Watching the trailers, and even the first ten minutes, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off just seems like a rehash of the prominent Edgar Wright film, especially since his cast reprise their roles in this new anime. However, when that episode ends, even the most ardent fans of both the film and the original comic book series would have no idea where this would go. It’s a fearless, daring approach, from the original creator Bryan Lee O'Malley, and it’s met with the wackiest, spectacular animation from Japanese animation studio Science SARU, remixing O’Malley’s designs with 8-bit, fighting video game action.

Scott Pilgrim is a whole franchise which includes the popular Edgar Wright adaptation, the comic book series, and now this latest anime. The biggest element that changed is this anime’s canon divergence– even if you’re familiar with the previous media, viewers wouldn’t know what exactly to expect because it’s entirely new material, despite what was shown in the trailers. Viewers who were already fans of the franchise might be too shocked to fully appreciate it, but this change allows more character depth with everyone but Scott Pilgrim, whose path has already been tackled in previous media. It’s an intriguing addition to the franchise, one that re-examines the themes in a new light, and it’s one that expands on the original so well.