This Review Has Spoilers to the Entire Show

Man I really wanted to love this show. I remember hearing the news that they were making an animated adaptation of Scott Pilgrim and that all the original movie actors were coming back to voice their characters. Hearing that Bryan Lee O'Malley was also getting involved on top of that made me ecstatic. As a fan of the movie and the comics, I was really dying to see a full animated adaption.

After watching the show I can say that while I liked it, I didn't love it. There were a lot of questionable decisions that they made with the characters and story that made it less enjoyable.

Lets get the obvious out of the way, the show does a bait and switch and completely changes the story right at the end of the first episode, dramatically changing the course of the plot. At first I was skeptical, but I think this turned out to be a good choice. While I have been dreaming of a straight adaptation, I think that after so long, getting a new perspective on the story with a new take is much more interesting. I think a straight adaptation would have been doomed to be compared to the comics and inevitably fall short. With Scott gone, the show shifts their protagonist to Ramona. We get to see these characters through a new lens and Ramona is forced to directly confront her own problems. She really gets to breath and she's a joy to watch on screen. The series also shines a spotlight onto the evil exes and it turns out to be the best thing about this adaptation. The exes take a lot of their DNA from their movie versions and their such a delight to see on screen, especially with their movie actors. Lucas Lee turned out to be one of my favorite characters in this adaptation.Overall I liked what we got and I think the series really starts picking up on episode 2.

Starting in episode 2, the series turns into a mystery as Ramona tries to find out where Scott went. It starts really strong. It feels like we get a new dimension to the characters, especially if you've seen the movie or comics before. Episode 3 is probably my favorite episode as it has Ramona confront her ex directly and sort out their issues. It really developed Roxie and made Ramona a much more independent agent to her own development.

However, as the series goes on, I feel that the exes are less developed and don't really advance the story or characters much aside from the Scott mystery plot. With more time dedicated to Ramona and the exes, time is taken away from Scott's band members like Kim, Stephen Still and Knives. I don't its a major loss but its definitely a bummer that we don't get to see their characters grow that much. The scenes we do get with them are still nice and my favorite scene in the entire show was when Knives was jamming with Kim. The exception to the side characters is Nile. His role was expanded a lot and I liked his characterization as a hapless dope. So the story was dragging a little bit but I thought the show was still solid. Then once Scott comes back, I feel the series takes a real nose dive in quality.

With Scott gone for so long, he feels really half-baked as a character. He doesn't really go through an arc or learn anything like he does in the comic. There's one line acknowledging that dating Knives was a bad idea but that's all we get from that. The most egregious thing relating to Scott was the reveal that the main villain was future Scott who's main motivation was that things didn't work between him and Ramona. It feels like it comes from nowhere and it feels weird that Scott of all people is the one who's had a damaged relationship and not Ramona or even both of them. Honestly the time travel at this point makes it unclear who this version of Scott is or what he's been through. It really ruins the finale for me and in the end only Ramona got a meaningful conclusion. A disappointing end to what was an interesting set up.

As for the other aspects of this show, the animation is stellar and has a lot of life. It's not quite as stylish as the movie but it gets there. The performances overall were stellar outside of Scott who I always thought was a bit drab. The Japanese dub was also really good (though I only saw a few episodes in JP). I just wish that this show in particular was lip synced to the English dub. The music in this show was excellent and the tracks that they picked really extenuated the scene.

Overall I thought this show was pretty good at the start then really dropped the ball at the end. I'm not sure if I could even recommend this show to someone brand new to Scott Pilgrim. Perhaps its because I'm a fan that the ending bothered me that much. I think though if you have seen the movie you should give at least the first three episodes your time and see if its for you,