History Anime / GreatPretender

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Despite Laurent and Edamame speaking accented English, their grammar and pronunciations are correct, and they speak clear enough for the average English speaker to comprehend what they are saying.

* BrickJoke: During their time in Los Angeles, Abbie wonders why they didn't just pick up some Taiwanese guy to pretend to be the scientist responsible for Sakura Magic, claiming no one can tell the difference between Japanese and Taiwanese anyway. Later in France, the owner of the restaurant where Makoto is working seems to need to be reminded repeatedly that Makoto is Japanese, not Taiwanese.

** During the Los Angeles Connection arc, when [[spoiler:Edamame is forced to actually cook Sakura Magic, the FBI agent Laura Dickens tells him to "act like [[Series/BreakingBad Walter White]]."]]

* AssholeVictim: The marks of each con are all unsavory types: mobster/drug kingpin Eddie Cassano, race rigger/saboteur Sam Ibrahim, and counterfeit art appraiser James Coleman.
* BlandNameProduct: Episode 1 features the plane flying past In-Z-Out Burger, which is basically In-N-Out with one letter changed.
* BrickJoke: During their time in Los Angeles, Abbie wonders why they didn't just pick up some Taiwanese guy to pretend to be the scientist responsible for Sakura Magic, claiming no one can tell the difference between Japanese and Taiwanese anyway. Later in France, the owner of the restaurant where Makoto is working seems to need to be reminded repeatedly that Makoto is Japanese, not Taiwanese.

* TokenBlackFriend: An anime example. While the show features East Asian and Middle Eastern characters, the only black character seen is Cynthia's friend in the Snow of London flashbacks, who exists to express shock at her relationship with Thomas.

* AssholeVictim: The marks of each con are this in one way or another from mobster/drug kingpin Eddie Cassano to race rigger/saboteur Sam Ibrahim.

* EffectiveKnockoff: [[spoiler:Thomas' copy of Snow in London, in a sentimental sense. Having witnessed how much effort Thomas put into forging it, Makoto intentionally had the original auctioned off.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: James Coleman, when attending a (staged) art auction, is aghast at the prospect of everyone present enjoying having access to art pieces nobody else has... seemingly forgetting he has an entire room of such paintings, ''and he doesn't even pay for them out of his own pocket''.

* InformedFlaw: When Cynthia tries to get closed to and seduce [[spoiler:Sam Ibrahim]], which eventually fails,he makes many notions to her being a hag including her having an abundance of wrinkles (as well as mentioning he would only date a woman 20 years old and younger, of which the audience isn't given any minimum). Due to the way she is drawn there isn't a wrinkle on her, in and out of makeup.

* MultinationalTeam: Laurent's crew hail from Japan, France, Iraq [[spoiler:and potentially the United States, given Cynthia's accent.]]
* PlayingDrunk: [[spoiler:Abbie pulls off a rather over the top display of unbridled joy and gymnastics when taking Sakura Magic (which is just some Japanese candy) to sell the fictitious drug's existence to Cassano.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Episode 5: Paula Dickens' real name is Cynthia Moore and she & her FBI team were all members of Laurent's gang.]]

** The opening credits resemble the ones of ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan''.

* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Flashbacks in Episode 2 show that Makoto was often judged because of his father, and labeled a scam artist. However, when he caught for scamming (despite thinking things were legit), he decided that he was going to become a criminal, since everyone was already treating him like one.

* TranslationConvention: Canonically (after the story moves away from Japan), everyone is speaking English. A note appears partway through episode 1 to denote that the characters will be speaking in Japanese for the remainder of the show after having Edamame and Laurent engage in a conversation in English (both of them being heavily accented).

* Irony: Eddie Cassano dismisses Abigail Jones as not being able to act. In reality, Abigail is an incredibly skilled actress, and her role in the groups various schemes often rely on her taking on roles that clash harshly with her more rigid personality.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: Despite Laurent and Edamame speaking accented English, their grammar and pronunciations are correct, and they speak clear enough for the average English speaker to comprehend what they are saying

''Great Pretender'' is a a 23 episode original anime from [[Creator/ProductionIG WIT Studio]], directed by Hiro Kaburagi and written by Ryōta Kosawa. With character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fame).

* BlandProductName: Episode 1 features the plane flying past In-Z-Out Burger, which is basically In-N-Out with one letter changed.

* ShoutOut: A couple.
** During Los Angeles, when [[spoiler:Edamame is forced to actually cook sakura magic, the FBI agent Laura Poling tells him to "act like [[Series/BreakingBad Walter White]]."]]

** The opening credits resemble the ones of ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan''

* BrickJoke: During their time in Los Angeles, Abbie wonders why they didn't just pick up some Taiwanese guy to pretend to be the scientist responsible for Sakura Magic, claiming no one can tell the difference between Japanese and Taiwanese anyway. Later in France, the owner of the restaurant in France where Makoto is working seems to need to be reminded repeatedly that Makoto is Japanese, not Taiwanese.

** Los Angeles Connection focuses on Edamame, his childhood and just why became he a con artist.

** The Snow of London story arc, since it focuses on a painting, references a lot of nineteenth and twentieth century painters like Modigliani and Picasso.

* TimeSkip: Between all of the major story arcs. Explained between Los Angeles and Singapore as [[spoiler:Edamame turning himself and spending a few years in prison, plus a few months working at a mechanic shop.]] An indeterminate amount of time between Singapore and London but enough for Abby to grow her hair out a little bit.

* EffectiveKnockoff: [[spoiler:Thomas' copy of Snow in London, in a sentimental sense. Having witnessed how much effort Thomas put into forging it, he intentionally had the original auctioned off.]]

* {{Hypocrite}}: James Coleman, when attending a (staged) art auction, is aghast at the prospect of everyone present enjoying having access to art pieces nobody else has... seemingly forgetting he has an entire room of such paintings, {{and he doesn't even pay for them out of his own pocket}}.

''Great Pretender'' is an original anime from [[Creator/ProductionIG WIT Studio]] that tells the story of a 25-year old con artist named Makoto Edamura.

!!Tropes appearing in ''Great Pretender'' include: