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Is it a master piece, well thought out writing, incredible characters?

Hell no, but it's really fucking entertaining. A show that is self aware and doesn't shy away from making the protagonist show off and fool around knowing fully well that is he broken and overpowered beyond belief.
While the story is alright, it's nothing special, some discount code geass, some simplistic racial hate, but it isn't tasteless.
The characters altough not really well written are very entertaining and likeable with Anos' parents being a special mention.
What actually does stick out as thought out is the world building and magic system.
They seem to be part of ... the more interesting aspects.
In the anime medium I assume you just cannot show as much as a novel can, but what they have given you a glimpse of is fairly interesting.

When the story started out, the mystery aspect is enjoyable as heck, making you ask questions about the world, lore and characters.
While the Op and ED are catchy, they and also the score itself aren't anything massively special or memorable.


All in all it's a show that uses it's "Anos Gigachad" big PP energy and likeable cast to propell itself to being a fun turn your brain mostly off show.
I had a good time and honestly like it more than most other power fantasies, 7/10.

Wow, just wow.

The amount of high quality entertainment in this one series is staggering.

Firstly you get gorgeous animation, wit studio outdoing themselves with recreations of iconic sights in LA, Paris, Singapur, London etc. etc. with most of the characters being absolutely gorgeously designed as well.

But it's not just their design that is well done. The time spent on our main cast and their relationships, struggles and problems has lots of payoff. Particularly Makoto, Laurent, Abby and Cynthia are charcterized amazingly. The relationships feel very realistic/human and the development or growth they go through is great.

The sound is fantastic, with insert songs and also the voice ... acting.E.g. french and chinese people actually speak native french/mandarin instead of having some poor voice actor struggle to pronounce a foreign language.
It makes the show feel more authentic, using the language barrier in universe to create interesting conflict.

The enjoyment I got out of this series is close to a 10/10 for me, I am biased though since I love heist type shows and planning along those lines. The way plans go wrong or right is also part of the fun and this show keeps up the suspense very well.

Lastly the story itself: for the most part, 90% was very well done, but the conclusion of the season has 10% that irks me and ruins part of the suspension of disbelief for certain characters suddenly acting very differently to what they did initially.
Glossing over high stakes or real consequences.
So if you can accept that even most great stories have flaws you'll have no issues here.




All in all, if you like say Ocean's 11 or similar films or in general western shows about heists or conning you'll love this one story wise, if you just like fleshed out well written characters you'll like great pretender as well.
On top of that if you like/put emphasis a good soundtrack,



what are you waiting for?

The conclusion of a brilliant romantic comedy that slowly evolved into the romance/drama genre, but does it very well while still keeping hilarious comedic bits.

From what I've heard and read (vol.12 of the LN) some juicy bits are sadly cut short or completely cut, but it still delivers a satisfying conclusion to the main story and character relationships.

I just wish it wasn't over yet, since I'm so invested in the adorable and endearing cast.
They could just do nothing and fool around for another season just being themselves and I'd probably enjoy the great voice work and score they have had.


All in all it's still a ... very solid 9/10 show for me while being maybe only a 8/10 adaptation.

If you enjoy romantic comedies that have conclusive endings or just enjoyed the first 2 seasons you will like this one as well of course.


I will dearly miss the characters though....maaaan it's such an empty feeling finishing a show you started years ago.

Well this show is eye candy, very entertaining fights and choreography, e.g. water brush painting style animation, gorgeous other effects,

but substance wise?

It's very mediocre.
It features a very badly or even barely explained power system, villain mcvillain bad guy archetypes, ridiculous power scales and overall the supernatural aspects don't feel like they add anything positive to the experience, but rather take away the suspension of disbelief at times.

Characters are mostly charicatures with 3 or fewer sentences being most of their "personality".

The OP and ED are nice, but the score itself is all over the place. It has some good tracks, but other times it sounds so ... generic it's not memorable at all.

All in all it's alright, but from what I've heard it's not doing the webtoon any justice and just a watered down, cut short version.

Not sure if I'd recommend it, maybe if you're into martial arts and want a turn your brain off pretty animation show.

Do you like to suffer? Is pain your favorite thing?

On a more serious note, this show is just fantastic.

From the chilling and haunting soundtrack, to the unique memorable character designs, fascinating world and lore/history.
I could go on about how well they establish the many characters without feeling overwhelming or magic system, but those have only been touched on so far, but still you can tell the author put a lot of effort into making it seem coherent.

The art looks very good for the most part, but a tiny bit sloppy from time to time, but it doesn't detract from the experience.


As a last thing I'd ... mention how fantastic the protagonist and his (limited) power is, it's just such a good story telling device and lets him and therefore the viewer experience so many more possibilities compared to a regular linear story.


All in all if you like competent writing, amazing world building or liked the first season, but maybe felt like it didn't do enough to really grab your attention you're gonna like the 2nd season a lot.

The pros:

world: - a very unique world that feels alive and is interesting enough that you want to explore it or see more of what it is like.
The magic system seems very unique as well and makes you want to see the unique things characters are capable of

characters:- very well fleshed out characters all with their own motivations that make sense for the most part, very endearing and likeable characters as well with lots of grey morality instead of outright showing you X person is evil or Y person is good

story: -a very intrigueing premise that starts off very simple, initially. Finding out what ... happened to Mr. Protagonist. It evolves into a good mystery that you want to know more about and the drip feed of new information is done very well for the most part.

Since it is only part of the first half of the story and I don't know what happens in the manga nor any potential sequel I can only say that the story is enjoyable to follow and very good, but the amnesiac protagonist isn't anything new in storytelling.


All in all I'd like to get some gyouza/jiaozi right now and I can recommend watching this very unique show with a setting and world you likely haven't experienced yet.

It's a fairly low stakes show about a retired professional videogame player basically starting a new account and dicking on people which is fun since they obviously play into that aspect.

Similar to how sword art online alternative: gun gale online or Bofuri: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense it's simply about someone playing video games, which is super entertaining.

The animation for background characters can be quite hilariously bad at times since they use some basic CG to animate them, at other times the animation looks almost great, but since it flip flops between them it's a bit jarring.

The soundtrack ... has nothing noteable or noteworthy about it, it sounds mostly generic and I cannot recall any theme or track that has had an impression on me.

The characters are very endearing though and for the most part likeable, especially the main cast.

A kinda hilarious part of the show is it's McDonalds sponsorship which doesn't detract massively, but is still a bit funny since they make it a point to have an in-story character be sponsored by McDonalds as well and McDonalds shows up more than you'd expect.


All in all it's an entertaining mostly low stakes take on the "people playing mmorpg" genre that doesn't revolutionize the genre, but has some light hearted humor and some likeable characters for the most part. It also slightly touches on the professional gaming scene and what "pro gamers" do after having to re-enter the real world without actua IRLl skills.

an ecchi semi romance with nothing particularly special about it.

the main character has 0 agency for the majority, being dragged along the other characters choices. it's not rewarding to see someone engage in activities a real person would definetely refuse.

The characters aren't very multi dimensional personality wise and design wise none of them are unique except for uzaki, who looks like a child, but is supposed to be a young adult.
Both the voice and appearance aside from her breasts resemble a literal small child which makes any romantic development feel uncomfortable and not rewarding.

Overall the jokes are just repetitive and uncreative and mostly involve ... the protagonist being a loner and the girl lead teasing him for it, which maybe makes sense the first couple times, but after using the same thing for many of the episodes it's just not entertaining and becomes annoying quickly.

All in all it's an average experience and I'd say it's not worth your time if you're looking for anything with substance

Am I a sucker for music anime and character dramas?
hell yeah,
but does that discredit all the inredible things this show accomplishes?
Hell no.


The 2nd cour is even better story wise only having the flaw of a Villain McVillain type character. It doesn't detract from the main strenghts of the show, showing each characters struggles and doing the sports anime thing of showing the opponents hardships as well.


Character wise the addition of akira is great, they continue humanizing and characterizing our cast very well. The main cast except for Sakai feel like real characters.
Furthermore they are actually friends with each other onscreen instead of ... us just being told XY are friends like in lesser shows.

The main story beats might seem over dramatic at first, but I think they do well to emphasize real struggles of real human characters, whether that be jealousy, pride etc. and the conclusion for the respective arcs are well done and feel mostly earned.

The romance aspects fit really well and make the main cast even more adorable.

Animation wise there is defintely improvement when it comes to the representation of the performances in abstract manners, handmovement etc. The over exagerated reaction to some pieces are a bit hilarious but par for the course in non sports sports anime.


Did this show make me cry? Of course, I bawled like a kid, but both in happy but also in sad ways.



All in all it's a very very solid 9/10, although the 1st cour is slightly weaker, I can definetely recommend this show overall to basically anyone.

Do you like shows about music?
Do you like sports anime that don't necessarily have to be about sports, as in the cliches of practicing, aiming for nationals, competing in tournaments etc etc?

Well if you like those and an interesting story about characters growing together you'll be able to enjoy Kono oto tomare.

What's super noteworthy about the characters is that they themselves learn to communicate well and directly which is refreshing since it means the drama aspect does not come from misunderstandings or if it does gets resolved quickly or rather in a seemingly natural way, by doing the "mature" thing of just talkign to one ... another.


The characters are super endearing once you get to know them and characters that come off as side characters get enough screentime to make them into fully fleshed main characters.
The struggles they face are protrayed in an engaging way, although the direct communication is almost a little too mature as in; I'm not even sure most adults can communicate that well.
But thats also what makes this cast fun, less time spent on standard drama.
The chemistry and banter some of the characters have makes watching them very fun as well with the small amounts of romance being welcome rather than annoying since it adds to the experience rather than create unnecessary drama plotl ines.


The animation can be a bit lack luster at times, when they use still frames even though they are in story wise playing the instruments. Other times they use the good old sports anime visual metaphor, which can be very pretty, with some frames looking like they are drawn with water colors.


The score really enhances light hearted moments with the "goofy" track at times, but it just makes some scenes so much sweeter. My only gripe with the actual musical performances would be, not being able to listen to uninterrupted play, due to flashbacks or in story messups.
This obviously is essential to the story they want to tell and enhance the emotional investment, but also as a listening experience it's a bit all over the place and choppy.


The story itself is very compelling, exploring various different characters and giving you more than just quirk1 for x character and quirk 2 for y character as "traits". Although that should be obvious that you should properly characterize your cast, many shows don't do it beyond one memorable thing.
At times the story really hits you in the gut with a grandparent to grandchild relationship that just has this wholesome but also melancholic feel to it.
But as with other non sports sports anime like chihayafuru, the story beats are the usual practice, small tournament, training camp, big tournament, let's aim for nationals, but it is the execution which makes this show stand out.



Overall I enjoyed this show very much despite some of it's flaws, it's very entertaining.
It's a very very solid 8/10 for me and if you like music or character dramas go for it, this one's worth your time