The first half of To The Top felt like Haikyu Season 2, in that it slowed down and focused on the internal development of its characters-namely protagonists Hinata and Kagayama. The fourth season played to both strengths of the shonen volleyball series, as it’s split into two distinct halves that are each satisfying in their own way. Haikyu returned in 2020 for a fourth season, introducing a brand-new subhead and animation style with it. It’s not as mind-boggling a reveal as that seen in the most esteemed of anime dramas, but it is a rather clever bit of meta storytelling to trick the viewer into further emphasizing with Edamura as we see that Laurent has been manipulating and conning us this whole time as well. This is all paid off in the show’s final arc, which reveals that there’s actually been a narrative throughline for the anime this entire time-looks like you, the viewer, were even being conned. So instead of one long drawn-out story, Great Pretender is several different stories, each of which focus on developing a new villain and providing additional insight into one of the members of the crew of antiheroes that the show follows. To the anime’s benefit, the whole season is split into small arcs, each of which only lasts for a few episodes and focuses on a different heist. The show features a loveable protagonist in Makoto Edamura, a Japanese swindler who’s just trying to find happiness in a normal life, and a great deal of Great Pretender is spent hoping he’ll manage to break free of the charismatic but manipulative Laurent Thierry while silently admitting that Edamura fits in well with Laurent’s crew of outlaws. Great Pretender is a colorful and wacky anime about a group of con artists working together to swindle the wealthy corrupt.
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