TV Review: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023)

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023) created by BenDavid Grabinski based on the comics by Bryan Lee O'Malley

This animated version of Scott Pilgrim's life starts off like the movie and graphic novels, where he discovers the literal girl of his dreams Ramona at a party in his hometown of Toronto, Canada. Her seven evil exes mobilize to fight him before he can date her. In the first fight, Scott loses--a major plot twist in the very first episode and the exact opposite of what happens in the previous versions. The story then plays out as Ramona tries to figure out what happened. Their friend Young Neil mysteriously writes a screenplay for a Scott Pilgrim story where he beats all the evil exes, which goes into production and stars many of those evil exes. So at least they show up in Toronto and Ramona does not have to go far to interrogate them.

I was happy to see that this was not just another faithful adaptation into another format (i.e. a cash grab). The plot twists open up new possibilities, most of which work well, and are fun. The show has the same lighthearted tone and visual style. Toward the end I figured out what was going on before the characters did. The whole series is quite entertaining. All the cast from the movie came back to voice their characters and they do a great job. This is a labor of love and whimsy and will be very enjoyable for fans of the other Scott Pilgrim stuff.

Recommended, highly if you are a Scott Pilgrim fan.

As I write (November 2025), this is only available streaming on Netflix.

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Color Ed. Vol. 6 by Bryan Lee O'Malley and Nathan Fairbairn

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Volume 6: Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley and colors by Nathan Fairbairn

See my review of Volumes 1 here, 2 here, 3 here, 4 here, and 5 here.

With his band gone and his girl vanished, Scott Pilgrim has no motivation to do anything. He's in a funk and even more of a slacker than before. Ramona's final evil ex is opening a club in Scott's town and the first night will have a performance by Scott's ex-girlfriend Envy Adams. She's become a pop star and is releasing an album that night. Can he pull himself together (or can other people get him to pull himself together) to create the happy ending that readers expect?

This final volume wraps things up nicely. The final battle is appropriately epic, introducing some new twists on the characters and a bit more of the wacky world-building that has happened throughout the series. Not only does Scott get some final character growth and narrative resolution, most of the other characters get resolutions too. I was happy with the finale.

Recommended.

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Color Ed. Vol. 5 by Bryan Lee O'Malley and Nathan Fairbairn

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim Versus the Universe written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley and colors by Nathan Fairbairn

See my review of Volumes 1 here, 2 here, 3 here, and 4 here.

Scott seems to have achieved the ultimate end as he moves in with Ramona Flowers. He's still a slacker, though, which Ramona finds annoying. Also, he still has three evil exes to fight. Two of the exes show up, twin brothers Ken and Kyle Katayanagi. They are Japanese and build a series of robots to fight Scott while the rest of the cast goes through young adult adventures (themed parties!) and drama (the band trying to survive the recording of their first album). 

The story is a little more engaging than the last issue. The evil twins have something different to offer in the way of combat even when they have to descend to fisticuffs as the robots fail. Scott is left in the lurch by the end of this volume, losing a lot and facing the ultimate challenge--final boyfriend Gideon. Is Ramona still attached to him? Will the band every get back together? I am engaged enough with the characters to keep reading.

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010)

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (2010) co-written and directed by Edgar Wright based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a Toronto 20-something slacker who is dating a high-school student, the 17-year old Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). His friends (i.e. his band mates) and his family are at best unimpressed with his choice, especially since it seems like he's on the rebound from a break-up a year earlier. Then Scott has a dream about a roller-skating, pink-haired girl who turns out to be an actual young woman--Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). She's just moved to Toronto from New York City and is working deliveries from amazon.ca. Scott quickly orders something just to meet her. He's smitten though he does not realize she has seven evil exes who will come fight him. He has to win all the battles in order to truly date her. The exes start showing up, causing fantastic fight sequences, as Scott deals (or doesn't) with the complications in his life.

The movie follows the visual spirit of the comics, with a lot of over-the-top visual flairs and action sequences. Wright is a brilliant director and has great command of the material, evoking a lot of laughter and wonder through his visual storytelling. The actors do a great job of keeping their characters believable in the unbelievable situations. The movie is fun to watch from the opening Universal Studios logo which is digitized and has an 8-bit music version of the Universal theme (the regular theme is used later for the entrance of one of the exes). Scott's character develops through the film, leading to the unsurprising but satisfying happy ending.

Recommended--highly if you are a fan of Edgar Wright or the comics.

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Color Ed. Vol. 4 by B. L. O'Malley et al.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Volume 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley and colors by Nathan Fairbairn

See my review of Volumes 1 here, 2 here, and 3 here.

Things get more dramatic in the summertime as Ramona asks Scott about his lack of a job (he actually gets one!) and the band finds a way to record an album. Scott faces his next in the line of Ramona's evil exes--a roommate from college. Also, a guy wielding a Japanese sword is after Scott, which at first Scott thinks is an evil ex but is really Knives Chau's dad. The dad wants revenge for her daughter which is kinda sweet but high peril for Scott. Finally, the lease on Scott's apartment is up so he needs to find a new place to live. Can he move in, at least temporarily, with Ramona? Will there relationship advance like they are becoming adults, getting beyond their arrested adolescences? 

This volume has a lot of different things going on, which gives it a lack of focus, almost like it is trying to imitate life too realistically, which is atypical for Scott Pilgrim storytelling. The storytelling still has the cute self-awareness and video-game aesthetic but is a little less endearing. The evil ex-roomate/lover is underdeveloped and not as interesting as previous exes.

Mildly recommended--this is mediocre but not bad enough to stop me from reading the next volume.

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Vol. 3 by B. L. O'Malley et al.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Volume 3: Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley and colors by Nathan Fairbairn

See my review of Volume 1 here and Volume 2 here.

As predicted from last time, Scott winds up fighting Ramona's ex-boyfriend Todd and Ramona fights Scott's ex-girlfriend Envy. In an interesting twist, Envy is dating Todd and they are in a band together that's about to go big-time. Scott and his band have shown up as the opening act before Envy's band (at her invitation). All the crowds are rooting for Envy and Todd while the readers root for Scott and Ramona. 

The build-up to the fights takes a while, with a lot of witty backstory thrown in and some more pathos for Scott's most recent ex, Knives Chau, who shows up for the action. The over-the-top antics continues once Todd's superpowers are revealed--he has telekinetic abilities thanks to being a hardcore vegan. He went to a special indoctrination camp, I mean, college for vegans where he learned their mystic arts and was granted substantial powers. There's some fourth-wall-breaking jokes thrown in for fun which I found enjoyable.

I remembered Todd from the movie (which I guess I should review at some point) so the surprise twist victory was not surprising but still fun. The book is very hip and well-written, even if we readers discover more and more that Scott favors the loser side of being a lovable loser.

This edition includes some bonus stories from a Free Comic Book Day publication and other alternate covers and sketches, making it extra-enjoyable.

Recommended.

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Vol. 2 by B. L. O'Malley et al.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Volume 2: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley and colors by Nathan Fairbairn

See my review of Volume 1 here.

Scott's complicated love life becomes more hazardous as his friends and family insist he has to break up with high schooler Knives Chau because he is totally infatuated with Ramona Flowers. He's finally forced into a corner and does the deed, leaving Knives heartbroken. Scott fights another of Ramona's exes. In an interesting twist, Knives runs across Ramona at the Toronto reference library and they have a fight in the same exaggerated, over-the-top style of Scott's fights. The ladies have no fatalities but the situation remains tense, at least in Scott's mind. He has another ex-girlfriend, Envy Adams, who has her own successful band and is coming to town. She wants Scott's band to open for them on their Sunday gig (the originally-scheduled band can't make it). Scott is nervous about the situation, especially when everyone shows up to the Friday-night performance where Scott and Envy are supposed to work out the details. Scott discovers one of Ramona's exes plays in Envy's band. The book ends with that cliffhanger, promising a big battle at the beginning of the next volume.

The story gets a little more depth in this volume. Knives is a more interesting and sympathetic character who goes through a normal story-arc. Suggesting Ramona will have to fight exes makes a nice parallel in the main narrative where Scott has to fight her exes. Maybe the next volume will start with two battles?

Recommended--I like the improvements.

Book Review: Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Vol. 1 by B. L. O'Malley et al.

Scott Pilgrim Color Edition Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life written and drawn by Bryan Lee O'Malley and colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Scott Pilgrim is a Toronto twenty-something slacker who plays in a mediocre band and has a girlfriend named Knives Chau, a seventee-year-old high school student. His friends and sister Stacie are unimpressed with him though he thinks he's great. His world is turned upside down when he sees Ramona Flowers, an American twenty-something Amazon.ca delivery girl who is highly fashionable and totally cool. She's probably out of his league but he goes for her anyway. Life complications ensue, and not just because he has two girlfriends. Ramona has seven evil ex-boyfriends who are going to come and fight him before he can really date Ramona.

The story is charmingly quirky. Scott share a one-room apartment with Wallace Wells, a gay guy who tries not to be the stereotype. He mostly is, with a penchant for stealing Stacie's dates. The band has a red-headed, freckle-faced female drummer who has a lot of moxie. Knives is innocent and happy, blathering on about high school drama while Scott tunes her out. Ramona is a bit of the manic pixie dreamgirl, though the problem with her ex-boyfriends creates plenty of drama. The story is a comedy, with a bizarre, over-the-top fight sequence at the end with the first ex. I enjoyed the story and the art, both of which are easygoing and enjoyable.

The series was original published in black and white (probably for budgetary reasons). The color is natural and helps things along. There's nothing earth-shattering or insightful here, just a fun read.

Mildly recommended.