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... EST. ⏎ How was the first episode? ⏎Nick Creamer ⏎ Rating: 3 ⏎ I'm a little confused by Cells at Work! On the one hand, in aesthetic and narrative , this was a very competently constructed premiere. On the other hand, I'm still not sure I could tell you what audience Cells at Work! is for, or even necessarily which of its qualities appeal to that audience in the first place. Cells at Work! had a pretty well-executed first episode, but I'm not personally all that compelled to watch more, and am still not sure I understand its actual appeal. ⏎ The show's premise is that we're taking a deep dive into a specific human's body, where all their cells and bodily functions are anthropomorphized and represented through little human characters and giant warehouse structures. This visual illustration of all the body's functions was definitely one of this episode's stronger qualities, but I kinda felt like the joke had run its course by the end, and in spite of the characterization feeling pretty kid-friendly, I couldn't imagine children actually learning anything from this production. The show's depiction of our internal workings is creative, but too fanciful to really map to any actual biological knowledge. ⏎ Depicting the body interior as a giant factory was only one of this episode's big tricks, though. This episode also introduces us to one specific red blood cell who's new on the job, and her evolving friendship with a white blood cell, as well as their collective fights against an invasive bacteria, form the bulk of this episode's content. In of that fight, this episode consistently demonstrated some wonderfully fluid animation, and built naturally to a fairly climactic resolution. That was all well and good, but the fact that all these conflicts centered on characters who were less “characters” than “gimmicky humanizations of impersonal bodily functions” meant it was very difficult to invest in the “relationship” between our two leads, or feel like either of them were ever in truly meaningful peril. ⏎ On the whole, Cells at Work!'s premiere is lifted by a variety of noteworthy formal qualities, but its fundamentally arbitrary premise made it almost impossible for me to actually care about its characters, and this episode at least failed to convince me it could rise above that gimmick. Its art design and animation are pretty sharp and this episode tells a fine enough story, though, so if this particular faux-educational experience sounds like a fun time, absolutely give it a shot. ⏎ James Beckett ⏎ Rating: 3.5 ⏎ I...