Great Pretender: Razbliuto gives the charming heist anime a fitting epilogue

polygon.com:

Of all the predictions I could have made for 2024, a feature-length movie follow-up to 2020’s chaotic, vivid anime series Great Pretender certainly wasn’t one of them. The 23-episode heist comedy series, directed by Hiro Kaburagi (91 Days, Speed Grapher) and written by screenwriter Ryōta Kosawa, made a splash when it premiered on Netflix, earning its way onto best-of-the-year lists with its colorful characters and striking art direction. After nearly three years of silence, the series is returning with an all-new adventure playing in select American theaters only on Jan. 9 and 10, ahead of the Feb. 23 Japanese premiere.

[Ed. note: Minor spoilers ahead for Great Pretender’s final cliffhanger and Great Pretender: Razbliuto’s opening beat.]

The movie, Great Pretender: Razbliuto picks up shortly after the post-credits cliffhanger at the end of the original series, and centers on Dorothy, the former lover of series protagonist Laurent Thierry. A mysterious master conwoman and recovering amnesiac, previously thought to have been killed off the coast of Shanghai and now living under the name Xiang Xiang Li, Dorothy was rescued at sea and is now living as the adopted daughter of an elderly couple in Taipei City with no memory of her previous life.

When she crosses paths with Jay, the charismatic underboss of a local crime syndicate, his employers learn about her existence. They suspect Dorothy is the same woman who successfully conned them several years prior, and they want revenge. With nowhere else to go, Dorothy must rely on the aid of Jay and his partner Yang to elude her would-be captors, all while tracking down leads pertaining to her own mysterious past.

If you haven’t already watched Great Pretender — or you’re someone