Anime Review: Fate/Strange Fake

Fate/Strange Fake is the latest side story in the Fate franchise, adapted from a series of novels from Ryogo Narita, the creator of Baccano. Is it a good jumping on point for newcomers? Not in the slightest. Is it a fun ride? Absolutely.

The “Fake” in the title is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. It’s a series about a Fake Holy Grail War put together in the fictional city of Snowfield, Nevada to see if they can weaponize the Holy Grail War. But for this to work they need a framework of a real Holy Grail War to build it with. But to try to maintain control and keep it from swinging into high gear they need to keep a Saber out of the War.

The first group of Masters & Servants in Fate/Strange Fake - False Archer, Caster, Rider, and Assassin, and True Saber and True Rider

Except we get a Saber. And it’s a guy, who seems to be welding Excalibur – except he’s not Alternative Universe Arthur, he’s Richard The Lionhearted, who can use a lower power Excalibur because he’s a massive King Artoria Fanboy (he even knows Artoria is a girl). But he’s not the only fake here – Flat from Waver Velvet’s class (technically a fake Lord El-Melloi II), ie here, and he’s maybe summoned Jack The Ripper, but maybe he hasn’t because his Catalyst was a fake. One of the other masters has summoned Assassin, but it’s not The Old Man Of The Mountain. False Caster, Alexander Dumas, specializes in using their craft as a writer to create Fake Noble Phantasms that can be welded by normal people.

But with all these falseness, what Fate/Strange Fake has to say is that they’re all valid. This False Holy Grail War still has stakes, and the people fighting in it feel it’s real to them. And the Heroic Spirits in the True Grail War aren’t fucking around either. They, and their masters, have goals that mean something to them, which they’ll have to assess once shit gets very real.

The second group of Fate/Strange Fake servants - True Lancer, True Caster, False Berserker, True Archer, False Assassin, and True Berserker, at night.

Helping to keep this light is the series having not one, but two Certified Himbos, and a Wolf in Himbo’s clothing. The latter is Gilgamesh, who is absolutely doing his “I’m the richest man in human history and I’m going to flaunt it,” bit – while also trying to do some tough love for his younger teenage master – a Native American girl who is trying to get her people’s land back, but who was also roped into this. The former two are Flat and Richard. Both basically immediately start trying to form alliances, somewhat to the exasperation of their Servant and Master, respectively. However, both also demonstrate that they’re a little more savvy than they let on.

Speaking of Richard, there’s one last fake – his master, Ayaka Sajyou. There’s something quite off about her from the jump, starting with her amnesia and weird visions, and also her massive amount of mana. She also knows what a Grail War is, and wants nothing to do with it. It ends up making her relationships with Richard and the other masters really interesting. Like Shirou, she wants to do the right thing for the people of Snowfield. Unlike Shirou, she doesn’t want to do it though fighting a Grail War. This potentially makes for an interesting setup as we get into the series’ second season (because we’re getting a second season), as she becomes a more active participant.

Oh, and on top of the really well done story, interesting characters, and how they all intertwine, there’s some fantastic animation on top of all of this. This includes some fantastic character expressions, because when you have this many Himbos (and Waver), your reaction shot game needs to be on point.

I’m really looking forward to Season 2.

Fate/Strange Fake is available for streaming on: