Netflix Set to Release WIT Studio’s Original TV Anime “The Great Pretender” Worldwide on August 20

Good news for those waiting for this series to be released outside of Japan! Netflix has announced this Tuesday that they will be releasing The Great Pretender worldwide on August 20.

The series has already started airing in Netflix Japan last June 2, with the first 5 episodes (“Case 1”) released first in one bulk. It was followed by episodes 6-10 (“Case 2”) on June 9 and 11-14 (“Case 3”) on June 16.  Netflix lists “Case 4” as “coming soon”. The show premiered on Japanese TV last July 8 and is slated to run for 23 episodes.

The original TV anime project is directed by Hiro Kaburagi (My Little Monster) for WIT Studio. Character design are done by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion), scripts are written by Ryota Kosawa (Parasyte live-action film), and music is composed by Yutaka Yamada (Tokyo Ghoul). The series is produced by Maiko Okada.

The series is described as having a theme of “credit fraud” and will be a “happy and comedic drama between worldly-famous swindlers”. The story is described in its official website as such:

“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…!”

The main cast are:

·        Chiaki Kobayashi as Makoto “Edamame” Edamura

·        Junichi Suwabe as Laurent Thierry

·        Natsumi Fujiwara as Abigail “Aby” Jones

·        Mie Sonozaki as Paula Dickins

The series’ opening theme song is the popular classic “The Great Pretender” originally sung by The Platters. The version used in the anime series, however, is the cover version done by the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

Source: Anime News Network