Review - Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023)

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and it's finally here. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, the new Netflix anime series based on the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and featuring the cast of the 2010 Edgar Wright film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World reprising their roles. Said cast includes Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick, Mark Webber, Allison Pill, Johnny Simmons, Aubrey Plaza, Ellen Wong, and Brie Larson, with Jason Schwartzman, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Julian Cihi, and Mae Whitman as the Seven Evil Exes. Also, several members of the creative team of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World are also involved in this series as executive producers, including Edgar Wright, Nira Park, and Michael Bacall. 

          Okay, so if you read the original graphic novels or saw the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, then you pretty much already know the story. Scott Pilgrim, a native of Toronto, Canada, is part of the indie rock band Sex Bob-Omb, and is currently seeing seventeen year old Knives Chau, but starts having dreams of another girl. Eventually, at a party at Julie Powers' house, he meets said girl, Ramona Flowers, and learns that she delivers DVDs for Netflix. Seven Evil Exes, fighting, music, you get the idea. 

        HOWEVER, the series goes in a pretty different direction than the graphic novels and the 2010 movie. As opposed to Scott fighting and defeating the Seven Evil Exes, he disappears during his first fight against Matthew Patel, who later usurps Gideon Graves, who hooks up with Julie Powers and starts going by his original name of Gordon Goose. Also, the point of view character in the series is Ramona as opposed to Scott. And, for a bulk of the series, Ramona investigates Scott's disappearance, confronts her Exes, and even finds closure with a number of them. 

         Eventually, the true villain is revealed, and unlike the graphic novels or the 2010 movie, the villain of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is, well, a future version of Scott Pilgrim. Yeah, evidently, in his future, after defeating the Seven Evil Exes, Scott and Ramona got married, but they hit a rough patch, and Scott decided to prevent his younger self from getting with Ramona, as it would only lead to bad things. Why? Well, after reflecting upon her past, Ramona realizes that she has always run away from the possibility of happiness with all of her Exes. Ultimately, she and Scott make it work, and everyone gets a happy ending. Gordon gets his business back, Matthew becomes a successful Broadway producer, Lucas becomes a barista, Todd trains with Roxie, Knives joins Sex Bob-Omb as their keyboard player, and she and Stephen are a thing, and, of course, Scott and Ramona make it all work out. 

         Now, I will say that a few hardcore fans might be turned off by the subversions from the source material and the previous adaptation. But, one thing to note is that the series was co-created by franchise creator Bryan Lee O'Malley. So, any changes made in the story are changes that, chances are, he approved of and probably came up with himself. Also, this isn't a direct adaptation of the source material. It's an alternate spin on the universe of Scott Pilgrim with lots of possibilities for future stories. And, I would love to see where the creatives of this series take a second season if we do get one. 

         And, of course having the cast of the 2010 movie return is pretty awesome. And, we get a lot more of the likes of Satya Bhabha as Matthew, Jason Schwartzman as Gideon/Gordon, Chris Evans as Lucas, Brandon Routh as Todd, Mae Whitman as Roxie, and so forth. And, I like that they got a lot more room to play in this series, as they didn't get a ton of development in the 2010 movie. Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were both excellent returning as Scott and Ramona, and I also enjoyed the returns of Brie Larson as Envy and Aubrey Plaza as Julie. Anna Kendrick as Stacey and Kieran Culkin as Wallace got a bit less time in the spotlight, as did Ellen Wong as Knives and Mark Webber as Stephen, but they did really well. But, this big shock was Will Forte as Future Scott. Seriously, Will Forte was awesome as Future Scott, and definitely made the idea of an evil version of Scott something interesting. 

         The animation is easily a highlight for me. The animation team at Science Saru clearly took the art style of Bryan Lee O'Malley's original graphic novels and made it work in an anime style. And, there are a ton of video game bits and bobs, very much in line with previous Scott Pilgrim outings, and it's a lot of fun. The music is also a ton of fun, and it's very different from the music in the 2010 movie. One song held over is when The Clash at Demonhead performs "Black Sheep." And, the opening theme by Necry Talkie was also really good, and is probably one of my new favorite anime opening themes. 

         Overall, whether you're an anime fan or not, or whether you're a Scott Pilgrim fan or not. I cannot recommend this series enough. It's eight episodes long, it's pretty quick to get through, and it's a lot of fun. I'm giving Scott Pilgrim Takes Off a rating of 5/5. Definitely check this one out, streaming now on Netflix. 

        Anyway guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.