At the end of November, Netflix released the long awaited “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” an eight-episode anime-inspired series set in Scott Pilgrim’s Toronto.
It’s actually quite surprising how long it took for an anime-inspired series to come from Scott Pilgrim. Bryan Lee O’Malley first wrote Scott Pilgrim as a series of graphic novels, beginning in 2004, but the story was adapted into a movie in 2010.
The film, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” directed by Edgar Wright and starring Michael Cera, is recognizable for its unique visuals, reminiscent of anime and video game stylings, and for Wright’s signature editing style. It tells the story of Scott Pilgrim, an unemployed bass player, forced to fight seven of his new girlfriend’s evil exes while competing in a battle of the bands. The movie is absolutely fantastic, and worth a watch for anyone looking for a goofy action film.
As for the animated show? I’m incredibly back and forth on my opinion. I thought “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” was good, but I am hesitant to call it great. I enjoyed the series, but it had moments that held it back.
The first episode essentially parallels the first part of the movie, until Scott’s fight with Matthew Patel, the first of Ramona’s evil exes. The show diverges massively afterwards, and completely reimagines Pilgrim’s conflict with the “League of Evil Exes,” while focusing more on Ramona Flowers, Scott’s girlfriend, than the original movie. The show gives Scott’s friends and bandmates far more depth, too.
It’s nice that the show gives the rest of the ensemble more development, as the cast is entirely retained from the movies. Of note are Jason Schwartzman and Chris Evans as two of Ramona’s evil exes, Anna Kendrick as Scott’s sister and Brie Larson as Scott’s ex and rock star Envy Adams. This also has its downsides at times, since voice acting requires a different approach than pure acting. As such, the lines are occasionally delivered flat and feel somewhat dry. Some jokes felt like they missed the mark, whether due to poor delivery or the quality of the joke itself. For example, one of the exes references the way that Scott Pilgrim beats him in the movie after reading it in a script, saying that he would never fall for something like that.
One moment in particular, later in the season, particularly frustrated me. One problem, which the show spent a major portion of its early runtime developing, was resolved in an incredibly clunky manner, almost instantaneously. It feels as though the writers thought they had more episodes to complete the story, and found out there were two less than expected at the last minute. Even though the show stumbles near the end, it recovers quickly, and concludes on a high note.
As critical as I am about where the show misses, when “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” shines, it’s fantastic. The artwork itself is great, and super reminiscent of the comic books, with the characters stylized to look hand-drawn. The fight scenes are where the show’s anime influence truly comes out. They are incredible and feel absolutely massive in scale and significance.
Edgar Wright’s style helped make the movie as popular as it was, and he left his fingerprints all over the show, too. While he was only an executive producer rather than director, many of his stylistic touches still ended up present throughout, including his transitions and shot framing.
“Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” was good, but not great. It’s pretty hard to follow up such an acclaimed movie, especially over a decade after the original material was released, but “Takes Off” still makes a strong effort. I feel most comfortable giving the show a 7/10 or 7.5/10. I liked the series a lot, but the issues the show presented took away too much for me to give it anything higher than that. If you’ve never seen anything related to Scott Pilgrim, just watch the movie. If you liked the movie though, the series might be worth the watch.