YMMV / Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

• Adorkable:
  • Todd's awkwardness and tendency to turn bright red about his rapid feelings for Wallace, coupled with his lack of smarts, make him very endearing to viewers.
  • Young Neil's laidback and happy-go-lucky attitude, mixed with his unending stupidity makes him a very entertaining character to watch.
  • After Gideon/Gordon loses his entire fortune to Matthew, he bunks with Julie and becomes a depressed loser. That being said, he genuinely cares about Julie and gives a dorky goodbye when she goes out to talk with Ramona. Bonus points when him and Lucas form a friendship, followed by a montage of them acting like rambunctious teenage boys.
  • After Roxie buries the hatchet with Ramona, she proves to be a delightful friend who looks for any chance to get some with hot girls and cheerily bids goodbye singing "Hamster Dance".
  • Ramona's livelier and more expressive personality compared to the movies in tandem with her interactions with Scott and the other characters has served to win her more fans.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Old Scott; is him attempting to prevent rather than mend 14 years of a happy relationship with Ramona driven by resentment against her for leaving him, or does the way in which he chooses to confront himself over it suggest he harbors immense self-loathing? Furthermore, was his character development across the franchise so attached to Ramona that her separation from him caused a complete backslide of everything he'd learned throughout his journey, or had his willingness to begin facing his own past been the big influencing factor that gave him the motivation to literally go back to his past, and overcorrect on what he thought was a mistake?
  • Even Older Scott kidnaps the people important in his life in order to kill them and avoid Scott and Ramona from getting together, thus sparing his Bad Future. However, apparently this doesn't include Wallace, Stacey, Envy, or Lisa Miller. Did he spare them because he couldn't bring himself to kill his old friend and roommate, younger sister, childhood friend, and ex? Or did they just simply not have anything to do with the Anti-Kiss Fields?
  • Was Even Older Scott afraid of being alone or did he just want to be alone without dealing with the extra pain that came with it?
  • Was Wallace's affair with Todd just him getting into Todd's pants, or did he also do it to screw with Envy as payback for how she treated Scott? Or, given who Todd was dressed as at the time, even as a proxy FOR Scott?
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • Neither Knives nor Ramona really dwell too long on the fact that Scott had been cheating on Knives with Ramona at the start. Possibly justified as Scott "dying" so early on basically meant that he couldn't obliviously drag the drama out. And he comes clean and completely apologizes to Knives after returning from the future.
  • Stacey doesn't seem too bummed out that her brother apparently got murdered, and reacts with only mild surprise later on when she discovers he wasn't actually dead. For that matter, only a few of Scott's friends actually mourn Scott during his funeral, and they pretty quickly resume their lives like nothing happened afterwards.
• Awesome Art: Bryan Lee O'Malley's character designs translate incredibly well to animation, to say nothing of how Science SARU put their A-game in making sure every scene was lavishly dynamic.
• Character Rerailment:
  • Ramona, especially in comparison to her movie counterpart. Whereas her movie counterpart dials up her aloofness and reserved attitude, this series portrays Ramona more akin to her livelier and expressive comics counterpart via her expressions and interactions with Scott and the other characters.
  • Scott is seen as an improvement to the movie version for a lot of fans and is considered much closer to his comics counterpart. While the film gets his adorkable nature down to a tee, he was a bit too introverted and subdued compared to the still dorky but extroverted and almost meathead-like idiot of the comics. This show has him act in a far more energetic and lively manner, which a lot of fans of the comics appreciated.
  • Roxie in the comics was considered the most grounded and amicable out of all of Ramona's evil exes who received a major case of Adaptational Jerkass in the movie by making her a full-on Psycho Lesbian who was hostile to Ramona. This series composites both incarnations of Roxie, with the movie personality initially being presented (albeit for genuine reasons) only to later bring her much closer to her comics counterpart after she and Ramona talk things out.
• Continuity Lock-Out: The story is easy enough to follow for a first time viewer, but the significance of Scott seemingly dying in the first episode, the character exploration of Ramona's exes and allusions to the plot of the original graphic novels will be lost on those unfamiliar with the source material.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The second episode's funeral scene vaults several times over it. Barely anyone cares that Scott had just been killed in front of them, and then Envy Adams shows up, hijacking it entirely to sing a song as the crowd enters an uproar, nearly everyone following her out when she leaves immediately after. Really cementing everything, then, is the open casket containing the coins that had been left where Scott was defeated.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Matthew Patel's major Adaptation Expansion allows Satya Bhabha to steal the scene and make Matthew a treat to watch with his new confident attitude and theater kid characterization. His demon hipster chicks have also gotten some love for obvious reasons.
  • Young Neil became a fan favorite rather quickly due to his portrayal as an easy going but absolutely moronic dunce, as well as Johnny Simmons's performance, giving him a very quiet and calming voice.
  • Hollie Hawkes was a Bit Character with relatively little plot-relevance, but she quickly drew the audience's attraction with her heavy eyeshadow and aloof attitude. Most agree with Roxie that Hollie is "hot."
  • Roxie Richter, whose previous incarnations had largely reduced her to a punchline regarding her sexuality, skyrocketed in popularity online once she was finally given a proper backstory.
• Evil Is Cool: As a result of believing he defeated Scott, Matthew Patel of all people gets a confidence boost that turns him into an Adaptational Badass who defeats Gideon in a one-on-one and taking over his empire, resulting in him becoming a cool and entertaining villain who is given the limelight he deserves.
• Fan Nickname: While officially both Future Ramonas are simply named as such regardless of age, to differentiate between them fans reused the naming scheme of Old Scott to similarly call them Old Ramona and Even Older Ramona.
• Fanon:
  • Wallace/Todd shippers often believe that Wallace made Todd keep the Scott costume on when they had sex.
  • Fans who read Scott as an unaware trans woman like to also imagine a secret force of catgirl speedrunners, similar to the canon Vegan Police, which enforce the rule against just telling people who haven't figured themselves out. Scott is typically imagined as comically oblivious in this scenario, so this secret force is necessary to stop Ramona (who is often also a trans woman in these fanons) from spilling the beans out of sheer frustration.
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Despite still ending up with their canon romances from the comic, Scott/Wallace still reigns supreme. It probably helps that Old Scott was still living with Wallace in the future, with the show even going so far as to pull a Bait-and-Switch, making seem like Old Scott got remarried to Wallace after his falling out with Old Ramona before revealing Wallace actually has an unseen husband (presumably Mobile) who works at Nintendo. Fans of the ship like to head canon that Wallace made Todd wear his actor costume of Scott during their make out sessions.
  • Alternative, fans also prefer Wallace/Todd to Wallace/Mobile. Many fans found Todd whipped love towards the usually cold and narcissistic Wallace to be very entertaining and their pairing very cute.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Despite spending most of the series being bitter rivals, Matthew and Gideon get this treatment, especially with the Ho Yay moment when Matthew willingly gives Gideon back his fortune and they both hug and laugh it out.
• He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: An interesting case with the website My Anime List, as it's not a review that has gotten everybody angry with them, but the site's absolute refusal to add the show to its list. This is despite the fact that Scott Pilgrim: Takes Off hits every criteria for an anime that the site itself has posted and that the reasons for not listing it don't make much sense given there are many anime that are listed that would fall under those exclusionary reasons.
• He Really Can Act:
  • While Michael Cera did a commendable job playing Scott in the movie, many fans of the comics considered Cera's portrayal as not particularly faithful to Scott in the original graphic novels, with detractors saying that he was far too introverted, monotone, and too similar to the other dorky and meek characters Cera is known for playing. In this show, however, Cera puts on a vastly more lively performance than he does in the film, matching the anime's frenetic energy; and while he's still a lot dorkier than comic Scott is, it's also a dorkiness of the more extroverted kind. Some fans even consider his performance here to be far closer to how Scott is in the comic.
  • Mary Elizabeth Winstead's first stint as Ramona came off far colder and more aloof than her often reserved but still happily part of the group comic counterpart. As the anime skews much closer to Ramona's comic personality, Winstead's gets to more successfully capture Ramona's emotional range.
  • While fans already had a high opinion on Satya Bhabha's performance as Matthew Patel, it was solidified by Matthew's major Adaptation Expansion, finding him to be very charismatic.
• I Knew It!: One of the longest held fan theories surrounding the series was that Gideon Graves was a made up identity and that his real identity was Simon Lee, the person whom Scott battled in high school to rescue Kim. The theory was mainly supported by their similar designs, and the fact that Gideon's actor Jason Schwartzman portrayed Simon in the Scott Pilgrim vs. The Animation one shot. In Takes Off, Gideon is in fact revealed to be a made up identity, but the trope is subverted when it's revealed that his actual identity is Gordon Goose; an overconfident but meek otaku who went to the same high school as Julie and who got the nickname "fearless" due to always wearing "no fear" shirts.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Roxie. She's first introduced as a member of the League of Evil Exes; she's snarky, impatient, and once she finally confronts Ramona she's eager to pick a fight. But as the fight progresses, it's clear that her bitterness stems from being abandoned when they broke up; through flashbacks, it's revealed that they actually had a very sweet relationship until Ramona decided to break things off for seemingly no reason (the circumstances are still up in the air). Roxie is genuinely hurt by how Ramona handled things, but chooses to take her anger out by turning to the dark side. Still, it might be difficult to see her in tears as she bleeds out from her head after being hit with Ramona's hammer. Fortunately, the two are able to patch things up surprisingly quickly, and part on good terms. She's actually pretty easy to get along with when she's not trying to fight someone.
  • Gideon Graves (or, rather, Gordon Goose), of all people, also qualifies. He's positively pathetic after Matthew Patel takes his empire in a duel (even tearing up as he realizes what he's being forced to hand over), and has to crash at Julie's place due to being broke. There he essentially becomes a NEET, staying on the couch in his underwear, watching Anime, while stuffing his face with junk food. In addition, the reveal about his backstory (being a "Fearless" Stereotypical Nerd in high school, who was relentlessly bullied by the other students) makes it hard not to feel bad about his past. It's also hard not to feel happy for him when he hangs out with Lucas Lee, and has a genuinely good time unwinding and getting out of his funk. But he's still genuinely evil, and spent a good chunk of that time depressed plotting revenge on Mathew, which culminates in him rigging the opening night of the Scott Pilgrim musical to explode, getting his empire back, and gaining a Relationship Upgrade with Julie to become partners in evil. The show ends with the two of them beginning to start a new plot against Scott and Ramona.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Kim Pine is, as usual, a fan favorite to ship various characters with; Scott, Ramona, Roxie, Hollie, Lucas, and to a small set of older comic and game fans Knives as well.
• LGBT Fanbase: The series always had a significant queer audience due to its representation, but this one really hit it off with gay fans due to Lucas Lee looks making him a darling for Bara fanart. On the other hand, Wallace's bitchy gay persona is still considered a delight by gay fans and his newfound fling with Todd has been very well received, even more than his actual canon romance.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Granted, his disappearance did last for more than one episode and is indeed a Tear Jerker, but did you honestly think Scott Pilgrim himself would be Killed Off for Real?
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "You know X?"^{Explanation…}This iteration of Scott meeting Ramona at Julie's party has him awkwardly try to describe the 90s Sonic cartoons to her. The Internet took notice and made their own versions with other media, with one common variant being Sonic and Amy talking about Scott Pilgrim.
  • Ramona's crusty-ass hair^ExplanationOnce per Episode, Ramona would have a montage of her dying her hair a different color, which made many who previously dyed their hair react with horror since constantly dying hair causes it to weaken and break easily. This led to many jokes about Ramona losing her hair in the future, or comparing the sound her hair makes to something brittle, like dry grass.
• Memetic Loser: With the twins being Out of Focus yet again, it's commonly accepted and joked that they are just chronically irrelevant.
• Moe: Knives Chau in this adaptation is downright adorable, with very cute animations and expressions.
• Narm Charm:
  • The reveal that Scott's disappearance was caused by a portal created by a time traveling robot with vegan powers is ridiculous even by this franchise's standards, but the series makes it work thanks to the writing and the genuine gravitas Mary Elizabeth Winstead gives to the news, as well as the fact that characters explaining absurd things like everybody already knows how they work and would be used to them is a Running Gag in the original comic.
  • Old Scott and Even Older Scott's vocal performance by Will Forte is distracting, being cartoonish and very different from Michael Cera's. It's also an odd choice given that the series doesn't use a Time-Shifted Actor for either Ramona or Wallace. Ultimately it ends up making him more unsettling with how childish and psychotic he is in the final battle.
• Nausea Fuel: The amount of butter Todd puts on his popcorn in the final episode. Yes, it's a gag about how he's no longer a practicing vegan, but the way it oozes down the sides of the tub and the thought of that much butter in one person's mouth is enough to make any audience member gag.
• Nightmare Fuel: Old Scott and Even Older Scott. The result of an entire decade of resentment and frustration coupled with self-isolation transforming the Cloudcuckoolander into a Psychopathic Manchild hellbent on destroying not only the younger versions of both himself and the woman he loved but everyone he once considered friends as well. Truly the most dangerous Evil Ex of all. Just the fact that even Gideon of all people seems to be shocked by his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Young Scott and Young Ramona, not to mention how he proves unable to stop him.
• No Yay: While Kim and Knives were a fan favorite pairing in the past, it has become much more controversial in the current fanbase. While Knives did turn 18 in the final volume of the comic, there is no indication of such this time around, while Kim is still around Scott's age. With this in mind, a lot of fans were understandably uncomfortable at the implications during the scene of Kim and Knives' jam session where it was full of visual "sparks" and a big heart shown between the two as they play.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Ramona supplanting Scott as the starring character may seem like a weird choice to play out, but this is not the first time it has happened. In Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, you can play with the starring characters of the books/movie but playing with Scott will NOT give you the comics' (canon) ending, but rather an ending about how Scott learning absolutely nothing from his experiences. Playing with Ramona, on the other hand actually gives you the canon ending where Scott and Ramona learn about their mistakes and end up in a healthy relationship, meaning she is the starring character in the titular character's own game.
  • Additionally, Scott wasn't the starring character in one of the most obscure, but important nonetheless, canon mini comics, The Wonderful World of Kim Pine, in which Kim is the starring character and we show her life through her point of view, and Scott is not seen at all in the comic.
• OT3: The two most popular ships involving Gideon that emerged from the anime are either Gideon x Julie or Gideon x Matthew. The third alternative is Gideon x Julie x Matthew.
• Salvaged Story:
  • While Scott's character arc is the centerpiece of the graphic novel, many fans took issue with how Ramona's own arc in the original story wasn't brought up more to point out that she is just as bad as Scott if not worse with how she handled her relationships; the intent is there, but very subtle to the point of almost being nonexistent had it not been for fans who microanalyzed the series. In Takes Off, Ramona's arc was praised for being very up front on her own flaws and for showing what would have happened if she had resolved each relationship with each Ex herself rather than Scott.
  • Knives' inclusion in the story is drastically altered as a result of Scott seemingly dying early on. She's still upset about the realization Scott dated her and Ramona at the same time, but with Scott removed from her life she's allowed to grow in a direction not defined by him. By his return, it's clear she's let go of him but is still hurt by what happened. He in turn apologizes for what happened, while also admitting he should've never attempted to date her in the first place because of her age difference. As such, Takes Off acknowledges how badly the Scott/Knives relationship aged, cut it out to give Knives a story not defined by her dating a 24 year old, and still directly addressed what was wrong with it in the first place within the narrative.
  • While all the Exes were praised for being intimidating and engaging villains in the graphic novel, there was some criticism over the story not exploring their perspectives and instead treating them as obstacles that Scott needed to defeat, especially with the implication of their Hidden Depths. In Takes Off, with Scott not around the fight them, the Exes have received praise as the highlights of the show for being properly explored as flawed, multifaceted people with their own depths and complexity. In fact, majority of the fans who were disappointed that Scott was gone admitted that the Exes filled the void Scott left due to how enjoyable their respective character arcs are. Fittingly, many were overjoyed at seeing them integrated in the main cast's social circle at the end where they have all moved to Toronto.
    • Matthew Patel, due to being the most underutilised of the Exes previously, was especially praised for having a bigger role in the series as The Heavy and receiving his own Character Development that led to his own Earn Your Happy Ending.
    • Roxie Richter, who the prior stories treated as simply a gag about how Ramona Experimented in College^note though the comic explores a little more how her spite toward Scott and Ramona is justified and she successfully drives a wedge between them momentarily because of it, is given much more pathos and her feelings about Ramona abandoning her are treated seriously. Additionally, Roxie being a girl is not the massive revelation to anyone that it was in the book due to a combination of Adaptational Sexuality for Ramona and being a general Late-Arrival Spoiler.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Lucas/Todd has become a bit of a darling for Bara fans due to the good looks of both characters.
• Starboarding: It's become a bit of a thing for fans to portray Wallace as having something of an unrequited interest in Scott, and by extension, if the work is focusing on Todd/Wallace, demand that Todd keep the Scott wig and outfit when they have sex, and is much more cold to him when he loses it.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While the reception of the series was largely positive, a contingent of fans of the original comic and the movie heavily criticized the show for being a deviation of the main storyline which is exhausted further when previously promotional material indicated that it would be set up as a Truer to the Text adaptation. This extended to how several major characters were treated, with noticeably Scott and Gideon due to both of them having drastically altered roles until the last two episodes.
• They Copied It, So It Sucks!: While Takes Off was, generally speaking, more positively received all around, it caught some flak for going the same route as Masters of the Universe: Revelation in terms of their first episode twist and the trailers misleading the audience about the story of the show. More specifically, both shows "kill off" (they get better) the main character of the franchise in the first episode while the leading lady/love interest takes center stage and their trailers mostly only showed clips from the first episode to hide this twist. Additional, while Scott was never actual dead and stayed out of the story for longer than Adam did, both are a much smaller part of the final battle then Teela and Ramona are.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Some fans were disappointed that the Katayanagi Twins never got to have A Day in the Limelight and a chance to find closure with Ramona like the other Evil Exes do, despite the Twins' significantly bigger role than their film counterparts.
  • A common criticism of the series is the lack of presence or development from Envy Adams, who had her Alpha Bitch tendencies even more flanderized than the film. Although others begrudgingly accept that Envy was inevitably going to get less screentime since the series was more centered about Ramona and her relationships. This also goes for other characters close to Scott like Kim, Stacey, and the one people were most disappointed about, Lisa Miller.
  • Scott himself can also be seen as a victim of this, as he disappears at the end of the first episode and doesn't show up again until episode six.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: While the original graphic novels (and movie) were targeted towards teens rather than smaller children, the anime, with a generally cuter art style, is given a higher TV-MA rating due to Julie's frequent swearing, despite being partially bleeped-out. That said, Bryan Lee O'Malley informed that the show has the same level of maturity as the books.

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