Great Pretender
a review by Alen29
a review by Alen29
Great Pretender was the first anime that I ever watched, and right now it's still one of my favourites if not my favourite. It was created by Wit Studio, and although it is truly not their most famous show, I think it is the best one that they have done so far.
I will not go over every episode of the anime on this review, but I will try to cover as many aspects of it as I possibly can.
With this said, let's get started.
Only BADs are our targets!
Great Pretender starts off by showing us the situation of Makoto Edamura, the self-proclaimed "greatest swindler of Japan" who suddenly got tricked by the French conman Laurent Thierry. Later, Laurent offers Makoto to join his group, Confidence, in which he travels along his friends all around the world, making huge heists to take money from the rich, with millions of dollars on the line. The anime is split in four "cases" or heists, with each one being focused on one of the four main characters : Makoto, Laurent, Abigail and Cynthia.
The greatest con is the one you never saw coming
This case is focused around Makoto Edamura, and it also presents us the other three main characters
I think the first episodes of this case aren't really surprising, but the way it ends is way different. I was shocked on the last episode when Laurent and Abigail got shot. It really felt like they were about to die, but no, it turns out that they were just acting. I never expected something like that to happen, neither Makoto did.
Another thing that I would like to mention about this case is its antagonist, Eddie Cassano. He always feels like a very smart and menacing character. I wish the other villains where as interesting as him, but we will get to that later...
The world is full of illusions. It’s up to us to see through them
This case is focused around Abigail Jones, mostly about her past and childhood. I really like how this case develops Makoto's relationship with Abigail. It shows how passionate she can be, despite always having such a cold personality. I really wish they went a bit deeper in terms of their relationship.
It's not about being perfect, it's about being true to yourself
This case is focused around Cynthia Moore. This is probably my favourite out of all 4 cases, the relationship with Cynthia and Thomas after breaking up reminds me of Makoto's relationship with Abigail, and her cold and serious approach at first, except in this case it feels like a much more intimate relationship. Also, the scene where he gives her the wedding ring drawn on a paper clearly represents his life situation, the fact that he mainly focused on money when he first got hired to make copies on unfound paintings, which caused Cynthia to grow apart from him, but later he changed his mind and was happy to see Cynthia again.
One mistake, and you're gone
This case is focused around Laurent Thierry. It shows his past and how he became a swindler and joined Confidence. It also tells us about Makoto's family, and his relationship with his father after his mother passed away, though, this case is mostly related to Laurent and Dorothy. I really liked how they made kind of a reference to the first case by the fact that Makoto is the one acting dead to trick the Japanese and Chinese mafia. I also loved the post-credits scene showing Dorothy, and the fact that Laurent will never know that she is still alive, even though she found her ring, which also leaves to some sort of open ending for the anime, not knowing what will happen to Dorothy next.
Things I didn't like :
Things I liked :
Great Pretender
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
OP :
ED and original song comparison :
And that's about it!
I hope you liked the review, if there's anything you think I should change or fix for my future reviews feel free to tell me.
Have a good one.
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