What happens when you take a little bit of Oceans 11 Catch Me If You Can and a huge dose of The Brothers Bloom? Well to put it bluntly you get Great Pretender. I had almost settled on the show being perfect but there are some glaringly minor nitpicks that bring this shown down a notch. However Great Pretender was the biggest and best anime surprise this year besides Dorohedoro. Its a straightforward premise of the conman or in this case a group of con artists thats made exceptionally well with plenty of style and satisfaction within each character arc. These story arcs might be disguised as side adventures but they really explore the backstory of each character of the team while also making it exceptionally entertaining in the process. Its as if each arc takes upon a series of cons a kin to what youd get to watch in a heist movie. One may be favourable over the other but thats what makes each arc so entertaining and accessible for everyone of varying tastes. The entire cast including the protagonist Edamura is just a breath of fresh air in a sea of generic stoic main characters found in recent modern shows that pride themselves as viewer selfinserts more than anything. The amount of care establishing each personality and how they form closer bonds makes each episode feel like it counts. Ive never seen an animated cast with so much chemistry every one just plays off each other so well making for some great fauxsophisticated double crosses. Even the stories themselves give each character a chance to shine in their actions and their backstory. Although each arc is usually limited to 46 episodes and it does so much with the time its given to feel like a complete journey that makes you think its part of a separate season itself. More importantly dividing each storyline into these smaller focused arcs means that they dont overstay their welcome and can move on to the next part of the plot with ease. Even the visuals take on a character of their own as the plot hops from place to place to explore different cultures and sceneries that get their chance to shine. Great Pretender just oozes style flare and gravitas that almost dances around with how passionate it is about itself. Even the soundtrack is absolutely fantastic from the opening credits that really feel like the Catch me if you can sequence to the spoton use of Freddy Mercurys Great Pretender loved the hidden reference to his cats. Even some of the vocal tracks really hit hard at the right time and although certain music such as the theme can sometimes feel overused it all comes together to create something truly fun to watch. Even many of the cons work out perfectly most of the time even when they dont at first and those who have seen movies like The Brothers Bloom will understand the baitandswitch style of pacing. This is a show where youll have to suspend your feelings of disbelief as you witness the failed con devolve into a con of cons. The whole idea of the show is to go along for the ride and just enjoy it and although it can seem clever its best not to think too hard about its plausibility because were served the almost perfect anime on a silver platter. The amount effort put into the shows visuals is stunning and desktopmaterial. The bold shot composition just screams perfection and a huge understanding of artistic composure that feels fully realized. Studio WIT still manages to find ways to impress me with their attention to detail as seen in high octane hits like Attack on Titan Vinland Saga or Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. Although they dropped their usual grittier art style of action shows like the ones mentioned above dont let that fool you because there is some hard hitting emotional moments and a much darker side that you are guaranteed to choke up on as you learn more about the story. Its hard to find a show like this that feels so genuine about its presentation and it absolutely knows when to laugh and when to take itself seriously. HOWEVER we need to talk about something I mentioned earlier. Call it thematic theatrics for a show that double crosses your expectations at the last moment. Remember when I said you should suspend youre disbelief? Well do I have news for you who mightve got frustrated with Great Pretenders lack of stakes. Sure its easy to accept each con as part of something that moves the plot along and without getting into heavy spoilers the latter half of the final arc blows it with some heavy emotional dissonance. I know the show prides itself as being sophisticated but there is a huge difference between that and selfentitled arrogance that tries so hard to fool the viewer. Lets just say on the record that it absolutely fails to capture any meaningful emotion because the plot gets way too ahead of itself for its own good. I felt cheated of deserved emotional payoff no wait I was conned. It was the kind of expectational subversion that would make any Rian Johnson fan giddy with bewilderment. Great Pretender builds up a heap of emotions that then fall through the cracks because they cant commit to something legitimate in its finale that gave me a reason to keep caring. The emotional disconnect and suspension of disbelief kills the weightiness of the story as it tries its best to wrap up in a neat little box with just enough threads to be left open. The last two episode tried so hard to have its cake and eat it as it dances around with overthetop theatrics that become more animeme than anime. If there was one thing Great Pretender did exceedingly well it was taking advantage of its setting to impress its viewer but I was neither impressed nor satisfied with what they did for the final con or its resolution because they strayed so far from that. Its as if the writers said look ma no logic and expected you to swallow this massive pill to forget its leaps in believability. At this point the story stock market just crashed and I lost all my emotional investments right then and there. The show couldve forgot a lot of the previous cons in favour of pursuing a cohesive finish but Id be lying in saying I didnt feel robbed of an explanation that didnt feel pretentious. Every little plot detail doesnt have to connect with Edamuras life to be conclusive in fact shoehorning every minor detail at the last moment kills a lot of my nostalgic goodwill towards the ending. The show isnt perfect even as is however it doesnt detract from the enjoyment I had despite becoming an emotionally battered viewer. I love it but I really dont know if I want a second season because of its consistent use of a plotdriven safety net for its characters. This is a oneanddone plot in the best possible way that almost couldve been perfection had they stuck to it being one series. Great Pretender is not talked about enough and its available right now on Netflix. Im surprised a show of this caliber is getting so little attention and Id say its safe to say its sorely underrated. This might have been anime of the year for me if it hadnt jumped the shark. With shallow lowbrow shows like Uzakichan wants to hang out ugh we see these kinds of show every year dont get me started its nice to know that the industry still has enough passion and originality to really knock it out of the park with a charming show such as this. Besides the ending being a copout Great Pretender was such a fun ride all the way through. This is a show that deserves all the praise and enjoyment it can muster and it will most certainly be rewatched in the years to come.