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jakethesequel · 10 months

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My Scott Pilgrim Takes Off Review

From a long-long-time Scott Pilgrim fan.

Quick-form style:

PRO: The animation is stellar, does a great job at both adapting and upgrading the original artstyle with a bunch of motion.

PRO: I especially love all the little background references. Not just the ones related to the original comics or whatever either, there's a lot that are just aesthetic references to gamer stuff or Toronto landmarks (Honest "Ed's"!). Does a lot to make it feel more like it's really set in late 2000s/early 2010s Canadiana. I think you could fill a whole wiki just categorizing all the little connections they fit into every episode.

PRO: Truly a once-in-a-lifetime voice cast, I'm actually amazed they got the whole cast of the movie to come back after thirteen years.

PRO: Extremely funny with the jokes, as the comics and the movie both were, but even more concentrated, especially if you're sharp enough to catch all the background details and references.

CON: The main storyline feels rushed. More on that later.

PRO: Both the licensed soundtrack and the original compositions go fucking hard, rivalling the movie's already impressive album.

PRO: A lot of characters who didn't get a ton of development in the comics or movie get extra screen time and are seen in a new light that really fleshes them out as complete personalities where they might have been one-note before.

CON: A lot of the characters who were more important in the comics or movie have underdeveloped arcs in the anime, so they feel half-baked.

PRO: The scene-to-scene dialogue, and the way the characters socialize with each other, often feels fresh and real the way they were in the comics. It's cartoonish, of course, but they talk like long-time friends talk.

CON: Lisa Miller, my favorite tertiary character, was not included. Unforgivable.

Overall? Takes Off was an enjoyable addition to the series. Even with all its glitter, it's not as good as the original comics, but that's a high bar. I would say that Takes Off is equal or even better than the VS The World movie, and that's a good ass movie! The attention to detail and production quality is substantial in both. I personally think that the story in Takes Off had a little more substance, but I think opinions are going to vary strongly on that, and I can easily understand the other side. In any case, if you're new to Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a lot of fun, and if you end up liking it, the comics are even better. If you already enjoy Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off is a strong spin-off and worth watching.

Points heavier on spoilers below, and heavier on details as I slowly forget what "point form" means:

PRO: From the start, the first episode is bursting with love for the original series. There are multiple scenes that are shot-for-shot recreations of the comic, and it's a real treat to see the comic panels animated and voiced by the movie cast.

CON: Knive Chau's introduction is kind of brushed over. They basically say "Knives Chau: Scott's 17-year-old fake girlfriend (more on that later)." Except: There's never really more on that later.

PRO: A lot of the first episode's changes are done in a really funny way that fits the vibe. Obviously the Amazon -> Netflix change is just corporate politics, but delivering Netflix DVDs makes it feel like even more of a period piece. And changing Scott's awkward infodump from Puckman to Sonic cartoons - "one guy playing two versions of the same character" - is a cute lampshade hang.

CON: A lot of people are going to be turned off by the show's central twist. Everyone expected this to be an adaptation played straight, since that's what was advertised. It sure as hell shocked me when Scott "died"! I have no doubt some people are gonna have a more intense reaction and feel shitty about the rug-pull.

PRO: However! I came around on it pretty fast myself once I figured out what they were doing. While I would have adored a direct adaptation from the comics, I cannot complain about getting a brand new story by the original creator, and I think the whole AU idea of "what if Scott lost to the Seven Evil Exes" is a really fun one to explore! Regardless of execution, it's a cool concept and I kind of admire the balls of sucessfully pulling a bait-and-switch on such a major production. Managing to keep your main plotline a secret while working for a major production company and hiring box-office-topping actors is no small feat!

PRO: Again, the AU-fanfic-type stuff is a lot of fun. It's great how the League of Evil Exes finally gets to do their whole evil plan, and succeed in killing Ramona's date, then fall apart when they realize this didn't actually get them anywhere.

PRO: Also, while their fight does kind of unfairly nerf Gideon compared to his other appearances, it rocked seeing Matthew Patel clean house. I'm just a sucker for when a weak early enemy managed to usurp power through some bullshit. And of all the Evil Exes, he needed the glow-up the most, he got the least scenes out of any of them.

PRO: METRIC'S BACK!

CON: Even though he comes back to life, the funeral scene has weird vibes. Scott's friends and family reacted more emotionally when the comics did the "extra life" gag, but this is to their knowledge an actual permanent death. Even if she feels responsible, it's jarring that Ramona, who knew Scott for like two days and has an established habit of running from difficult feelings, seems more affected by grief than friends Scott that had known for years like Wallace, Kim, Stephen, even Envy. Hell, Knives was "dating" Scott for longer than Ramona's one-night stand, but she moves on quicker from the death of her fake boyfriend than her comic/movie counterparts do from just a breakup.

PRO: The casket just having spare change in it is a fucking great visual gag.

PRO: KIM PINE YURI???

CON: Kim's backstory and character arc gets shafted, and Scott's backstory loses complexity. More on that later.

PRO: There's less typical-late-2000s-loser type jokes about lesbians, and less catty bodyshaming, which is good. It might have been realistic dialogue at the time but it'd probably feel out of place in a modern production, even a period piece.

PRO: Related, Ramona has less internalized biphobia and doesn't make "experimenting in college" excuses about her sexuality. Some may feel like this simplifies her character, because her treating Roxie like an experiment is an important flaw, but I think it's a positive change. I'd rather her character be a bisexual girl with relationship issues than a comphet girl with relationship issues. The latter just reinforces bi erasure too much for me.

CON: Ramona inexplicably feels more loyal towards missing-presumed-dead Scott who she has had one date with than comic Ramona felt towards comic steady-boyfriend-of-several-months Scott, despite anime!Scott not getting to apologize for two-timing Ramona and Knives like comic!Scott did. I think this oversimplified her character and weakens her arc. More on that later.

CON: There's obviously an issue of balancing plotlines with runtime, but Roxie has a much more involved and interesting role in the story in the comics. She even moves in with Ramona for a while. The drama!

PRO: It's very cute seeing Knives hang out with the Sex Bob-omb crew on her own terms. She does that in the comics too, after she and Scott break up, but it's mostly offscreen unless Scott or Ramona also happen to be in the room. It's also a good addition to have her involved with the music herself rather than just be a fan.

PRO: Dead Kennedys needle drop. Fuck yeah.

PRO: In general, spending time with all of the Evil Exes is a lot of fun and does a lot of work to make them feel like well-rounded, fully realized characters. For me, I think this is the biggest benefit Takes Off brings to the series, and something that genuinely makes re-reading the comics more enjoyable. The Exes' scenes in their books pop more with the added detail to their personality from this anime.

PRO: Each Ex (sans Gideon/Gordon) gets their artstyle-shift backstory with Ramona lifted right from the comics.

CON: Even so, the Exes' appearances aren't totally even. Particularly Roxie, Todd, and Gideon/Gordon. Matthew, Lucas Lee, and the Twins benefit the most from the extra screentime, but every Ex has a few of their bumps shined off. Mostly in their backstories: while I love the flashbacks, they're all a lot less confrontational with Ramona about her own faults than their other appearances would suggest, again simplifying Ramona's story and weakening her arc. In previous appearances, many of the Exes were a lot less "fight Ramona's new BF to win her love back" and a lot more "fight Ramona's new BF because she broke my heart and I want revenge."

PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost guest cameos!! That's how you KNOW it's an Edgar Wright project through and through

PRO: Young Neil becoming a cinephile and an accidental screenwriter is a great storyline, and the ongoing lampshading of adapting existing storylines makes room for a lot of good jokes at the creators' own expense.

PRO: WALLACE WELLS YAOI? Well, that much was more expected. But Todd Ingram/Wallace Wells yaoi? That's new ground!

CON: Again, it's a question of managing runtime and work-hours, but the Envy->Todd<-->Wallace love triangle isn't as interesting as the "taking a full page out of this volume for a relationship chart" love lattice from the comics, though it's still hilarious and a delight to watch. It would be fully in-character for Wallace to steal Envy's boyfriend, but that's nowhere near as juicy as the web of jealousy and desire between Scott+Ramona+Envy+Todd+Lynette+Knives(+Gideon, later on).

PRO: I'm glad they didn't re-cast Kieran Culkin, but I'm also grateful they wrote in a mea culpa about casting straight actors to play gay characters.

CON: Envy herself has very little character in the anime besides being Scott's bitchy famous ex-girlfriend, where the comics paint a much more sympathetic picture. Maybe an issue of Brie Larson being busy with Marvel, but unfortunate all the same. More on that later.

PRO: "Edgar Wrong"

PRO: Narration by Weird Al Yankovic

PRO: They have a lot of fun joking about Scott Pilgrim VS The World thanks to the set-up. I feel like every time there's an in-universe joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (real life guy) into Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie) it also works as a fourth-wall joke about adapting Scott Pilgrim (graphic novels) into Scott Pilgrim VS The World (movie). If the writing was less tight I think it'd be grating and either feel too meta or too avoidant, but I think they walk that line with talent and make most lines work on both levels. It's nice to see the creators take a good-natured jab at themselves for the issues the real movie ran into adapting a not-yet-finished 6-volume comic into a sub-2-hour super-overbudget studio movie with a professional soundtrack from several major indie rock stars. That joke about the movie not being able to make up its losses didn't come from nowhere, unfortunately, but I'm glad they can laugh about it.

PRO: The Chau/Stills songwriting team is great. They develop their own friendship in the comics, too, but it comes to life way more here. It does see them relegated to more of a comic relief role, rather than their more complicated arcs in the comics, but more on that later.

PRO: Gordon Goose from North Bay Ontario is an inspired choice, as is him friendshipping it up with Lucas Lee after they're both broke, as is especially him hooking up with Julie. I could honestly even see them getting together in the comic or movie versions too, if the story had gone a little differently. They've got great chemistry that I never even considered.

CON?PRO?IDK: Gordon Goose from the anime is an entirely different character from the comic's Gideon Gordon Graves. Some parts could fit: him originally being a loser from North Bay, him hanging out with Julie and Lucas Lee, even the anime-binge depression spiral could fit if events conspired for him to lose everything. Other parts, though, are trickier. I mentioned that he was a far weaker fighter than in other works, but that's minor and idk maybe it's a rock paper scissors thing (Scott is stronger than Matthew, Matthew is stronger than Gideon, Gideon is stronger than Scott). The BIG changes are that he doesn't seem to have any of his evil genius plots going on besides the League of Evil Exes. In the comics, he infected Ramona (and later Scott) with the Glow, a kind of emotional infection that enables and encourages avoidance; and in the movies, he stuck a mind-control chip in Ramona. (Also in the comics he kidnapped and cryogenically froze his 7 ex-girlfriends sans Ramona in a giant machine to "save" them until he could convince them to take him back, because he's a massive fucking asshole.) He did both long before Scott and Ramona met, so it's odd that there's seemingly no counterpart in the anime. It's also super different that after losing his wealth he stops being obsessed with Ramona. Where the other exes might have been more revenge motivated, Gideon was the one who really did want to try and win Ramona back by any means. His main character trait is that he's pretty much incapable of letting go when women reject him. There's echoes of that when Julie talks about his high school years, which I think is a good addition, but it makes it odd that in the final few episodes he's almost entirely uninterested in Scott and Ramona. Maybe that's Julie's influence, but that's a hard sell without actually showing it. (Plus, Julie didn't want Scott and Ramona together either, so almost a shared goal.) All in all, this makes Gordon Goose feel way more divergent from comic/movie Gideon Gordon Graves than any other character is. Still, I'm hesitant to commit to calling this a negative. It's different, but it might have been a difference needed for Takes Off to do what it wanted to do. Part of me wonders whether a Gideon played a tiny bit closer to norm would have been better, but I'm not confident in that, so decide for yourself.

CON: Gideon/Gordon never mentions his fetish for dressing people (Envy in particular) up like dolls.

PRO: While I know time travel plots get tiring, I much prefer it to Scott just being dead, or someone having just kidnapped him regular style.

PRO: The aesthetic for future-Toronto - and especially Old Wallace's sugar daddy's Nintendo mansion - fucking rocks.

PRO: Old Scott's character design, both in his time travel gear and his street clothes, totally nails the "Scott Pilgrim from a Bad Future" assignment. No notes.

PRO: He keeps his X-Men jacket (of course) while literally playing out his own Days of Future Past storyline. You absolutely know he's loving that fact. He wants to be Cable so bad.

PRO: Lots of characters in the future timeline wear masks, and the bus has a little disinfectant machine. These are already kinda staple tropes for dystopian futures, but there's another layer that makes it even better: If you look at the timeline Old Scott lays out, saying that about 13 (or maybe 15) years have passed since Young Scott's era, it seems pretty clear to me that they're referencing the 13-year gap between the movie and final book releasing in 2010, and the anime releasing in 2023. Suggesting that Young Scott is from around 2010, and Old Scott is just from... this year. So it's entirely possible the masks and disinfectant aren't for ANY kind of cool futuristic reason, that's just how alt future Toronto dealt with Covid-19. Personally I find that detail clever and also hilarious, it really got me when I realized.

PRO: Old Scott, subtitle: 37 years old, looking a solid decade older than that. I know red hair can go gray quick but he is not looking great for his age. Which isn't at all surprising considering his lifestyle.

CON: Some people, especially those who were heavily invested in the Scott/Ramona relationship from the comics or movie, are going to be upset over Old Scott and the divorce/separation reveal. I get it. Especially in the comics, they go through a hell of a lot of growth, and learn to genuinely love each other in a way they never had with anyone else. It sucks to see them fall back to their worst habits, Scott turning a breakup into a neurotic attempt to fix anything except his own behavior, and Ramona running away from a relationship with zero communication or closure and creating another resentful ex.

PRO: However, I'm not one of them. I have my gripes with the time-travel plotline in general that I'll get to, but I think Old Scott and Old Ramona going through a separation and a rough patch after several years of marriage is realistic and an interesting place to go. The comic had (still has) the most deeply developed relationship between Scott and Ramona, and left them on the strongest footing possible for their happy ending. Even the comic, though, never really promised them "happy ever after," it just said that they had all the skills they needed to make their relationship work, and left it up to them to traverse that long journey. Now, maybe you disagree with me and you think that comic Scott/Ramona should have been able to handle a rough spot better than anime Old Scott/Old Ramona. Thankfully, the anime gives you an out here: Old Scott's VR photo album has a couple details that show his timeline isn't exactly the comic or the movie storyline, so we can avoid stepping on the toes of existing endings, and explore new possibilities without overwriting your old headcanons. Personally, I think that even with all the growth they've had at the end of the comic, it's believable that Old Scott and Old Ramona could have a big argument that leads to them temporarily separating. Even when you've got good interpersonal skills, big arguments happen, and even when you've worked on them, your gut-reaction coping mechanisms still come up. Whatever the argument was, it's not hard for me to imagine avoidant Old Ramona to put up space between her husband instead of dealing with a stressful argument. It's easy to imagine dumbass Old Scott interpreting their separation as a call for permanent divorce, and no matter the age Ramona Flowers is never the kind of person to proactively call up an ex to resolve a misunderstanding. I think it's a really interesting and juicy narrative choice. If they had really landed the execution with this, I would outright love it and think it was a great addition to their love story.

PRO: DP input for the VR vault which is a giant Game Boy. Sick.

PRO: THE VIRTUAL BOY! (Or "Virtual Guuy")

PRO: For some reason Old Scott bro-ing it up with the Old Katayanagis and making retro throwback music in the garage works really well? Like for some reason I could see it happen even in the comics continuity if they (a) came back to life and (b) did a redemption arc for kidnapping Kim Pine.

PRO: Callback to episode 1's sugar daddy joke, and they genuinely had me wondering if they were going to make Wallace hooking up with Scott on the rebound a thing.

CON: Honesty I think they should have just committed to the (not really that old) Old Man Yaoi! Live a little!

PRO: Silver Fox-y Wallace Wells living up to his destiny of being a rich drunk trophy husband. And aging more gracefully than Scott despite going fully gray.

CON: You've got to wonder where the rest of Scott's friends are. Again, we've got to consider the runtime, and that he's in an unusual life situation, but in the comics when he gets into a similar depressive funk, a lot of his friends and family reach out to him, and he tries to reach out to them. A "17 missed calls from: Stephen Stills" or a "Kim doesn't talk to me anymore" line might have gone a long way to excuse their absence. It's also notable that despite his extremely unsuccessful music venture with the Old Katayanagis, Old Scott seems to still be unemployed, which is an example of his character development being cut short compared to the comics. More on that later.

PRO: Old Ramona's character design is as stellar and on-brand aesthetically as Old Scott's, plus the benefit that Ramona actually knows how to dress cool. Fucking baller.

PRO: Also she looks exactly her age (not given in the show but likely 38). Not surprising given she's got a healthier lifestyle than Scott, but I guarantee her natural hair color has gone completely white by now. You cannot be doing a full bleach and dye job every morning ma'am! Those follicles are stone dead!

PRO: It's incredibly endearing seeing her try to undo Old Scott's time travel plan through giving Young Neil the screenplay, and even more endearing when she calls Scott her one true love. The contradiction between her thinking of Scott as her true love and going through this massive effort to stop his time travel plan, but not being willing to go to Old Wallace's house and actually talk to Old Scott, is great. It's the closest the anime has gotten so far to giving Ramona her original character arc, which really got sidetracked by Young Ramona playing Columbo. More on that later.

PRO: For those who weren't keeping track of the meta Scott Pilgrim story, it now goes: Scott Pilgrim (real guy, old timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, a memoir by Old Young Neil (memoir) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (movie script adapted by Old Ramona, credited to Young Neil) + Scott Pilgrim (real guy, young timeline) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (failed movie and making-of documentary) -> Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Musical (adapted by Stephen Stills and Knives Chao). It's also entirely plausible that all of these versions eventually inspire Old Young Neil to write his memoir and create a bootstrap paradox. Incredible. Plus, the musical part continues the metacommentary by being roughly analogous to the real-life anime!

PRO: Delorean rollerskates, need I say more?! Actually, the choice to use this kind of Back to the Future "one timeline that corrects and adjusts when time travel happens" is really smart. Especially when Old Scott says he doesn't want to send Young Scott back because he seems to always end up marrying and separating from Ramona regardless, or when Old Ramona's script doesn't stop the eventual divorce and Old Scott getting unstable. In this part of the story, it's a great way to show how them trying to literally change the past instead of resolving their current issues will never get them anywhere.

PRO: Old Ramona and Young Ramona failing to synchronize on a vibe for their photo

CON: This is where I started to feel the ending getting rushed. Over the final episode, it felt like all the existing plotlines sped on to a quick resolution to make room for the very sudden AK field and Even Older Scott climax, which itself felt in a hurry to finish.

PRO: Scott apologizing to Knives and taking responsibility for being an asshole creep.

PRO: Knives saying she's glad he's not dead but she's glad that it broke them up. Get his ass, Knives! He's earned it!

CON: While these are super important scenes to include for both Knives' and Scott's character arcs, and I'm super glad they made it in since it'd be weird if they left it unspoken, it does feel unearned. Scott has barely been away a couple of days, and it doesn't seem like either he or Knives have had the time for serious introspection they would need to get to this point. Scott could have been inspired to be better than Old Scott's example, I guess, but he clearly thinks of Old Scott as a different guy and doesn't feel responsible for Old Scott's actions. Even if the memoir/movie/musical/VR robot experience showed him Old Scott apologizing at some point, I don't buy that he's emotionally intelligent enough to internalize doing it himself, and if he did it would still feel unearned because he'd basically be following a walkthrough rather than understanding it himself. And Knives? From her perspective, in a couple of days her inappropriately older fake boyfriend introduced her to his band, cheated on her, and then died. Since then she's been hanging out with his old band rather than any friends her age, and writing a musical about the life of her dead ex. She has not been in a position to realistically process that their relationship was fucked up. Both the apology and Knive's response, though necessary, feel rote rather than genuinely felt.

CON: Likewise, Ramona and Scott being so madly in love when reunited. They've known each other for one and a half dates, 1.75 at most. Scott is slightly ahead because of the VR memories and meeting Old Ramona, but not by much. Now, Scott is honestly the kind of guy to fall headfirst into a romantic fantasy with a woman he's barely met, but Ramona is not, as shown in the anime when she decides to pull back and not have sex on the first date. In the comics they take things pretty slow to accomodate her needs there, not moving in together, not saying "I love you" for a while, taking a break from each other midway through, they go for a couple volumes before she even tells him how old she is. It's super out of character for her to go head over heels like this without hesitation. She has been trying to solve his disappearance for a while, but that hasn't really caused her to get to know him any better. Someone might argue it's because she's seen how their lives play out in Old Ramona's movie, but that has uncomfortable elements of predestination and denying free will that I'd rather not think about. If I was trying to fix this, I'd maybe say that talking with her exes and making peace with them while looking for Scott helped her get over her issues, or that being more impulsive than comic/movie Ramona is actually timeloop-style the reason their future marriage is unstable. But that would all be fanfic, it's not present in the actual text, so I've got to call this one against the anime's favor. In general, the anime tends to take a very love-at-first-sight ("sparks") view on love, which is in opposition to the comics' more mature view of love as an ongoing practice. More on that later, maybe.

PRO: AK (Anti-Kiss) fields taken visually and conceptually straight from Evangelion's AT (Absolute Terror) fields. I'm a sucker for eva! This and a few other references seem to make clear that the creators are gunning for Takes Off to be to Scott Pilgrim as the Rebuilds are to NGE.

CON: I genuinely don't think Old Scott is smart enough to come up with this. I know the Old Katayanagis are said to have designed the nanomachines, but I don't mean the technical side, I mean the strategic side. Scott is pretty stupid, bless him. Old Scott is still not very smart. Scotts Pilgrim are just not the kind of guy to ever consider a Plan B. I just don't buy that Old Scott would ever think to himself "I should have a backup plan in case my first doesn't work," he's too confident and too stupid for that. The AK field feels like a red herring for Gordon Goose going evil again, since it's similar to the Glow and mind-control chip, but it ends up going away without much fanfare. Even Older Scott even admits they would always figure out a way to get rid of it, so it's kind of a lackluster final mystery.

PRO: All of the evil exes showing up the musical but being totally uninterested in fighting Scott is a fun reversal of the norm. Especially the Katayanagi twins being totally fine acting on prophesies of bro-ship from their special little vegan robot oracle.

PRO: Despite being a downgrade from megalomaniacal genuinely evil ultimate villain to greedy but affably evil Saturday-morning-cartoon villain, seeing Gordon Goose get back to sinister plots is a big plus, and "It wouldn't hurt any of us! ...Maybe some cast and crew," is a great line for him. Even when he tells Even Older Scott that he has no interest in what's going on and wants to go back to the play, though it's an unthinkable sentiment from obsessive comic/movie Gideon, the line goes out with enough confidence and disrespectful disinterest that for me it actually makes up for it!

PRO: In general, I love when a show gets an opportunity to bring the whole cast to the event, putting all the personalities on display. Especially a formal event, because then sometimes you get fun new outfit designs! In Takes Off it feels even more special because this isn't just all the characters getting together at Scott Pilgrim the Musical for a last hurrah, it's also metatextually all the creatives from previous Scott Pilgrim projects reuniting against the odds in Scott Pilgrim the Anime for a last hurrah.

P: Speaking of all the characters getting together, there is - by technicality - an appearance by Lisa Miller, one-hit-wonder extraordinaire, in the finale. She's in the crowd of graphic novel characters drawn in to populate the musical's audience, face partially obscured. I do not consider this a proper appearance and will still count the lack of Lisa against the anime. However, in the sprit of fairness, I will offer a partially obscured PRO for this cameo.

PRO: Even Older Scott has clearly given in to the Satsui no Hado! Design elements like the hair, bandana, raggedy gi, wrist wraps, and inexplicable tan all call to mind Akuma and Dark Ryu from Street Fighter. I wonder if the Shoryuken input for Old Scott's vault was intended to tie in to this?

PRO: Even Older Scott acts like Master Roshi even though he's only 47. That's only like, Bulma in Dragon Ball Super years, man! How are you that buff but aged that poorly?

CON: Even Older Scott's plan makes zero sense. You've seen Back to the Future. You can't kill your younger self, dude! Total paradox! You'll cease to exist and therefore can't have killed your past self and therefore your past self should exist blah blah blah.

PRO: Even Older Scott is absolutely stupid enough to have tried it anyway. Especially after 10 years isolation.

PRO: "Even Older Scott VS Everyone" and "The World VS Scott Pilgrim" are nice wordplay, I'm here for it.

CON: The confrontation between Young Scott (and associates) VS Even Older Scott lacks emotional stakes, since it kinda came out of nowhere. There's the AK field, but Even Older Scott says they would figure that out anyway. There's the barebones stakes of Even Older Scott turning everyone into spare change, but nobody really seems to be afraid of that as a threat, and it's confusing what that would even mean with the time loop. Their dialogue suggests kind of a philosophical conflict between Even Older Scott trying to control Young Scott's life, and Young Scott wanting to make his own choices, but that also seems undercut by the time loop: if Young Scott was actually going to make different choices, Even Older Scott wouldn't exist. Maybe this is just the dialogue having some trouble getting the conflict across? They could be going for Even Older Scott futilely trying to change the past, VS Young Scott wanting to have the freedom to make those choices even if it causes him to suffer in the future, "better to have loved and lost" and all that. That's thematically cohesive so I think it was their intention, but I don't think it was communicated well in the fight.

PRO: Nevermind anything else, the fight scene itself is fucking fantastic. Expressive and punchy animation everywhere, banger music, and a chance to show off just about every character's personality as they contribute to the fight! Even some characters who haven't had major animated sequences yet get a shot in the spotlight, and often with a bonus to boot, like Knives finally getting her trademark knives from the comics/movie! We get even more chemistry between the characters when they team up and work together for combo moves, so not only does it give a moment of glory to everyone's individual personality, it gives us a spectacle to the relationships they've built, too. The circumstances surrounding the fight might not make a lot of sense, it's unclear why they're fighting or what they're fighting over, but in HOW the cast fights this whole sequence evokes an astounding amount of character.

PRO: Even Older Ramona. Gets another great design. Actually looks her age, and good for it. Actually looks like Bulma in Dragon Ball Super.

PRO: Even Older Ramona, to her credit, returns her original character arc. She stops running away from the romantic messes she's left behind, and comes back to fix it. A+

CON: I don't buy that Young Ramona has internalized that message enough to mind-meld about it. Ramona after 13 years of marriage and 10 years to think about it, sure. But not Ramona on her third actual date with Scott, 3.25th at best.

PRO: Human Instrumentality Quantum Super Reimona I'm drowning in Evangelion references here

PRO: Super Ramona finalizes Ramona's missing character arc! It might be a bit rushed, but it is a complete character arc. It might have taken her 23 years longer than the comic, but hey, this is a different story working at a different scale. They got there in the end.

CON: Even Older Scott never really gets his character arc. Super Ramona gives him a second chance and reverses his villain arc, but he's really at the same place at 47 that he was at 23, which kinda sucks. But, more on that later.

PRO: Super Ramona's "it's never too late to try and mend what you've broken" ending still leaves open the possibility of a rekindled Scott/Ramona romance, and at the very least implies they stop isolating themselves and develop a healthier, friendlier relationship. As far as I can tell, this fully resolves the timeloop AND gives a relatively happy ending to a complicated romantic relationship, both of which are hard as fuck to write. I salute the writers. Even if Scott and Ramona are destined to have a falling out 13 years down the line, they're also destined to forgive each other after 23, and who knows, maybe they've got a chance to get back together again in after 24. It's a messier narrative than the comics to reach the same basic message, but in it's own special way it's still beautiful.

CON: It does kinda leave Scott and Ramona's non-romantic relationships in the lurch, though, after a decade-long absence. Even Older Wallace deserves a thousand apologies and a foot massage for putting up with these two.

PRO: I love a good "where are they now" sequence! Matthew, Gordon, and Julie settling their differences and sharing the evil plots amongst themselves. Young Neil driving the mario karts on movie sets. Stacey getting some eye candy at the café and resolving Julie's joke from earlier about Luke getting a job there. Good stuff.

PRO: Knives fully joining Sex Bob-omb is a particularly genius choice.

PRO: It's true. As an anglo Canadian, our French does suck. (Our schools can never decide whether to teach us Parisien or Québecois and we end up speaking neither)

CON: Is it bragging if a Netflix show includes a scene of a video rental place shutting down? Feels like... when a cat wants to show off the mouse it killed lol

PRO: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost eating Cornettos. Magnifique.

PRO: Also hey! It's Mobile! Wallace's boyfriend from the comics! He's also psychic! And I guess works for Nintendo also? Damn, he's the total package.

CON: No real representation for Lisa Miller, the world's best D-list failgirl! 0/10

CON: NO STEPHEN STILLS YAOI! I joke, but I do consider it a major flaw that Stephen Stills never gets to come out. The movie got a pass because he hadn't come out in the comics yet, but there's no excuse here. The subtly concealed subplot in the comics of him breaking up with Julie and coming out of the closet in the comics is one of my favorite parts, and in the anime all he gets is an ex-girlfriend with no reference to him coming out at all.

CON: In fact, almost all of the original supporting cast gets this treatment. Scott, Wallace, Stephen, Knives, Kim, Envy. Even arguably Ramona, despite being the new protagonist. While their jokes are fun and it's a treat to see their personalities on screen, their pre-existing character arcs get neutered, disappeared, or straight up reversed. Sure, though I hate to admit it, it makes sense to cut Lisa's character, since she has no reason to show up in the first place if Scott's gone. But the rest of the supporting cast were the heart of the original comics; Their complex development over the books is what made the comics so special in the first place, and it's a heart all adaptations and spinoffs since have mostly lacked. I want to go into more detail on how these characters got done dirty, but I'll save it for another post. I'll link it here if I ever finish it.

PRO: Through the whole show, it's clear everyone loves Scott Pilgrim in all its forms: comics, movie, video game, anime. Bryan Lee O'Malley, Edgar Wright, the entire movie/voice cast, Metric, Anamanaguchi, and now Science SARU clearly have a lot of passion for these characters. There's a ton of work put in to bring this to life that wouldn't happen if they didn't genuinely care for the series. You think Chris Evans isn't getting better offers?

PRO: THE FUCKIN PLUMTREE SONG THAT STARTED IT ALL. FUCK. YES. WHERE MY HALIGONIANS AT

A NOTE IF YOU'VE GOTTEN THIS FAR:

I know I've written a lot about how the anime doesn't compete with the comics, or where it's fallen short, but I want to be clear that I actually really really like the anime. I think it's great! It's clearly a labour of love. It's just a lot easier to write a lot of words analysing parts that fail than parts that succeed. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off succeds at A TON OF THINGS!

I would honestly say that it succeeds far more than the movie, and people love that movie, myself included! It's a cult classic! The Scott Pilgrim graphic novels are just that good that it's hard for spinoffs to match up. If you ask me they're some of the best comics ever made, but I'm long biased by my personal history with them. You can never really be neutral about a high school favorite.

I think "spinoff" there is the right word, despite the show's marketing. It's not an adaptation by any means. It's not a sequel. It's doing its own thing, and it did it really well. If you expected an adaptation, I understand your frustration, it's shit as an adaptation. But I'd encourage you to give it another chance as a spinoff, it has a lot of value to add to the whole Scott Pilgrim experience, just as much as the game, and just as much as the movie.

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim takes off #scott pilgrim vs the world #ramona flowers

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