In January 2022, Netflix officially announced that Scott Pilgrim would be getting an anime adaptation in late 2023. This excited fans, not only were they getting new content, but a whole animated show at that. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, will be released on Netflix on November 17th of this year.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was originally a comic series written and illustrated by Bryan Lee O’Malley. The story follows a 23-year-old man named Scott Pilgrim as he goes through the comedic struggles of trying to defeat the 7 evil exes of his new girlfriend Ramona Flowers. It is a funny story with amazing art and interesting characters.
The first volume was published in July of 2004, the series had 6 books that came out in 6 years. The comic series was a massive success, with it selling over 1 million copies shortly after its release. Due to the popularity of the series, it got its iconic movie adaptation. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (the movie), which came out in 2010. The film brought many unknown actors to the big screen, such as Micheal Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and many more.
After the movie and conclusion of the comics, Scott Pilgrim’s content went radio silent for over 13 years. Many fans believed that this was the end of Scott Pilgrim, with the author beginning to work on different projects.
Just when fans had lost all hope in new Scott Pilgrim content, they were pleasantly surprised by the announcement of the anime. After the early 2000’s. Scott Pilgrim’s fanbase slowly started to decline, but now with this new anime, both new and og fans have something fresh to enjoy. The anime will include all of the original actors from the movie adaptation to come back and voice-act their iconic characters, which fans are very impressed with.
Tokyo-based animation studio Science SARU is in charge of animating this project. They are responsible for many successful movies such as Ride Your Wave (2019), and Lu Over the Wall (2017), and they even worked on a few episodes of Adventure Time. All of their anime usually stick to a certain art style, but they’re moving in a completely different direction for Scott Pilgrim with them replicating the style of the comics perfectly.
Earlier this month a teaser trailer was released showing snippets of content from the show. The trailer also included a new original song from the soundtrack. One of the most memorable factors from the movie was the soundtrack. Many were disappointed that they didn’t get a full-length song showcasing what Scott’s band would’ve sounded like. But with this new series, many are hopeful of getting full-length songs sung by the band.
From what is shown in the trailer, the anime has a very eye-catching feeling to the art style. In the comics, the art follows a more traditional comic art style with characters being drawn with darker outlines and more desaturated colors. The anime takes an opposite approach with the colors being bright and the outlines following a more traditional anime style with thin lines, unlike western cartoons that usually have thick lines.
The animation sticks to that comic-like cartoony feeling, while still having aspects of traditional Japanese anime in action-packed scenes such as fight scenes. Many are excited about this new lively colorful art style.
Matthew Bruce has loved comics and Scott Pilgrim for years, says “The new show looks really good, I’m mostly interested in how they’re going to adapt the comic and movie into a cartoon. I like how they kept all of the original voice actors because they did a great job bringing the characters to life in the movie. Overall I’m excited to see what the show is going to be like”
Rei Cassidy, who is also a major Scott Pilgrim enthusiast states, “The series is one of my favorite comic books ever. The movie was also very good because it had the same vibe as the comic books. I love the cartoony style and has a great storyline. The characters are very loveable and the art is captivating.”
The trailer has reached over 3.1 million views in just a few weeks, it’s obvious both old and new Scott Pilgrim fans are looking forward to the release. Although Scott Pilgrim had its peak popularity in the early 2000s, this anime will be a way to reach a whole new generation to enjoy this charming series.