***“SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF” SPOILERS AHEAD***
Scott Pilgrim is back– or is he? In 2004, the world was first introduced to Scott Pilgrim through a series of graphic novels, which were turned into a movie in 2010. The movie, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, starred Michael Cera as the titular character and became a cult classic. Last month, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was released on Netflix. It’s different from the other stories in one key way: Pilgrim himself is barely there.
The story is set in the mid-90s in Toronto, Canada. Pilgrim, who is in his early 20s, plays in an indie band of subjective quality and mooches off of his roommate. One day, he meets the woman of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, who has some baggage; namely, seven evil exes. In the movie, the action is centered around Pilgrim fighting all of Flowers’ evil exes, but the anime has a different storyline. After Pilgrim loses the fight with the first of the exes, Matthew Patel, he is presumed dead, but Flowers knows that he isn’t dead and is determined to find out what really happened to him. She investigates, and incidentally, gets closure with her exes in doing so.
Many of the actors from the movie reprise their roles in the series. For example, Cera voiced Pilgrim, Mary Elizabeth Winstead voiced Flowers and Kieran Culkin voiced Wallace Wells, who is described throughout the anime as Pilgrim’s “cool gay roommate.”
The fact that Pilgrim is played by Cera has caused a lot of people to relate to Pilgrim, which is quite frankly a bit concerning since he does some questionable things such as dating a 17-year-old at the age of 23 and not breaking up with her before pursuing a relationship with Flowers. But these characters aren’t meant to be perfect. Flowers is a deeply flawed character as well, shown as running away from everything she loves.
The thing that makes both of these characters compelling, though, is their development throughout the series; in the finale, Pilgrim admits that he shouldn’t have dated a 17-year-old and Flowers is able to see the error in her past behavior.
I was hooked on this anime from the beginning, binge-watching the entire series over Thanksgiving break. One of my favorite things about it is the animation style; it’s similar to that of Japanese animes, but not quite the same, which makes sense as Bryan Lee O’Malley, the creator of the show, is not Japanese himself but rather Korean and French-Canadian. However, the show was produced by the Japanese animation company Science Saru. I also loved the amount of depth that the characters have and how, unlike the movie, the serial format allowed for them to have more fleshed-out arcs. The plot itself was thrilling too and kept me on the edge of my seat– I’m not going to give too much away, should you choose to watch!
In conclusion, whether Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is your all-time favorite movie or this is your first time even hearing of the franchise, this anime is definitely worth checking out.
