Anime Impressions: Great Pretender

<p>I&&num;8217&semi;m just going to start by saying<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;netflix&period;com&sol;ng&sol;title&sol;81220435" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer"> Great Pretender<&sol;a> is a surprisingly stellar anime and is one I truly recommend&comma; but I&&num;8217&semi;ll get into why in a bit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-159455 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;12194023&sol;great-pretender&period;png" alt&equals;"The great pretender" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">The Great Introduction<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Great Pretender follows Makoto Edamura&comma; the self-proclaimed best Confidence Man in all of Japan&period; The first episode however&comma; puts him in the spot of just some petty crook showing off his con work&period; While he isn’t bad&comma; he’s also far from the best as he later realizes when he meets another con man of much higher skill named Laurent Thierry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The two don&&num;8217&semi;t hit it off at first when Laurent cons Edamura out of money he unlawfully earned&period; The exchanges between these two characters are hilarious with their equally hilarious accents while speaking English at the start of the first episode&period; Thankfully&comma; the creators had some mercy and allowed the voice actors speak Japanese for the rest of the series&period; After some more hilarity and other hijinks&comma; the two travel to Los Angeles with the prospects of conning a big-time movie director and equally big time drug trafficker named Eddie Gassano by selling him literal candy as a drug&period; Their goal is basically to get closer to him and take every penny he&&num;8217&semi;s got&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is when the anime gets more exciting&comma; and even more characters begin appear&period; Among them is a blunt and easily provoked woman named Abigail Jones&comma; who is secretly Laurent’s partner&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-159452 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;12193944&sol;Great-Pretender-anime&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Great Pretender- story" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">An Exciting story<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>If you&&num;8217&semi;re like me and have seen as many movies or series similar to Great Pretender to last a lifetime&comma; you&&num;8217&semi;ll see all the moves Laurent pulls from a mile away&period; And while they can be predictable&comma; further emphasizing how much of an amateur Edamura is&comma; all of them are still executed well enough to be highly entertaining&period; Especially to the untrained eye&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the anime is filled with hilarious antics and clever moments&comma; subsequent episodes also show us some scenes looking back into our main character&&num;8217&semi;s memories that are sure to leave one heartbroken&period; Edamura is just a kid who was dealt a bad hand in life with many unfortunate events happening to him leading him to choose the life of a con man&period; From episode three&comma; things get serious&comma; and Edamura finds himself in a drug trafficking ring&period; If that wasn&&num;8217&semi;t bad enough&comma; the FBI also gets involved&period; So the funny escapades and con work from earlier episodes are short-lived&comma; and the plot focuses on the bigger picture like most other forms of media in the genre&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>My only gripe with the story is how little the characters were explored&period; Throughout the series so far&comma; we don&&num;8217&semi;t get to see the motivations behind the actions of the other characters&comma; aside from everyone just seeking money&period; The only two characters that were explored are Edamura and to a lesser degree&comma; Salazar a secondary character and bodyguard to Gassano whose only goal is to give his son a better life than he had&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After more events unfold with one big reveal after the other&comma; the ending of the fifth episode was surprisingly satisfying&period; While it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t give us explanations on some aspects of the story&comma; hopefully&comma; that will further be expressed in the coming episodes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-159454 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;12194011&sol;Great-pretender-&lowbar;Abby&period;jpg" alt&equals;"The Great Pretender-Abby" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">A Steller Production &amp&semi; Direction<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Aside from the entertaining plot&comma; something else I noticed about the anime is how crisp the animations were&comma; showing off the lights&comma; glitz&comma; and glamour of Los Angeles which somewhat bears a resemblance to last season’s <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;the-millionaire-detective-balance-unlimited-anime-impressions&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Balance Unlimited&period;<&sol;a> The character models are flawless&comma; the sound design is top-notch&comma; and even the voice acting &lpar;not the English speaking scenes mind you&rpar; is impeccable&period; Great Pretender showcases a higher level of production compared to most other anime and is consistent with every single episode so far&period; Which is great&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Then there&&num;8217&semi;s the soundtrack&period; Above all else&comma; the soundtrack is what really got me&period; Many of the scenes are supported by amazing and quite often fitting songs&period; Not to mention the opening and ending songs&period; The opening&comma; while not having any lyrics&comma; introduces the anime and sets the tone with a catchy tune&period; Then there&&num;8217&semi;s the ending &&num;8220&semi;The Great Pretender&&num;8221&semi; by Freddie Mercury&comma; which is not only amazingly catchy but also incredibly fitting&period; Though I&&num;8217&semi;m sure&comma; that&&num;8217&semi;s what they were going for&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-159457 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;12194042&sol;wit-studio-great-pretender&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;">Final Thoughts<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>So far&comma; I must say that I enjoyed my time with Great Pretender&comma; and it&&num;8217&semi;s looks to be not just one of the best anime this season&comma; but also one of the best this year&period; Hopefully it stays on that course to till end&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Great Pretender is available to stream on <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;netflix&period;com&sol;title&sol;81220435" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">Netflix<&sol;a> <&sol;strong>right now&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Have you seen Great Pretender&quest; If so&comma; what did you think of it&quest; Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;