Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (soundtrack)

On March 30, 2023, it was reported that the chiptune-based band Anamanaguchi and Joseph Trapanese would write, compose and produce music for Scott Pilgrim Takes Off.^[1] The band initially composed music for the video game adaptation of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010).^[2] Since music being a forefront of the Scott Pilgrim series, O'Malley and Grabinski eventually wanted it to match with the vibe of the animation, which resulted in the Trapanese and the band's involvement as it would perfectly fit with the vibe they needed.^[3]

O'Malley and Grabinski ensured that the music should not overlap with the writing process while it had comprised the difficult sequences in the series.^[4] They eventually assisted Trapanese and Anamanaguchi and co-produced the songs with them; O'Malley did vocal demos for some of the songs for the Sex Bob-Omb band. The series incorporated licensed music that covered several artists' contributions such as Johnny Cash, Dead Kennedys, Stephen Sondheim which Grabinski described it as a "wild mix of music".^[5][6] The show's opening theme, "Bloom" was performed by Japanese rock band Necry Talkie.^[7] Song orchestrations were by Nathan Kelly.

The soundtrack album features 45 tracks which consisted of original and few licensed songs, and the band's and Trapanese's score accompanied the remainder of the album, along with 18 bonus tracks.^[8][9] Two of the songs "Meeting Ramona" and "Orange Shirt" (credited to Sex Bob-Omb) was previewed exclusively at Stereogum on November 15.^[10]

On August 17, 2023, the band Anamanaguchi announced that they are going to perform the songs live to promote the film's release and distributed the tickets at the Time Out magazine's online website priced at $30–50.^[11] The band eventually performed the songs at the special Scott Pilgrim Takes Off concert held at Pellissier Building and Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles in conjunction with the series and its soundtrack release on November 17.^[12] Momma and James Ivy served as the chief guests.^[10]

The band's cover of "Techno Syndrome" from Mortal Kombat: The Album (1994) was released as a single on January 18, 2024.^[13]

Allison Hermann of Variety described the soundtrack and the theme song as an "earworm".^[14] Marc Ciafardani of Go See Talk wrote "High fives and golf claps to Trapanese and Anamanaguchi whose efforts help make this world so much fun to dive into with headphones or house-sized speakers."^[15] Nicholas Quah of Vulture wrote "The original songs by Anamanaguchi, who also did the music for the video game, are superb."^[16] Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote "the energy is tremendously boosted by the music by Joseph Trapanese and Anamanaguchi and a properly kick-ass soundtrack".^[17] William Hughes of The A.V. Club wrote the series' "blends the film's still-impeccable soundtrack with new and old music from Anamanaguchi".^[18] Kambole Campbell of Little White Lies wrote "Sex-Bob-Omb's songs are still scrappy but catchy, and the composers [Anamanaguchi and Joseph Trapanese] have other delightful surprises in store."^[19]