November 13, 2024

So, let me give some important context for today’s post. Scott Pilgrim is my favorite franchise ever. The comics, the movie, the game, and now the anime series are all some of my favorite pieces of media of all time!

When the anime released in November 2023, I watched the full series in one night with a group of friends. And of course, I adored it! Since then, I have watched through it several times and have enjoyed it more on every subsequent watch. While there is much I’d like to write about the Scott Pilgrim franchise as a whole, today I’d like to focus on one aspect of the anime series that surprised and delighted me.

Anamanaguchi

Anamanaguchi is an alternative rock group that creates chiptune and 8-bit inspired tracks. Their biggest claim to fame is 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game Soundtrack (another amazing collection of songs I’d love to write in detail about one day).

So, when developing the anime series, the creative team reached back out to Anamanaguchi to work on the score and soundtrack. Anamanaguchi ultimately created an array of original songs for the series. However, two tracks stood out amongst the rest of the soundtrack: two covers. The was a cover of “God Only Knows” originally written by The Beach Boys, and the second was a cover of “Techno Syndrome” originally written by Olivier Adams for Mortal Kombat.

Techno Syndrome

“Techno Syndrome” is one of the most iconic tracks from the Mortal Kombat franchise (which is ironically another franchise I have a lot of fondness for). Its most famous version is the iteration for Mortal Kombat: The Album which is a compilation album of various tracks from the first Mortal Kombat game. Techno Syndrome went on to be the de-facto Mortal Kombat theme, with references and remixes of it in different games, movies, and commercials.

Another fun note about the most prominent version of the song is the dialogue in it. The version from the album features an announcer screaming “MORTAL KOMBAT” and reciting the names of all of the playable characters in the first game.

What elevates Anamanaguchi’s version of the song from good to great is that they replicate the scream and character names. The song features a narrator (like the narrator that reads the black boxes of text throughout the Scott Pilgrim franchise) that screams “SCOTT PILGRIM TAKES OFF” and then reads off the names of the main cast and evil exes.

Covers have become fairly commonplace on soundtracks, especially for Netflix series. With this in mind, I think it’s great that Anamanaguchi was given the reins to make something with their unique soundscape. On top of that, both of their covers fit the themes and aesthetic of Scott Pilgrim very well, even if The Beach Boys and Mortal Kombat are never directly referenced in the series. And as a big fan of Mortal Kombat, it put a big smile on my face to hear this version of “Techno Syndrome.”