By Naomi Grace Cavaneyro
“Scott, evil ex. Fight”—this short quote summarizes the basic premise of Scott Pilgrim. The graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Bryan Lee O’Malley follows the titular Scott as he battles the seven evil exes of his new girlfriend, Ramona Flowers. The comic received critical acclaim, becoming a cult classic and being adapted into the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World by director Edgar Wright.
Now, over a decade after the film’s release, the cast have reunited for a new anime series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, with the original creator at the helm. Featuring a diverging storyline and an alternate ending, the series subverts fan expectations with its adept storytelling and superb animation. Here is our High Five review for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Spoilers ahead.
The Gang is Back
Actors from the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. The World have returned to voice their animated counterparts in the series. Edgar Wright—director of the 2010 adaptation, now an executive producer on the series—said the cast had all agreed to reprise their roles within three hours of getting the email from him.
The creator behind Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O’Malley, cited Michael Cera as one of the reasons the cast reunited even before the animated series was in the works. “We were exchanging emails when the movie was coming out and then this thread went dormant for about nine years. Then, before this anime was even on the docket, Michael Cera responded to a meme someone had sent as if no time had passed. He just said, ‘Oh, that’s funny.’ Chris Evans responded like, ‘Michael, what the f— are you doing responding to this email from nine years ago?’” shared O’Malley in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Cera and Evans reprise their roles as Scott Pilgrim and Lucas Lee respectively. Other actors who returned for the project include Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Ramona Flowers), Kieran Culkin (Wallace Wells), Ellen Wong (Knives Chau), Anna Kendrick (Stacey Pilgrim), Alison Pill (Kim Pine), Mark Webber (Stephen Stills), Johnny Simmons (Young Neil), Aubrey Plaza (Julie Powers), Brie Larson (Envy Adams), Satya Bhabha (Matthew Patel), Brandon Routh (Todd Ingram), Mae Whitman (Roxie Ritcher), and Jason Schwartzman (Gideon Graves).
The cast coming back together really built hype around the anime, and it did not disappoint. With a stacked roster of acting talents, the series really hit its stride supported by the recognizable voices of the cast we all know and love.
Timeline Hijinks and a New Perspective
Once you watch the first episode of the series, you’d think that it was a retread of the movie. Everything follows the movie’s footsteps, that is until the first evil ex is introduced at around the 40-minute mark. Matthew Patel comes into the picture and punches Scott into oblivion, turning our beloved hero into coins. With the supposed protagonist and titular character seemingly out of the picture, it’s now up to Ramona to find answers.
The rest of the series is centered around this mystery. Is Scott really dead if Ramona can still hear him in the subspace highway? What challenges will Ramona have to face to get to the bottom of Scott Pilgrim’s disappearance? It parallels Scott’s journey in the comic and movie, but this time through Ramona’s lens.
When asked about this new angle, creator and series writer O’Malley said “I wrote this stuff almost 20 years ago. I couldn’t go back and rewrite it word for word. I kept thinking, I have to tell the story of Scott Pilgrim in a world where the story of Scott Pilgrim has already been told and people know it. I had to kind of splash a new coat of paint on it and f— around with it.”
Paying Homage to the Source Material(s)
When we talk about comic book adaptations, there’s no shortage of easter eggs and references to its source material and other pop cultural landmarks. Much like the movie and comic book, Ramona’s changing hair color is used to symbolize the story moving forward. This time around, it’s used as a transition in a more stylized way—using a montage of shots of Ramona dying her hair to signify a shift in the story.
Other things the anime retained are the censor boxes when Julie swears, Gideon’s impossibly long limo, Wallace’s stunt fight with Ramona as Envy’s stuntdouble which recalls Lucas’ fight with Scott in the movie, and Scott’s fight with himself (a different version this time). The series also nods to famous video games with its title cards, and by having Anamanaguchi write and perform its opening song, since they’re also the band who created the score for the video game. Fans can truly tell the effort and love poured into this project, just with all the easter eggs alone.
A Closer Look at Ramona’s Relationships with Her Exes
If you’ve watched the movie, it basically skims through each ex while getting into a bit of why Ramona broke up with them. In the series though, we take a deep dive into who Ramona is as an individual and the motivations of each of her exes.
Matthew Patel is a drama school kid who was with Ramona for a week and a half because she found her different from all the jocks who fell at her feet; Lucas Lee became a big skateboard and movie star because Ramona dumped him, which roused him into becoming the best version of himself; and the twins, Kyle and Ken Katayanagi, were jerks who saw Ramona as a plaything, which resulted in Ramona manipulating them and hurting their feelings for treating her as such. The Katayanagis were also responsible for inventing the most important thing in the story, which I won’t spoil for you *wink wink*.
Todd Ingram goes through a whole new arc in the series, letting himself go after a mishap at work and coming out of the closet, sparking a ship I didn’t know I needed until I watched the show. Roxie Ritcher’s story was heartbreaking, as we see that Ramona treated her as a phase—they eventually worked through their differences and by the end of the series, we see her helping Todd get back in shape to regain his powers.
We also have Gideon Graves, the resident evil CEO who is the last evil ex in the movie. In the series, he’s the first to be defeated and to have a change of heart…or does he? His arc also had a satisfying resolution, with the involvement of a certain Julie Powers.
Last but definitely not the least, we go back to our main character. Here we see Ramona Flowers as her truest self—she apologizes for hurting her exes every time she encounters any of them, and by the end of the series, we see her accept who she is, faults and all, much like how Scott did in the movie. Not gonna lie, the way that the series lets Ramona do the work and take responsibility for her actions is something that I will always appreciate with this story, instead of Scott just fighting her battles for her.
Oh, and none of the “Villain Exes” disintegrate into coins but are rather alive and quite happy with their new ending.
Anime is the Way
The show stays true to the graphic novel’s art style. I especially love the action sequences since despite being in 2D, they’re dynamic and fun to watch. Lucas Lee’s skateboard sequence was especially lovely, as well as Ramona and Wallace’s stunt double fight scene.
With the help of a little animation magic, we get an energetic adaptation retaining creative cuts, transitions and presentation. The stylized design and dynamic choreography and camera movements go a long way to make the show engaging for all viewers.
All in all, the series was a fun subversion of the original comic and prior movie. It defied my expectations of it just being another retelling of Scott Pilgrim’s story in an animated style. It’s also great that even if you didn’t watch the film, you can still enjoy the series as a standalone show, albeit with less context for some of the easter eggs or inside jokes.
SEA Wave rates Scott Pilgrim Takes Off a 4/5.
Catch it on Netflix and let us know your thoughts on the series in the comment section below!