spoilers for episode one below!
SCOTT PILGRIM IS DEAD.
That’s the end-of-episode twist for the pilot - our eponymous protagonist LOSES a fight we, as fans of the franchise, know he’s supposed to win. What turned into a potential animated recap of the story we know and love got turned on its head. Now, anything goes. Throughout Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, we bear witness to narrative upheavals that we could’ve only dreamt of, and, all the while, delve into each of Scott Pilgrim’s myriad of characters, revealing the hidden depth of each of them.
But, as per the ush, I’m getting ahead of myself. Hi, I’m Javier, and I’m a BIG fan of Scott Pilgrim.
It’s this quirky little Canadian comic that follows a loser dipshit named, well, Scott Pilgrim - a twenty-three-year-old directionless flunkie who’s currently dating a highschooler. We see that his life is pretty uneventful, living day by day, until he comes face to face with the girl of his dreams, both literally and metaphorically. And, in order to get with her, Scott has to defeat each of her ‘Evil Exes’, a Megaman-esque congregation of comically cocky douchebags, all with their strengths & weaknesses which Scott exploits in gamer-themed battles. To win the girl, you beat the bad - it’s a tale as old as time. So, when Scott Pilgrim Takes Off got announced, it was collectively assumed it would be another re-adaptation of this same material, a fun schlocky romp with sharp dialogue and nerdy humor extended to the length of six twenty-five minute episodes. There was always something missing with Wright’s 2010 movie adaptation of Scott Pilgrim; In spite of all its technical ingenuity, it lacked the visual cohesion with its comic book counterpart. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off would remedy that gap. And it did…while bridging many other gaps in the process.
See, Scott Pilgrim isn’t what you would call ‘PC’. The age gap between Scott Pilgrim and his girlfriend, Knives Chau, is suspect, as well as many of the off-color jokes sandwiched between battles, or the implementation of the manic pixie dream girl, or the harem-esque tropes the author employed, thanks to his being a fan of Ranma 1/2 (No, I’m serious) - but it’s the out-and-out self-critique of these problematic traits that makes Scott Pilgrim such a force to be reckoned with. No one is necessarily a ‘good person’ in Scott Pilgrim, mirroring real life - we all bash heads with each other, crack snide remarks at inopportune moments, or forego communication in lieu of confrontational fear. It’s what makes us human. This was a huge huge huge part of the comics, and while it was touched upon in the movie, it was always a part that felt a little more light in its weight - the movie changed Scott Pilgrim from a fun story with emotional breadth to just a fun movie. There’s nothing inherently WRONG with that! Fun for fun’s sake is one of my favorite traits of anything, ever, but when you transform a story like that, it’s going to feel like that part is missing. Again, another gap that Scott Pilgrim Takes Off bridges. Let’s get back into that.
By killing Scott Pilgrim, Takes Off has the opportunity to delve into unbridled territory, handing off the reins to the ‘Damsel’ instead of the ‘Knight’, allowing Ramona’s devil-may-care attitude to skate through the colorful world of Pilgrim and find the culprit who kill-napped her boyfriend-to-be. See, in this world, the characters aren’t so moustache-twirling. Instead, they’re characters with their own lives. Lucas Lee, the movie star, struggles to keep contracts afloat because he doesn’t read scripts…But insists on crashing and burning to the tune of “United States of Whatever”. Matthew Pattel, a “D-list theater kid”, topples another ex’s empire in a fight we didn’t expect him to win, either. That same ex, Gideon Graves, must find his self-image outside of finances or power. It’s equal parts goofy and grounded, PERFECT for a cartoon like this one, and it’s crazy just how many characters this story juggles without ever feeling crammed or heavy-handed. There are seven ‘evil exes’, six important side characters, a few background ones, two main leads, and a partridge in a friggin’ pear tree. I’m no good at math, but I’m good enough to realize that’s a LOT.
ADDENDUM: Solid nod to the myriad of LGBTQ+ rep in this one, it all felt so goddamn natural, and was so well-implemented without pointing fingers at itself, saying, “we’re doing the thing, guys! be proud of us!”
Queer culture has always been a little slice of Scott Pilgrim’s charm, so it was great not only seeing it represented, but represented front-and-center without an ounce of pretense. Good stuff. Wallace BEST CHARACTER.
A while ago, I read some text on the back of an ACCA:13 Box: “SAVING THE WORLD. IN THEIR OWN TIME.” and I don’t think it could suit Takes Off any better. It takes all the time it needs to, while having a consistent sense of stakes, ramping up as each episode comes to a close. The plot follows the boss battle structure of the original, but instead of defeating them, Ramona takes the time to confront each of them on their personal issues, determining which ex could “kill-nap” Scott, and upon realizing each of them couldn’t’ve, resolves her past with each individual…To varying results. Throughout Takes Off, Ramona makes many off-handed remarks about Colombo, and the comparison is apt - a Colombo in a world of wackiness, suitors, and unresolved pasts, opposed to an out-and-out murder. Though there is that, too, in a way.
Animation studio Science SARU, as expected, knocked it out of the park! This looks like the colorful spreads of the original comic given animated life, with extra expressiveness, rendering, and a heaping of visual gags so full that it bursts at the seams. Even from the production standpoint alone, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is an essential work! You can go from a rollerblading scene to a character acting gag within split seconds of each other, and it never once feels unnatural. Even the video game transitions, parodying Super Mario Bros. and Pac-Man as the titles roll fit perfectly within this precious little world. Keeping with that, the sound design helps accentuate the video game feel of it all - the pacing, the boss battles, the side conversations and the little coin icons above character’s heads recalls classic arcade titles of days old, mirroring Wright’s adaptation in the smashes and bursts of true blast processing. But in some of the dubbing, you can tell things got lost in visual translation. However, a solid 95% of the time, it’s pretty damn seamless. You can tell some actors have more experience with voice acting than others, but the fact that each & every one came back to assume their original roles is nothing short of a miracle, let alone giving such passionate performances!
God, what else to say…I think I’m gonna wrap up here. This shit is just everything I wanted it to be and more. I was doubtful, I was DAMN doubtful - This is coming from the kid who bought Scott’s shirts (and wore them!), who bought an X-Men First Class hoodie so I can pull the line on girls (“Clearly, one of us went to Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters”), who blasted the soundtrack on repeat, who carried around the hardcover in my bag for all of senior year, who arrogantly surmised all girls I interacted with were somehow into me (Good news! They weren’t). Oh, yeah, Scott Pilgrim ruined my life. But it also made it. I can look back on those times and laugh, man, laugh at how much of a nerd I was, but also realize I’m just like these dudes now. A twenty-something-year-old loser with a dream, a handful of friends, and a bone to pick with a world. A dude with a relationship, a complicated relationship, with a girl I’ll fight for the death for. In Scott Pilgrim, I can smell the stench of Mary Jane stems and hear Fugazi blaring in the background; I can see my friends and I shooting the shit, I can see my rampant brain pinballing these scenarios of what-ifs, of WISHING that I could ride my longboard on walls like Lucas Lee.
For better or for worse, Scott Pilgrim is my life, man, my precious little loser life. And I fucking love it!
