The new Netflix anime series, Great Pretender, is a rollercoaster of action-packed events that leave you on the edge of your seat. From the same studio who brought the infamous show Attack on Titan, Great Pretender demonstrates how versatile Wit Studio Productions can be when it comes to providing animated entertainment.
Great Pretender is a Japanese comedy series that follows Makoto Edamura, who is Japan’s self-proclaimed “greatest swindler”. The series opens up with us following Edamura and his partner as they trick an elderly woman into buying a new water filter. After a successful mission, Edamaura is feeling accomplished and decides to deceive and pickpocket a European foreigner that he spots at a food stand. Things don’t quite go as planned, however, as the presumably unsuspecting foreigner is none other than a world-class con artist by the name of Laurent Thierry. After outmaneuvering Edamaura and his with an elaborate plan that could only be described as coincidental, Thierry takes Edamaura to California where he is forced to aid Theirry in his quest to rob one of the world’s richest Hollywood Executive who is also an undercover drug smuggler.
The series only has one season with 16 episodes, but through that alone fans have been hooked. On the surface, this show can be perceived as this wacky and over the top fever dream about a ragtag group of pickpockets who got their big break. Still, as the name implies Great Pretender includes a lot of nuisances about lying to oneself in order to provide themselves with a false sense of reality.
With characters like Salazar, a character Edamaura seems to take a liking to, who is the henchman of a big shot Hollywood executive, who lives a double life. To many, he is this buff and menacing bodyguard who smuggles drugs and beats up anyone who gets on his bad side—but to his son, he is the greatest dad a kid could ask for. His son is unaware of his private endeavors, and Salazar prefers to keep it that way. By lying to not only himself but his son, Salazar is able to look at himself in the mirror in the morning as long as his son doesn’t know the true side of him—the side that keeps food on the table.
The show is reminiscent of many popular money heist movies with complex deception that plays out like a magic show.
There are moments that if you look away for even a second, you’ll be fooled just as easily by the charm and charisma of the main characters as they take off with large sums of money.
The creators of the show use the great tool of characterization to allow the viewers to gain some empathy for Edamaura because of his tragic circumstances.
Throughout the series, we get flashbacks to Edamaura’s life before all the lies and deception. Through these flashbacks we get to take a look at the person who Edamaura really is that contrasts greatly with the person Edamaura is letting himself believe he is. This imagery is consistent throughout the series which provided the series with a slight feeling of nostalgia and heartbreak.
The series has great pacing which allows the characters to delve into some self-reflection as they plan out major money heists in the US, Singapore, and London.
The series also includes an interesting commentary on the ideas of criminals and Anti-heroes. There is definitely a lot of illegal action within the series, but many argue that it could be for the greater good. With this series and shady offhand characters like Laurent Thierry, one can never be too sure.
The series’ action scenes and as well the overall art style is something that is a bold choice taken by Wit Studio. The science backgrounds are created using various bright colors and shapes that provide a moving painting feel to many of the scenes. The effect is a unique art style that adds personality and creativity to an already well thought out piece.
Great Pretender manages to find a good balance between the drama and humor, where serious or concerning things can happen without souring what makes the show fun to watch. It’s an aspect of the show reinforced through the show’s art direction, exemplified in the beautifully bright and colorful posterized backgrounds that establish a lighthearted tone.
