Picture via Netflix
WARNING: Spoilers for the first episode of the series!!!
In 2004, writer and artist Bryan Lee O’Malley released the graphic novel “Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life,” which launched a story he would tell in six volumes over the next six years, going until 2010. In that same year of 2010 (after the release of the sixth issue), the series was adapted into the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which was directed by Edgar Wright. Both of these pieces of media have been considered modern classics by many due to their visuals, the over-the-top weirdness, their quirky mid-2000’s writing, and most importantly, their story, telling a tale of what love can be like in your 20s.
After years of waiting for new media from this franchise, O’Malley collaborated with BenDavid Grabinski, Japanese animation studio Science Saru, and Netflix to produce a new animated series adapting the almost 20-year-old story. Now with a more spread-out way to tell the story, O’Malley and Grabinski decided to expand on the world of Scott Pilgrim, and focus more on side characters while keeping the same core plot. The only thing is, we didn’t know what they changed until it was released, which leads us to the first episode.
It starts the same as any other version. Scott Pilgrim is in his 20s, he’s unemployed, the bassist of a band with aspiring songwriter Stephen Stills and the pessimistic Kim Pine, lives in a small apartment with his gay roommate Wallace Wells, and is dating a 17-year-old high schooler named Knives Chau. However, his life changes when he starts seeing this girl in his dreams. Scott becomes obsessed with this dream girl, until he finds out she’s real at a party. Her name is Ramona Flowers, she’s a mysterious girl from New York who delivers DVDs for Netflix (this takes place in the mid-2000s). They eventually talk and go on a date which goes really well, and Ramona is invited to Scott’s band’s gig the next day.
It is here where the mystery of Ramona is revealed: to date her, Scott must defeat all seven of her evil exes, which consist of a failed theater star who has magic powers, a famous action movie and skateboarding star, a superpowered vegan bassist, a lesbian ninja, a pair of super genius twins, and a billionaire evil mastermind (did I mention that this plot is absurd). So at the gig, her first ex, Matthew Patel, appears, and this is where the major shift in the plot happens, instead of winning the fight against Matthew, Scott loses and seemingly dies.
With Scott now out of the equation, the series now has time to focus on Ramona, as well as all the other characters I mentioned in the summary. This actually works very well, as we get to know more about the evil exes, who are given full-on personalities and backgrounds and each gets an episode focused around them. The characters closely related to Scott get more development than before as they try to deal with Scott’s sudden death, and while they hit the same story beats as before, they happen in completely different situations. This show keeps the same story ideas of how love in your twenties can be complicated, but it’s all about processing what went wrong, while also not running away and facing closure head-on, and the show does this very well.
Now to other things this series does well, first up in voice acting. Instead of getting new voice actors to play these characters, Edgar Wright (who is an executive producer of the show), texted the whole cast from his movie if they wanted to come back for the show, and they all said yes. So, this is a star-studded ensemble cast that features Michael Cera (Superbad, Barbie) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane, Fargo) as Scott and Ramona, Kieran Culkin (Igby Goes Down, Succession), Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Trolls), Brie Larson (Room, Captain Marvel), Alison Pill (Hail, Caesar!, Star Trek: Picard), Aubrey Plaza (Legion, The White Lotus), Johnny Simmons (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Mark Webber (Snow Day), and Ellen Wong (GLOW) as characters closely related to Scott, and the exes played by (in the order from earlier), Satya Bhabha (New Girl), Chris Evans (Captain America, Knives Out), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, Arrow), Mae Whitman (Arrested Development, Sisterhood), Julian Cihi (Only Murders in the Building) as both twins, and Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), as well as Will Forte (Nebraska, The Last Man on Earth) in a new important role. Bringing the whole cast back helps bring the personality of the book and movie back for this series since they all do a great job returning to the roles, and it’s good that they all get more screen time.
Another amazing thing is the visuals. Science Saru went all out in the animation for this project, every fight or chase or even just a regular scene looks amazing. Everything is just over the top all the time and it fits the series very well, this is a series that was always born for anime and it shows within every frame of the show. The music is also very good, the soundtrack was made by Anamanaguchi, who made the music for the video game (yes, I forgot to mention there was also a video game released in 2010, it was a big year for Scott Pilgrim), comes back and writes great music for the entire show that capitalizes on the countless nerdy references made throughout the show
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is an excellent adaptation that returns with the same wit, humor, and flashy visuals it had 20 years ago, but it takes its time and changes up its story in new exciting ways, but at its core, it still has the same message that it’s not always you vs The World. 4.5/5 stars.