Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: The Complete Limited Series Blu Ray Review (Universal)

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a 2023 anime television series co-written, produced, and created by BenDavid Grabinski (Mike and Nick and Nick and Alice, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Happily, Skiptrace, and Enormous). It’s based on the graphic novel series, co-written, and produced by Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). It was directed by Abel Gongora (Star Wars: Visions), Touma Kimura (Dandadan), Takakazu Nagatomo (The Heike Story), Tomohisa Shimoyama (Sanda), and others. It was executive produced by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shaun of the Dead, The World’s End, The Running Man, Baby Driver, Ant-Man, Hot Fuzz, and Attack the Block). It aired on both Netflix and Universal Toons!!!! Scott Pilgrim (played by: Michael Cera from Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Superbad, Juno, Arrested Development, and Youth in Revolt) meets the girl of his dreams Ramona Flowers (played by: Mary Elizabeth Winstead from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Live Free or Die Hard, Birds of Prey, The Thing, and Black Christmas) but learns he must defeat all of her seven evil exes in order to date her. Then things get even more complicated as the two get more serious with each other. It’s a very dangerous relationship!!!!! Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is basically an anime remake of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World for the first few episodes. It expands the universe for the rest of the television series. It has all kinds of extended stuff from the original graphic novels that weren’t in the live action movie so it’s really cool to experience. The TV show is ran by the creative BenDavid Grabinski and it’s co-written by original author Bryan Lee O’Malle. It has a great unique visual animated style to Takes Off. It really resembles it’s source material that inspired all of this so that’s a nice addition. Michael Cera is fantastic returning to one of his best roles Scott Pilgrim. He’s just perfect for this character, Scott is always getting into some kind of trouble and it’s hilarious. The underrated Mary Elizabeth Winstead is back as the mysterious Ramona Flowers. She’s eases back into being the object of affection of everyone in Takes Off. She just has bad luck with relationships and it really makes Scott pay in order to be with her. There’s so many over the top, powerful, and wild villains in this. The rest of the supporting cast includes Chris Evans (Captain America franchise), Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), Kieran Culkin (Succession), Anna Kendrick (Mr. Right), Aubrey Plaza (Child’s Play), Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Mae Whitman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Alison Pill (The Newsroom), Satya Bhabha (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Johnny Simmons (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Mark Webber (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Ellen Wong (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Will Forte (Saturday Night Live), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead), “Weird Al” Yankovic (UHF), Kal Penn (House), Stephen Root (Office Space), and Stefan Johnson (Your Favorite Martian). It’s amazing that they were able to get everyone come back from the live action feature, it really elevates this creative cartoon. Plus it stacked with so much voice talent for each episode. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off has the same vibe and atmosphere as the movie so it’s a thing total blast. It’s loaded with action, comedy, drama, and romance. I know it got some heat because the summary and promotional trailer made this look like a straight up shot for shot remake of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World but I think it’s a breath of fresh air that they expanded the whole story with this. It would have been much shorter if it just did that. It still gave the audience similar stuff for the first few episodes before it went on a different direction. It’s more of Ramona’s point of view rather than Scott. All of the characters got way more developed in Takes Off and it elevates the colorful production. This was just as good as I hoped it would be. It’s still currently streaming on Netflix if you are curious about it. It has quality replay value to it, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and the list of special features from Universal Pictures! These 1080p (1.78:1) unrated transfers on all 8 episodes look slick on home video. The style of anime has it’s own original appearance and it’s a nice tribute to the graphic novels. It’s very stylish so it’s really shines when it comes to it’s sharp visuals. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Japanese: DTS 5.1 on this disc. Non stop action and chaos in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off helps the audio stand out more. Plus the score and soundtrack pack a strong punch to it all. All of the dialogue is crisp, the battles are elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has “Audio Commentaries” with series creator BenDavid Grabinski and author Bryan Lee O’Malley on all 8 episodes. It’s nice to have these tracks for the entire limited show. Lots of inside information and personal stories from the animation production. If you ever wanted to learn more about Scott Pilgrim, you will love these. It’s a must own if you are fan of the comics or the movie, this is an excellent companion piece to both of those. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!