Fans of my articles may remember that I mentioned my love for the movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” in a previous issue. What fans may not realize is that the “Scott Pilgrim” story exists in other forms, such as the original series of graphic novels written by Bryan Lee O’Malley and the 2023 anime series “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off”. So, in this final issue of the semester, we’re gonna have the ultimate battle to crown the best version of the “Scott Pilgrim” story.

For the battle, we’re gonna have four categories: story, characters, action and fun-ness. Then we will crown a first, second and third place in each to determine the winner (or at least determine which one I like best). With that, let the battle begin!

Story

All three versions follow the same basic story: Scott Pilgrim meets the girl of his dreams, Ramona Flowers, and must defeat her seven evil exes in order to date her, and this premise is really fun in all three forms. Alas, I must have a ranking.

1. The graphic novels – I have to give the graphic novels first place here because at the time the idea was so fresh, original and bold. Here, O’Malley had to come up with this story from scratch, which just gives it brownie points for me.
2. The anime – While “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” has the same exact story as the graphic novels, “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” takes the same premise and launches the story in a fresh new direction after its first episode, so it gets second here.
3. The movie – “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” has the same story as the graphic novels; however, there are a lot of fun deviations near the end of the movie. It does suffer a bit from trying to cram six graphic novels into one film.

Characters

Yes, they all have the same characters (mostly). No, they do not have the same amount of character development.

1. The graphic novels – It’s simple. In a series of six graphic novels, there is more time for characters to develop, and O’Malley does that really well. Of course, Scott and Ramona get the most development, but O’Malley shines in letting side characters like Kim Pine, Scott’s ex from high school, and Knives Chau, Scott’s 17-year-old girlfriend at the start of the series, develop as well. A well-earned first place here.
2. The anime – Yes, this will be the same ranking as above. Where “Takes Off” shines is in its development of the seven evil exes, as it shows that they may not be as evil as we think. It also outdoes the graphic novels in its development of Ramona Flowers.
3. The movie – Scott and Ramona get good development here, but that’s about it.

Action

Now this is where it gets interesting.

1. The movie – Edgar Wright brings the action scenes to life beautifully with awesome lighting, superb choreography and thrilling music, giving “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” the boost it needed here. I will remember these fight scenes for as long as I live.
2. The anime – Here, the creators use the anime format to its fullest extent, giving us great video game-style fight scenes that are a delight to watch. The final fight in the last episode is truly memorable!
3. The graphic novels – While fun, the action in the graphic novels just didn’t excite me as much as watching it on screen did. I’m sorry, Bryan Lee O’Malley.

Fun-ness

Extremely objective, this is just a ranking of how much fun each variation is, but I can’t rank this one. Three-way tie for first!

The graphic novels – These books are so fun that I ripped through six volumes of them in 12 days.

The anime – “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” came out when I was abroad in London last fall. And so, every time I watch it, I get some nostalgia along with a great show!

The movie – Edgar Wright knows how to direct a movie (shocker, I know)!

And the winner is… the graphic novels! To determine the overall winner, I took the average placement of each variation across the categories—for example, the graphic novels would be 1+1+3+1 (they all got first in the last category). I then averaged that total, and the lowest average won. The graphic novels got a score of 1.5, the anime got a 1.75 and the movie got a 2.0. No matter what the technical ranking is, I recommend each variation of “Scott Pilgrim,” as they are all fun and unique in their own way. Happy holidays, and remember that being vegan just makes you better.