A series of unfortunate events has led Makoto Edamura to adopt the life of crime. However, after swindling a seemingly clueless tourist, Makoto discovers that he was the one tricked and, to make matters worse, that the police are now after him. While making his escape, he runs into the tourist once again, who turns out to be a fellow con man named Laurent Thierry, and ends up following him to Los Angeles. In an attempt to defend his self-proclaimed title of “Japan’s Greatest Swindler,” Makoto challenges his rival to determine the better scammer.

Great Pretender’s “cases” take its cast to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Singapore, Nice, Shanghai, London, and Japan. Since locations are generally treated as set dressing outside of the United States and Singapore, it’s hard to gather precise pins.