Netflix’s latest original anime series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, was honored as the “Best Animated Series” at the 2024 Critics Choice Awards. While the series got a lot of positive attention before and after release, the award cements its reputation. It also highlights the curious position the anime sits in, as it apparently was considered “Western” enough to compete with several North American productions.
The streaming service bet big on drawing in fans of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, helping assemble a new iteration of the story that also surprised viewers with an early twist. That sort of quality clearly shows with the series’ prestigious award.
Though the anime isn’t an exact adaptation of the comics, it is still an all-around excellent animated feature. All in all, this puts another feather in Netflix’s cap amid its push for animated Original Series.
Scott Pilgrim Beats Western Series For Critics Choice Award
The Critics Choice Award is overseen by the Critics Choice Association, which is described as the largest critics organization in North America, with 600 members. On January 14, it announced the winners of the latest awards, including the nominees for the Best Animated Series in the Television section. Other contestants included Bluey, Bob’s Burgers, Harley Quinn, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Young Love. Notably, all the animations are produced by North American studios, while Scott Pilgrim, despite coming from a Western IP, was animated by Science Saru from Japan, better known by anime fans for Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was officially green-lit in March 2023, with later details revealing that Netflix was essentially aiming for a “Greatest Hits” version of the story, borrowing elements like the art style of the novels, the voices of the live-action movie’s actors, and even the composer of the video game. This cleverly disguised an early plot twist that put the TV series on an entirely new trajectory that, despite daring to venture into new territory, seems to have landed well with both critics and audiences. This is notable, considering it is the first new adaptation since the 2010 movie.
Being considered the best animation currently on offer in North America is a major win, not only for Netflix, who pulled out all the stops to assemble this rendition of Scott Pilgrim, but also Science Saru. While the studio has done animation for Western properties like Adventure Time and OK K.O.!: Let’s Be Heroes, Scott Pilgrim is probably their first multi-episode work in this regard, not to mention their most high-profile, thanks to their association with Netflix this time around. Hopefully, this sort of accolade will motivate the showrunners to consider producing a second season of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off later on.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is available on Netflix.
Watch it here
