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Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (ONA).




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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2023 7:25 pm Reply with quote


Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (ONA)

Source: Graphic Novel (completed @ 6 volumes, by Bryan Lee O'Malley)

Demographic: Shounen

Animation Studio: Science Saru

Genres: action, adventure, comedy, drama, psychological, romance

Themes: absurdity, assassins, bands, Canada, coming-of-age, infidelity, LGBTQ, love triangle, martial arts, music, parody, subspace, superpowers, video games

Plot Summary: Scott Pilgrim is a 23 year old unemployed Canadian living in Toronto leading a garage band as a bass guitarist. He’s also successfully recovered from his break up with his former girlfriend and is now currently dating a high school girl who is five years younger than him named Knives Chau.

Scott was living the good life until a woman named Ramona Flowers moved into town and Scott immediately wants to have her as his new girlfriend. Ramona however is not able to accept Scott as her new boyfriend, unless Scott is able to prove his worth. That is if Scott can defeat Ramona’s seven ex-lovers, and only then would she accept Scott as her new boyfriend.

Air Date & Platform:
November 17, 2023 (Friday)
Available on: Netflix

Episode Count / Runtime: 8 episodes
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Science Saru has produced some amazing anime, and I believe this will be another notch to put on their belt. Also, if RWBY can get a thread on these forums, Scott Pilgrim sure as heck can, too.

The movie is one of my-all time favorites, as it's highly quotable, in addition to being balls-to-the-wall absurd fun. I own the graphic novels, video game (bought the standard physical edition from Limited Run Games for the Switch), and a pretty sick FYE-exclusive SteelBook with art drawn by creator Bryan Lee O'Malley himself (was a regular Blu-ray Steel, but I bought the 4K and just put it inside).
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I do have some genre and theme descriptors to discuss:

- tournament: while there's no official organized competition, the fact that Scott has to face all of Ramona's Evil Exes is basically a gauntlet of antagonists to reach his goal of dating her. Should tournament be included as a descriptor because of the many enemies he has to fight?

- LGBTQ: there are characters in this who are lesbian, gay, and/or bi, but I also considered using yaoi and yuri. However, if I put those, but not include LGBTQ, it excludes the bi characters. Which do y'all think is the better choice; yaoi and yuri, or LGBTQ? Or maybe all of them?

- harem and reverse harem: there are lots of girls who either like or used to like Scott, and there are even more guys that either like or used to like Ramona. Those descriptors aren't really me tossing 'em up for discussion, I'm just explaining why I put both, which I actually think this pretty brilliant writing!

I've only read the graphic novels and beaten the game once, with several years having passed since either one. But I've seen the movie, at least, in the double digits. Although, I know that iteration made some changes from the source material (which wasn't quite finished when the movie was made). So I'll probably go re-read the books and replay the game, and heck, why not watch the movie again, because it has infinite replay value, before the series comes out.

But if anyone can think of, or would like to discuss, other descriptors, feel free to chime in. We have about 51 days, from now, to talk about it and or anything else related to the franchise.


Last edited by Tony K. on Thu Apr 11, 2024 5:52 pm; edited 2 times in total
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2023 8:07 pm Reply with quote
I saw the movie when it came out and to be honest don't remember a ton about it. I believe I own it on DVD so a rewatch is in order. As somebody who lives in Toronto, I always get a kick out of movies that are not only filmed here but actually set here as well (Toronto notoriously doubles for large American cities in many films).

As for the descriptor conversation: personally, I would only use tournament in shows that actually have an organized tournament. I.e. a lot of shows set in magic academies feature plots where students within the academy compete against each other in a tournament or against students from other academies. To me that is an official tournament show.

In this instance I believe LGBTQ is the best descriptor, since it is the most accurate and because it is set in North America with North American characters.

I personally would have avoided both harem and reverse harem because those mean very specific things in anime and I don't think they apply, but hey, this is your thread!

Love the fact that Canada can legitimately be used as a descriptor! Doesn't happen too often.
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Tony K.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 27, 2023 11:40 pm Reply with quote
You're right about the harems. I forgot to consider the cultural context, because a harem written with Japanese sensibilities is much different than a North American-written one, so I took those descriptors out, for this one.

But yeah, the Canada one is a surprise. I've only ever seen the country mentioned in very short passing in some titles that have international themes. But this'll be the first one where I can genuinely say the country itself is the actual setting. It's kinda' cool.
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