Hace unas semanas, Netflix presentó el primer tráiler para Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, su nueva serie animada basada en el popular cómic que está lleno de elementos relacionados con el mundo del gaming, el cual ya había sido adaptado a una película por Edgar Wright en 2010. Por lo que pudimos ver en el tráiler, esta nueva serie se verá excelente y será aún más fiel al material original. Sin embargo, surgió un extraño, pero interesante debate al respecto: ¿Debería estar listado en My Anime List? Este es un conocido sitio en donde se compila información sobre todo tipo de anime diferentes. Así que la pregunta se resume a: ¿Es Scott Pilgrim Takes Off un anime o no?
A few weeks ago, Netflix presented the first trailer for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, its new animated series based on the popular comic book that is full of elements related to the world of gaming, which had already been adapted into a movie by Edgar Wright in 2010. From what we could see in the trailer, this new series will look excellent and will be even more faithful to the original material. However, a strange, but interesting debate arose about it: should it be listed on My Anime List? This is a well-known site where information about all sorts of different anime is compiled. So the question boils down to: Is Scott Pilgrim Takes Off an anime or not?
Debate: Is the new Scott Pilgrim animated series an anime?
Let’s see what the arguments for and against are. Maybe our first thought is to think “Well, Scott Pilgrim is a Canadian comic with a clear cartoonish art style” but that’s not enough, as there are several anime registered at MAL that are based on literature from other countries (Like Moriarty The Patriot) and/or have art styles more similar to American cartoons (Like Panty & Stocking) One of the most important points in favor of registering Takes Off on the site is its animation studio and, what a surprise, this is a studio of Japanese origin.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is being animated by Science SARU, a Japanese studio that has also been responsible for anime previously registered with MAL, such as Devilman Crybaby, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, or some of the shorts in the Star Wars Visions anthology series. You can tell that this is a studio that is used to experimenting with less conventional art styles and collaborating with intellectual properties created in countries other than Japan. But of course, Takes Off is not being produced exclusively by Japanese, as there are people from all over the world involved. Including Bryan Lee O’Malley, original creator of the comic, who will also be one of the writers.
What are MyAnimeList’s conditions for including a series in your registry?
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was registered a few days ago in My Anime List, but it had the annotation that said “Pending Approval” and now when you go to its link within the page, an error message pops out. It would seem that this debate was very present in the MAL community, until it was decided to remove it from the database (At least for the moment) To justify this decision, we must look at one of MAL’s rules for putting series on the site.
Specifically, Point 1.2.2 which says: “Joint productions must have at least one professional animation creator in a key position with creative control over the entire production. For example, director, screenwriter or character design.” This leaves Scott Pilgrim Takes Off in a complicated situation, since, although we still don’t have the full list of its production team, we do know that the screenwriters are Bryan Lee O’Malley and BenDavid Grabinski, while its director is the Spanish Abel Góngora (who has already worked in Science SARU many years ago).
However, the My Anime List community continues this fervent debate. Some are against the idea, with comments like “If an animation is made by a studio registered in Japan, it’s an anime, if not, it’s not an anime, simple as that”, while others are in favor due to the previous registration of other series in similar situations, such as Star Wars Visions or Super Crooks. As production companies around the world get more and more used to working together, the definition of anime is becoming more and more blurred, and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is a perfect example of this. What do you think? Should it or shouldn’t it be registered at MAL?
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