In the Great Pretender anime, there is something that bothering me. What's the meaning of the ending credit scene that represent a bunch of cat? I mean the anime is about fraud and swindling, but why they put cat instead of other than in the ending credit scene? Does it have a meaning at all with the Great Pretender plot story (fraud and swindling) like symbolism or something like that?
This is primarily a homage to Freddy Mercury, most notably the one song with the same name as the title of the series.
Freddy Mercury also owned many cats and had a very close relationship with them on top of being influences for his works. It's a very fitting tribute.
The easiest answer is:
Cat burglar (i.e. thief etc). Makes sense for an anime about swindlers.
It could also be a suitable comment on the phrase "Great Pretender." Have you ever heard that cats roam for miles away from their house when they are not at home? They could lead a double life and you might never know. At least 1 cat in my life has done this: my neighbours cat became very friendly with us and spent a lot of time with us, and the neighbour didn't know/notice until we told them a year or so later.
So cats are suitable "Great Pretender." Also, it could be to do with the fact that the last line of the song Great Pretender is "pretending that you're still around," as we see the cat go home to its family. This is related to the fact that the protagonist of the anime is an orphan whose family has died, and so he can never go home to them, and is "pretending that [they're] still around." The fact that he tries to get an honest job to honor his parents memories and expectations enforces the fact that he has not forgotten them.
The cat's coat matches a tie or shirt or something the protagonist wears at some point I think, but not certain about that bit.
I know this is random but this is how I interpreted it. Cats are constantly showing up in the show: from Edamura's connection with his mom, to Laurent and Dorothy having a cat in the ending credit. When you stop and watch the ending credit in detail, you can see a woman with a bob haircut with pink underneath. This woman is Dorothy (she'll appear in season two when it comes out on Nov. 25th in the US). You can see Laurent hold a ring with a blue gem at the end of the final case of season 1, this same ring is in the ending (the entire time) where the woman is shown in the blue reflection of the ring. When the woman picks up the cat, she's shown being intimate with a man. This man's silhouette is very similar to Laurent's (see his hair shape and body build), because it IS Laurent.(with dorothy). Now, another way this could be interpreted is the way a cat lives being the complete opposite of the way Laurent lives.(A cat living a calm, simple life with next to no danger) He's constantly in dangerous situations and his life is everything but simple and calm. (I'm actually gonna write an essay for school about this so thanks for the brainstorming) I hope this helps! <3
SPOILERS FOR CASE 4 READ AT OWN RISK
Building of what drgharris said, cats are used to symbolise Edamura’s mother however, rarther than the cat being owned by Dorothy and Lauren, I believe the cat IS Lauren. (or symbolic of him anywayz) In the ending, we see this spotted cat swimming through the ocean, presumably the ocean which Dorothy drowned in (“drowned”) and then we see the cat be engulfed by black, then it sombrely walks through the black until it is picked up by Dorothy which then flips to a image of Lauren embracing Dorothy. I believe the swimming was Lauren desperately trying to find Dorothy after being in denial of her death. Then being engulfed in the darkness is his depression after he realised she was gone. I would just like to state now that in case 4, I believe that cat that Lauren mistook for Dorothy was this cat in the ending. This ties in well because this cat braking a pot was what led Lauren to realise that Dorothy is truly gone and what made him fall into his depression. In the ending, when the cat is embraced by Dorothy and it switches to a image of Laurent embracing Dorothy, the lyrics “I pretend your still around” are sang. I believe this is because Dorothy was the source of comfort for Lauren.
Through out the ending, we see multiple cats stress free just playing around. We also see the spotted cat stealing a pile of pancakes. This could be to represent the stress free lifestyle of the con artists.
I also believe that cats are symbolic for comfort and acceptance in great pretender. Edamura’s mother is associated with cats because she was content with her life and the way she died. She was happy to let go. She also acted as a comfort to Edamura. Then theirs Lauren who cannot accept that Dorothy is gone and pretends she’s still around as a source of comfort. Cats strive for comfort.
Also something I think might be important that I still can’t figure out is the ties to “the wizard of oz” and the great pretender.
Obviously, Edamura’s dads nick name is “Oz” and is commonly referred to as the “wizard”. Then theirs Dorothy, who shares the same name as the main character in the wizard of ozz. Is this a coincidence? I think not seeing that Dorothy isn’t very common of a name. The wizard was a conman in the end and wasn’t as powerful as he was hyped up to be. This has ties with Edamura’s dad who was a conman. However, I still can’t figure out how Dorothy ties into this. Let me know if anyone figures this out!
