Universal Studios
Cue deep-voice, reverbed video game voice over: Get Ready!
Scott Pilgrim is back and more meta than ever. Original comic creator Bryan Lee O’Malley has teamed up with writer/producer BenDavid Grabinski to transform Scott Pilgrim into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, an 8-episode animated mini series for Netflix that premiered in 2023.
Set in Toronto, Canada, we follow Scott Pilgrim, our favorite slacker/ musician, as he bumbles through his days: couch-surfing, playing with his band Sex Bob-omb, hanging out with his “not my girlfriend”, Knives Chow.
Scott’s whole life turns upside down when he meets the literal girl of his dreams, the ultra-cool Ramona Flowers.
After a magical first date, it seems like it should be smooth sailing for Scott and Ramona. That’s until Ramona’s Evil Ex Matthew Patel shows up and challenges Scott to a fight to the death for the right to date Ramona. The familiarity of the story may lull the veteran Scott Pilgrim fan into a sense of deja vu. You might be tempted to pick up your phone. Do a little doom scrolling. Wait, did you miss it?
Scott just lost. He was mega-punched to death. Matthew Patel won. Scott Pilgrim, the title character, is dead. End Episode 1.
Wait, what just happened?
O’Malley and Grabinski shoryukened the story in a totally new direction. The next 7 episodes focus on Ramona investigating Scott’s death, Columbo-style, and confronting her 7 Evil Exes as well as “The Big One” from Scott’s past.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is both a standalone and a sequel. The brilliance of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is that a viewer doesn’t have to pick up a copy of the comic or see the live action film Scott Pilgrim VS The World to enjoy this fun, pop culture-filled extravaganza. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off series can completely stand on its own.
I was delighted to see that almost the entire original cast from the live-action film returned for the animated series. The ever-youthful Michael Cera continues to make the man-child Scott Pilgrim charming, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead still makes me wish I were Ramona-cool. Kieran Culkin’s Wallace manages to steal scenes (how does he do that when it’s not even live-action?). All of the Evil Exes get their chance to stand center stage, and their expanded, fleshed-out stories are fun.
It wouldn’t be Scott Pilgrim without more video game culture references than a PAX event can shake a stick at. While you don’t need to know any of them to enjoy the show, they are nice little Easter Eggs for the Twitch crowd. Not to mention the nods to Edgar Wright (the live-action film’s director and one of the series executive producers), and a ton of Japanese cinema, anime, and manga references and homages.
Music plays a huge role in all the Scott Pilgrim incarnations. The show does a great job of weaving mid-2000s indie pop and new music seamlessly throughout. It’s not just a showcase for the soundtrack either. The music is an intricate part of the story. There is a moment in one of the episodes where Sex Bob-omb’s drummer, Kim, asks Knives, who is learning to play bass, to jam with her. When Knives is shy about messing up, Kim reminds Knives that it’s called “playing” for a reason. The music and the animation together make it a really beautiful scene.
Animation House Science SARU, the studio behind the popular anime DanDaDan and the upcoming, highly anticipated reboot of Ghost in the Shell, delivers a deceptively simple but kinetic animation style that puts a fresh spin on Pilgrim’s World. The Science SARU’s animated fights combine the framing of battle manga and the style of video game fights with fluid camera work reminiscent of guerrilla skating videos. This kind of visual gumbo can only work in animation. It’s obvious that the animation team has a deep love for their craft, and it shows.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is one of the best sequels/not sequels I have seen. The creative team updated Scott Pilgrim, addressing some of the stickier bits of the live-action that didn’t age well. This new evaluation feels natural for our times, while still retaining what made me love Scott Pilgrim in the first place.
So make some garlic bread and settle in to binge Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.
Extras include audio commentaries for each episode.
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