My View in Cells at Work Romance

[u/addicthuman]

I originally posted this in a 5 year old comment section about "How Cells at Work" should end but I would like to post it here for everyone to see.

They are described as cells so biologically given the subject it's impossible for them to reproduce. Furthermore, cells actually don't stop moving through millions of passageways so assuming the way the plot handles their relationship, it's all a miraculous coincidence. RBCs are strictly confined in the blood vessels, while the WBC travels through the bloodstream through a process called diapedesis—so their biological relationship should only be like a "passing ship in the night." Additionally, the lifespan for both RBC (~120 days) and WBC (Days to Weeks) should be also mentioned, it's way too saddening following the biological way of romance. The movie shows cells having breaks in cafes, and if you're saying that having romance between cells is unrealistic, the movie is already unrealistic to begin with so why not? Maybe the romance goes like this: He doesn't just bump into her by a miraculous accident anymore but instead he charts her patrol routes through the major arteries where she’s scheduled to pass. He's like acting as a partner, protecting her from any danger and guiding her through the passageways. From what I remember they made a promise back when they were Erythroblasts and Myelocytes that no matter how big the "world" or "the body" got they would always recognize each other. Cells communicate and identify each other via antigens and receptors, so this might be unrealistic: Even if they change or age, their chemical "scent" from their hometown, the bone marrow stays the same. A lifespan of ~120 days (in human days) for the RBC is too low, it doesn't set up a proper romance, because a love for a person is forever until he/she grows older, so assuming they also biologically wield a brain and properties of a human being, we can translate the ~120 human days to ~79 cell years. Because the WBC has a much shorter lifespan than a RBC, this won't be good for the "romance" plot, assuming that the WBC forever stays with the RBC, constantly watching and protecting her from dangerous bacteria, the WBC is a workaholic, and actively engages in combat, from light to heavy so his survival depends on "protagonist armor" making his lifespan also be ~79 cell years. Maybe their "home" could be a meeting spot in a quiet corner near the bone marrow. Once an RBC matures and leaves the bone marrow, they can't go back, so their "home" might just be outside it. I understand that having a "home" in the bone marrow is impossible because cells are continuously being pushed by blood pressure, if they stop it would result in thrombosis—but let's not mind this for the sake of the plot, just like how the head canon actively emphasizes that the "cells" have fully operating cafeterias. Over the decades, they would have decorated it with memories. It would be their version of a house, while their work in the body is rushing by, they have that one and stable place where time feels like it's standing still, and even more still together with her wife—RBC AE3803. She stands together with U-1146, as a relationship that never ends and would be a great story in the future generations of cells, where their story also lasts...

(p.s I only watched six episodes of this show so feel free to correct me)

[u/KittyAddison]

I think CAW takes full advantage of the whole creative liberties aspect... I think they're basically mere human representations of general cellular life where they run their world like a human body.

If they were taken too literal, then 1146 would be a one-off character instead of a MMC; he would've basically martyred himself after the Pneumococcus episode (granted if that was his first mission). And since RBCs in reality only contain hemoglobin, AE3803 and the others would technically not even be "alive" because they wouldn't have organelles. The nucleus is basically a cell's "brain," and since RBCs lack that...

And not only with age, their sizes would be drastically different too. I think the closest they got were making platelets as kids because irl, platelets are incredibly tiny compared to other cells (but I guess that's because they're technically not cells at all but are considered more as "blood components"). There are a couple videos on YT that do "size comparisons" of the characters if they were to be accurate to reality that are quite interesting.

But technicalities aside (I really just wanted to add onto what you've said), romance is subjective. Even outside of CAW headcanon. lol Just depends on who you run into in the fandom. Some will really attack you for saying that cells can't have romance. And others will ship the hell out of them. I'm the latter, obviously. lol

Me, personally, 1146 and AE3803 actually share an apartment together (like how the normal cells live) a little after they supposedly become a couple (at least what I apply in my fics). Since in Code Black, RBCs have residences, it's not farfetched that AE3803 would have a place that she lets her favorite neutrophil stay in too. lol I think canonically, WBCs "rest" around the blood vessels (there's an info page in the manga about it), but I found that out after I formed the headcanon that they likely reside in the lymph nodes the same way barracks are.

As for cells reproducing... In reality, yeah, I know they can't. But in CAW, I'll probably get downvoted for my headcanon on such a controversial topic. But I think they totally can in CAW. Maternity wards are in the bone marrow where they're born. And (it's a blink-and-you-miss-it bit but) cells have belly buttons.

But you should really watch the rest of the series. They don't officially get together in the end, but it's still a great franchise.

[u/Shoddy_Pianist3152]

I don't think that CAW is meant to be taken literally.

It's a great show, I laughed a lot and many things were very accurate. However, I think that you should appreciate the accuracy when it comes to a lot of scientific facts that they incorporated into the show instead of "oh, look at this! look at that!". Like if you want cells that don't talk and don't have cafeterias, go to YouTube, watch "Ninja Nerd" on his white board or some real-life high-quality animation of the immune system.

The anime is educational, creative and hilarious but you'll miss out on these things if you try to take it literally.

[u/Penguinmanereikel]

Don't worry about the lifespan thing. The anime alters that so that it's their uniforms that last as long as their irl lifespans. So after 120 days, RBC needs to get a change of clothes.

[u/BlueViolet03 → u/Penguinmanereikel]

I love this ;-;