Our take
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.
Streaming arrival
The story
Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, only to find out her seven evil exes stand in the way of their love.
Elsewhere
"If you’re interested in going into the series cold, just take this with you: It’s very good."
— Nicholas Quah
"Most importantly, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is true to its predecessors with an inexhaustibly fun spirit... The buoyant, punk rock, experimental soul of the story is thriving."
— Proma Khosla
Scott Pilgrim, an unemployed 20-something indie rocker, falls in love with Ramona Flowers. He wants to date her, he must first survive her past, which involves a League of Seven Evil Exes. Things don’t go as planned.
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.
Reserve your opinions until after the first episode. Trust us.
The details
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
