This might sound like a paradox, but Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a perfect movie with one glaring problem – it ends. In an ideal video game world, Scott would never stop fighting Ramona’s evil exes. That’s obviously not possible, but Netflix will soon provide us the next best thing. The streaming site is giving us an all new way to experience the story, with an anime series starring the original cast of the film. And the first clip from Scott Pilgrim Takes Off shows that whether live-action or animated, our favorite lovesick musician is always worth waiting for.
Netflix debuted the first clip for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off during its DROP 01 Virtual Event. It features Michael Cera’s titular doofus, Aubrey Plaza’s Julie, and Kieran Culkin’s Wallace. The clip begins with Scott asking the very mean Julie to identify his dream girl from the least helpful drawing ever. Undaunted by Julie’s demands, Scott immediately concocts a plan to meet Ramona by ordering a Netflix DVD. (If you’re under 30 and wondering what that means this will help.) Then he waits. And waits. And waits some more.
I love that big dummy so much.
I also love that this scene is not a word-for-word, shot-for-shot re-creation of the movie. It feels familiar but fresh, which is what we can expect from the entire series. It stars the cast of the film, but will expand on and play off of the live-action original. (Which itself is based Bryan Lee O’Malley’s great graphic novel.)
Unfortunately at some point this anime will suffer from the same problem the movie does: it will end. We want Takes Off to never land, but until it does we’re going to enjoy being back in the world of Scott Pilgrim. It’s a place we never want to leave.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off comes to Netflix on November 17, 2023.
