“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” is an anime based on the “Scott Pilgrim” comic books, written by Bryan Lee O’Malley. In the series, released by Netflix in 2023, Edgar Wright, the original director for the “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” film returned to direct the show. It showcases the original actors from the movie reprising their roles. There are eight episodes in the series, each with an average run length of 30 minutes.
The series kicks off very similar to both the movie and the manga. It is almost a direct adaptation of the original Scott Pilgrim movie and first comic. It begins with an introduction of Scott Pilgrim and the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, as well as a few other characters. Characters, including his gay roomate, Wallace Wells, and the members of the band he’s in, Sex Bob-Omb. Scott also has a fake high school girlfriend, Knives Chau. After going on a date with Ramona, Scott invites her to the Rockit, where Sex Bob-Omb is playing. However, Matthew Patel, who is revealed to be one of Ramona’s ex-boyfriends, crashes the joint and challenges Scott to a battle for Ramona.
However, at the end of the first episode, instead of Scott Pilgrim winning the fight against Matthew Patel, Patel emerges as the victor for Ramona’s love. Scott is defeated, bursting into a pile of spare change. So, this is a form of Scott Pilgrim media where Scott is dead within the first episode.
I did not necessarily have any qualms about this change my first time watching the series. Actually, I liked it. The death of Scott allowed for the spotlight to switch over to Ramona and the relationship between her and her seven evil exes. Essentially, “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” is a show entirely independent of the manga and the movie, going on its own storyline that is meant to show the audience more of the characters that the other previously released media was able to.
The plotline of the series is Ramona interrogating her ex-partners to find Scott, who is revealed to have actually gone missing, rather than defeated. Ramona suspects one of her exes has stolen him.
The exes that the show primarily focuses on are Roxie Richter, Lucas Lee and Todd Ingram, respectively. Nothing is ever explored with the Katayanagi twins, who are Ramona’s fourth and fifth exes. This is yet another quarrel I have with the show; even with the exes it does focus on, only a select few actually get character development that make them more likeable and more understandable characters. Roxie gets some development, and I really enjoyed that, but the rest of the show does not really focus on Ramona´s relationship with her exes. It is all really brushed under the rug, especially with her ¨big¨ evil ex, Gideon Graves.
I believe the show really missed out on not doing anything with Gideon, who is known as Gordon Goose within the series. While ¨Scott Pilgrim Takes Off¨ has officially announced they´ve been renewed for a second season, I still believe they could´ve had a plotline with Gideon and Ramona with the first season. I do not know what is in store for season two with their relationship, but I feel as though within the first season a lot more could´ve been done with Gideon´s character rather than just revealing a part of his backstory. Nothing is truly touched on about his manipulative and controlling persona that is present in both the movie and comics.
However, I did really enjoy the animation and the visual style of the TV show. It mimicked the style of the comics and had plenty of amazing and really cool visual effects that made each of the characters pop on screen. The music within this series was also on par with the original movie, ¨Scott Pilgrim vs. the World¨, reprising ¨Black Sheep¨ sung by Brie Larson, who voices Envy Adams.
Yet, the rest of the show tends to blabber on with subplots that tend to undermine character’s original personalities from the movie and comic. The show also barely even acknowledges Scott’s relationship with Knives and the fact that she is in high school, which was a key part of his development in the comics. Wallace mentions it a few times, urging Scott to break up with her, but Scott goes missing before he can even acknowledge Knives.
Overall, I think that these characters could have been done a lot better than they were. I enjoyed the visuals and animation of the show and I thought it was done beautifully. I was just disappointed at the execution of the characters and their backstories.