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This show isn’t Cliche. I’ve never seen a show where the main character utilizes the ability to time travel this bad before. It revolves around a bunch of delinquents as well. A unique combination if I do say so myself. The show was exciting and I ended up bingeing half the show, but it has too many shortcomings. Even though I enjoyed the ride, it left me frustrated in the end.

This review might give the impression that I totally hated the show, but that’s not the case. Episodes filled me with adrenaline, and I was immersed in the show despite its shortcomings. The show ... had me curious about what was going to happen next and how things were going to end up the way they were. I enjoy the idea of time traveling, so I do have a bias. I hate children, but the characters weren’t bad, and the character developments felt natural. The characters felt they were well done; from their psyche to their character design. Yet, the author wasn’t able to create the anticipation through natural means, but by using bad excuses. So that aspect alone leaves a bad taste.


Disclaimer: The sections below contain vulgar language at times.

Review divided into three sections

1) Main issue with the show 2) Time traveling in this show 3) Action choreography and the animation

---------------------------------Spoilers Ahead---------------------------------------
1)
The main problem the show has is the main character himself, Takemichi Hanagaki. It’s a bad sign when the side characters have more favorites on MAL than the main character himself. It’s for a good reason. The guy is 26 years old and still doesn’t have the cognitive abilities to think. The show is in a constant dilemma. If Takemichi becomes slightly competent, the show would just end, but if he keeps watching the events on the sidelines and doesn’t do shit about it, it becomes infuriating for the viewer.

Takemichi’s incompetency becomes very apparent in the final episodes. My guy has ample evidence that Kisaki plotted everything. That Kisaki was responsible for the woman that got raped, which resulted in Pah-Chin being sent to juvenile prison; for trying to kill Draken, for manipulating Osonai, for creating Valhalla, and for getting Baji killed. So what do Takemichi and Chifuyu do to expose Kisaki? Takemichi spends his days fucking around spying on Emma to see if he’s two-timing Draken, and Chifuyu talks with Mikey the entire time and doesn’t mention this shit. Are you kidding me. The show is creating bullshit excuses to not end itself. Takemichi, you’re not on a vacation bro. If I had time traveled to a different timeline, I would constantly be trying to fix it. This guy just ignores everything and lives life as nothing has happened. Then the show is going to give me the bullshit about how he has to keep pushing forward in the next episode or something. It’s an insult to injury when Takemichi comes back to the present. Kisaki says that he never intended to kill Baji, and Takemichi takes it seriously??? Takemichi never changed the fact that Kisaki intended to fuck everyone. There’s a chance he might’ve become a decent person now, but he definitely intended to kill Baji. There’s ample evidence of it. How stupid is this guy? He’s acting like he wasn’t the one who figured this shit out. Then Takemichi gets bamboozled when he finds out Kisaki was bsing him. Oh wow, didn’t see that one coming. Honestly, it is a bit unfair someone as incompetent as Takemichi is ruining Kisaki’s plans. Poor Kisaki.

A person spending 24 minutes watching an episode shouldn’t be able to come up with better ideas to deal with the situation. The guy is living 24/7 and can’t think of any solutions. Imagine if Takemichi was someone from the Deathnote universe. The show would be over in a day. Even Matsuda would solve this no problem. The show’s excuses don’t only extend to Takemichi, but to Naoto, Akkun, and Chifuyu as well.

Having the power to time travel means the ability to acquire information beforehand. Takemichi and Naoto poorly use this advantage, especially towards the end. So Touman is going to get taken over after the bloody Halloween. Let me ask Draken about this in the future. It takes Naoto ages to find Draken, some cop he is. Then what happens? They talk for like fucking thirty seconds, and it’s a bunch of vague nonsense. Then they chat way after, and they’re able to talk way longer. Then why didn’t they talk that long in the first place? Couldn’t Naoto arrange this? Why is Draken being so vague, and why isn’t Takemichi asking detailed questions? Just tell what happened on that day from start to finish. After talking with Draken two times, Takemichi still has no clue how things will turn out the way they have turned out. The same happens with Akkun. Akkun gives a bunch of vague nonsense as well before committing suicide, although this one was way more forgivable. I’m also left questioning what Naoto taught Takemichi at the start of the show. Takemichi seems like he has no clue what the hell is going on half the time. Naoto surprisingly contributes so little.

2)
I’m convinced he just exists to remove the feeling of isolation that comes with time traveling. The mechanics of time traveling in this show is very convenient. Naoto doesn’t forget about past timelines when Takemichi changes the future, so they’re on the same page every time. Naoto, despite not being competent enough to contribute much, guesses correctly that Takemichi can only go 12 years in the past, and that the handshake was the trigger. Also, Takemichi is able to remember memories from the timeline he’s currently at, even though he didn’t experience them himself. All very convenient. Yet, I won’t hold it against the show since it’s the premise. It’s fiction after all. Shows are built on what if x was a thing, and that’s where the fun is. That’s why I think this aspect is excusable, if we ignore the fact that the show ignored the butterfly effect.

Yet, why doesn’t Takemichi let his past self know what’s going on? Maybe he should leave a note saying don’t try to fuck Emma when he goes back to the future to search for information. A missed opportunity out of dozens.

3)
The action choreography in this show is wild and has problems. First of all, people are invisible. People just can’t seem to see each other in this show. Where’s Draken? Our MC couldn’t find this skyscraper in a small ass parking lot. How do people keep getting hit and stabbed from behind in an open space? Baji and Kazutora must be truly invisible. Also, these middle schoolers have the strength of a superhero. Are they going to start hitting each other through buildings when they become adults? Mikey kicked someone while another person was grabbing his leg. How did the guy grabbing Mickey’s leg end up getting knocked out too? He just got hurled? I know the last one is a minor point, but it still bothers me.

A lot of people seem to shit on the animation, but I just can’t talk shit about animation after witnessing how bad Kumo Desu Ga Nani Ka was. The animation wasn’t the best, but it never ruined my immersion.

Great Pretender has a decent soundtrack, and the art is quite pleasing, but these things don't matter when the story is poor. The emotional/dramatic scenes were well done, but I couldn't take it seriously knowing how absurd the plot was. If you don't get too hung up on how well the plot is written, you might enjoy it, but it was dreadful for me.

Great Pretender is about a journey of international swindlers conning people that they deem evil. But the ones that are being conned aren't the "evil" individuals, but YOU, the viewer. The scriptwriters are trying to con you into thinking that there weren't ... any enormous plot holes and that the show was good.

Great Pretender wasn't able to fool me, so that's why I'll be exposing this deceitful scriptwriting to protect others from this scheme.



If you don't want to read the whole thing, I'd recommend reading section 2, which objectively states the plot holes, or section 4, which points out how nonhuman the characters are in a subjective manner.

Disclaimer: The sections below contain vulgar language at times.




---------------------------------Spoiler Ahead---------------------------------------

1)
The problems start in the first episode. Laurent manages to lure Edamura to LA with his huge brain. Then Laurent visits Cassano with Edamura. When Laurent feeds the fake drug to Edamura with no prior explanation, Edamura freaks out and runs away like a maniac. If Edamura hadn't reacted like a maniac or tried to vomit it in a calm manner, Laurent's plan would've failed. So the only explanation is Laurent was able to calculate Edamura's exact reaction, which is ridiculous. You're bound to run out of luck when you leave things to chances.

2)
Then comes the second arc. Even the premise of the second arc has plot holes. Ibrahim is fixing air races on his show, so that his brother Clark can always come first. Ibrahim is so determined to fix races that he was willing to sabotage Lewis's plane, which led to Lewis becoming crippled. My question is, why? Are people going to stop watching your air show the minute the current champion loses a single race? You can make Clark win ten matches again right after. I think the main reason the writers created this plot hole was to make sure Ibrahim was an "evil" person. Ibrahim is an evil person, so I'm going to definitely root for the other criminals that are trying to steal money from him.

The way Ibrahim trusted Edamura didn't make much sense. I understand that Laurent used his colossal brain to portray Edamura as a similar person to Ibrahim and make Ibrahim have an affinity toward Edamura, but that is still not a good reason to trust Edamura.

Also, if the races are fixed, experienced pilots watching the show should be able to tell that certain people are throwing on purpose. With the power of the internet, it shouldn't take long to expose such a scheme. Yet, people are oblivious. So oblivious in fact, that it isn't odd for people to gamble on it. If this weren't the case, Ibrahim would've thought the idea of gambling was ridiculous when he was introduced to the secret gambling society. Another problem is that Ibrahim could've found another way to gamble on fixed races long before our swindlers came into the picture. Yet, he didn't and was adamant at using the one that got introduced to him. This problem can be somewhat explained, but it still ends up being a bit of a stretch. When Ibrahim gets banned from the gambling place for faking his identity, he wants to gamble again. That's why Edamura says that they will accept him again since he has a lot of money, which doesn't make any sense. As the owner of the air race, you would think any decent gambling place would bar you from gambling on races that take place on your show. After being persuaded by such shitty reasoning, Ibrahim does go back to the gambling society.

They convinced Clark— a pilot skilled enough to compete with veterans— that Edamura had the hand of god or some shit like that. Edamura made adjustments to Clark's plane, and Clark took the plane for a ride. Clark's time didn't improve at all, but then came the fake journalists. The journalists said that even spectators such as themselves could tell that his plane had gotten faster. That's all it took for Clark and Ibrahim to be convinced that Edamura's skills were the real thing. Can a skilled person like Clark can't tell the bullshit that he's being fed? Of course he can't because the characters in this show can't think if the plot doesn't deem it appropriate.

By the way, what was up with how our swindlers sabotaged the plane? They messed with the engine while people were there. No one heard the sound of the fuel cap, or the chemical being thrown inside the fuel cap? To be fair, you can just say it's an anime and ignore this one.

3)
I think the third arc was the best one out of the four. My criticisms are minor for this one. When Edamura got hungry and looked at the fridge, he saw a toffee box. He took the toffee box because he was hungry. Cynthia then took away the toffee box from Edamura and ordered pizza. The toffee box had the ring Thomas drew. This interaction later made Edamura look for the box due to curiosity. My question is, why was a special memento like that inside the fridge? Couldn't the writers find a better way to interject Edamura into Cynthia's personal relationship? I guess you can argue that Cynthia did it on purpose to tell Edamura, or Laurent was responsible, but both of those arguments feel hollow. There was an emotional scene where Cynthia threw the toffee box into the ocean, but I couldn't take it seriously, knowing that even the interactions regarding the box were a stretch.

Secondly, the turning part in this arc was when Coleman badmouthed Fara. Abigail asks whether Fara will buy the painting for Coleman, and Coleman addresses Fara quite demeaningly. I find that quite ridiculous. Coleman has been hanging out with Fara for a while, and she's buying paintings worth millions of pounds for Coleman, and Coleman is going to talk shit about her to a girl he's known for a couple of days? Coleman isn't a decent person, but you wouldn't do such a thing out of safety. Abigail records Coleman's remarks, and our swindlers manage to convince Fara to abandon Coleman. So our swindlers very much got lucky here. But what if Coleman hadn't talked shit? These criminals were planning to take 70 million pounds from Fara, who was being manipulated by Coleman. Our swindlers, as righteous as they might act, are a bunch of assholes, and I'll elaborate on that by explaining the mess that is the fourth arc.

4)
I thought the fourth arc would be the turning point for the show because it started quite well with no visible plot holes. I was ready to give Great Pretender a 5 and move on with my life. Yet, it ended up being so frustrating that I ended up writing this review no one asked for.
The viewers learn that the whole show was part of a grand scheme. Laurent planned to steal money from Liu for years after the girl he loved, Dorothy, was "killed" by Liu. Liu ordered Dorothy to be shot because she slapped Liu prior, got caught for being a swindler, and told Liu to die. I would argue it was well deserved. Laurent is devastated and tells Oz, Edamura's Father, to come up with a plan to steal money from Liu. The script already sounds quite stupid, but it gets worse when we look at how Laurent and Oz achieve their goal.

They make Edamura join a Japanese company without telling him the company engages in child trafficking. The story doesn't explain how they managed to lure Edamura into the company, but who cares at this point. Edamura gets in contact with Laurent, and Laurent tells him that they will con the company. Fast forward, Edamura gets in contact with his father and still feels very affectionate towards him even though Oz ran away from his family after getting arrested years ago. Why did Oz even become a swindler in the first place? He was a lawyer; didn't he make enough money? Oz makes up garbage excuses to Edamura regarding neglecting his family. The problem with this scene is that we can't tell the writers' intentions. Are the excuses intentionally bad because Oz is making excuses, or were the excuses supposed to make sense like the rest of the show did? Edamura tells Oz that they are going to escape and that he should join them. Oz then tells this plan to the Japanese crime syndicate, and everyone gets caught. They get brought to a boat. Oz even points a gun at Edamura to stop him from attacking him, and later tells him to shoot Cynthia and Abigail to show his loyalty. After Edamura refuses, Oz shoots Cynthia and Abigail. Then the head of the Japanese crime syndicate tells him to shoot his father, and Edamura gets forced to shoot his father even though he still cared a lot about him a day ago. As a result, Edamura gets fucked mentally. Who wouldn't after witnessing your love interest and friend getting shot, and shooting your father. He doesn't eat anything for three days, and becomes an active smoker. Here comes the banger— none of the characters are dead. This is Great Pretender, no one in this show can possibly die. Laurent and Oz planned it out, so they had the blood bags and everything ready apparently. Laurent's reasoning for not telling Edamura is because he was too honest to keep this plan under the wraps. You can't trick me Laurent. The reason you didn't tell us is that it would've been boring to watch otherwise, and you're just trying to fuck with the viewer. For what cause are they ruining Edamura's mental health? They're messing with this kid to one-up a crime syndicate, jesus christ. How childish can Laurent and Oz be? Does Oz not give a fuck about his son at all? There was no good reason to mess with him in the first place, but they didn't bother to tell him that they were alive either? What is going to change after they succeed? They didn't even make money since they spent the money to swindle the syndicates. You would think that more people will catch onto how absurd this is since the viewer unconsciously empathizes with the main character. Apparently it's not obvious because the show has a score of 8.41 on MAL.

They even executed their plan with the help of people they swindled in the past. Cassano helped them out in the end. You would normally expect the people you tricked would have a grudge against you and betray you. Not in Great Pretender. The characters can't think unless the plot deems it appropriate. Even if they did, I'm sure Laurent's huge brain would detect it and create another plan. You can see Cassano, Coleman, and Ibrahim all hanging out and having fun. Even after losing money to our swindlers, it seems they are still quite wealthy. It just shows how irrelevant the actions of our swindlers are. Irrelevant as they might be, they didn't stop short at ruining a kid's mental health for it. Even Dorothy is alive. She got shot, got lost in the ocean, and didn't die. Of course she can't die. It's the Great Pretender after all. She conveniently has Amnesia. Otherwise, the story wouldn't have happened in the first place. I don't get these types of happy endings. They feel very forced.

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-Closing Statement-

I'm writing this review almost a week after watching it. I can make this many points because the show was filled with absurdities. I'm sure I've forgotten many things, but there were too many absurdities that I ended up recalling quite a lot. If you asked ten people to watch the show and list the plot holes, I think the lists would be quite distinct since there are so many. I still can go on, but I think I've made my point.