Scott Pilgrim da el salto

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.

A great spin-off of a beloved franchise. Takes Off brings something new to the series by switching the narrative to Ramona's point of view. The animation is like reading the comics with hand-drawn effect, colorful scenery and effects. It has everything that people loved from the franchise with a lot of retro-gaming Easter eggs, absurd humor, hilarious characters, good pop-rock songs, and even the cast of the movie reprises their role as voice actor. I really like to give Ramona Flowers the first role, as not only she's fun to follow but also because it gives her a more to show than "this perfect alternative girl that makes people turns madly in love with", presenting her flaws even helps to give some humanity to her evil exes. Because of the absurd humor, there is a lot of "this happens, don't ask questions", people looking for a minimum of logic would see plot holes everywhere but if you are just there for the ride, it's a wild one.

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.

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?

While I am happy that instead of just telling the same Scott Pilgrim story a third time in a new media form, I do have to say that like in Masters of the Universe where He-man was heavily featured in the promos but is missing for 80% of the actual show, this show does the same with Scott Pilgrim.

Despite being the titular character, Scott Pilgrim is gone for the majority of the episodes as the series instead focuses on Ramona Flowers and several secondary characters of the series. While this was not a terrible decision, it was more than a bit misleading.

Other than that, the series has all of the zany weirdness common in Scott Pilgrim media. While the jokes and situations aren't as good as the comic or the movie, I am definitely awaiting a second season, hopefully with more actual Scott Pilgrim this time.

Also, props on pretty much all of the film's actor's reprising their roles for the animated series.