try and metabolize the alcohol. They are given drinks that would look like alcohol to us but they are enzymes to break down alcohol. The cells get “drunk” from this but it’s actually the opposite? This was a little confusing but using hepatocyte’s as hostesses was a pretty funny way to sneak a hostess bar into a show about our cells. The characters are easy to relate to if you have ever been overworked at a job and know that stress.

I never thought there would be romance, let alone a possible love triangle in a show about cells. It seems like that might be the case though. Red Blood Cell definitely has a crush on White Blood Cell and of course, she shows up when he’s leaving Hepatocyte’s club right as she kisses him on the cheek too! I’m not super serious about the love triangle thing cause she’s a hostess, that’s just what they do. Plus, I don’t think White Blood Cell even noticed that or that Red Blood Cell has feelings for her. The romance fan in me wants this to go somewhere but something is telling me it won’t be anything but teased, this season at least.

Final thoughts are the show is interesting and it being the more adult take is definitely funny and more relatable. The preview for next week makes it look like the person will be having sex. So, I can only imagine how they show those functions going on, definitely looking forward to next week’s episode. All in all a fun episode but nothing special, though it does leave me wanting more which I think is a good thing.