Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, Netflix’s new anime series, has just received a trailer, promising a vividly stylized affair that reimagines the classic story of the battle for the ex. While the art style draws heavily from Bryan Lee O’Malley’s original graphic novel series, it brings back the cast from Edgar Wright’s 2010 live-action film. As such, it represents a full-circle moment, though the anime format allows co-writer BenDavid Grabinski to make an ambitious leap — one that would have cost more than Avatar if Netflix had accurately reinterpreted the comics in live action. format. The Scott Pilgrim anime releases on November 17.
The trailer for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off opens with the 23-year-old bassist (Michael Cera) of the ‘Sex Bob-Omb’ dreaming about Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a rebellious delivery girl he recently met and fell for. head over heels. She’s the new girl in town, having just moved to Canada from her busy life in New York City, and immediately catches Scott’s attention at a party. “Hey, do you want to go out sometime?” he asks her, shaking in his boots, but he gets a polite yes. Unbeknownst to him, Ramona has seven evil exes, all of whom he must defeat in various standoffs – from video game arcade arenas to a musical showdown – in order to survive. Actually meet up with her.
As previously mentioned, the entire cast from the live-action film is back, starting with Satya Bhabha as Ramona’s first ex-boyfriend Matthew Patel, Hollywood actor Lucas Lee (Chris Evans), powerful vegan Todd Ingram (Brandon Routh), specialist ninja Roxy (Mae Whitman) and more. Meanwhile, Scott must also deal with the fallout from his recent breakup with Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), who is determined to win him back by defeating Ramona in battle. Adding to the pile are the disapproving looks and judgmental comments from his sister Stacey (Anna Kendrick) and his obnoxious former classmate Julie Powers (Aubrey Plaza). Netflix released a clip from the anime Scott Pilgrim last month, in which the latter strictly forbids him from going after Ramona. There seems to be a history between the two, which will hopefully be explored in the show.
While the clip doesn’t reflect the entire eight-episode show, I found the dialogue quite jarring, with a lack of flow indicating that the actors may not have been in the same room/studio during the recording process. Wright, who played Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, returns as executive producer of the anime. “Fortunately, the Scott Pilgrim The cast became a close-knit family and lifelong friendships were forged,” he said in a prepared statement. “There is still – to this day – a group email with the entire cast on it that has been running since 2010. I was happy to reach everyone with the news that we had finally found a way to continue the adventure.”
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is produced by Japanese animation studio Science SARU, known for moving traditionally drawn art digitally. Some of their famous works include Devilman Crybaby and Japan Sinks: 2020, both of which feature incredibly rough line work with strange body proportions. With this new project, however, the team appears to be sticking to O’Malley’s original vision.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off will be released on Netflix on November 17.
