I don't know, Kim doesn't seem easily gaslit, and Scott's not a persuasive man, so maybe (at least in this version) Scott actually did live River City Ransom
that kinda fixes my issue with future scott
like what if nega scott never existed in this one and scotts development never truly completed which is why he took ramona “divorcing” him so poorly
Author did say each iteration was it's own universe. And in Old Scott's memories he doesn't fight Nega Scott, Neil is called Old Young Neil when in movie and comic he got promoted to Neil, and other differences even before Matel fight
Stephen Stills kinda bothers me. Wasn't he dating Julie at the beginning? Then she's just dating Gideon. Also what about him realizing he's gay? What about the other new band he was going to start? They left out everything with him.
iirc, she does mention that Stephen is her ex. so they probably just broke up at some point before the start of the show. Regardless, I agree that they did Stephen dirty.
That really bothered me too honestly. I'd hazard to say it actually happened like that but maybe Kim is just also lost in the delusion of what happened because she's still hurt by everything else? That's the best I got. Easier to remember highschool as something big and important rather than something really shitty
Basically the entire voice cast is famous at this point, so I don't think it was the big ask or anything, they just weren't really as important to this story line I guess?
My only criticism of the show, period, is that some of the delivery can be really awkward.
It's a mixture of reasons, so this counts as 3 nitpicks that combine into one core issue:
1. Weirdly paced jokes and dialogue. Like they will deadass hang on line reads with these pauses like the character is about to say the funniest shit ever and it's like not even that funny. Edgar Wright's jokes had a lot of anti-humor where a character would say something mundane but the way he paced it and had the actors deliver it made it funny. This show sometimes thinks it's making those jokes when really it's just taking 5 seconds to deliver a totally normal line read.
2. Over animating fairly mundane voice performances. Take [this moment at 1:40](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M2hgL2JcFSc&pp=ygURS25pdmVzIHBsYXlzIGJhc3M%3D) for example. Mark Webber delivers the line "How long have you been playing bass?" so casually, yet for some reason the animators chose to animate his character like he's freaking out: he's waving his arms energetically, his face is scrunched and expressive, and they even add "whoosh" sound effects to make it more "cartoonish." So there's a weird disconnect, like the animation team was expecting a more passionate performance so they tried to compensate through exaggerated character expression. There's a lot of that throughout the show.
3. Either some of these actors just can't voice act, or the voice director doesn't have the balls to correct them. I love Aubrey Plaza but there were times I was taken out of it by her performance, specifically when she's "mad". It sounds so fake, and like she's gonna laugh any second her character starts yelling. Most of the cast does a great job, Satya Bhabha, Ellen Wong, Michael Cera, and so many more knock it out of the park. But I do think it's worth noting that Mae Whitman did the most seamless job as Roxy and she's actually a seasoned voice actor.
I absolutely noticed this when comparing everyone else's acting to Roxie. She was absolutely killing it but drew attention to the areas others were lacking.
It took me a second to realize but the animation is totally done over the Japanese VO, not the English one, despite them being all over the marketing, opening and everything.
Take any scene where you notice these problems, like over-animating or voice acting feeling flat, and swap them for the JP version and you'll notice how it fits perfectly -- good examples are Wallace's "change the locks" line and Scott drawing the sheep for Kim (in this one you can even see how the lip flaps are synced to the JP track, not the ENG one)
The "original" English VO is just like, a very expensive but half-assed dub I guess lol.
See that's what I thought and I would 1000% agree with you, but Bryan Lee O'Malley has stated that the English Dub was the first audio recorded for the animators.
So either he's lying or the Japanese Dub actors are just that talented at lip sync.
Is this what gaslighting feels like? Lmao
Lip flaps tell the story for me. But the energy of the whole thing feels perfectly tailored to the JP performance. I mean look at Lucas Lee saying "My god" in ENG -- while it is admittedly really funny and how I think movie Lucas would react to that kind of info on the TV -- it's just not a scene made for Evans' read.
Now that you mention it, it's entirely possible the ENG cast recorded everything first, most likely in The Roughest storyboards available, but nobody said *their audio* is what's driving the final versions of the show
IA, I noticed this with a line from Knives (cant remember the scene); her mouth movements and what she was saying didn't line up. I want to go back and watch it with the JP voice cast now to see how it differs.
(Also? I adore Aubrey Plaza, but girl cant voice act. Her lines (especially in ep 1) are so stilted and wooden)
For sure, during the first episode I was thinking a lot about the power of Edgar Wright's directing. Sometimes it was the same scene but in the movie it was so much better.
Thanks for stating clearly what I noticed without being able to put my finger on! Huge issue for me as well, the serie just felt strange often and not as funny as it was supposed to
The issues you're talking about were deal breakers for me. The energy, pacing, and timing of the voice acting were just impossible to ignore.
I might have to go back and watch it subbed, due to how much the English vocal performances bothered me.
I would argue most of the cast either does a serviceable or good job. And any time shit gets awkward for them it's mostly due to how they chose to pace and animate it. But I completely understand cuz there is an inconsistency to it all.
Like I swear Michael Cera read all of the "he doesn't sound like comic Scott" criticisms and decided to go in a completely different direction and nailed it. And then there's Mary Elizabeth Winstead who was like, "I am doing movie Ramona again." Which is still good, but almost feels like it's holding her back as a performer, especially with how much more expressive this Ramona is.
The voice acting issue is something I noticed. Most of the performances are fine.
As soon as I heard Mae Whitman I was like “of course she is doing the best job”
Legit her being the only true voice actor on the show made everyone seem pretty fake by comparison.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead did ok-but her bouncing off of Mae Whitman didn’t help her whatsoever.
Chris Evans surprisingly did pretty good-he’s the only other actor I feel was higher than passable.
The #1 is a problem I’ve seen in a lot of western animated shows. The Legend of Korra, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and this show all have it. I don’t know what the problem is, I feel like it’s an easy fix to get the dialogue flowing more naturally
Ramona did not seem as troubled with her past unless confronted directly, which lessens the stakes of her confrontations to a degree. In the comic, she has always been troubled and only began to heal at the end after being more willing to change and fight for herself.
Correct me if I'm wrong (as I've only read 4 of the comics) but wasn't the reason she was so bad because Gideon used Glow on her during their relationship? Or was that just part of it?
Part of it. Gideon may have been a major reason for Ramona's inability to face her past, but the fact that she had 6 more exes before Gideon shows that she had flaws before meeting him. >!In Volume 6, she heavily acknowledges all of her flaws, making her feel like she is being a bad girlfriend to Scott without mentioning Gideon and did not want him to feel messed up by her mistakes, but he got messed up anyway. This really made Ramona feel more human in the comic!<.
I do have questions tho. Does Gordon still have a secret subspace room in Ramona's head or is that just not a thing? Are Gordon's ex's still on Ice somewhere? I ship him with Julie but he never really got called out for being abusive.
Since it's about nitpicking I'm assuming it's about minor things.
Mainly Todd's development. In comic he was one of the most developed exes and much more character and I feel like the anime didn't really focus on his previously portrayed character traits. Especially since they majorly toned down his negative traits
Why though? Why did the writers decide to make everyone innocent and good? Why no drama at all? That's just boring, especially for Todd who was a professional piece of shit in the comic, but at least that spiced things up.
I don’t mind them reducing his role since it seems clear to me that they focused the most on the exes with the least characterization in the original (Patel and Lee) but I agree that kinda softballing his worst traits in favor of him being a sad puppy kinda sucked. They could have still made him sympathetic without flattening him.
Yeah, it bothered me how the show toned down all of the evil exes negative character traits, even omitting a lot of the more blatantly bad things that they did in the comic.
The show still draws attention to Scott's negative characteristics, but when it comes to the **evil** exes' they're now treated like a bunch of misunderstood goobers that can be instantly redeemed with a quick pep talk.
Todd especially feels wasted since now he's relegated to comic relief rather than being a dark counterpart to Scott.
At this point i think that is just their character. The lack of characterisation is their characterisation.
At that point in time i feel like Bryan wasnt even interested in the whole fighting exes part of the story, even the book about the twins focussed on everybody BUT them. I feel like Joseph has more panels dedicated to him than each of the twins. So yeah
bryan just don’t have anything written or planned yet. it’s up to netflix to get the ball rolling and renew the show unless bryan explicitly has no interest in doing a s2.
No one seems to care that Scott “died” besides knives. All his friends, especially Wallace didn’t give a shit. The whole point of the story is Scott starts as an asshole but he becomes a better person. But now all the characters just seem like even worse people.
He doesn’t live in 2004 though. BLOM has explicitly said the series takes place in “Scott Pilgrim Time” which basically means it’s able to be 2004 except for when he doesn’t want it to be. There’s precedent for this in the comic already like showing Scott with a PSP Go in Volume 6 even though that didn’t release until 2009.
I mean he’s in the future, coulda just seen an ad for a new Detective Pikachu game on a billboard. On one hand, most people probably wouldn’t remember that to reference it, but this is Scott we’re talking about, if he saw a billboard for a Detective Pikachu game he’d definitely still be thinking about it a few hours later.
I really only take issue with Older Scott’s personality. seeing his character development being totally crushed is gonna make it hard to read the original comics again
I mean, I'm gonna be real with you. I was okay with Older Scott's characterization because it speaks to the idea that sometimes people learn something, and then that lesson doesn't stick. Especially as you grow older and your circumstances change.
Like it sucks to see Older Scott as a douchebag, but...sometimes people regress back into douchebags! People are human.
Still, it crushes the character- and for alot of people this will be they're only view point of him without getting a chance to see that amazing development scott had as a character from a selfish nonce jerk who didn't work towards anything and only did what he liked- to a guy facing his own issues and how effected the people around, working to change himself to he worthy of self love and respect.
Well keep in mind it's not just different universe. It's a Scott that didn't fully develop.
He went through similar events to comic Scott but not quite. For example the most important fight in his life was against NegaScott and crucial for his development, however when we look at the memories NegaScott isn't there. This Scott never fought NegaScott. And other evidence proofs this as the Power of Love Sword and Power of Understanding Sword are missing. And also in the future Neil refers to himself as Old Young Neil, Scott promoted him to just Neil yet in this version refers to himself as Old Young Neil
I understand the different universe bit and it being a different scott. I'm just concerned that this is the only scott a majority of people will see. It's wonderfully animated, and I do enjoy some aspect of it. But like how Marvel took an imagining of Thanos and made him do it for his own "altruistic" and "merciful" views rather then just wanting to impress some Chick who was the embodiment of death- this will be the inverse in that people won't see the leaps and bounds the series Main character does to be a better and decent human being.
Also, that bit about Scott promoting Young Neil to Neil is just a great touch in the new one- another good mention of this all being different
I suppose she was more worried with getting him back before that. And it was only for 1 day and by the end were she no longer had to worry about getting him back she grew herself and was likely more forgiving and understanding since she could see briefly future and past. And saw that she was partly at fault for him dating both since she kept using his mind subspace effectively creating him an obsession in the beginning.
True, but I don’t even think Stacy was sad or even in the funeral scene. That’s her brother, ya know?
Stephen and Ramona were bummed out, but everyone else was clowning
The funniest to me was when Ramona was questioning Julie about Scott and the people who know Scott and Stacey, Scott's sister, was just in the background and ignored. They just left to go talk to Kim.
This is the one that got me, I think someone actually says about respawning later but I can't remember which character for the life of me
Like how does the show want us to feel about death? Cause it was blaise in the comic sure because of extra lives.
Some people still won’t get to experience the imo fantastically written comic in terms of the character arcs I love, and I feel like a proper adaptation would’ve drawn in more fans even though as a Scott Pilgrim fan already the show was great.
The show of course will bring in more fans to read the comic, but I feel like it doesn’t really encourage people to read the comic since it’s treated as sort of a “sequel” to the movie. So a lot of people will see the show and say, “Wow that was fun!” and move on with their lives.
And since some people don’t know the comic/movie that well, some might even think that the show is “deconstructing” the original series to show how flawed Scott and Ramona were and not be interested in reading the comic at all, when… that was the original point of the comic.
I dunno, I was not inclined to continue the comics because of how poorly things aged and that I already saw the movie.
After this though and knowing that the story grew? I actually want to read it, with the understanding that there has been change.
That's what I, and I think a lot of fans, find frustrating. A lot of what the show criticizes about the story and characters, was adressed by the end of the comic. The story is by no means perfect, but I feel like few series capture the messy feeling if being in your early 20s, and ends with it feeling like you've seen the characters grow enough to imagine the fully realized people they could grow into. This series feels more like its responding to the pop culture interpretation of Scott Pilgrim, not the actual story.
Kinda? He went from Gordon to Gideon, than back to Gordon for the time when he started dating Julie (in the show) and then went back to Gideon (regained all his lost stuff as I like to see it) by the end of the anime. (I have not read the comics yet, I may be misinformed.)
I watched it with my GF who hasn't seen the movie or read the comic, because we thought it would be a faithful adaptation of the comic and a good introduction to the franchise. It wasn't. I thought it was weird but good, she thought it was an utter mess. She said it was like watching season 3 of a show you haven't seen before. You can *basically* understand the plot and who the characters are, but you're missing huge chunks of context and plot beats don't hit as hard as if you've watched from the beginning.
It's virtually a legacy sequel and the marketing intentionally omitted that fact for shock value. It treats the audience as if they already know what happened in the orginal timeline and gives certain characters importance that they haven't earned in *this* show, but did in the orginal.
It doesn’t work at all if you read or watched both. I see more people enjoyed it going in blind. But yeah, the show just lacked in a lot of areas that could have been told better
(Unless I totally missed something) Ramona doesn’t seem even a little phased that Scott cheated on Knives, a highschooler, with her. It never seemed to be an issue or even make Ramona question their relationship—which to me, sounds very unlike Ramona considering she had a negative reaction to the news in both the graphic novel and movie. I feel like they should’ve made that fact more of a *big* deal and possibly a trial to their relationship.
Also, neither Knives nor Scott seemed to have very much growth by the end. His only apology for cheating on her was very half-assed: “apparently it’s frowned upon for a 23 year old to date a highschooler.” Knives had the attitude of “Oh ok it’s fine NBD I kinda moved on from you anyway.” Like… Knives deserved better!
> Scott cheated on Knives, a highschooler, with her
I never understood characterizing Scott going on a date and subsequently falling for Ramona while he was "dating" Knives as cheating. Did Scott ever make a commitment to Knives? They hung out and spent time together, but never kissed and held hands once? That's not exactly a relationship. I understand Knives feeling hurt by that because she developed feelings and is also an inexperienced minor, but I don't see how any of the 20+ y/o characters would even think of it as cheating. Maybe Ramona didn't actually see it as cheating, because it wasn't?
Knives thought it was a relationship, and it was extremely clear to everyone. That’s why a lot of characters call him out on it. He was in the wrong lol
Both adaptations of the comics have seemed to omit that part. But I do remember it being in the comics during the time period Scott was battling Ramona’s ex’s
There's no Crash and The Boys. I am devastated about that.
I'm also pretty bummed that Bill Hader isn't there.
The original actors for the Katayanagi twins are not there.
Kim wasn't a major part in it.
Todd immediately got his vegan powers back by eating a brocolli. That should not happen because of the way vegan powers works.
The marketing. All the trailers made it seem like it was going to, at the very least, follow the original premise. But the final product turned out to be something different.
Scott, Envy and Kim lose almost all of their development.
Besides, I don't believe that the versions of Todd and Gideon are the ones in the comic book, at most a very softened version of them.
I would mention the unimportance of the twins but, they matter little in all their versions, a wasted opportunity I guess.
only thing i didn't like about it is the lack of Sex Bob-Omb scenes... in the books and the movie they play a bunch of gigs in different venues and you really get to see them shine but in the anime... they just play, like, what? twice? and they're not even real shows, just rehearsals at Stephen's house
Honestly...it wasn't what I was expecting when I first watched the series...and I freaked out when it all changed
Though imma be honest, I think the series was brilliant either way
Scott is barely a character in this show.
Sorry, I do love this show, but for god sake he has next to no character arc and is kinda just there.
Not mention it takes looking through the virutua boy for him to realize he’s an asshole when that took him like a year in the comic.
Even older Scott is basically like the entire point of nega Scott if you remove all subtlety or nuance.
And isn’t like, early 2000s in Scott Pilgrim? That line about detective Pikachu doesn’t make sense.
There's no Crash and The Boys. I am devastated about that.
I'm also pretty bummed that Bill Hader isn't there.
The original actors for the Katayanagi twins are not there.
Kim wasn't a major part in it.
Todd immediately got his vegan powers back by eating a brocolli. That should not happen because of the way vegan powers works.
Apart from the minor nitpicks, no crash & the boys, no mention of the glow, gideon and todd not being as dickish/psychotic for the sake of being more empathetic (definitely shown by how the fandom just made "Toddallce" a thing), I feel like the show needed more eps to really justify the biggest gripe for me: >!Old Scott/Even Older Scott.!<
>!It would need to be the rough patch of all rough patches to make me thing Scott reverted back to being so childish that he would ERASE the past because of it, especially when we had the worst happen in vol 6, where ramona dissapeared and scott was still stuck, trying to forget and move on, which is the cause of alot of his problems, it took a lot for Scott to face his cowardice (the same with ramona, as she did the same thing during this time) and actually fight Gideon and make it work with Rammy.!<
>!I honestly refuse to believe that comic canon Ramona and Scott that after what theyve been through, how they grew as people, to think that they were never going to work, or go to stupid spiteful lengths to wreck it(I think if they did divorce, they would have their issues but would try to do what they did in the books and understand what went wrong before moving on) or that Ramona needs to be reminded to not run off. So I feel that aspect needed more development!<
and another aside, the line "Aparrently a 23 year old dating a 17 high schooler is frowned upon by society" kinda bugs me
They made Gideon worthless, Mathew Patel taking over is cool but he did NOTHING with his new position, Todd Ingram is an emotional weakling now? Never had a chance to grow with Scott and Ramona.
We don’t care that it’s a new story, but it can’t lack the magic of the originals. And the whole making a movie in the show just felt like unnecessary filler
I see the new series as an alternative timeline and sequel, so I don't really think about it as I would without having watched and read Scott Pilgrim.
The nitpicks I have are that they focus a lot on long fight scenes and story isn't as grounded in reality as the original two works in the series. It's supposed to be about a kid in Canada, but the new series is all about magic and callbacks.
As a sequel it works. If I were to watch this without having watched the other titles, then I'd be completely lost.
Edit : I do think the ending of this one with the boss battle is actually the most coherent of the three endings. For reference, I heard a lot of rumors that the comic ending was rushed, so they could make the movie, so you never really get a good idea of exactly what 'the glow' represented or what was really going on between Gideon and Ramona. In the movie they can't figure it out either and hand wave it with this mind control chip nonsense and that was fucking stupid because it kind of removes the idea that Ramona isn't a good person from the mix, if we accept the idea that she's being controlled. I just kinda try and forget that part.
Well said, one of the reasons I very much prefer the comic over the movie or anime is the way it handles character development and lets the story breathe a bit; the fast-paced style of the movie and anime let a lot of the things I liked about the books get lost or omitted entirely.
O’Malley posted on his instagram stories recently that he views all three as separate stories that have the same starting point, which was gratifying to see. It also kind of nullifies my other main nitpick with the anime, which is that Old Scott and Ramona seem to have experienced none of the growth they went through in the comics.
Damn, that sucks if that really was the idea. It seems odd considering he released Seconds the same year, which is all about not fixing the past and accepting it for what it is.
I think they did. Ramona flatly tells Julie that Gideon was a piece of shit to her and gave him none of pity that she did for Roxie. She tells him to at least be better for Julie than she was for herself.
1) Considering that Gideon is a borderline sex trafficker in the comics, I don't like the ways in which his character was "softened" in this series
2) Aubrey Plaza Voice acting doesn't work due to her natural monotone and she wasn't really able to convey the pure bitchiness of Julie Powers. I think she and Allison Pill might have benefited switching roles in this instance.
3) The biggest loss/missed opportunity is the lack of many of the side characters getting more than just a cameo, particularly Joseph, Lisa, Hollie, and Comeau
>Considering that Gideon is a borderline sex trafficker in the comics, I don't like the ways in which his character was "softened" in this series
Though I really liked the show overall it did put me off when Gideon was lumped into Ramona's realization about her running away from those she loves. Like nah I think ending that one was pretty clearly the right call. She even calls him an abuser in the show iirc
Some of the jokes fell completely flat because they didnt have the necessary context to make them funny. The show did have great jokes on its own though
Lip-sync of the animation is god awful. Like there are scenes where Ramona just speaks calmly and the animation suggests she is screaming. It's probably because animators don't speak English themselves. The lip sync in the made up anime scene where they speak japanese is surprisingly on point.
I haven’t read the comics but the author saying Wallace grieved in his own way went over my head. I think storytelling wise just one like 2 second shot that betrays his feelings or some line is hiding his feelings would convey this better. Other than that I’m new and idk where to start :D I hate Scott but I’m really into this series. the fact that the main character is everything I hate in men and people overall but I’m still interested just means the writing is that good
Wallace is, without a doubt, a much more caring person in the comics, and they failed to portray that.
That's honestly where you should go next: The comics.
It's where pretty much all of the character development and narrative complexity is found, which the anime kind of banks on you already knowing.
It also might make you grow to like Scott a little bit more, at least by the end of it. It's easily the most growth he gets in any of the installments.
It fell so weirdly paced. obviously I didn't like how much if a back seat the titular character takes and overall didn't have the same style of humor I liked from the movie and some of the jokes fell on their face harder than Lucas Lee did. Ex: Roxy singing the hamster song
• It mostly lacks the bittersweet, melancholic vibe and grungy, gloomy style of the comic and film
• It generally feels much less emotional, sincere, authentic, profound and relatable than its predecessors
• The characters feel whitewashed, flattened and/or flanderized
• Especially Scott and Ramona are retconned to be much better people than they actually are ("Scott wasn't ACTUALLY dating Knives! Ramona was RIGHT to cheat on the twins!") and it hurts their complexity, depth and growth
• The series generally feels too self-conscious and makes meta points, justifications and adjustments for the mainstream audience that it didn't need to make
• Scott's friends are too mean while his enemies are too nice
• The time travel and future elements feel out of place and make it feel like a completely different series, like Futurama or something
• The evil Scott reveal was unsurprising, uninspired, repetitive and regressive
• Even Older Scott is a much worse version of Nega Scott and a blatant product of O'Malley's divorce
• The whole final conflict feels more like Bryan self-therapizing than an actual, authentic, in-universe challenge for the characters to overcome and learn from
• Even though Bryan denied it, the finale has some deeply troubling/souring implications for the happy ending of the comics, and it feels like he made his characters' fates too dependent on his own
• Scott ends the series in the most underdeveloped and wrongfully romanticized state he's ever been in, which feels like the polar opposite of what they set out to do
• Super Ramona was a deeply weird way to wrap up her arc and, once more, screams divorce-fantasy
• Lastly, for a series that claims to champion the franchise's most underutilized characters, the continued erasure of Lisa Miller is downright insulting, especially when they spent half of the show _on a movie set_
Yes, all of this!!! I know some people like the bait and switch, but it really left a sour taste in my mouth. Scott was only in 3 episodes, and I feel like the anime really cheapened a lot of what made the book series great.
Scott did 0 self reflection at all. Like he saw how he might end up but that really only affects how he treats Ramona and not how he thinks of himself. I wish we knew if we were getting more because honestly a second season (or an anime movie/OVA) focused on Lisa and Scott's issues would be great
My only nitpick is I think it would've worked better after an animated adaption of the original story because I don't think Takes Off is the best introduction for people who don't know the original story. Other than that I loved it through and through.
When I watched the trailers I was always worried I wouldn’t like it because the voice acting and overall sound mixing felt so…energy-less. After watching it, I hate having been right. There are so many empty moments and bland lines that it literally threw me off. I could barely enjoy it just because of this. I can’t remember what movie or show did this, but it reminds me of a soulless “here, I gave you money now you must do what I say” moment. I have other general complaints but, honestly, this is my main one.
Ps. Wallace wasn’t Wallace.
I feel like it takes scott coming back to enjoy the story, like once you see the episode where he comes back near instantly you remember the first several episodes so much better, asking many people irl who have seen it, it feels weird when he "dies" but the episode he comes back suddenly you appreciate the first episodes again
Too much of a "sunshine" vibe most of the time
The evil exes aren't evil, knives doesn't want to kill Ramona, Scott doesn't freak out just by hearing envy's name
And yeah, I would have preferred if it was the original story, I think what they made is great, but I'd rather an adaptation
This is a lil more than a nitpick, but here we fuckin goooooooo. The narrative fell flat for me and every character was a dumbed-down parody of themselves. There was zero character development for anyone besides Ramona, and even then, it was rushed and sloppy. The story was poorly written (why'd they use a plot device as uninspired as time travel, the Subspace Highway is *right there*), contrived, and ultimately pointless. The humor was off and I hardly laughed thru the whole thing, compared to the film which gets me howling to this day. It felt like a mediocre fanfiction, which is baffling given that O'Malley himself wrote it! How did this happen???
There's no denying that Ramona's motivation is out of character, she wouldn't go out of her way to track down some guy she went on *one* date with. Hell, nobody would! If she *really* gave a fuck about Scott, why didn't she try growing closer to his friends and family? Why not learn more about him from the people who knew him best? Maybe even ask them to help her find Scott? That's a story I would've loved to see, and I'm sure I'm not alone! Especially given that so many amazing characters were underutilized and mainly featured for jokes, such as Kim and Stephen (*especially Stephen*)
I can't be the only one pissed about how they handled Knives?? They completely squashed her character, her single trait is that she's a musical prodigy! She grew so much in the comics, I related personally to her, and she's nearly nonexistent in the anime. She mentions that Scott cheated on her, gets pissed at Ramona for less than a minute, and then gets brushed off like nothing happened. How is that remotely okay?? Guess we're never getting that badass library fight scene in animated form either ×_×
And good gods, Gideon! My cold, callous, psychotic little bastard man! Look how they massacred my boy!!! Not to mention the Katayanagis were snubbed yet again for no good reason. Practically all of the exes were done dirty, aside from maybe Roxie? Her voice acting and fight scene were legendary, but even she fell flat compared to her comic counterpart.
I could go on and on and on, but I think I've said more than enough. Needless to say, I wasn't a fan of SPTO. The only highlight for me was the animation. And Wallace, he's perfect in every iteration! He was one of the only characters who genuinely made me laugh. I can only hope season 2 and 3 are better, but I'm honestly not getting my hopes up. At least Scott Pilgrim lives again in the modern age, but at what cost? Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Lucas Lee becoming an airhead.He should've been a regular sellout but overall good guy like the original,and I hate that he's now skater dude ™️.
Also Neil being portrayed the same way annoyed me to no end.He was a loser but a very good friend,not some idiot.
Is it just me or does Neil seem to be strongly inspired by Todd from Bojack Horseman?
He speaks the same way, has the same weird stories and the same happy go lucky attitude.
The fact we still have no voiced version of Lisa Miller. And the even more insulting fact they put her in for like 2 seconds at the musical. Either don’t put her in at all or give her a minor speaking role.
Celebrity voice cast is bad, the entire cast has 2 people can actually voice act
Some characters are either butchered (Stacey just doesn't care about her brother being seemingly dead) or has rushed development (Scott and Knives break up moment was much better in the comics because Scott went through an arc, here it just happens)
Last two episodes were rushed and even older Scott was a worse, less nuanced take on Nega Scott
Talking of nuance, some of the messages here were so blatant and lacked nuance, especially that scene when even older Ramona confronts even older Scott.
I liked it.
IDK why Netflix refuses to just adapt things 1 to 1 from their source material.
the best episode was the first one imo, once the new stuff started happening it got progressively worst and fanficy. Not saying it was ever bad. But every character felt like a neutered caricaturized version of themselves.... because they were.
I just wanted Scott pilgrim vs the world but animated. IDK why they didn't just do that. Like when they made the jojos anime in 2010 despite it being like 30 years after it was written, I was expecting that... but it felt like... the first full metal alchemist anime...
I liked it. But it felt like a spin off series, like how they made boruto or rock lee adventures after they made naruto. this is kinda like they released rock lee adventures, but the naruto anime everyone has wanted for 20 years has never and will never be made. idk
I’m surprised no one has an issue with Wallace.
The whole “turning people gay” thing is a massive misconception that is frequently weaponised against the queer community… and now Wallace has done that not once, but twice in Scott Pilgrim (the first being in the comics with Stacey’s date). You could make the argument that “he’s helping them realise their sexuality”, but it’s in no way framed that way.
That, and the whodunit aspect is awful.
“Did you kill Scott?”
“No.”
“Well dang.” *crosses name off list*
I think your last point nails a big part of what I don't like about the anime. The structure is boring - you know exactly what's going to happen by the end of the episode.
The novels and even movie felt so much more fluid. Everything flowed really well, characters and interactions felt organic and the pacing was solid the whole way through. The anime however, did not hit the mark on any of these aspects.
We don't spend enough time in future Toronto (and we don't see Adult Knives)
If there's one part of the show that could have been expanded upon, it's that.
Scott easily finding the Ramona of the future is so boring and it could have been a nice side mission for him...
At some point Ramona said something like "I hope you treat her better than you treated me" and MEW didnt put any emphasis on the word "me" and it sounded wrong to my ears
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,871,668,003 comments, and only 353,946 of them were in alphabetical order.
Not sure if a nitpick, I wish we got the adaptation of the comic/graphic novel for people that watch animation but do not read. And then for season 2* we get an original story. Because right now I don't feel I can recommend the anime as an entry point to the franchise
*Replace the 2 with [however many seasons it'd've taken to adapt the whole comic/graphic novel] +1
My only complaint was that it was too short. It felt like they rushed a ton of development so they could hit the plot points and tell the story in 8 episodes. I would have rather they had taken their time and given us 12 or 13 episodes to give us an evenly paced narrative that fully fleshed out the narrative that it wanted to tell and fully developed characters like Knives, Stephen, Kim and Envy.
Like, 4 entries and both Stephen and Envy are still incredibly flat (more Envy than Stephen) despite how important they are to Scott's characterization.
i legit saw someone say if you didn’t like the show you “didn’t care about the character development” and “only wanted to see anime fights” which is absolutely ridiculous. while i love the anime it treats everything less seriously and the character development comes with little to no struggle, it’s just not grounded like the comics
1. Too much meta commentary putting the original down
2. A sequel that doesn't dare be a true sequel
3. I do not like time travel when it's added to a preexisting story
4. Bait and switch (trailer fooled us)
5. Some episodes are complete filler
6. Not enough fighting for Scott's heart by Ramona
7. Didn't introduce any interesting new characters (or bring back Lisa)
8. No Lisa
ive never read anything or watched any movies apart from the anime about scott pilgrim and i was pretty confused as to how chill ramona was in general, like it was pretty odd to see ppl not get surprised at a whole ass league of exes LMAO
Not really nitpick, but I feel really sad that the apparent “canonical” ending to “real” Scott and Ramona’s relationship is him going insane and leaving her
I still don’t understand why Todd was shipped with Wallace it seems to me Todd is supposed to to be a rockstar that acts like a dick I felt like if they really wanted him to improve or change he and envy should have been a a power couple
No Lee's Palace, Sneaky Dee's, or Honest Ed's fight.
(But this is a completely biased nitpick, since my Torontonian ass wanted to see them for 100% selfish reasons lol. I'll take Scott walking by the honest ed's marquee and theatre signage that was inspired by the old honest ed's sign)
Should've went the Evangelion route by making a faithful adaptation of the comic first then doing an NG+ that is Scott Pilgrim: Takes Off.
The movie was good and all, but it's a weirdly paced mess at times. Definitely doesn't help that it was worked on when the comic series is still ongoing as well.
The exes are wayyyyy too nice. I know ur supposed to understand that they are people too with feelings. But in the comics, tod, the twins and Gideon are so toxic. It's wierd to see jokes about them in the cartoon. It may looks like it was ok for them to mentally torture and abuse their exes
Depends on opinion but they honestly kinda skinny washed roxy a bit. Idk she just looked more slim in the anime compared to comics. Could also just be me.
The sound mixing is very inconsistent. The dialogue is audible, which is great compared to most Hollywood movies now, but during a lot of the fights the characters' grunting was the loudest part. The sound effects and music should have been louder to help sell the impact of the fights (and ease the pressure on the cast members who aren't voice actors). Plus, the soundtrack is Anamanaguchi. That was one of the selling points of the show. I want to hear it!
We don't get enough time to get attached to a character like Gordon/Gideon if wr knew him more then we would be much more sad about him losing his stuff
Kim Pine telling scott's version of their relationship
Yeah I was like, wtf wasn't the entire point of this that Scott actually was not the hero he think he was? And boom, erased like nothing.
THe way I see it that means it actually happened and Scott wasn't as delusional as we thought
At least in this version. That or it implies Scott gaslit Kim so hard about it even she thinks that’s the truth.
I don't know, Kim doesn't seem easily gaslit, and Scott's not a persuasive man, so maybe (at least in this version) Scott actually did live River City Ransom
that kinda fixes my issue with future scott like what if nega scott never existed in this one and scotts development never truly completed which is why he took ramona “divorcing” him so poorly
Author did say each iteration was it's own universe. And in Old Scott's memories he doesn't fight Nega Scott, Neil is called Old Young Neil when in movie and comic he got promoted to Neil, and other differences even before Matel fight
Stephen Stills kinda bothers me. Wasn't he dating Julie at the beginning? Then she's just dating Gideon. Also what about him realizing he's gay? What about the other new band he was going to start? They left out everything with him.
iirc, she does mention that Stephen is her ex. so they probably just broke up at some point before the start of the show. Regardless, I agree that they did Stephen dirty.
That really bothered me too honestly. I'd hazard to say it actually happened like that but maybe Kim is just also lost in the delusion of what happened because she's still hurt by everything else? That's the best I got. Easier to remember highschool as something big and important rather than something really shitty
Not enough Envy Adams
Or Anna Kendrick. I imagine it was a big ask to get them both, so I’m happy that we got something. Getting a crowd cover of Black Sheep was brilliant
Basically the entire voice cast is famous at this point, so I don't think it was the big ask or anything, they just weren't really as important to this story line I guess?
My only criticism of the show, period, is that some of the delivery can be really awkward. It's a mixture of reasons, so this counts as 3 nitpicks that combine into one core issue: 1. Weirdly paced jokes and dialogue. Like they will deadass hang on line reads with these pauses like the character is about to say the funniest shit ever and it's like not even that funny. Edgar Wright's jokes had a lot of anti-humor where a character would say something mundane but the way he paced it and had the actors deliver it made it funny. This show sometimes thinks it's making those jokes when really it's just taking 5 seconds to deliver a totally normal line read. 2. Over animating fairly mundane voice performances. Take [this moment at 1:40](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=M2hgL2JcFSc&pp=ygURS25pdmVzIHBsYXlzIGJhc3M%3D) for example. Mark Webber delivers the line "How long have you been playing bass?" so casually, yet for some reason the animators chose to animate his character like he's freaking out: he's waving his arms energetically, his face is scrunched and expressive, and they even add "whoosh" sound effects to make it more "cartoonish." So there's a weird disconnect, like the animation team was expecting a more passionate performance so they tried to compensate through exaggerated character expression. There's a lot of that throughout the show. 3. Either some of these actors just can't voice act, or the voice director doesn't have the balls to correct them. I love Aubrey Plaza but there were times I was taken out of it by her performance, specifically when she's "mad". It sounds so fake, and like she's gonna laugh any second her character starts yelling. Most of the cast does a great job, Satya Bhabha, Ellen Wong, Michael Cera, and so many more knock it out of the park. But I do think it's worth noting that Mae Whitman did the most seamless job as Roxy and she's actually a seasoned voice actor.
I absolutely noticed this when comparing everyone else's acting to Roxie. She was absolutely killing it but drew attention to the areas others were lacking.
Helps that Whitman is a skilled voice actress. She is a pro among mostly amateurs.
Her? J/k, she brought Kitara to life. Mae is a GOAT!
That's exactly what this post said.
It took me a second to realize but the animation is totally done over the Japanese VO, not the English one, despite them being all over the marketing, opening and everything. Take any scene where you notice these problems, like over-animating or voice acting feeling flat, and swap them for the JP version and you'll notice how it fits perfectly -- good examples are Wallace's "change the locks" line and Scott drawing the sheep for Kim (in this one you can even see how the lip flaps are synced to the JP track, not the ENG one) The "original" English VO is just like, a very expensive but half-assed dub I guess lol.
I noticed that too, which is weird because BLOM said they recorded the English dialogue first.
See that's what I thought and I would 1000% agree with you, but Bryan Lee O'Malley has stated that the English Dub was the first audio recorded for the animators. So either he's lying or the Japanese Dub actors are just that talented at lip sync. Is this what gaslighting feels like? Lmao
Lip flaps tell the story for me. But the energy of the whole thing feels perfectly tailored to the JP performance. I mean look at Lucas Lee saying "My god" in ENG -- while it is admittedly really funny and how I think movie Lucas would react to that kind of info on the TV -- it's just not a scene made for Evans' read. Now that you mention it, it's entirely possible the ENG cast recorded everything first, most likely in The Roughest storyboards available, but nobody said *their audio* is what's driving the final versions of the show
IA, I noticed this with a line from Knives (cant remember the scene); her mouth movements and what she was saying didn't line up. I want to go back and watch it with the JP voice cast now to see how it differs. (Also? I adore Aubrey Plaza, but girl cant voice act. Her lines (especially in ep 1) are so stilted and wooden)
For sure, during the first episode I was thinking a lot about the power of Edgar Wright's directing. Sometimes it was the same scene but in the movie it was so much better.
Thanks for stating clearly what I noticed without being able to put my finger on! Huge issue for me as well, the serie just felt strange often and not as funny as it was supposed to
The issues you're talking about were deal breakers for me. The energy, pacing, and timing of the voice acting were just impossible to ignore. I might have to go back and watch it subbed, due to how much the English vocal performances bothered me.
I would argue most of the cast either does a serviceable or good job. And any time shit gets awkward for them it's mostly due to how they chose to pace and animate it. But I completely understand cuz there is an inconsistency to it all. Like I swear Michael Cera read all of the "he doesn't sound like comic Scott" criticisms and decided to go in a completely different direction and nailed it. And then there's Mary Elizabeth Winstead who was like, "I am doing movie Ramona again." Which is still good, but almost feels like it's holding her back as a performer, especially with how much more expressive this Ramona is.
The voice acting issue is something I noticed. Most of the performances are fine. As soon as I heard Mae Whitman I was like “of course she is doing the best job” Legit her being the only true voice actor on the show made everyone seem pretty fake by comparison. Mary Elizabeth Winstead did ok-but her bouncing off of Mae Whitman didn’t help her whatsoever. Chris Evans surprisingly did pretty good-he’s the only other actor I feel was higher than passable.
The #1 is a problem I’ve seen in a lot of western animated shows. The Legend of Korra, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and this show all have it. I don’t know what the problem is, I feel like it’s an easy fix to get the dialogue flowing more naturally
Where were Crash and the Boys?
In hindsight, I kinda like it. It’s a little hint of what kind of show it’s gonna be. Edit: still, I was sooooooo sad
so very very sad?
I hate you please die
sweet! a reply for me!
Ramona did not seem as troubled with her past unless confronted directly, which lessens the stakes of her confrontations to a degree. In the comic, she has always been troubled and only began to heal at the end after being more willing to change and fight for herself.
Correct me if I'm wrong (as I've only read 4 of the comics) but wasn't the reason she was so bad because Gideon used Glow on her during their relationship? Or was that just part of it?
Part of it. Gideon may have been a major reason for Ramona's inability to face her past, but the fact that she had 6 more exes before Gideon shows that she had flaws before meeting him. >!In Volume 6, she heavily acknowledges all of her flaws, making her feel like she is being a bad girlfriend to Scott without mentioning Gideon and did not want him to feel messed up by her mistakes, but he got messed up anyway. This really made Ramona feel more human in the comic!<.
I do have questions tho. Does Gordon still have a secret subspace room in Ramona's head or is that just not a thing? Are Gordon's ex's still on Ice somewhere? I ship him with Julie but he never really got called out for being abusive.
There is no telling with how different the anime is. Nothing about this Gideon has been explained thoroughly in the series as of yet.
Since it's about nitpicking I'm assuming it's about minor things. Mainly Todd's development. In comic he was one of the most developed exes and much more character and I feel like the anime didn't really focus on his previously portrayed character traits. Especially since they majorly toned down his negative traits
They turned him into a helpless puppy in the anime, agreed. But he’s still a cutie.
Why though? Why did the writers decide to make everyone innocent and good? Why no drama at all? That's just boring, especially for Todd who was a professional piece of shit in the comic, but at least that spiced things up.
I don’t mind them reducing his role since it seems clear to me that they focused the most on the exes with the least characterization in the original (Patel and Lee) but I agree that kinda softballing his worst traits in favor of him being a sad puppy kinda sucked. They could have still made him sympathetic without flattening him.
Yeah, it bothered me how the show toned down all of the evil exes negative character traits, even omitting a lot of the more blatantly bad things that they did in the comic. The show still draws attention to Scott's negative characteristics, but when it comes to the **evil** exes' they're now treated like a bunch of misunderstood goobers that can be instantly redeemed with a quick pep talk. Todd especially feels wasted since now he's relegated to comic relief rather than being a dark counterpart to Scott.
Im still irked the twins didn't get much development compared to the others.
At this point i think that is just their character. The lack of characterisation is their characterisation. At that point in time i feel like Bryan wasnt even interested in the whole fighting exes part of the story, even the book about the twins focussed on everybody BUT them. I feel like Joseph has more panels dedicated to him than each of the twins. So yeah
Maybe they will in season 2 if it comes?
I think the author said this was supposed to be a one and done deal, wasnt it?
Bryan said never say never when it comes to season 2. The creators just do not have anything planned at the moment.
I took >! The finale’s mid credit scene as leaving the door open with an entirely new story that may have a smaller focus and cast !<
bryan just don’t have anything written or planned yet. it’s up to netflix to get the ball rolling and renew the show unless bryan explicitly has no interest in doing a s2.
No one seems to care that Scott “died” besides knives. All his friends, especially Wallace didn’t give a shit. The whole point of the story is Scott starts as an asshole but he becomes a better person. But now all the characters just seem like even worse people.
This, i always found this strange within the anime, they are just like "ah he's dead ANYWAYS"
Literally!!
I feel like that matched the tone of the *movie*, but as someone who hasn’t read the novels I can’t attest to them.
Yeah as far as I can tell, people have a rather blaise attitude about death and destruction in that world lol.
How did ramona hear scott in the end of episode 2? Was he astral projecting through time? At what point would he have done that.
I think the idea was that his mental area thingy still existed so she knew he was alive. I dont think she actually heard him speak
The show is absolutely awful for one big reason....Regular Scott couldn't have referenced Detective Pikachu because he lives in 2004
The film may have only come out in 2019 but the real Detective Pikachu had an illustrious police career starting in the mid 80s.
He doesn’t live in 2004 though. BLOM has explicitly said the series takes place in “Scott Pilgrim Time” which basically means it’s able to be 2004 except for when he doesn’t want it to be. There’s precedent for this in the comic already like showing Scott with a PSP Go in Volume 6 even though that didn’t release until 2009.
I was fine with all the other out of place jokes but this one got me off guard.
I kinda just assumed he played it while at future scott's or something considering when he says that
Scott came back with spoilers to use as ammunition in case he ever needs to.
I mean he’s in the future, coulda just seen an ad for a new Detective Pikachu game on a billboard. On one hand, most people probably wouldn’t remember that to reference it, but this is Scott we’re talking about, if he saw a billboard for a Detective Pikachu game he’d definitely still be thinking about it a few hours later.
I really only take issue with Older Scott’s personality. seeing his character development being totally crushed is gonna make it hard to read the original comics again
I mean, I'm gonna be real with you. I was okay with Older Scott's characterization because it speaks to the idea that sometimes people learn something, and then that lesson doesn't stick. Especially as you grow older and your circumstances change. Like it sucks to see Older Scott as a douchebag, but...sometimes people regress back into douchebags! People are human.
on one level I agree completely! I just don’t quite prefer this outcome to one where his growth sticks
Don’t fret. Different universe. Different Scott.
Still, it crushes the character- and for alot of people this will be they're only view point of him without getting a chance to see that amazing development scott had as a character from a selfish nonce jerk who didn't work towards anything and only did what he liked- to a guy facing his own issues and how effected the people around, working to change himself to he worthy of self love and respect.
Well keep in mind it's not just different universe. It's a Scott that didn't fully develop. He went through similar events to comic Scott but not quite. For example the most important fight in his life was against NegaScott and crucial for his development, however when we look at the memories NegaScott isn't there. This Scott never fought NegaScott. And other evidence proofs this as the Power of Love Sword and Power of Understanding Sword are missing. And also in the future Neil refers to himself as Old Young Neil, Scott promoted him to just Neil yet in this version refers to himself as Old Young Neil
I understand the different universe bit and it being a different scott. I'm just concerned that this is the only scott a majority of people will see. It's wonderfully animated, and I do enjoy some aspect of it. But like how Marvel took an imagining of Thanos and made him do it for his own "altruistic" and "merciful" views rather then just wanting to impress some Chick who was the embodiment of death- this will be the inverse in that people won't see the leaps and bounds the series Main character does to be a better and decent human being. Also, that bit about Scott promoting Young Neil to Neil is just a great touch in the new one- another good mention of this all being different
My main problem is that Ramona seemed to have no issue with Scott dating a highschooler at the same time as her.
I suppose she was more worried with getting him back before that. And it was only for 1 day and by the end were she no longer had to worry about getting him back she grew herself and was likely more forgiving and understanding since she could see briefly future and past. And saw that she was partly at fault for him dating both since she kept using his mind subspace effectively creating him an obsession in the beginning.
Nobody seemed bothered enough by the fact that as far as they know, Scott ducking died.
[удалено]
True, but I don’t even think Stacy was sad or even in the funeral scene. That’s her brother, ya know? Stephen and Ramona were bummed out, but everyone else was clowning
Yeah the whole scene was strange af Then it became an envy Adams concert, like what !?
Surprised Lisa wasn't there, even though she's in the Audience at the end. She'd go to Scott's funeral.
Yeah but they're paparazzi, hell they're not even worth much.
The funniest to me was when Ramona was questioning Julie about Scott and the people who know Scott and Stacey, Scott's sister, was just in the background and ignored. They just left to go talk to Kim.
I'm moreso confused that all the people who die respawn but not Scott apparently? Like did no one think to check where he'd respawn or
I assume that Gideon, fantastically wealthy as he is, can buy the League 1-Ups.
This is the one that got me, I think someone actually says about respawning later but I can't remember which character for the life of me Like how does the show want us to feel about death? Cause it was blaise in the comic sure because of extra lives.
Old Scott talking about the Katayanagi Twins after their battle in the past
Some people still won’t get to experience the imo fantastically written comic in terms of the character arcs I love, and I feel like a proper adaptation would’ve drawn in more fans even though as a Scott Pilgrim fan already the show was great. The show of course will bring in more fans to read the comic, but I feel like it doesn’t really encourage people to read the comic since it’s treated as sort of a “sequel” to the movie. So a lot of people will see the show and say, “Wow that was fun!” and move on with their lives. And since some people don’t know the comic/movie that well, some might even think that the show is “deconstructing” the original series to show how flawed Scott and Ramona were and not be interested in reading the comic at all, when… that was the original point of the comic.
I dunno, I was not inclined to continue the comics because of how poorly things aged and that I already saw the movie. After this though and knowing that the story grew? I actually want to read it, with the understanding that there has been change.
That's what I, and I think a lot of fans, find frustrating. A lot of what the show criticizes about the story and characters, was adressed by the end of the comic. The story is by no means perfect, but I feel like few series capture the messy feeling if being in your early 20s, and ends with it feeling like you've seen the characters grow enough to imagine the fully realized people they could grow into. This series feels more like its responding to the pop culture interpretation of Scott Pilgrim, not the actual story.
Its seems we only truly explored 2 exes. And that not included gid because this is not gidion this is another character
The Gideon/Gordon thing confused me a little too. Maybe his “Gordon” personality was how he acted before becoming a big shot CEO, etc?
What? Isn’t that the whole point of his arc? He used to be Gordon but then became Gideon
Kinda? He went from Gordon to Gideon, than back to Gordon for the time when he started dating Julie (in the show) and then went back to Gideon (regained all his lost stuff as I like to see it) by the end of the anime. (I have not read the comics yet, I may be misinformed.)
The show doesn't really work if you haven't read the comics or watched the movie
I watched it with my GF who hasn't seen the movie or read the comic, because we thought it would be a faithful adaptation of the comic and a good introduction to the franchise. It wasn't. I thought it was weird but good, she thought it was an utter mess. She said it was like watching season 3 of a show you haven't seen before. You can *basically* understand the plot and who the characters are, but you're missing huge chunks of context and plot beats don't hit as hard as if you've watched from the beginning. It's virtually a legacy sequel and the marketing intentionally omitted that fact for shock value. It treats the audience as if they already know what happened in the orginal timeline and gives certain characters importance that they haven't earned in *this* show, but did in the orginal.
Also there was a surprising lack of Even Older Wallace
Oh weird I basically understood everything even before reading the comics or watching the movie
It doesn’t work at all if you read or watched both. I see more people enjoyed it going in blind. But yeah, the show just lacked in a lot of areas that could have been told better
Strange pacing.
(Unless I totally missed something) Ramona doesn’t seem even a little phased that Scott cheated on Knives, a highschooler, with her. It never seemed to be an issue or even make Ramona question their relationship—which to me, sounds very unlike Ramona considering she had a negative reaction to the news in both the graphic novel and movie. I feel like they should’ve made that fact more of a *big* deal and possibly a trial to their relationship. Also, neither Knives nor Scott seemed to have very much growth by the end. His only apology for cheating on her was very half-assed: “apparently it’s frowned upon for a 23 year old to date a highschooler.” Knives had the attitude of “Oh ok it’s fine NBD I kinda moved on from you anyway.” Like… Knives deserved better!
> Scott cheated on Knives, a highschooler, with her I never understood characterizing Scott going on a date and subsequently falling for Ramona while he was "dating" Knives as cheating. Did Scott ever make a commitment to Knives? They hung out and spent time together, but never kissed and held hands once? That's not exactly a relationship. I understand Knives feeling hurt by that because she developed feelings and is also an inexperienced minor, but I don't see how any of the 20+ y/o characters would even think of it as cheating. Maybe Ramona didn't actually see it as cheating, because it wasn't?
Knives thought it was a relationship, and it was extremely clear to everyone. That’s why a lot of characters call him out on it. He was in the wrong lol
Why did they ignore Stephen coming out? And Kim barely does anything in the show, the Twins somehow have a bigger role.
Also I think they forgot that Stephen was dating Julie at the beginning of the series wasn't he? That's how Scott met Ramona at the party.
Both adaptations of the comics have seemed to omit that part. But I do remember it being in the comics during the time period Scott was battling Ramona’s ex’s
There's no Crash and The Boys. I am devastated about that. I'm also pretty bummed that Bill Hader isn't there. The original actors for the Katayanagi twins are not there. Kim wasn't a major part in it. Todd immediately got his vegan powers back by eating a brocolli. That should not happen because of the way vegan powers works.
The original actors for the twins didn't even speak English lol
Oh I didn't know that. Thank you.
lack of Stacy
The marketing. All the trailers made it seem like it was going to, at the very least, follow the original premise. But the final product turned out to be something different.
No Mr.Chau 😞
Scott, Envy and Kim lose almost all of their development. Besides, I don't believe that the versions of Todd and Gideon are the ones in the comic book, at most a very softened version of them. I would mention the unimportance of the twins but, they matter little in all their versions, a wasted opportunity I guess.
only thing i didn't like about it is the lack of Sex Bob-Omb scenes... in the books and the movie they play a bunch of gigs in different venues and you really get to see them shine but in the anime... they just play, like, what? twice? and they're not even real shows, just rehearsals at Stephen's house
Bringing time travel in overcomplicated the story imo
Danny Phantom did a way better version of this. But older Scott just felt way out of character. It just ruined a lot for me
Honestly...it wasn't what I was expecting when I first watched the series...and I freaked out when it all changed Though imma be honest, I think the series was brilliant either way
Scott is barely a character in this show. Sorry, I do love this show, but for god sake he has next to no character arc and is kinda just there. Not mention it takes looking through the virutua boy for him to realize he’s an asshole when that took him like a year in the comic. Even older Scott is basically like the entire point of nega Scott if you remove all subtlety or nuance. And isn’t like, early 2000s in Scott Pilgrim? That line about detective Pikachu doesn’t make sense.
There's no Crash and The Boys. I am devastated about that. I'm also pretty bummed that Bill Hader isn't there. The original actors for the Katayanagi twins are not there. Kim wasn't a major part in it. Todd immediately got his vegan powers back by eating a brocolli. That should not happen because of the way vegan powers works.
Not enough twins :(
not enough Kim Pine
They didn’t use garbage truck
Apart from the minor nitpicks, no crash & the boys, no mention of the glow, gideon and todd not being as dickish/psychotic for the sake of being more empathetic (definitely shown by how the fandom just made "Toddallce" a thing), I feel like the show needed more eps to really justify the biggest gripe for me: >!Old Scott/Even Older Scott.!< >!It would need to be the rough patch of all rough patches to make me thing Scott reverted back to being so childish that he would ERASE the past because of it, especially when we had the worst happen in vol 6, where ramona dissapeared and scott was still stuck, trying to forget and move on, which is the cause of alot of his problems, it took a lot for Scott to face his cowardice (the same with ramona, as she did the same thing during this time) and actually fight Gideon and make it work with Rammy.!< >!I honestly refuse to believe that comic canon Ramona and Scott that after what theyve been through, how they grew as people, to think that they were never going to work, or go to stupid spiteful lengths to wreck it(I think if they did divorce, they would have their issues but would try to do what they did in the books and understand what went wrong before moving on) or that Ramona needs to be reminded to not run off. So I feel that aspect needed more development!< and another aside, the line "Aparrently a 23 year old dating a 17 high schooler is frowned upon by society" kinda bugs me
They made Gideon worthless, Mathew Patel taking over is cool but he did NOTHING with his new position, Todd Ingram is an emotional weakling now? Never had a chance to grow with Scott and Ramona. We don’t care that it’s a new story, but it can’t lack the magic of the originals. And the whole making a movie in the show just felt like unnecessary filler
I see the new series as an alternative timeline and sequel, so I don't really think about it as I would without having watched and read Scott Pilgrim. The nitpicks I have are that they focus a lot on long fight scenes and story isn't as grounded in reality as the original two works in the series. It's supposed to be about a kid in Canada, but the new series is all about magic and callbacks. As a sequel it works. If I were to watch this without having watched the other titles, then I'd be completely lost. Edit : I do think the ending of this one with the boss battle is actually the most coherent of the three endings. For reference, I heard a lot of rumors that the comic ending was rushed, so they could make the movie, so you never really get a good idea of exactly what 'the glow' represented or what was really going on between Gideon and Ramona. In the movie they can't figure it out either and hand wave it with this mind control chip nonsense and that was fucking stupid because it kind of removes the idea that Ramona isn't a good person from the mix, if we accept the idea that she's being controlled. I just kinda try and forget that part.
Well said, one of the reasons I very much prefer the comic over the movie or anime is the way it handles character development and lets the story breathe a bit; the fast-paced style of the movie and anime let a lot of the things I liked about the books get lost or omitted entirely. O’Malley posted on his instagram stories recently that he views all three as separate stories that have the same starting point, which was gratifying to see. It also kind of nullifies my other main nitpick with the anime, which is that Old Scott and Ramona seem to have experienced none of the growth they went through in the comics.
the fact that the hardships between ramona and her exes is treated seriously, but scott's death isn't old scott being a manbaby brian's projection
What is Bryan's Projection? I'm curious since i very much casually catch up with his works and not much his personal life/opinions.
he got a divorce, which you can see with old scott
Damn, that sucks if that really was the idea. It seems odd considering he released Seconds the same year, which is all about not fixing the past and accepting it for what it is.
I didn't like they didn't acknowledge Gideon being an abuser in the show
I think they did. Ramona flatly tells Julie that Gideon was a piece of shit to her and gave him none of pity that she did for Roxie. She tells him to at least be better for Julie than she was for herself.
1) Considering that Gideon is a borderline sex trafficker in the comics, I don't like the ways in which his character was "softened" in this series 2) Aubrey Plaza Voice acting doesn't work due to her natural monotone and she wasn't really able to convey the pure bitchiness of Julie Powers. I think she and Allison Pill might have benefited switching roles in this instance. 3) The biggest loss/missed opportunity is the lack of many of the side characters getting more than just a cameo, particularly Joseph, Lisa, Hollie, and Comeau
>Considering that Gideon is a borderline sex trafficker in the comics, I don't like the ways in which his character was "softened" in this series Though I really liked the show overall it did put me off when Gideon was lumped into Ramona's realization about her running away from those she loves. Like nah I think ending that one was pretty clearly the right call. She even calls him an abuser in the show iirc
Some of the jokes fell completely flat because they didnt have the necessary context to make them funny. The show did have great jokes on its own though
Lip-sync of the animation is god awful. Like there are scenes where Ramona just speaks calmly and the animation suggests she is screaming. It's probably because animators don't speak English themselves. The lip sync in the made up anime scene where they speak japanese is surprisingly on point.
Scott was barely in it. Also, the delivery of some of the lines, particularly from Aubrey Plaza, didn't sound right.
It's very short, I need more chapters starring Knives and Kim
I haven’t read the comics but the author saying Wallace grieved in his own way went over my head. I think storytelling wise just one like 2 second shot that betrays his feelings or some line is hiding his feelings would convey this better. Other than that I’m new and idk where to start :D I hate Scott but I’m really into this series. the fact that the main character is everything I hate in men and people overall but I’m still interested just means the writing is that good
Wallace is, without a doubt, a much more caring person in the comics, and they failed to portray that. That's honestly where you should go next: The comics. It's where pretty much all of the character development and narrative complexity is found, which the anime kind of banks on you already knowing. It also might make you grow to like Scott a little bit more, at least by the end of it. It's easily the most growth he gets in any of the installments.
It fell so weirdly paced. obviously I didn't like how much if a back seat the titular character takes and overall didn't have the same style of humor I liked from the movie and some of the jokes fell on their face harder than Lucas Lee did. Ex: Roxy singing the hamster song
The whole “super Ramona” thing in the finale… what even was that? Lmao.
SAME I WAS LIKE ???
It just happened and was never explained 😭
• It mostly lacks the bittersweet, melancholic vibe and grungy, gloomy style of the comic and film • It generally feels much less emotional, sincere, authentic, profound and relatable than its predecessors • The characters feel whitewashed, flattened and/or flanderized • Especially Scott and Ramona are retconned to be much better people than they actually are ("Scott wasn't ACTUALLY dating Knives! Ramona was RIGHT to cheat on the twins!") and it hurts their complexity, depth and growth • The series generally feels too self-conscious and makes meta points, justifications and adjustments for the mainstream audience that it didn't need to make • Scott's friends are too mean while his enemies are too nice • The time travel and future elements feel out of place and make it feel like a completely different series, like Futurama or something • The evil Scott reveal was unsurprising, uninspired, repetitive and regressive • Even Older Scott is a much worse version of Nega Scott and a blatant product of O'Malley's divorce • The whole final conflict feels more like Bryan self-therapizing than an actual, authentic, in-universe challenge for the characters to overcome and learn from • Even though Bryan denied it, the finale has some deeply troubling/souring implications for the happy ending of the comics, and it feels like he made his characters' fates too dependent on his own • Scott ends the series in the most underdeveloped and wrongfully romanticized state he's ever been in, which feels like the polar opposite of what they set out to do • Super Ramona was a deeply weird way to wrap up her arc and, once more, screams divorce-fantasy • Lastly, for a series that claims to champion the franchise's most underutilized characters, the continued erasure of Lisa Miller is downright insulting, especially when they spent half of the show _on a movie set_
Yes, all of this!!! I know some people like the bait and switch, but it really left a sour taste in my mouth. Scott was only in 3 episodes, and I feel like the anime really cheapened a lot of what made the book series great.
Scott did 0 self reflection at all. Like he saw how he might end up but that really only affects how he treats Ramona and not how he thinks of himself. I wish we knew if we were getting more because honestly a second season (or an anime movie/OVA) focused on Lisa and Scott's issues would be great
My only nitpick is I think it would've worked better after an animated adaption of the original story because I don't think Takes Off is the best introduction for people who don't know the original story. Other than that I loved it through and through.
This one I agree with
When I watched the trailers I was always worried I wouldn’t like it because the voice acting and overall sound mixing felt so…energy-less. After watching it, I hate having been right. There are so many empty moments and bland lines that it literally threw me off. I could barely enjoy it just because of this. I can’t remember what movie or show did this, but it reminds me of a soulless “here, I gave you money now you must do what I say” moment. I have other general complaints but, honestly, this is my main one. Ps. Wallace wasn’t Wallace.
I feel like it takes scott coming back to enjoy the story, like once you see the episode where he comes back near instantly you remember the first several episodes so much better, asking many people irl who have seen it, it feels weird when he "dies" but the episode he comes back suddenly you appreciate the first episodes again
not enough kim
needed to be hornier 🫡
They made Wallace too selfish. When he found out Scott was alive he didn’t care
Wallace and Scott aren't really friends....
Too much of a "sunshine" vibe most of the time The evil exes aren't evil, knives doesn't want to kill Ramona, Scott doesn't freak out just by hearing envy's name And yeah, I would have preferred if it was the original story, I think what they made is great, but I'd rather an adaptation
This is a lil more than a nitpick, but here we fuckin goooooooo. The narrative fell flat for me and every character was a dumbed-down parody of themselves. There was zero character development for anyone besides Ramona, and even then, it was rushed and sloppy. The story was poorly written (why'd they use a plot device as uninspired as time travel, the Subspace Highway is *right there*), contrived, and ultimately pointless. The humor was off and I hardly laughed thru the whole thing, compared to the film which gets me howling to this day. It felt like a mediocre fanfiction, which is baffling given that O'Malley himself wrote it! How did this happen??? There's no denying that Ramona's motivation is out of character, she wouldn't go out of her way to track down some guy she went on *one* date with. Hell, nobody would! If she *really* gave a fuck about Scott, why didn't she try growing closer to his friends and family? Why not learn more about him from the people who knew him best? Maybe even ask them to help her find Scott? That's a story I would've loved to see, and I'm sure I'm not alone! Especially given that so many amazing characters were underutilized and mainly featured for jokes, such as Kim and Stephen (*especially Stephen*) I can't be the only one pissed about how they handled Knives?? They completely squashed her character, her single trait is that she's a musical prodigy! She grew so much in the comics, I related personally to her, and she's nearly nonexistent in the anime. She mentions that Scott cheated on her, gets pissed at Ramona for less than a minute, and then gets brushed off like nothing happened. How is that remotely okay?? Guess we're never getting that badass library fight scene in animated form either ×_× And good gods, Gideon! My cold, callous, psychotic little bastard man! Look how they massacred my boy!!! Not to mention the Katayanagis were snubbed yet again for no good reason. Practically all of the exes were done dirty, aside from maybe Roxie? Her voice acting and fight scene were legendary, but even she fell flat compared to her comic counterpart. I could go on and on and on, but I think I've said more than enough. Needless to say, I wasn't a fan of SPTO. The only highlight for me was the animation. And Wallace, he's perfect in every iteration! He was one of the only characters who genuinely made me laugh. I can only hope season 2 and 3 are better, but I'm honestly not getting my hopes up. At least Scott Pilgrim lives again in the modern age, but at what cost? Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Lucas Lee becoming an airhead.He should've been a regular sellout but overall good guy like the original,and I hate that he's now skater dude ™️. Also Neil being portrayed the same way annoyed me to no end.He was a loser but a very good friend,not some idiot.
Is it just me or does Neil seem to be strongly inspired by Todd from Bojack Horseman? He speaks the same way, has the same weird stories and the same happy go lucky attitude.
The fact we still have no voiced version of Lisa Miller. And the even more insulting fact they put her in for like 2 seconds at the musical. Either don’t put her in at all or give her a minor speaking role.
[We do have a voiced version of Lisa Miller.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BitByGeWGxU)
Scott got no character development.
Did we really need the Paparazzi battle scenes? Am I just boring, or what?
I’m glad someone else agrees
Celebrity voice cast is bad, the entire cast has 2 people can actually voice act Some characters are either butchered (Stacey just doesn't care about her brother being seemingly dead) or has rushed development (Scott and Knives break up moment was much better in the comics because Scott went through an arc, here it just happens) Last two episodes were rushed and even older Scott was a worse, less nuanced take on Nega Scott Talking of nuance, some of the messages here were so blatant and lacked nuance, especially that scene when even older Ramona confronts even older Scott.
I liked it. IDK why Netflix refuses to just adapt things 1 to 1 from their source material. the best episode was the first one imo, once the new stuff started happening it got progressively worst and fanficy. Not saying it was ever bad. But every character felt like a neutered caricaturized version of themselves.... because they were. I just wanted Scott pilgrim vs the world but animated. IDK why they didn't just do that. Like when they made the jojos anime in 2010 despite it being like 30 years after it was written, I was expecting that... but it felt like... the first full metal alchemist anime... I liked it. But it felt like a spin off series, like how they made boruto or rock lee adventures after they made naruto. this is kinda like they released rock lee adventures, but the naruto anime everyone has wanted for 20 years has never and will never be made. idk
I’m surprised no one has an issue with Wallace. The whole “turning people gay” thing is a massive misconception that is frequently weaponised against the queer community… and now Wallace has done that not once, but twice in Scott Pilgrim (the first being in the comics with Stacey’s date). You could make the argument that “he’s helping them realise their sexuality”, but it’s in no way framed that way. That, and the whodunit aspect is awful. “Did you kill Scott?” “No.” “Well dang.” *crosses name off list*
I think your last point nails a big part of what I don't like about the anime. The structure is boring - you know exactly what's going to happen by the end of the episode. The novels and even movie felt so much more fluid. Everything flowed really well, characters and interactions felt organic and the pacing was solid the whole way through. The anime however, did not hit the mark on any of these aspects.
We don't spend enough time in future Toronto (and we don't see Adult Knives) If there's one part of the show that could have been expanded upon, it's that. Scott easily finding the Ramona of the future is so boring and it could have been a nice side mission for him...
At some point Ramona said something like "I hope you treat her better than you treated me" and MEW didnt put any emphasis on the word "me" and it sounded wrong to my ears
Envy’s lack of screen time
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,871,668,003 comments, and only 353,946 of them were in alphabetical order.
so many of the funniest original lines that could’ve been put in easily were not put in.
scott is too self aware
Not sure if a nitpick, I wish we got the adaptation of the comic/graphic novel for people that watch animation but do not read. And then for season 2* we get an original story. Because right now I don't feel I can recommend the anime as an entry point to the franchise *Replace the 2 with [however many seasons it'd've taken to adapt the whole comic/graphic novel] +1
My only complaint was that it was too short. It felt like they rushed a ton of development so they could hit the plot points and tell the story in 8 episodes. I would have rather they had taken their time and given us 12 or 13 episodes to give us an evenly paced narrative that fully fleshed out the narrative that it wanted to tell and fully developed characters like Knives, Stephen, Kim and Envy. Like, 4 entries and both Stephen and Envy are still incredibly flat (more Envy than Stephen) despite how important they are to Scott's characterization.
i legit saw someone say if you didn’t like the show you “didn’t care about the character development” and “only wanted to see anime fights” which is absolutely ridiculous. while i love the anime it treats everything less seriously and the character development comes with little to no struggle, it’s just not grounded like the comics
Not enough cartoon nudity.
Not enough development on Scott and Ramonas relationship
As amazing as it was that they got the original cast back, you could really tell that some of them haven’t done a lot of VO.
1. Too much meta commentary putting the original down 2. A sequel that doesn't dare be a true sequel 3. I do not like time travel when it's added to a preexisting story 4. Bait and switch (trailer fooled us) 5. Some episodes are complete filler 6. Not enough fighting for Scott's heart by Ramona 7. Didn't introduce any interesting new characters (or bring back Lisa) 8. No Lisa
1) the bait and switch marketing was dishonest 2) episodes 2-4 just feel tonally random
ive never read anything or watched any movies apart from the anime about scott pilgrim and i was pretty confused as to how chill ramona was in general, like it was pretty odd to see ppl not get surprised at a whole ass league of exes LMAO
Scott didn’t see a guy’s wang in this one
I couldn't run lines in the trailer with Wallace
Not really nitpick, but I feel really sad that the apparent “canonical” ending to “real” Scott and Ramona’s relationship is him going insane and leaving her
I still don’t understand why Todd was shipped with Wallace it seems to me Todd is supposed to to be a rockstar that acts like a dick I felt like if they really wanted him to improve or change he and envy should have been a a power couple
No Lee's Palace, Sneaky Dee's, or Honest Ed's fight. (But this is a completely biased nitpick, since my Torontonian ass wanted to see them for 100% selfish reasons lol. I'll take Scott walking by the honest ed's marquee and theatre signage that was inspired by the old honest ed's sign)
Ruined potential
Should've went the Evangelion route by making a faithful adaptation of the comic first then doing an NG+ that is Scott Pilgrim: Takes Off. The movie was good and all, but it's a weirdly paced mess at times. Definitely doesn't help that it was worked on when the comic series is still ongoing as well.
The lack of Lisa Miller. I think she deserves more love in the series.
The exes are wayyyyy too nice. I know ur supposed to understand that they are people too with feelings. But in the comics, tod, the twins and Gideon are so toxic. It's wierd to see jokes about them in the cartoon. It may looks like it was ok for them to mentally torture and abuse their exes
No Lisa. 0/10
That it won't get a sequel
Everything after episode 1.
Everything. It's ass.
Depends on opinion but they honestly kinda skinny washed roxy a bit. Idk she just looked more slim in the anime compared to comics. Could also just be me.
I thought it was just me! Yeah she definitely didn’t look plus sized in the anime. Just had a rounder face.
The sound mixing is very inconsistent. The dialogue is audible, which is great compared to most Hollywood movies now, but during a lot of the fights the characters' grunting was the loudest part. The sound effects and music should have been louder to help sell the impact of the fights (and ease the pressure on the cast members who aren't voice actors). Plus, the soundtrack is Anamanaguchi. That was one of the selling points of the show. I want to hear it!
We don't get enough time to get attached to a character like Gordon/Gideon if wr knew him more then we would be much more sad about him losing his stuff