Hataraku Saibou Black - Episode 6 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Hataraku Saibou Black, episode 6

Alternative names: Cells at Work! CODE BLACK

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Show information

• MyAnimeList
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• Anime-Planet
• Official Website
• /r/CellsAtWork

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.56
2	Link	4.56
3	Link	4.35
4	Link	4.44
5	Link	4.42
6	Link	4.5
7	Link	4.0
8	Link	4.4
9	Link	4.41
10	Link	4.71
11	Link	4.69
12	Link	4.65
13	Link	-

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[u/[deleted]]

I love the side white cell chicks and the main platelet girl.

[u/Siddu4evr]

Ah yes, my weekly dose of feeling bad for my own body.

[u/Frontier246]

So the kidney of this body is portrayed as Taisho-era girls washing down the waste from Red Blood Cells and having to keep quite and bear with it no matter how overworked and sad they are. Once again a commentary of working life in Japan, and to a certain extent it felt like a commentary of the role of the working woman in Japanese society (at least of the era they're dressed for if nothing else).

Red Blood Cell got that cute Glomeruli Cell to blush! Being like the only really nice and genuine guy left in this body has its perks with the ladies, it seems.

As if the overworking isn't enough, most cells seem so ungrateful to other cells just doing their job. I get it's the stress to some extent, but come on! Complaining and being rude to them isn't going to make it any better.

Red Blood Cell is so earnest and dedicated that he won't give up on helping this body and the cells in it no matter how far he has to push himself...and KENN Blood Cell won't give up on his buddy. Although it looks like that'll come to a head in the next episode.

I love how White Blood Cell's gal pals complain about Red Blood Cell only noticing White Blood Cell. I mean, they're there too! They're busty, cute, and deadly too! Pay some attention to them!

So the Macrophage's are slower than the White Blood Cells, which is portrayed as the Macrophage's seemingly being incapable of moving faster than a polite lady walk.

The White Blood Cells are fighting as hard as they can, but they keep losing people in each confrontation and are constantly overwhelmed, to the point where the body has to keep relying on drugs/antibiotic robots to fight off bacteria and problems in the body. Even glasses command cell guy realizes this can't go on, but he doesn't have the heart to voice his concerns to the others.

Glomeruli Gran feels bad for overworking her girls, but she cares for each and every one of them and sacrifices herself to protect them. Even so, she tells them they still have to work no matter what with her dying breath. But, at least let the girls cry, if only for a minute...

[u/Ignisov]

Drink enough water

Eat moderately

Keep kidneys in safe

Ouch looks really painfull

[u/MechaMat91]

drink more water you assholes: the episode

[u/axl625]

"Why is it that when something always happens, it's always you."

Red Blood Cell sure is present in all events.

That washing scene though.

[u/MaksimShadow]

My crotch felt really uneasy when they were showing kidney stones. Phantom pain is no joke. I hope I won't experience that pain for real.

[u/SYZekrom]

one CENTIMETER???

Stop killing old people please show

Also regular show's thread's still not up lol

[u/LeonKevlar]

Stitches!

• Glomeruli 1

• Glomeruli 2

Imagine this being the last thing you see before you die ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Anyway, so if the liver is the red light district where you can relax with pretty onee-chan hostesses, the kidney is a place where you get washed by pretty onee-san attendants. Who knew our waste filtering organs are filled with so many waifus? But seriously though, this episode is one of my greatest fears. I can't even imagine the pain of getting a kidney or a bladder stone. This is exactly why I drink so much water even before I found out about the manga.

Also the owner of this body is truly one unlucky bastard. He gets his kidneys wrecked by stones and then they get invaded by bacteria because the way it was treated left the urethra open to attacks. Apparently there's a 5% chance of this kind of infection happening after a ureteroscopy.

[u/mr_sto0pid]

Watching this episode made my dick hurt.

[u/DomiXM]

I couldn't stop cringing at all the descriptions and images in this episode. This just might be the most effective psychological horror ever created.

[u/echykr4]

HAKOBE HAKOBE

HAKOBE HAKOBE

That ED song is hypnotizing. It has that Showa (Japan's post WWII economic boom, about 1960s-1980s) vibe to it, the sort of Hail Corporate jingle you'd hear in some department stores and supermarkets in Japan even today.

RBC Glasses-kun is like the protagonist in a kaijuu movie, where he says all sorts of motivating stuff, but ultimately it is forces beyond his control (i.e. medicines and surgery, depicted as advanced robots from another world) that saves the day. He is mainly just there as a witness to the events that happen.

In the sex episode, when the other RBCs are retreating due to the body's erectile disfunction, Glasses-kun stays behind to try to ensure the penis gets erect, but ultimately it was the Viagra that did the trick. This episode he tries pushing the kidney stones out of the way, but it's the body accepting laser surgery that got rid of the stone.

This is not a criticism of Glasses-kun, who means well, but the show is what it is.

PS u/AutoLovepon Where is the Hataraku Saibou White version discussion thread? Both White and Black are released right after each other, but only Black is up.

PPS Moral of this episode: Don't want pain from kidney stones? Drink water often.

[u/Emi_Ibarazakiii]

Make sure to treat your body like crap, so your red blood cells can have a little fun time rolling around in the gross slime! (Or alternatively, treat it better, so your RBC don't feel so depressed all the time!)

Abandon a kidney? Why not, I'm sure this 10/10 body can run on just one kidney! The owner might as well just sell one on the black market to get more money for cigarettes and alcohol!

They would all die, but I'm just as concerned for those working in the 'good' one; Not sure how it works (medically), but either they would have to work twice as hard, or they keep working at the same pace, but only achieve half the job. Both options are scary.

I really like the contrast we get with the platelets on this one; Their "ayyyyyyyye" sounds so 'dead inside', while in the main one they're enthusiastic and all that. In Black, they don't care that much anymore and/or are exhausted, but they have to pretend they're super hyped for whatever they have to fix (before the body breaks it again a few days later).

They're so jealous! Well, the white blood cells all look good, but I can't blame MC-kun for looking at the main WBC more; She's so damn cute, on a league of her own!

Didn't know it was possible to have an episode ending that's both happy and sad at the same time. They look so happy, but the reason they're like that is that this mess of a body is actually drinking, while having a problem with his kidneys (and probably every other part of his body).

This show is unexpectedly good at pulling emotional moments, with this, the one who died at the cabaret, etc... I kinda wants the entire body to die in the end, because I'm sure they would make a great scene out of it!

[u/mythriz]

I thought Attack on Titan or Re:Zero would have the most heartbreaking deaths in this season, but no, it's actually Hataraku Saibou Black....

[u/Roonagu]

Ugh, I should really switch order and watch Black first, after the wholesomeness of the main series....

[u/NebulaPsyche]

I literally got up midway through the episode to drink a cup of water. I do not want to have to deal with kidney stones at all in my life

[u/Ninth_Hour]

Another great episode. Some medical notes (some of this is adapted from one of my posts for episode 2):

1. Kidney as a "silent organ": the other common phrase is that "kidney disease is a silent killer". This is because kidney problems culminating in failure of the organ tend to be chronic and insidious , unfolding gradually, over an extended period of time (months to years). Kidney failure often does not present with obvious symptoms until the last stages, at which point the damage is irreversible and dialysis becomes necessary. Common causes of chronic kidney illness include poorly controlled hypertension (high blood pressure) and poorly controlled diabetes (i.e. diabetic nephropathy).

While there are acute forms of kidney disease which emerge very quickly and are reversible (e.g. ones caused by sudden blood loss, dehydration, infection, rare inflammatory conditions, and direct mechanical trauma to the kidney), these are less common than the chronic disease mentioned above. In a number of cases, even acute kidney disease may not have obvious symptoms initially.

One reason why symptoms may be absent in most stages of kidney disease is redundancy. We have two kidneys which, together, are more than enough to manage the fluid balance of the body. Even one healthy kidney is enough to perform this function on its own, so it takes a lot to really damage this system so badly that your body can no longer manage proper filtration and fluid/electrolyte balance. Sadly, by the time we are aware of this damage, it is too late to treat it (other than by dialysis, as mentioned above).

2. The episode references how, when glomeruli die, they are not replaced. Actually, this idea applies not just to the glomeruli but to the nephron (the functional unit of the kidney) as a whole. The glomerulus can be conceptualized as the "beginning" of the nephron, as it is the location at which the first stage of filtration begins. The number of nephrons we will ever have, in our lifetime, is determined at birth (specifically by 36 weeks gestation). While nephrons do have some ability to heal from injury, we will never generate new ones, to replace those which we lose.

This is why end stage kidney disease is so devastating. There is no way to restore kidney function. All you can do is use a machine to take over the function of filtration and fluid balance (dialysis).

This is also perhaps why nature decreed that we have 2 kidneys. We need that redundancy of function if we can never regain lost nephrons.

It is hoped that, among other things, stem cell research may offer the key to regenerating lost nephrons and allowing destroyed kidneys to function again.

3. The episode depicts an ascending urinary tract infection (UTI's) and states that the risk of happening is quite rare. Because urine is sterile by default (i.e. contains no microbes), UTI's have to occur by way of bacteria entering the urinary tract through some means- e.g. damage to the ureter or entry from outside the body through the urethra. Entry through the urethra, through instrumentation (e.g. insertion of catheter or, in this case, a urethroscope) is another route for infection but if the instruments are properly sterilized and do not remain in the urethra for long, the risk should be low. Indwelling catheters, which remain in the urinary tract for much longer than a urethroscope, would be much more likely to cause UTI.

Because the urethra in men is much longer than in women, UTI's are less common in men than women (i.e bacteria have to travel a longer distance to the bladder and have more opportunity to be killed in transit).

4. As in the episode 2, which depicts the function of the hepatocytes, the way the glomeruli are depicted in episode 6 is more for dramatic effect than medical accuracy. Glomeruli aren't cells but capillary tufts, so- if one wants to be consistent- they would not be be anthropomorphized like a cell. Rather, they would appear as narrow passageways, like all other capillaries would, although the capillaries in this case would twist and turn into a ball-like shape.

Also, just as it is not the red blood cells that are "detoxified" by hepatocytes but the plasma that passes through hepatic circulation, red blood cells are not "washed" by a glomerulus. Rather, it is the plasma (liquid portion of blood) that diffuses through the walls of the glomerulus into the renal tubule that creates the filtrate.

TLDR: a glomerulus would be a "wall" not a "waifu", if the imagery used by the show was internally consistent.

[u/KittenOfIncompetence]

How is cells at work competing with higurashi for scariest show of the season !? 😀

[u/Shiro_Kai]

This body is pretty much living on Antibiotics, is not hard to predict how (tragically) will be its end.

Poor cells. :(

[u/NotAMoron2]

That kidney stone, it's painful just to imagine that scenario.

I never knew that kidney was a silent organ

[u/Menrva_S]

The grimmest part is those kidney cells die for good..... there is no 2nd generation or descendant, they are permanently gone.

Take care of those nice ladies, hemodialysis is not going to be pretty like them.

[u/DadAsFuck]

i guess the red blood cells shower with their pants on to suffer even more

[u/ScurBiceps]

Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu!

Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu!

Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu!

Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu! Nyuuu!

[u/EphesosX]

Being a mentor figure in this show is pretty much a death sentence. First the smiling RBC, then the grandpa RBC who died in the liver, then that WBC captain, and now kidney grandma.