Great Pretender (new WIT Studio project)

[Stark700]

Wit Studio has a new anime project called "Great Pretender" Coming 2020.

Source
https://twitter.com/tononet/status/1146835572360540160

Official site
greatpretender.jp

[Stark700]

Staff

Director: Hiro Kaburagi
Character Design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Script: Ryota Kosawa

https://twitter.com/Spytrue/status/1146839624779743232

Will be 23 episodes.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/new...r-2020/.148641

[Stark700]

Preview:

PV lists the series as a Summer (July 2020) show.

[Marcus H.]

Premise appears to be about an "adventurous teen" who gets tied into all kinds of shit when he ended up getting an astronomical amount of money from that blonde guy.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Premise

Makoto Edamura is supposedly Japan's greatest swindler. Together with his partner Kudo, they try to trick a Frenchman in Asakusa but unexpectedly get tricked instead. The Frenchman, whom they tried to swindle, turns out to be Laurent Thierry- a much higher-level 'confidence man,' in control of the mafias. Edamura is yet to find out what fate awaits him, after having engaged in the Frenchman's dirty jobs...!

Director: Hiro Kaburagi (91 Days, Kimi no Todoke, Hoozuki no Reitetsu)
Character Designer: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Eva, Nadia, FLCL, .hack, Diebuster)
Screenplay: Ryota Kosawa (Parasyte live action films)

[Stark700]

Latest preview is out

[Guardian Enzo]

New PV:

YouTube

https://youtu.be/x1mrQERwL4Y

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Still says June 2 - maybe Netflix involvement means it was produced well in advance.

[Dop]

That Netflix money has pulled in an appropriate theme song too.
ANN: Freddie Mercury's cover of The Platters song "The Great Pretender" will be the anime's theme song.

[AHT]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/Vk86fxEklq8

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[Kanon]

2 episodes have been subbed (thank you, whoever you are). I enjoyed them a lot. The ending of the first episode totally hooked me, and the second episode was even better than I would have expected, with a more serious tone than the first while maintaining its fabulousness.

Spoiler for episode 1 and 2:

I thought it was odd that Makoto just so happened to try to scam a foreign con artist but I chalked it up to typical anime writing, which often uses coincidences to get the plot started. I really didn't see the twist that Laurent had planned it all coming. He is definitely a great con artist.

Makoto's background was good. Tragic but not overly dramatic. He's really unlucky though. Liked his reason for becoming a criminal ("if everyone thinks I'm one, I might as well be one"), and how he turned the tables on Laurent at the end.

Abby is a really cool female lead, and seems to have issues of her own. Can't wait to find out more about her.

Laurent is the overly competent guy who fancies himself as a Robin Hood of sorts, except I'm pretty sure he keeps the money from the scumbags he cons. Or maybe not, we'll see.

I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the next episode! No way Laurent is going to let Makoto win their bet.

[Chosen_Hero]

Saw the first two episodes, it was great, can't wait to see more.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Kanon

2 episodes have been subbed (thank you, whoever you are). I enjoyed them a lot. The ending of the first episode totally hooked me, and the second episode was even better than I would have expected, with a more serious tone than the first while maintaining its fabulousness.

Spoiler for episode 1 and 2:

I thought it was odd that Makoto just so happened to try to scam a foreign con artist but I chalked it up to typical anime writing, which often uses coincidences to get the plot started. I really didn't see the twist that Laurent had planned it all coming. He is definitely a great con artist.

Makoto's background was good. Tragic but not overly dramatic. He's really unlucky though. Liked his reason for becoming a criminal ("if everyone thinks I'm one, I might as well be one"), and how he turned the tables on Laurent at the end.

Abby is a really cool female lead, and seems to have issues of her own. Can't wait to find out more about her.

Laurent is the overly competent guy who fancies himself as a Robin Hood of sorts, except I'm pretty sure he keeps the money from the scumbags he cons. Or maybe not, we'll see.

I can't wait to see what's going to happen in the next episode! No way Laurent is going to let Makoto win their bet.

Are subs any decent?

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

Are subs any decent?

They're great actually.

Spoiler for episode 3:

Makoto went from super cocky at the end of last week's episode to constantly sweating bullets once he realized the target isn't a complete idiot. He's definitely still green.

[Guardian Enzo]

That premiere was awesome on every level. From the 70's caper-film OP to the ED, and everything in-between. If you're going to homage a film genre, it really helps if you gronk it as well as this show clearly does.

[Chosen_Hero]

Episode 3 comes around and now it's basically Breaking Bad... but if Jessie was the one doing the cooking without knowing the recipe while being trolled around by everyone.

[BPD Renegade]

Spoiler for episode 5:

That was an unexpected final twist. For a moment, I actually questioned whether the PVs were misleading us and Laurent and Abby weren't actually part of the main cast for the series. Great first arc. Time skip to next?

Also, I friggin' love that ED animation.

[Kanon]

The first case/arc is over and... it was absolutely amazing. The scam turned out to be incredibly more elaborate than what the first episode suggested.

Spoiler for episode 4 and 5:

I had sadly been spoiled about Cynthia so that kinda ruined the whole twist. No idea what I would have thought otherwise. I'll make sure not to get spoiled for future cases.

Really liked the Salazar subplot, and how Makoto put his life on the line for him. Kid's got heart.

Originally Posted by Chosen_Hero

Episode 3 comes around and now it's basically Breaking Bad... but if Jessie was the one doing the cooking without knowing the recipe while being trolled around by everyone.

Spoiler for episode 5, very small spoiler:

There's an actual Breaking Bad reference with one of the character mentioning Walter White.

[Wandering Soul]

Spoiler for episode 5:

The first arc is over and it was great.
I was skeptical about Laurent and Abby's "deaths", so I wasn't too surprised about the reveal they were taking, but the Cynthia twist caught me off guard. I'm glad that Salazar made it out of all this okay.

Looking forward to the next arc.

[Kanon]

Spoiler for episode 6:

Singapore this time. Laurent is such a dick, bringing Edamura back in the game by tricking him again after he had resolved to live a honest life.

More people need to watch this show.

[Wandering Soul]

Spoiler for episode 6:

And here I thought Makoto's attempts at an honest life would last for more than one episode before he gets pulled back into it, but even his reformation was all part of an upcoming scam. Laurent really can be a dick.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Spoiler for Episode 7, Case 2_2 Singapore Sky:

Speaking as someone who has served mandatory military service (and is now a happily retired officer in the military reserve) I'll say first of all that much as I would love to see such an air race in Singapore, it would be an absolute security nightmare to stage it with the course envisioned in this episode.

Fun fact: The Red Bull Air Race, the inspiration for the anime's Pathfinder Air Race, was reportedly keen to come to Singapore. Unfortunately, things didn't pan out, and the organisers of the air race have since closed shop.

So, let's just say: I FRIGGING LOVED THIS EPISODE! The race will never happen in Singapore in real life, but here's anime to the rescue!

The reproduction of Singapore's Central Business District was brilliantly accurate, down to the bridges on the Singapore River which the planes flew under. Also loved the jazz soundtrack and I'm strongly reminded of some the best episodes of Cowboy Bepop, particularly Spike's dogfighting scenes in the Swordfish.

And yes, I ship Edamame with Abigail. They'll make a great pair of unwilling con artists hooked to the thrill of the scam.