GREAT PRETENDER is back with the GREAT PRETENDER razbliuto movie, set after the events of the first season. As someone who enjoyed the TV anime, despite its sometimes lackluster mysteries, I have to say that this movie met all the expectations and it truly marked the return of this beloved series in a proper way.
It’s still not entirely clear how this sequel to GREAT PRETENDER will work: we have razbliuto, which will also have a TV broadcast starting in February. Yet, the movie has all the marking of four episodes being put together and titled Taipei Rendezvous; the same way that arcs in the first season were. If the plan is to have more episodes after this (and it certainly looks like it), then it’s worth noting that while this is a great way to reignite your love for the series, you will not get many reminders of the first season’s plot.
As was obvious in the trailer, GREAT PRETENDER razbliuto focuses on Dorothy, who now goes by Xiang Xiang. The word “razbliuto” represents the sentimental feeling you have about someone you once loved romantically but no longer do – make of that what you will. I will not go into the plot, as it is something you should fully enjoy without any spoilers, but I will say that the movie unfortunately suffers from some of the same problems the first season had. This mainly has to do with convoluted, multi-layer storytelling that tries to keep you on the edge of your seat all the time by squeezing in as many unexpected plot twists as humanely possible. While this is not always bad, it does tend to get old, and at a certain point, you have to ask yourself whether that many betrayals by the same characters were needed.
Still, the actual plot is good enough to keep you entertained and focused so the twists and turns don’t hurt the overall experience. Character writing remains GREAT PRETENDER’s strong point: the new characters are introduced so seamlessly even though each of them comes with their own fairly complex backstory. Knowing this series, they will be appearing again at some point, so learning about them won’t have been useless.
WIT Studio’s GREAT PRETENDER style was always somewhat unique with bold colors, vivid imagery, and amazing character design that doesn’t match the “conventional” anime style. Razbliuto brings that back. If you were to binge it, you wouldn’t even notice the difference despite the almost four-year gap between the last episode and the sequel. This is most likely due to the fact that core staff returned: director Hiro Kaburagi is back, while Ryota Kosawa who worked on the original screenplay now supervised it. The soundtrack by Yutaka Yamada complements the movie wonderfully: from jazzy background tracks to those that work well with comedic moments and awe-inspiring action scenes – it has it all.
Should you watch GREAT PRETENDER razbliuto? If you loved the anime, the dynamic and elaborate cons it focused on, and the characters then yes: this is a great addition to the budding franchise. It kickstarts a new era while wrapping up the loose ends from the first season. The lack of information regarding the future of the series is a bit annoying, but with the way the movie ended, I can’t help but get impatient at the prospect of having to wait. Still, it’s wonderful that GREAT PRETENDER wasn’t forgotten and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
GREAT PRETENDER razbliuto is coming to select theaters on January 9 and 10 in the United States.
© WIT STUDIO / Great Pretenders
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