Scott Pilgrim vs. the Wor... wait... Canada. (AKA Justin De Lucia vs. his love for Evil Exes.)

For starters, happy late thanksgiving and all that good shit, I hope you pigged out and ended up in the bathroom for hours (JK).

But what I'm here to discuss is the ever-so-famous Scott Pilgrim series from Bryan Lee O'Malley. Yea that Malley. The one that treats his fans and followers like total garbage. Not exactly one of the nicest authors, despite being quite well-known in the mainstream thanks to his six-volume series and it's movie adaptation from Universal. What's going to happen right here is me explaining how I got into Scott Pilgrim and it's fanbase.

To speak the truth, my first viewing of the series came when I went on a trip to New York City in August 2010 (wanted to go again this year, but ran out of time). As me and my family (mom, sis, cous, and cous' mom) walked and walked and walked, we passed by a comic book store that stated "READ SCOTT PILGRIM COMICS HERE". and from there, I just interpreted SP as an obscure indie comic book series that somehow went mainstream around that time. Though it wouldn't be until around Fall that year when I heard about the live action film, and the looks of those seven "Evil" Exes (prepare two story arcs of this post) caught my mind right away.

Take note I haven't read any of the books, just watched about 60% of the movie. Throwing that out there in the hopes of not arising any trouble.

As you can tell, my favorite characters in an instant became the Seven Evil Exes, mainly Matthew Patel due to his mysterious appearance and pyrokinesis. Gideon and Roxy were runner ups, and the others I only showed minor anticipation for. When it came to the other characters, the only ones I cared for (and still do) were Scott and Ramona. After all, they were the main protagonists, despite Ramona being a big plot device and the reason Scott became an amateur killer hunting down goths, psychics, Japanese band members, and whatever I'll use to describe Gideon.

The other "story arc" that I wanted to mention is I never interpreted the Evil Exes as being "evil," more or less just big enemies to Scott. If they really were evil, they'd go slaughter random people and those that dislike(d)/oppose(d) them (whoops too violent) while also going after Scott and his allies. Another thing that could be a bit strange for some was that none of the Exes shared the same screentime , except for the Katayanagi Twins. Certainly I could go on with the Exes for years and it wouldn't make the least bit of sense, since I'm a free guy. I could also jump to different topics and confuse everyone the heck off.

Like here for instance. I felt as if the Evil Exes didn't spend enough time in the movie than they should've. Perhaps besides Scott being told by Ramona about the Evil Exes, we could've have a few scenes (aside from the animated flashback parts) with Gideon assembling his team to face Scott, or maybe two separate battles with one Ex.

Just for another off-topic setting, I did see how the movie opened, and therefore I know about the major characters and the setup to the plot with Scott's love interest in Ramona; them first meeting in a dream, dating in the park, and how Scott had trouble confessing to Knives that he had secretly broken up with her to go out with Ramona. And if I recall correctly, I do remember when in the movie Ramona explained to Scott about the Exes on the bus. And I know the movie was based on the comics, for one thing, and I have no intentions on altering the original story to meet my dreams. Sent you into confusion? Good. Let's rewind a bit.

Adaptations don't usually have to follow the film exactly, and there were sometimes (but not always) alternative versions of a single film, ya'know, like the Director's Cut, the Uncensored Edition, etc. What I'm explaining here is what I felt would have improved on the movie following Matthew Patel's introduction into the film, not when he wrote the e-mail to Scott but when he bursted through the roof of the club, interrupting Scott and the rest of Sex Bomb-Omb as they began to perform, thus leading to the first big battle of the film.

Not only would this idea primarily allow Matthew Patel to stay alive a tad bit longer in the film, but it'd also have two Exes besides the twins on-screen at the same time. What would happen here, is both Scott and Matthew would have a long fight, practically wounding one-another to the point of passing out. Just as Scott is ready to launch a sneak-finisher move, the second Ex, Lucas Lee, bursts through the wall and KO's Scott, landing him on the wall, out of commission. Lucas then pulls up Matthew, chats with him for like a few seconds, before escaping with Matthew clutched on his shoulders. Once again, I know this doesn't happen in the book, so I wouldn't be surprised. Just letting on my thoughts.

Another thing that kind of disappointed me was Michael Cera, the actor for Scott Pilgrim himself. While I have nothing against him, and he did portray Scott well in the film, I thought his voice was too soft for someone that was portrayed as having almost a "wild" and carefree expression sort of like how I envision my own character Aozora. I'm not going to say whom I would've preferred for my own good, so take your pick of the preferred Scott.

Otherwise, that's pretty much all I can think of to say, so I'm cutting it here so I don't end up repeating the same things I've already said. But basically put, Scott Pilgrim, even if Brian Lee O'Malley isn't the brightest man on the ball with his personality and art style, (in my words, you're allowed to like something even if you don't like the author or vice versa), is a good series, but not a total godsend in the visual novel era. I like it, and I'm keeping that word to myself.

Good day.