'Great Pretender' Season 1 Preview: A small-time Japanese con man is about to enter the big leagues
The life of a con man isn't an easy one and there are many other avenues of employment that provide much less risk. Makoto Edamura (Chiaki Kobayashi) is having none of it, however, as being a confident man is the only life for him. He may be taking on more than he bargained for when French con man Laurent Thierry (Junichi Suwabe) comes to town. He takes Makoto under his wing with a plan to take on a local mob boss and swindle him for all he's worth.
Thierry is everything that Makoto is not - suave, confident, successful, a renowned playboy and vastly experience in con jobs that actually work. When Makoto attempts to con Thierry, he fails miserably, but Thierry is entertained enough to decide to invite Makoto to be his latest partner. The ambitious Makoto takes up this offer immediately, but things only start getting more chaotic from there. Life with Laurent Thierry and his second-in-command Abigail Jones (Natsumi Fujiwara) is a lot more interesting than Makoto was ready for and just might be too interesting for him to survive.
Thierry does not think small - he's got his eyes set on one of the film industry's most dangerous mobsters. High risk and high reward is the name of the game and Makoto's going to have to learn to think on his feet as the con goes into action. Determined to be the greatest swindler in the world, Makoto is going all in on this plan, wherever it might take him - which is exactly what Thierry is counting on. Can Makoto's new business partner be trusted? If he can't, is he going to be fast enough to deal with Thierry's inevitable double-cross?
Prepare for an array of twists, turns and tricks as the two con men take on the criminal underworld of the movie industry in an all new anime series that is sure to have you on the edge of your seat. Pay close attention, because there's no telling when the next betrayal is going to pop up - but that's just the nature of the game.
'Great Pretender' releases on Netflix on August 20.