Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

I was super excited for this show. Not only was a competent animation studio adapting one of my favorite comics and one of my favorite movies, but the cast of the movie was coming back to voice. I went in expecting an adaptation of the same story as the movie and the comic series, likely following closer to the comic than the movie did, but this show is something completely different and I loved it. I see other reviews on here that mostly criticize the fact that this isn't just the same story with a new paint job, and I think that's pretty stupid. Not only did Edgar Wright himself and other members of the crew say that this was something new in interviews, but this is really good. I think the only reason these people are mad is because they had a specific expectation and that expectation was not met. Anyway, the show is great. I'll avoid spoiling too much, but it's kind of like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, where it follows the original story to a certain point and then starts to do its own thing. The animation is great, the action scenes are cool, the voice acting is great, and an iconic duo from another Edgar Wright film have a few cameos. It's clear the amount of love and attention went in to this product. I highly recommend it if you're a fan of the series, and I would recommend that newcomers watch the live action movie and read the comic series before checking this out.

This is my introduction to the franchise, I've heard about both the movie and the comics being really good so I gave this a chance.

It was...alright? Only 8 episodes, it doesn't really drag for long but it wasn't anything special; the animation was great but the story was pretty meh, I really liked the first and last 2 episodes, which means that pretty much everything that had Ramona as the protagonist was average at best. I liked cool, non-stereotypical female characters and Ramona is that but she's just not that interesting as an MC. Finding out that this isn't a direct adaptation makes everything make sense, this was definitely something that was created for the old fans. She has a past, a IDGAF attitude and a cool design which on paper sounds good but just isn't as entertaining as Scott which is your average lovable idiot and watching him try his best is what makes the show shine.

I can now see why fans would be upset at the misguided promotion that led them to believe the show would be an adaptation of the original. Although I'm not so sure I'd enjoy it more if they had adapted the original story, the evil exes were just not entertaining to watch either, most of them were kind of cringe, and not fun cringe, just sad corny cringe. I think it'd been better if it had been Ramona who had disappeared or something, I don't know, I wasn't expecting anything and was sure not amazed.

Rather than being simply a direct animated adaptation of the comic book like what we were all hoping to see, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is... well, telling you what it is would spoil it. So let's just say, it takes some interesting liberties with the plot.

And yeah, my first reaction was pretty negative, like a lot of reviewers here. This was not what I was hoping to see, and I swear I only stuck with it out of the slim hope the show will backpedal and get back on track at some point.

But the show did win me over in the end. I still wish it was just a faithful retelling of the story, but for what it is - it's genuinely good. The new direction complements the original, adding more depth to the characters and the world, and keeping things refreshing for long-time fans.

The one, huge downside is... this absolutely can not be your first introduction into the world of Scott Pilgrim. That'd be a terrible idea. You have to at least watch the movie first. I can't explain why without spoiling, but trust me on this.

This is a very strange choice, for such a niche franchize. Limiting your audience even further is not what you'd expect from professional filmmakers, but maybe they assumed the only people who'd want to watch this are people who love it already. I don't know. Anyway, it's pretty brave, and once you get past the surprise. It's actually really good.

I see a lot of mediocre reviews for this show because it is not what was implied it would be in the promotion. A straight honest adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. I can understand the disappointment, but are you rating the show or the advertising campaign?

However it's quite apparent that they intended to subvert expectations, even with starting out the first episode or two exactly how you would expect a direct adapation to be. It makes sense to me that they wanted the audience to go in expecting a one to one adaption, to purposefully lead you on a chaotic path.

To say this is not for fans is a misunderstanding of the goal of this show. It nods its head to the story that came before, but gives space and a situation for supporting characters whom I had always found interesting and fun to elaborate on their role in the original story, as well as grow as characters themselves.

All the while staying true to the fun, rock and roll, nerdy video game, cartoonish off beat humor that made the original characters and overall work so charming.

This isn't Scott Pilgrim vs. The World **again**. This is **new Scott Pilgrim content.**, and to have that while staying true to the heart of the source material? How is that not for fans?

They took the film and litteraly tore it to shreds (not read comics), they then took those pieces, threw them on the floor, then took turns to throw darts at the shreds and what ever got a dart was what they combined and to fill in some gaps just copied kevin smiths he man revelations.

Music - opening theme is trying a bit hard to emulate cowboy bebop, the episodes have some good tunes for the most part, not sure about ep2 song by scots ex.

Fights - lets just say if you want movie fights redone in anime you'll be disapointed by the mind boggling lack of them, but for the fights we do get are pretty good.

Animation - mixes the comic's look with an updated style, but can't decide between choppy action or smooth transitions, some of it is smooth but a lot is choppy which some might find jarring.

Voice work - some of them sound a bit bored / phoning it in early on in the season, then everyone seems to find their grove and it shows.

Overall - it's fun, seems to get a bit lost in the middle with all the changes and then scrambles to get back on track in the last 2 episodes. Ending is pretty good, but it still feels anticlimatic.