Cowboy Bebop is a ubiquitous symbol of 1990s anime, to the point where anyone even remotely curious about the medium’s best offerings have been recommended it. This is no surprise; Sunrise knocked it out of the park with Shinichiro Watanabe’s direction and idiosyncratic style. While future titles would be weighed against it, one successor fully embodies its spirit: Great Pretender.
Produced by Wit Studio and released for stremaing in 2020 as a Netflix original, Great Pretender is to con artists in anime as Cowboy Bebop is to spacefaring bounty hunters. It’s an astounding successor and, while similarly concise at just over 20 episodes and a movie much like Bebop, features mini-arcs instead of its spiritual predecessor’s mostly episodic structure.
The immediate instincts of the passionate anime fandom may be to immediately dismiss series like Great Pretender as a Cowboy Bebop clone. While it’s lazier to debunk this claim on the basis of genre, as Great Pretender takes place on modern-day Earth, its mini-arc delivery and intricate heist plots deliver an intoxicating, outstanding original anime premise.
Great Pretender Is the True Cowboy Bebop Successor
It’s Easy to See from the Start
Cowboy Bebop and Great Pretender differ in superficial, but noteworthy ways. The crew of Team Confidence is more numerous, with convoluted recruitment tactics compared to the Bebop’s crew. The journey of Makoto “Edamame” Edamura is told in bite-sized arcs across the series, where viewers see him grow older and wiser, unlike Spike Spiegel who ostensibly stays the same age.
The energy of both series, down to the eerily similar opening theme of Great Pretender’s breezy big band jazz shares, dare we say it, Bebop elements, both musically and with its predecessor. Instead of the highly nostalgic, wonderfully-crafted ’90s anime aesthetic of Cowboy Bebop, Great Pretender is unique in its own way, adopting a vibrant, expressive color palette.
Yet, the stories intersect in meaningful ways. Great Pretender’s protagonist, Makoto, shares a similarly wounded past with Spike. Laurent Thierry, an initially dubious figure in Great Pretender, has a clear and devastating motive behind being recruited into Team Confidence, while Abby has a uniquely dark, yet culturally-relevant story behind her trauma.
Character backstories are a compelling hook to draw in new viewers, and drive fans to the point of obsession when done right. But Great Pretender uses the complex characters its creates, tosses them into a variety of high-stakes swindling jobs that are far from your average grift.
Wit Studio’s 2020 Anime Is a Genre-Defining Modern Classic
As Addictive as Sakura Magic
From peddling bogus party drugs to conning a human trafficking ring, Great Pretender goes to outrageous lengths to create a truly thrilling story. While mystery anime like Monster commonly get the glory for crafting an intricate narrative that’s fascinating to watch unfold, Great Pretender makes a strong case for heist and con anime of its ilk.
It gets to the point where, even after the energetic and loaded premiere episode, viewers will be left flabbergasted when Makoto finds himself hoodwinked and brought overseas into the United States by an upsettingly savvy recruiter. Even by episode #3, the surprises only get more intense as Makoto grows more comfortable with his new life, an upsetting thing to witness.
As established early on, Makoto initially lived an earnest life trying not to follow in the footsteps of his criminal father, caring for his mother while passionately selling what he thought was a legitimately approved, health-boosting tea. But when this company turns out fraudulent, Makoto turns out unable to escape that past, forever stained with a criminal record.
Thus, each of the story arcs in Great Pretender show Makoto as he matures under the hand he is dealt. Makoto and Team Confidence wind up dishing out their own brand of justice, while embracing their complicated, unhinged lives. It’s a worthy Cowboy Bebop successor, but stands on its own as well.
- Release Date
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2020 – 2024-00-00
- Directors
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Hiro Kaburagi
- Writers
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Ryōta Kosawa
