Scott Pilgrim Critique (And Why the Show Succeeds) 

Urick you're the only one I trust enough to click on a rage clickbait title

VERY bold title Edit: fantastic video

Smart to put the "Not Really" in the first 30 seconds, but holy shit, that's a BRAVE title.

I'd recommend every version of Scott Pilgrim. They each have strengths that make up for the other's weaknesses.

The thing about the Netflix show that imo is always gonna keep it as an inferior to the comic (or at least an accessory to it) is the fact that without knowing the comic, Scott and most of his friends are barely touched upon as characters and developed, becoming more gags than anything else. The show is more of a sequel as it explores the parts of Scott Pilgrim that the comic didn't touch or just left unsaid: Ramona can be just as bad as Scott (granted that is a part of the comic, but we rarely see her proper POV) and the exes are real people

It honestly sucks that the twins didn’t really get any character depth in the show but hey at least they became Scott’s future Bros.🐱

Oh god the comments will certainly not gonna be pretty

24:20 But SHE DID ask about her! It was the start of the glowing, Scott and Ramona were in bed together and she asks about if he cheated on her with Knives! Scott is awkwardly forced to answer that he didn't cheat on her with Knives but He cheated on Knives with her. I'm shocked you don't remember the scene. It's super important

Lisa finally getting mentioned in a video essay that wasn't just a "oh Lisa not here haha go read comic" IS SO CATHARTIC LIKE DAMN FINALLY SOME TALKING ABOUT HER ROLE AND IMPORTANCE

39:43 It's interesting to me that you interpret future Scott as Comic Scott, it felt more like future Scott was the movie version to me. The show references the movie heavily with the entire subplot of recreating its events in universe as a film, from the memories of future Ramona, who already saw it play out And, in my opinion, movie Scott does not learn the same lessons his comic counterpart does, due to the condensed run time. Movie Scott and Comic Scott even gain different "powers" that help them beat Gideon, in the movie Scott only gains self respect, in the comic, understanding, which to me feels to imply a stronger growth. A small thing really but I thought it was interesting.

i think that seeing more of ramona's pov was actually kinda cool. altough the trailer did make the mistake of not telling us that the show was going to be like that.

I think the Scott Pilgrim anime actually completes the story in a really interesting way, because the Scott Pilgrim comic is more about Scott, and the anime is more about Ramona. this sounds obvious, but that means that the fights with the exes aren't about the exes at all... they're about our POV character's perception of their role, in relation to the exes. to me, it makes sense for the comic evil exes to be underdeveloped, or to come off as weird, randomly mean assholes, and to have them just sort of poof out of existence as soon as their involvement with the conflict around Ramona ends... because that's how Scott sees them. he doesn't know their backstories... Ramona does. he doesn't know why Ramona ever found these guys appealing enough to date... Ramona does. the exes know why they broke up... sometimes they want her back, sometimes they're over her, but it was typically Ramona that did the choosing when the relationship began, so it all does kind of fall back on her. but Scott certainly doesn't know this, nor is he asking questions. Scott's lack of knowledge is also why he fits Ramona's type perfectly. Ramona tends to go for people who already have her up on a pedestal. she likes people who come off as pathetic or insecure, and are willing to believe that she's the best thing that ever happened to them. it's flattering, and secure for a person who maybe doesn't have the kind of confidence she pretends she does. and this reflects in the reasons why the relationships end. for some, they were too clingy and overbearing, and Ramona either found them annoying or became legitimately stifled and put upon. but for others, Ramona might've started feeling like they might actually be good enough to leave her. and because the possibility of being rejected or accused of her own flaws scares her, Ramona would leave first. Scott is a person who is endlessly willing to put his partner on a pedestal, because to him, any pretty girl who gives him the time of day is worth fighting to keep. regardless of how much sense it makes, or whether he can win, or if he actually has beef of his own with his opponent... he'll do it. and the idea that his partner might've been in the wrong? that never crosses his mind. he's simple, sometimes to the point of completely deluding himself. anything to frame the world as a saturday morning cartoon style beat-em-up narrative, with a tournament arc structure, where everything is simple, he's the good guy, and the good guy wins. Scott is willing to mischaracterize Ramona in the most flattering of ways, and Ramona is willing to let him. if Scott is willing to do that for someone he's supposedly in love with, then he'll absolutely do it to the exes. they come off as underdeveloped villains because Scott doesn't need them to be anything more than that, and their depth specifically requires Ramona to face things that she is trying to bury. that's why the anime is required, as the other half of the story. Scott's perception of events will always be lacking something, because he's new to the situation, and he's committed to being a stupid idiot boy. he doesn't know anything. one of Scott's major strategies for making it in life is to keep not knowing anything. Scott uses ignorance as a way to make people stop pestering him. don't even bother trying to make him understand, Scott will just go walleyed and put on his brain's screen saver for 20 minutes if you try to explain anything complicated. it's a waste of time to even try. he gets free rides from his friends on a LOT of stuff this way. Scott is an easy conduit for Ramona to be just as avoidant as Scott is. and if Scott were to improve himself at all, then Ramona might start to worry that he'll realize he's too good for her someday. so Scott's stagnation is comfy... and if nothing breaks that pattern, it takes the two of them a very long time to realize how unfulfilling things are, when all Scott does is LARP as a shonen protagonist who knows nothing but fight-for-her-honor chivalry, and all Ramona does is let him because it strokes her ego. they're not good for each other if Ramona is allowed to slot into her pattern with Scott. something has to shake things up. the anime is great, because "killing" Scott shakes things up immensely. Ramona's investigation leads her headlong into the issues of her past, and now, we're seeing the exes from a POV character who actually knows them. we're getting more of Ramona's honest thoughts, and importantly, we're seeing her begin to commit to someone. dedication is the thing Ramona always lacked. she always relied on her partner being pathetic enough to need her... she could never genuinely wish for their improvement, or believe they could do it. she has to learn to want a good person. not just someone who is good for themselves, but someone who is good for her. she's never really had that before. and accepting a string of people that were only appealing to her when they were failing meant that she'd never really dated anybody nice. not without getting scared and leaving preemptively. I think the idea that a lot of Ramona's exes turned into "successful assholes" was fueled by this sort of bitterness at people who succeed... especially if they overachieve. it makes someone like Ramona feel small. and the thing that made some of them eager to date her in the first place was the fact that they were massively needy people. it makes sense that a lot of them had aspirations of being a celebrity, loved by the masses. a lot of their careers are giving them the huge amount of attention that suits them these days, and it benefits Ramona to be able to see her exes doing alright, even while she still isn't the right puzzle piece to fill in for what they need. Scott just isn't the main character with the knowledge to access these stories... but I think we needed the comic's version of the story to contextualize what these people look like from the outside. and specifically, from the POV of a guy who is getting sucked into the same trap that the rest of them did, and is struggling to find his way out.

The show is very good on its own merits, but it’s sort of feels like a flanderization of the books. The books are very subdued to the point where you get the impression that you don’t have to take a lot of the anime fight stuff literally, it could very easily represent more cerebral aspects of Scott grappling with his past and immaturity. The show felt like a great sendoff to the series and that it felt like there was nowhere left to go after they did such an extreme version of the story. EDIT: also the fact that literally nobody in the story, including Scott’s sister cared at all that he died felt weirdly mean in a way that didn’t match up with the rest of the show in my opinion.

Damn, that Scott Pilgrim VA is crazy good! Sounds just like the little virgin degen I imagined in my head!

DUDE! The aesthetic is so good!!! Love the editing! And the voice acting is PHENOMENAL

Oh man the moment the yiik theme kicked in i could feel my emotions spiral

43:10 I think that part of this criticism is because they used the movie's actors for voice acting, and while some did a good job, it is obvious they aren't actual VA's. I also watched the show with the JP dub as well, and they NAILED it!

The comic is better overall. It's a giant warning against "Main character syndrom." Life is underwhelming. You put in the work to be better, or you waist seasons, flanderising characters that made you famous decades ago.

I like how you kept some of your old editing style but still combined it with some time saving edits. You kept it interesting while also helping make the video faster. Good work!

i dont think the show would hit as hard without the comic canon. i think whats missing a little here is that the majority of the comic is taking place from scott’s perspective. there’s also a subtlety about the interpersonal drama in the comic that i didn’t really need explained to me. i liked the way there were implications in the comic more than fully fleshed out storylines, but if you want a drama like scott pilgrim with more character storylines, check out octopus pie by meredith gran! that might stick with you better.

While I understand narratively that Scott and Ramona’s future selves being screw ups that service the plot of this show, by showing what will happen if they don’t change, I don’t like that it is essentially an assassination of their comic characters in their continued willingness to keep following the same patterns they resolved to avoid at the end of the comics. Makes the journey feel pointless and feels kinda wonder why they should even bother trying to change, when after everything that went right it still wasn’t enough to change them. While the point of the comics feels like it’s trying to say people can change, the show is saying, “but they probably won’t and you should hold that against them”

The worst thing about the show for me is the CAMERA SHAKE they added in this artificial camera shake to like every other shot and it doesn't look good it doesn't match the limited art style its so distracting I can't stand it. I wish they'd just been confident in their art style and not done it Anyway really good video, alot more in depth with critique than me lol

DUNGEON MESHI MENTION!!!! Another banger as usual.

I don't think Scott is a bad character because a load of girls like him for no reason, even when he hurts them; because I have a friend who basically is Scott pilgrim down to the damn anatomical structure and he is a walking enigma on the face of this earth. There is nothing special about him, he's a cute forgetful goof who can be a bit of a jerk because of that. Somehow he still effortlessly picks up girls like it's no-one's business. This may come off as jealous, (while yes I am definitely jealous) I just genuinely cannot understand what it is that makes his mc-chicken slinging, adhd toting, thoughtless lifestyle attractive to women. ...

If the Scott anime gets a continuation, I'd like an exploration of Gideon's character, how people would engage with his past. Seeing as he's still evil and Julie, as I interpret, is mostly along for ride, just to be an asshole WITH Gideon and not so much antagonize with as much intent as he does. Julie is an asshole, but I don't think she's ambitiously evil towards others. If he gets more exploration as he does whatever he's gonna do, I think it'd be interesting to see how someone like Julie, who constantly called out Scott for his shitty treatment of women, confronts the outright criminal things Gideon has done to women. If Gideon had some form of control over all the women he dated, his fall might come down harder on him if Julie were to put her foot down on the cryogenic kidnap situation.

My favorite part of Takes Off is that it isnt quite an AU as much as it is a sort of future-past sequel to itself. The show's good bits only work as strongly as they do if we read the graphic novel and have context, it is working with the franchise's rough disjointed set up from the novel rather than against it and kinda embraces its mistakes. As a show, it basically goes "your got the neutral ending, now you gotta do it again playing as Ramona for the True Ending" by recognizing commitment alone isnt enough to make a relationship work for people like Scott and Ramona who need to communicate and keep improving as people, and what would happen if they - as unfinished as they were at the end of the novel- actually got themselves into a long-time commited relationship without addressing their fundamental flaws. Takes Off works best as an add-on for the movie and the novel because together they create this sort of "augmented narrative" where you could more or less fuse the different interpretation of the characters to flesh them out into a single monolith of a person who's more well-rounded than they would be otherwise; kinda like piecing a story from the different PoV's to have a tridimensional understanding of the events described.

Im pretty sure this guys been contemplating dropping this for A WHILE

Ah noooo he changed the title.

My jaw dropped when I saw the title. Well played Edit: He changed it

As someone who was a lukewarm fan of both the comic and the movie, and was only mildly interested in an adaptation of the comic, I LOVED the bait-and-switch. It massively increased my interest in the show, and I ended up binging it in one sitting. 8/10, imo.

gotta say urick i swear you could post the most god awful take ever and i'd still watch it all the way through for your editing style these video essays from you are my favorite fucking things ever

35:35 using Everything Everywhere All At Once and a 2018 Mickey Mouse cartoon to illustrate your point in a Scott Pilgrim video is just one example of why this is one of my favorite channels on RU-vid. Peak taste

As much as I like this show, the big issue I have is I kinda felt to fix some of the previous issues new ones were made. Namely, in that in order to build up other characters, other characters development round up getting cut short . Namely Envy. at the same time, though I do like how this version of Ramona actually does learn her lesson. As much as I liked the old Ramona in the comics, I’d be lying if I said, I wasn’t a bit bothered by the fact that it did feel like she was just pushing her problems onto other people to deal with them and didn’t really take any accountability for her own actions. (especially when it’s shown that for a lot of the exes she was a really shitty girlfriend. )

This is what adaptations should be. Not just a 1:1 retelling that's utterly faithful to the source material but a way for the material to expand or develop in parts that were otherwise lacking.

Off topic, but I love that you’re using shots of yourself in the video now! It’s always fun to see and I’m sure it makes the process easier while still letting you deliver the absolute banger quality videos you always do. I do wish you touched on the ending of Takes Off a little in this one when you talked about the comic ending, as I thought it was the only thing bringing it down from being a near perfect Scott Pilgrim experience, even if it wasn’t what I initially expected.

Good to see you’re still doing these video essays with the graphics on the forefront. That video you posted last summer saying your channel was doing poorly due to the RU-vid algorithm coupled with all the effort you put into editing and adding visuals made my heart sink. Glad you’re still doing the same stuff while ALSO gracing us with your beautiful face, Mr. Urick!

One of my favorite movies, games, comics, and anime all in one. Scott Pilgrim has its issues in each medium, but damn I love it so much.

I still think the marketing was questionable. "its a bait and switch thats the point" you see i get that? But SP fans have been fucked over once with the game already? I dont think a second fucking over was appreciated in terms of deception. Also in this day and age where no love is being put into adaptations being hella prevalent and borderline insulting. It really did feel like a marketing ploy because they knew people wouldn't watch it if they showed a sliver of that adaptation bs weve become accustomed to in this unfortunate era so i feel the upset fans are kinda justified JUSTT this once. Urick doing the same thing with that thumbnail IS BOLD AHAHA but i personally am still gonna say the comic is better. The clunkyness off it's narrative kinda makes it feel like how real life can go. Its never going to go as planned, wrenches could get thrown into the works. I dunno i like that it didn't feel narratively consistent? No one ever really just gets that change they want from themselves right off the bat and scott definitely doesn't either. The show WHILST BEAUTIFULLY animated just didn't have that. It felt... "clean" like the mess of relationship drama wasn't there as much (the frustrating parts of it anyway) but ill be damned if i say the show isnt good because it was! More Kim = Happy Me.

-Buys a book called Scott Pilgrim -looks inside -it’s about Scott Pilgrim It’s a story specifically about Scott, I don’t understand why so many people who claim to like or even love the series don’t like that it’s about him. Ps I do like your other videos and I’m sorry if my comment is too mean.

7:00 Kinda disagree with this honestly Even if the exes didn't have something about them the fights did have a narrative going on, like Envy Adams confront, Scott and Ramona self doubting their love in Roxie's fight and with Lisa meeting, or Nega Scott that was the main thing in book 5.

Scott Pilgrim is an IP that has something different you can find and appreciate in all of it’s entries and I really appreciate it. I’ve read the whole novel about 3 times, each in different stages in my life and have gotten something different each time. And I love that in an age of remakes and live actions Brian said “Hey, why don’t we change things up and explore this cast.” And I love it. Also it’s like really funny.

Not gonna lie as a NaNa fan of almost 10 years hearing that SP was inspired by NaNa almost made me cry. It means so much when two series that mean so much to me work together. lol

1:58 I never would have expected someone to use Nana as an example I love this, personally it's already awesome how Nana is present as an Easter egg

as someone who lowkey liked the movie, i do not agree with people who complain about the show deviating from it, because the show is 10x better (and also funnier if you watch it with the movie in mind.. like, having seen one does NOT ruin the experience for the other, it enhances it)

Great Video Urick! As kind of a side note, another good example of relationships and how one or both side of said relationship can be effected is with the webtoon comic named "I Love Yoo." In that series, it dives into the relationships that Shin-Ae made over the years from childhood to adulthood. The series dives into each of both the main and side characters and how they handle their lives for the better or for worse. Overall, I do like the webtoon for that reason alone similar to Scott Pilgrim show!

Dungeon Meshi references spotted. Video is instantly peak.

I really have to break character and disagree, Takes Off is not better and fails even more in some places. I really, really, really clearly like Wallace a LOT, my internet presence now is just "that Wallace parody account from Twitter." I am dedicated to the bit. I really love Wallace. I also really like Lisa, Stephen and Joseph. But for some reason, Wallace gets dumbed down into a homewrecking asshole and gets drawn looking like a baby with a giant forehead and his very queer relationship with Scott feels removed entirely in Takes Off. Lisa just isn't there despite the purpose she serves as one of Scott's many exes (YES "EXES" INCLUDES WALLACE), and isn't there to maybe show the real nature of Kim and Scott's relationship or contribute to Ramona's investigation or even put a dent in the Scottmona relationship/make Ramona question her perception of Scott. Stephen's queerness getting erased by every adaptation including Takes Off was very infuriating, and Joseph also isn't there either to help him explore it and even make them less boring in people's eyes. Lisa not being there even removes the parallels between her and Wallace and how they affect Scott's life and relationships. So much gets removed that I can't say Takes Off is any better than the comics beyond a few things that shouldn't have happened in the first place, like Kim kissing Knives. It also really struck me as being weird how you brought up OFMD and clearly do like queer stories, but I barely heard about Scott Pilgrim's queer relationships beyond Roxie's in this video. Do you like, have another video about it? Are you planning a video about it?? I'm really curious.

I had the entire oposite experience, I read the comic before watching the film and I expected a silly grounded personal young adult drama and when the first shonen fight happened I dropped the comic for years until I watched the film

your editing is legitimately the best i have ever seen.

I’m glad I watched the show before watching the movie or reading the books because I was able to understand that the show isn’t supposed to replace or be the “new shiny” Scott Pilgrim. The show is meant to expand off the world and characters in a new light, and I think it does a great job in doing that. I’m not sure which of the three renditions are my favorite, but they’re all good. Most videos I’ve seen on the show vs the comics/movie have been dissing the show on it not being what the people wanted (a faithful recreation) but this video showed the pros and cons of both and was presented very well. Great video.

I'm so glad you remembered Lisa!! She's literally one of my favorite characters but everyone forgets about her.

I have always loved the comic more most likley because it was the first interraction with Scott for me. Even as a young’un. I didn’t even know there was a movie until like 4 years ago.

Remember a conversation I had with someone a couple or so years back where they talked about working on a video essay teardown of the comics and I am so glad this wasn't that at all. You did an excellent job looking at its strengths/weaknesses, especially given you bounced hard off them initially. I really loved them, even after the movie but when I reflected in more recent times alongside a coming to terms with my identity (gender, romance, sexuality) I noticed these similar shortcomings. Still like it, but Scott Pilgrim (to me) is an illustration how adaptations clinging desperately to accuracy fail art. Also Scavenger's Reign is so damn good, holy shit more people need to watch it now!!!!

I will beg on my knees for you and your voice acting and editing team to make a scott pilgrim graphic novel dub. It would be stellar.

Watching this is all interesting as someone who's been personally throwing around a comic idea inspired by Scott Pilgrim that's also about unraveling the personal lives of shounen protags. You're break down of the fights is something I thought of myself. Where a personal rule I've established is that if I can turn an argument into a fight, I should. Write it one way as a purely verbal debate then restructure it into a physical altercation. If it's boring as a debate, it'll be boring as a fight.

PLEASE make a second season of the anime with lisa, stephen stills reveal, knives and kim, and everyone else, I love them so much and I'm so sad that we didn't get to enjoy their charm on the anime.

I'm iffy on this. I really really really really liked the show, I think it's the best piece of Scott Pilgrim content we've ever gotten but I still think there's a lot of value and things to love in the comic that you might just miss or might not be for you. To me it talks more about the nature of relationships in general and how different people have different levels of value placed on the idea of a relationship and what it does to them. You listen to some of these exes and their stories, and me actually being a teen/early 20 something when reading it was just kinda like "yeah it sucks but you're kids, you're not gonna master the complex feelings of love and romance, grow up and get over it, it's not gonna be a big impact on your life" and watching Scott and Ramona find each other was that conclusion. You're just a puzzle piece out there looking for the right fit, and it felt like Scott and Ramona had that. There's a ton of dated stuff and I really wanna see BLOM take another stab at his original vision with the hindsight and talent he has now. I'm glad the show exists but I'm kinda bummed that it feels like we're never gonna get a Scott Pilgrim Brotherhood, where the writer takes another stab at the OG and tries to fix up and make the best realized version of what he wanted to do all those years ago without totally changing stuff.

this actually hurts cause i really do love this comic, but this made me reflect that maybe a lot of the stuff I love has been partly made up in my head. honestly this makes me appreciate the show even more, great video !!

NOOO YOU CHANGED THE THUMBNAIL

Thank you for this video. It really is wonderful to see an honest and heartfelt breakdown of what makes each version of Scott Pilgrim effective, and where each story can fall short. ... Personally, I think they could totally make a second season of the show and add more of the conflict Scott has with his exes, adding these missed characters to test Scott's understanding of his behavior and character. Because sure, he slugged it out with his future self, but he hasn't confronted the Negascott. He still hasn't changed. A cautionary tale does not guarantee growth on his part, and showing that he can solve his problems without violent confrontations or avoidant behavior would truly put the cap on his story.

I still remember reading the comic back in middle school and I would have the hot take of if they killed Scott all the characters would have more room to do their own thing. Ending of the first episode of the anime had me losing my mind

Voice acting and panel animation was a really nice ribbon to the editing, you cooking with these videos

31:02 Actually it's kind of implied during the fight with Gideon in Volume 6 that he himself altered Scott's memories through the subspace highway, hence why Scott's memory makes Simon Lee look more like Gideon, since he may have actually been there to "spice up some old high school memories" by playing the role. Unfortunately this kind of goes against your point of Scott being a simple character and altering his own memories to maintain that, willing or otherwise, but I think it may have been the intent.

The game is one of my favorite beat em ups of all time. Super underrated.

I believe that is very subjective to say that the "show is better", i for example, have the oposite opinion and this is fine, it talks about the diversity of perspective that different people have. In my point of view, is not a bad choice that the comic revolves around Scott, he is the main character and the focus of the history, in real life you can only see things in your own pespective and what you can see of other people is limited to that perspective. The comic knows that and the overall tone of the comic and his characters are twisted by Scott bias, like our own perspectives of the world and people around us are. That is the reason why most of the evil exes of Ramona are portrayed in a cartoonish maneer, beacuse Scott in his own inmaturity and bias perceive them that way. The comic expose the flaws in Scott pespective when Kim challenge his memories about they relationship , but we see his world by his eyes and by his flawed perspective, we grasph in this moment his wrongs in his relationship with Kim and Envy. Scott unconsciously forget about his wrong doings because he is an irresponsible person and is more easy for him that way, he see the asian guy that liked kim as a villain that kidnaps her and literally beat the shit out of him, Kim point at this and tell him that this guy was harmless. All of the history at this point is challenged beacuse Scott flawed pespective. I believe that is a great history about how bias and irresponsability can turn you into a bad person, is the case with Scott and Ramona, both of them are irresponsable and in the end, both of them decide to work they faults together and stop running away. In the other side, a lot of characters feel a lot more cartonish in the tv show. Ramona becames a responsible person out of nowhere and start fixing her past beacuse the show need it, never we are show why she have that suddent change, in the comic she is comically irresponsible. Is her good relationship with Scott the thing that pushes her to comfront her past, because her past becomes an obstacle between the two. In the show she have a "nice date" with Scott and suddently, she changes as a person, is a really weak reason taking into account who she is. Wallace was comical, but he was also a supportive person with Scott, he cares about how he feel and he even push Scott to do the right thing with Knives. Where this Wallace go?, because in the show he is the stereotipical gay-full-of-himself character. Kim is non existent in the show, Gideon is streaped of almost all his manipulative and evil traits, he is almost erased of Ramona past (in the comic she have a hard time forgeting him and in the series this trait does not exist). The tv show is striped of almost all the drama that the comic has, Scott fucking die, Envy sings and everyone forgets about him, this work in a comedic aspect but destroy all chances of a dramatic story. The only instance where i feel that the show do a good work in this regards is in the fight between Ramona and Roxy, but this is not what happen with all her evil exes, she never adresess her mistake with the twins, or her situation with Gideon, the series start and Ramona is already a different person. This is the reason why Kim have so little space in this show, because she is a tragic character, she try to help Scott, she still feel for him, but she tries to overcome him in her life. The tv show was a great idea that sadly fails in execution. But this is only my point of view.

Love the video! The montion comic parts were awesome. I vote for you to do the next adaption of the comics.

3:14 Delicious Dungeon mentioned OOOOOORAHHH‼️‼️‼️

I love how Scott Pilgrim really utilizes different mediums to explore the story in unique and interesting ways. I really enjoyed the comics, the live-action movie, the video game and the animated series.

The villain is not Future Scott from the comic. Takes off is a different one. He fought the evil exes but he definitely didn't fight Nega-Scott

dude I feel like your complaints against the comic and praise to the series are VERY superficial, you're constantly talking about "drama" missed opportunities but you're missing the very important slice of life aspect of Scott and it's very realistic relationship depictions, it's like O'Malley said once (paraphrase) that at some moments Scotts life is a 1 to 1 adaptation of his life, people sometimes contradict themselves or miss opportunities to do something and I feel like it's going against the comics spirit to criticize for "missing drama opportunities"

I'm sorry, other way around. (Yes I watched the video.)

I find it funny how in the comics Stephen and Joseph date and then in every adaption out of it they never interact with one another in any shape or form. Takes Off could have been a great moment with the two characters seeing as the movie didn't have Hollie and Joseph while takes off places Hollie in a least some position (not really narratively, but she's not just a simple cameo that was Lisa and Joseph in the background of the musical performance). I understand that they wanted to pair Stephen up in more of a mentor/older brother figure to Knives in takes off with what we were shown of the two of them together, but overall, I would've still liked to see at least an adaption of characters that deserve some limelight. Edgar Wright even stated during the movie he would've loved to have Hollie and Joseph in some form of spotlight, and while it's nice to see Hollie get some attention, we still haven't seen a proper adaption of Joseph or Lisa for that matter. I feel like if they were to do a season 2 of Takes Off, I would like to see the characters that weren't really expanded upon or just appeared for brief cameos while delivering on a narrative that could be just as impactful, if not more, than the comic, film, and first season of the show.

Great video! Loved to be a part of it.

Diehard Scott pilgrim fan for years now, this video is sadly true..

When you get past the fact that they lied to your face to pull a bait and switch, Takes Off is actually pretty good. But no matter how good it is, it's still a "Scott Pilgrim" adaptation where Scott Pilgrim is absent for 90% of the runtime.

I don't know why, but it feels like you've been partially shadow-banned. I used to constantly receive your videos on my feed exploring insightful topics and learning much more through what you told than I expected. You're a real gem, Urick, seriously, your editing and creativity as well as your way with words truly excites me and encourages me to do so many things. I'm truly sad that this content seems to be unfavoured by today's standards, I hope you can create more content as a good lot of us love it. Love from Australia

I think Scott pilgrim shows someone telling a story they don't know all the details to yet, a person who hasn't figured themselves out yet, and the show is a physical metaphor of a second chance to do things right

45:26 I know this video is about Scott Pilgrim but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on Nana if you're saying you have issues with it. I personally think Nana is amazing (although I've only watched the anime). I doubt you'll be making a video on it, but I feel like it'd be pretty interesting to hear from someone that doesn't label it as a "masterpiece" and hype it like most people have

My biggest problem with both comics, movies, and Netflix show is that they always hint at a happy ending rather than work out their relationship. It's unfortunate that in all versions, the ending is heavily rushed. The TV show validates the comics more.

I have no investment in Scott Pilgrim but I'll gladly listen to Urick talk about it for 50 minutes.

fully agree on your takes on the comics-- the netflix adaptation was such a breath of fresh air, and i was especially thrilled with how knives was treated. she had so much potential that went unsung in the comics, and it feels so nice to finally see her get the closure and arc she deserves.

Thank you for shitting on that Falling in Reverse guy. I hate him soooo much. :]

Only just got around to watching this as I've only just watched Takes Off, but great video as always! A part of me does wish we got more episodes in the series to really flesh it out and potentially address some of the issues presented in this video, but it's Netflix so I'm not going to get my hopes up. But, overall I enjoyed it as someone who has never read the comic and has only had passing glimspes at the movie.

I personally feel like an ideal version of Scott Pilgrim would be the style of the movie with the Scott of the comic and the supporting cast of Takes Off. Also I disagree with the idea that the Scott in the show is the one of the comics. In my opinion i got the vibe that it was the Scott from the movie who, since he didnt learn the lessons comic Scott did, never went through the growth he did. So it makes sense why Movie Scott would completely collapse into Older Scott

already loved that you put several persona series songs/sounds in here, but love the hiimdaisy bit at 30:15, thanks!

Truly baffled at the comment section. Guys... This is no more of a "clickbait" title, than the videos on Life Is Strange, Detroit: Become Human, etc. Maybe it helps that I'm not the biggest fan of any of these medias, despite liking various elements from them, hence why I don't feel as defensive of them, as... Quite a few people are, from what I'm seeing. So cathartic to finally hear someone else ask why people like Scott anyway, though. I've only seen the movie and the show, and even _those_ are kinda subversive of the original story. I don't think I could've sat through this comic.

I think the main problem Scott Pilgrim the comic is that no one reads it and a lot of kids read it and dont get it. I do like the show more bcuz its really high quality but the comic is really unique in being messy and actually commiting to "main character sucks." I think the comic would actually be worse if it focused more on Ramonas exs, but it does kinda set them up as the focus when they arent.

I made it past the rage-click title enough to see where you're coming from. While I can respect where the show is coming from and trying to be different, it was _very poorly_ marketed, deceptive, and most of the show is about Ramona. While the show does an excellent job fleshing out the evil exes backstories and motivations, the story itself is absolute crap and you can't really understand the show without knowing the original story already. So it feels more like DLC or a New Game+ to the canon Scott Pilgrim story, rather than an alternate timeline, let alone a "superior" one. It's also weird to have the movie actors voice-act the comic book characters, as the movie was kind of a product of its time and for the most part, horribly miscast, especially Ramona and Scott. Had they marketed the show as a "What If?" or alternate retelling of the original story, most people wouldn't have had a problem with it. But they hid all of that in the marketing and pretended like it was a canonical faithful retelling of the comic book, which is different.

I concede that the exes getting more development in the show is a big plus, but I was disappointed in the lack development in Scott’s gang of friends and Scott himself.

In a perfect world, we have the best parts of every adaptation while adjusting their flaws in a single form of a media

slick editing on this video!

So glad you put a little segment about Lisa! she's my favorite character and im glad you gave her justice!!

Urick, this is the seventh week in a row you’ve shown Scott Pilgrim in class!

No. The show doesn't work without the comic.

I absolutely love ur work so much dude. Glad to see a new vid after so long :) Still midway thru this one I notice theres been a LOT of persona in ur recent videos, and this one turned it up to 11. Didnt expect to even see a hiimdaisy p4 reference :O I would do ANYTHING to get a persona related video from you one day. Anything persona really, just love ur content

4:48 well I think the problem is that that is Ramona's story now. I mean... actually now I think I get why, its not *just* a DEI thing (though I have a hard time believing that had nothing to do with the decision) but really if you want to get that concept out, doing it through her does make a lot of sense. 15:00 and she's lying about it too, as the comic is showing. Oh my goodness that is some interesting characterization. "I know he wouldnt do it for me but he'd do it for her" 16:45 what do you mean "that's amazing?" XD Oh goodness. Scott Pilgrim is definitely not something for me. 22:45 yeah thats.... another reason im not so into it. Which if the show *improved* on the concept... I mean I guess I was wrong to assume its not a good show. Its just different from what I would have expected, but I was never even that huge of a Scott Pilgrim fan anyways. And if all of what you are saying is true, I feel like any Scott Pilgrim fan actually *would* like the show. And the more I hear about this show in this video the more thinking about actually watching the show just kind of... makes me queasy? Like, even the comic. I dont think any Scott Pilgrim stuff was for me ever. Maybe the movie is ok, but that's it.

As a teen, the film to me was "wow, silly romance? film with good actions" and now as an adult each piece of the media by itself feels incomplete. This leaves me feeling like you honestly need all 3 forms of the media in order to make even 1 form of the story feel "complete". That's also putting aside my thoughts on the netflix show feels derivative to the modern netflix writing "drama" binge.

hey uricksaladbar! i watched your video all the way through and personally i forgive you for the clickbait title because you have managed to thoroughly dissect and also analyze the goods and bads of both the scott pilgrim comic, scott pilgrim film, and scott pilgrim takes off. the video editing and video effects are top notch as always and i think it's refreshing to have more of you on-camera explaining your points : ) there were many points you made, such as how much the OG comic relied too much on scott's POV to the detriment of his exes *and* ramona and the way the story should have explored more friendships/character dynamics on-screen without scott's involvement, which i agreed with. can't help but notice a few editing mistakes in the text displayed on-screen, like at 5:17 when you mislabeled a panel from YuYu Hakusho as Inuyasha and at 44:12 when 'segment' was misspelled into 'seg,emt'. it wasn't too bad to take me out of the video completely, but i don't remember previous videos having these many mistakes. cheers!

Comic > movie > show

If they do get us season 2...well we have a pretty good set-up. Lisa comes back, Ramona gets a bit jealous and then suddenly just disappears, Scott takes it upon himself to track her down, going down his own list of exes and realizes his own faults, towards the finale we get the "...maybe we should have?"-scene as a bait but Scott does the right thing before having a memory of "I run from the things I love." and finally puts the final pieces together. Ending up with a final talk/confrontation that solves the issue.