Fate/strange Fake

Mid-season thoughts

Seven episodes in (eight if you count the prologue), this still feels less like a story in motion and more like an endless setup reel. There’s no clear protagonist or emotional center to latch onto, and while the show keeps throwing new Masters, Servants, and alliances onto the screen, it offers very little insight into why any of this is happening or what’s truly at stake.

Ironically, despite the sheer amount being shown, the series often feels like the opposite of “show, don’t tell.”
We’re told factions exist, told everyone has motives, told this war is abnormal - but dramatically, it’s mostly introductions, vague agendas, ... and flashy encounters that rarely lead to consequences.
What’s framed as a clash of legends sometimes lands more like a parade of cool entrances stitched together.

With so many characters receiving brief spotlight moments, attachment never really forms.
When everyone is epic, no one is. Epic inflation that drains impact from the spectacle. If someone falls later, it’s hard to imagine it carrying emotional weight when they’ve barely existed beyond a stylish cameo.

At this point, the show feels tailor-made for viewers already familiar with the source material, who can fill in the gaps and anticipate the payoff. For newcomers, it risks feeling like five different anime stuck in their opening episodes - visually striking, conceptually rich, but still searching for a narrative core.

I don't usually write reviews but I had to login just to comment on this anime because every episode leaves me dumbfounded.
I loved Fate/Zero, I liked Stay Night. What the hell is this? This is not how you write an engaging story. They inserted 30 characters and I'm supposed to care about any of them, when they are given 5 minutes each in a season?

The character number inflation got so high, that we're starting to get character archetype duplicates, like Tiné Chelc, master of Gilgamesh and Halri Borzak, master of True Berserker. Both timid girls that are easily scared, both wish to take revenge ... on the mage society. We're also getting two law enforcement organizations in Faldeus' and Orlando's, each with several underlings that are named characters as well.

8 episodes have passed. Several fights took place and 0 were meaningful to the story. Usually the battle gets interrupted by even more characters and the fight participants move on without dying, any changes to their character or the plot. Everything is about flashy character moments and not much else.

I like the art in general, the still frames are excellent, the animation is fine as well.

With this many characters and only 13 episodes, this looks more like an anime tiktok than a complete and engaging story.

After what seemed like 100 years of delays and anticipation, Fate Strange Fake finally arrived and not only delivered on the high expectations I had for it, but exceeded them. Recency bias and all that, but idc, to me this is the best Fate series ever. It feels like a culmination of decades of world building and lore and a true love letter to type-moon and its fans. I’ll say right now, this is NOT for newcomers to Fate. I don’t care what any YouTuber or “influencer” on Twitter tries to say, you will not appreciate this series to the fullest extent if you’ve not ... at a minimum read both the original Stay Night and Hollow Ataraxia visual novels as well as seen or read Fate/Zero and to be honest, you’ll want to have seen at least a little of Kara no Kyoukai and player Tsukihime. Yea, it’s a lot, but there’s no rush on getting all of that done. Take your time, enjoy the journey and then come watch Strange Fake and experience one of the most well produced anime of all time.

Type-Moon is my favorite franchise of all time, so to get a series like Strange Fake that blends together so many different elements of the franchise from various series and has countless references to almost every corner of the TM universe just feels like a dream come true. Again, I can’t stress enough how important it is to come into this with prior knowledge of all the main series in TM because every single inch of this story is covered in references that will you have you pointing at the screen and jumping up and down like an idiot. If you’re at all familiar with Narita Ryōgo’s works, you know he’s a master of world building and character development with huge casts. Sometimes too much, actually. Fortunately, I feel like he nailed the balance in this one. It’s a massive cast with a wide range of personalities and motives, but they all feel memorable and distinct so you don’t forget characters like you can in some of his other works, *cough* dead mouth death play *cough* It also helps that the characters in Fate are usually historical figures so there’s some significant feat or trait to hold onto and that allows you to ingrain them into your memory. Not to mention the amazing and distinct character designs. It’s the largest holy grail war ever, but it’s not overwhelming. Combine that huge distinct cast with some of the best animation you’ve ever seen, and you got something special on your hands.

The production values are incredible here and I’ll get to that later, but outside of the general love letter to Type-Moon vibe Strange Fake has going on, what’s really amazing about this series is the sheer variety of characters and their complex motivations and relationships. Masters, servants, officiators, there’s someone in this series for everyone. I also think it’s really cool to have a Holy Grail War where you could genuinely root for multiple people to win it. Like in OG Fate everyone was obviously backing Emiya to come out on top. In Strange Fake, there’s not a set MC per se, so you could root for Ayaka and Saber, Flatt and his servant, if you like chaos you could go for Francesca or any of the other numerous contenders. It kind of reminds me of To be Hero X in that regard where every week a new character’s introduced, you get their backstory and then you fall in love. I think that makes things a lot more fun and interesting because it’s a more unpredictable story with a ton of likeable characters. So many people in this series have valid reasons for obtaining the Holy Grail and you don’t want to see any of them die, well, MOST of them anyway. I haven’t read the books yet, and at the pace they’re going here, I probably won’t need to(at least not right away) since we should get a full adaptation rather quickly, but I’m really interested in seeing how Narita ties everything together and resolves this in the end. It really doesn’t feel like a depressing sort of story where a lot of people would die, so I’m hoping for a rather optimistic ending here. I also HAVE to believe my Ayaka x Saber ship will sail because I love them so much. Romance isn’t anywhere near the main focus here, but it’s a very clear subtext to their dynamic that makes me want to root for them. They also have a lot of mutual trauma that they help each other through. I actually have this ship as right under Artoria and Emiya now. It’s just that good. I’m also a huge fan of Francesca, she’s basically had me in a chokehold for the last few months.

The ONE thing that gives me a little cause for concern with Strange Fake is that apparently they’ve adapted 6 books here in the first season which seems crazy to me. I mean on average, seasonal LN adaptations will do 3-4 books tops in a one cour series. If I’m not mistaken, there’s only 4 more books to go including the forthcoming final book in the series, so two seasons of the anime should just about wrap things up. On the surface, it seems like a lot of stuff would be cut, but from what I’ve heard from LN readers, there’s not much missing here so if that’s the case, hats off to the staff. As an anime only, I feel like everything’s been paced pretty well. Only thing I’d like to see is a little more screentime for a few characters, but that’s the nature of such a large ensemble cast.

I’m on record saying this numerous times and I don’t care, I’ll say it again. When given proper time and budget, A-1 pictures are the best animation studio outside of Kyoani. I fully believe they’re better than ufotable, I much prefer their more realistic highly expressive character animation to ufotable’s bright stylized stuff. That’s going to come down to personal preference, but to me, the way this show and sentenced to be a hero look is my ideal anime art style. The action sequences in Strange Fake are awe inspiring. There’s not a single fight in this show that won’t take your breath away and it’s made even better by the magisterial Sawano OST. My GOAT delivered some of his best ever work here and it elevated every single tense, emotional or high octane scene. Provant was on repeat for a solid month straight to the point I wore the song out. I can’t wait to do the same to every song in the OST once the full version drops.

Fate Strange Fake is the best the Fate series has ever been in my honest opinion and I couldn’t be happier with the job A-1 have done in bringing this to life. The story, direction, pacing, soundtrack and voice acting have all been top notch, I’ve had a blast watching the story gradually expand week after week and I cannot wait to see where it goes in the future.

Fate Strange Fake gets 10 out of 10.

I'm just confused to be honest.

I guess this is my bad, I have only watched fate 0, stay night and unlimited blade works, so I'm probably missing a lot of context.

The anime does have a good production value, the VA, the animation et soundtrack are all A-Tier.

I have no idea what's happening though, so much info dumping with terms i've never heard before and I don't know if I'm missing important knowledge or if it's just the style of the anime to try and be "mysterious".

It's still very much watchable, despite its biggest flaw being a too bloated cast with some of the cringiest characters ... i've seen in anime (Jester or the Francisca-something twins are a pain to endure every time they have screen time) but some others are so greatly interesting it's not a big problem.

I just wish I understood more about why each character has this or that power and how it works

Fate Strange Fake is the worst Anime of the entire Fate Franchise.
The anime's visuals are a complete disaster and the ugliest I have ever seen. The story is bad and for a mangaka who claims to be a huge Gilgamesh fan, he tramples all over him in most scenes. Gilgamesh isn't a threat like in Stay Night UBW, the 2006 Studio Deen version, or Zero, but a joke character who's only there to make newly introduced servants seem strong and constantly do stupid things just for the sake of the plot. Saber is a poor version of Charlemagne from the Extella and Grand Order spin-offs ... of the franchise, and all his character traits have been seen done better before. Fate Strange Fake constantly makes references to Zero and Stay Night to show what good spin-offs of the franchise look like and that it will never reach their level. The entire anime is nothing but cringeworthy or wannabe-intense. Everything in the fights is supposed to look intense, but the visuals are an absolute downfall. Maybe I'm spoiled by Ufotable's Demon Slayer or their franchise spin-offs Zero, UBW, Heaven's Feel, and Garden of Sinners, but this is just an insult visually.
I used to love Fate and thought I loved every single installment, but after what happened with Grand Order last year and Strange Fake, the franchise is pretty much dead to me. They should have made a Fate anime based on Hollow Ataraxia, some chapters of the Grand Order game (Shimousa, Avalon Le Fay, or something like that), or, most importantly, given Type Redline an anime.
This is the first Fate Anime I can't even give a 7 as a rating, anything higher than a 1 is an insult to good Fate anime in my opinion.

Following the initial Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn finally came its main story; Fate/Strange fake

How long was the wait? 3 years

Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY

The story follows deep into the nasuverse in an alternate timeline to Fate/stay night, in which the holy grail war is happening... but starts fundamentally unstable and spirals further out of control. Servants summoned incorrectly, faction overlaps, and the Grail itself a ticking bomb rather than a prize. This instability bleeds into every interaction making even early encounters feel apocalyptic rather than ceremonial. This instability doesn't just add chaos but raises stakes and makes every interaction feel unpredictable. This makes the ... story feel exponentially more fun and interesting to watch compared to an overpowered Isekai protagonist.

A1 pictures took the source material to another level, providing the cleanest SFX, fight choreography (yes episode 3 im looking at you), and genuinely memorable OSTS. Every fight feels heavy and chaotic. Even basic humour scenes are animated at the highest level. Characters have perfect voice actors that represent them; and dialogue isn't rushed or exponentially dragged into monologues.

But what truly elevates Fate/Strange fake? It is undeniably the cast, being massive but no character feels pointless. Masters, servants, the Church and even external forces like Dead Apostles all collide in a story refusing to slow down. It rewards viewers familiar with the nasuverse while still pulling in newcomers through high stakes.

Would definitely recommend, 10/10.

tl;dr:
+ Good artstyle
+ Nice animation
+ Good music
~ Visually stimulating fights (even if it left me a little cold)
- Underbaked cast of characters, way too large
- Overreliance on previous Type-Moon works
- Feels like it's still building up the Holy Grail War for a lot of its runtime tbh

It's not the worst thing you can watch but the cast is way too large to give any character that much screentime or development and some just get absolutely NOTHING to work with. The fights are well-animated (as is the rest of the show), even if because of the lack of character development, it didn't do much for me. ... It's a well-produced show, I just didn't find the cast very grippable to latch onto and so once it finally DID get into full swing, it just left me kind of cold.
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When I watched Whispers of Dawn to prepare for Fate/strange Fake, I was fairly optimistic. It looked good and it took the time to do a prologue to set up the pieces for the Holy Grail War, presumably so we could go relatively far into the War itself in the main season.

...boy, was I naive there.

There are just way too many characters to care about any of them. Hell, care about them? I don't even remember some of their names. If you told me at gunpoint to name all the Masters in this Holy Grail War, I could give you a summary of who they are but their names? Pssh.

Even the ones who get a bit more shine feel a little underbaked.

As some who are a bit more familiar with me may know, I may or may not have a fondness for girls with glasses. Ayaka kinda sucks here?

They spend the entire season trying to convince her to Get In The Robot and it's just not a very charming way to depict your protagonist. Maybe it'd work if she had a stronger cast around her (after all, I'm not the biggest fan of Shirou but at least Stay Night had Rin, Archer, Sakura, Shinji, Illya, etc.) but as the nominal protagonist of the show, I did not feel engaged or like her personality because she was just a giant wet blanket.

Honestly, she doesn't even have Protagonist Energy despite being Saber's Master. Sigma steals the show, not for being an entertaining character, but he just kind of comes in with a lot more Main Protagonist Energy.

I think the most notable, defined Master otherwise, for me, was Jester. As the de facto "villain" of the War, he does have cool powers and a cool relationship with his Servant but it's also kind of pathetic and his existence leads to one of my bigger issues with the show.

It loves to lean into any aspect of Type-Moon lore it can.

I think you could probably watch it without consooming any other Type-Moon mediacontent and you'd probably be fine (obviously, I've seen F/SN and I know the general gist of F/Zero, Tsukihime, etc. so I can't really say from an unbiased perspective) but Jester's mere existence is a giant nod to Tsukihime, they have an elongated reference to Zero in one scene, multiple characters are ripped straight from other Fate anime, Gilgamesh is there... it's literally just the Gilgamesh

Like do I think you'll be LOST if this is your first Fate anime? Probably not. I also don't know if you'll care much if you aren't a giant Type-Moonhead. Like I like F/SN but I'm here for Strange Fake and idk, man, don't need to see Waver Velvet every episode to know I'm watching Fate.

Anyway, even with the prologue, a lot of these characters are just totally forgettable by the sheer fact that they only get so little time amongst the lot of them that if you're not one of the chosen ones like Ayaka, Sigma, Francesca, etc, you might as well not even exist.

I said I didn't like Durarara all that much (which, like, I didn't hate it either) but even Durarara had a few characters I would actively say I liked and was a fan of. I liked Anri. I liked Shizuo. I liked Izaya. F/SF? Unless you're counting pre-existing attachments, to be honest, that number is 0.

Once the War gets in full swing, it kind of feels like a flaccid party popper. I was waiting for a while for the War to feel like it was finally picking up and then it does eventually get there and it just... I mean, yup, they sure are fighting, huh.

Are the fights good, at least?

I guess so, yeah. They are well-animated, didn't really do much for me. I'm not sure if it's because I don't care about the characters, the choreography is lacking, or both, but it just was Nice Animation to me, it's very visually stimulating, in any case.

To be honest, despite Ufotable's best efforts, I liked F/SN more for the characters than the hype and aura fights so Fate having kind of underwhelming fights despite being very visually stimulating is kind of par for the course.

It's not the worst show you could watch, I don't even think it's in the bottom 5 this season (that I saw, let alone the shit that I don't watch), it's just kind of forgettable.

No character was, like, actively annoying. The artstyle is nice. The music is nice. It had a couple of intriguing characters that could potentially be better characters if they had more screentime and focus. The fights were at least visually stimulating and fine enough.

I just... there's not really much here, at least for me, to enjoy.

I'm dropping this after the 8th episode.

A looot of talking, continuous context swapping, maaany characters and none seem to cover a main role, graphics are quite good but action sequences are very rare.

In the end I did not understand at all what this anime is about, how this "world" works, what the characters want to achieve nor why.

Added the following to be able to publish the above comments:
- Is the story unique? Yes
- Do you think the art style is fitting for the story? Yes
- Were the characters well-rounded? See above.
... - Did the characters react to situations and events in a realistic way? Not relevant.
- Do you think others will enjoy/dislike this series, even if you didn't? Irrelevant, my commentaries help others deciee if they should enjoy/dislike this series.

After a long wait of approximately three years, the episode aired and was delayed. Many fans have been waiting for this for a long time, and it certainly exceeded my expectations when watching this series again.

Fate/Strange Fake is a story filled with many prominent characters, such as Masters and Servants. This is very different from other Fate series, where there are many surprising and unexpected things here. There will be a lot of chaos and instability, making this series very much worth the wait.

Animated by A-1 Pictures, which is my favorite studio because they can make everything even better. I really like the character ... interactions, and every dialogue looks interesting with expressive animation movements. Every fight makes me tense, which is felt through the animation, voice acting, soundtrack, and sound effects, clearly elevating this series to a different level.

If there’s one thing the Fate series has established by now, it’s that nothing will ever play out as promised. There can never be just a straightforward, by-the-book Holy Grail War. Fate/strange Fake, then, doesn’t set out to subvert an expected formula, because Fate has never truly operated by such a formula in the first place. Subversion is already the franchise’s modus operandi, and so Strange Fake is simply the latest entry to herald the phantasmal parade of controlled chaos. Like its predecessors, it is an installment that bends, breaks, and totally disfigures the on-paper rules of the Holy Grail War. In Fate/stay night, the ... Grail is corrupted from the very beginning. In Fate/Apocrypha, the system is rendered malleable and basically turned into a team sporting event. Even Fate/Zero, which most closely follows the rules, ultimately ends up proving the rules themselves to be fundamentally, irreparably twisted.

Strange Fake revels in enacting one of the most wonderfully bastardized renditions of the Holy Grail War ritual in franchise history. It flaunts Servants so blisteringly overpowered that conventional power scaling is immediately thrown right out the window. It is outright shameless in its haste to name anyone or anything a Heroic Spirit—whether good or evil, human or inhuman. And best of all, it gleefully indulges in shaping what should be simple duels into straight-up cataclysms that threaten the very foundation of the stage itself. All this is frankly series tradition, and it’s more or less what Fate fans have always shown up for. But is yet another explosive death match really all that Strange Fake amounts to? Yorokobe, shounen: perish the thought. Strange Fake—while it is indeed absorbed in flourishing its many battle set pieces—is also a confluence of narrative threads and clever symbolism, an all-you-can-eat buffet of lurid subplots and cryptic subtexts.

What does Strange Fake specifically do to distinguish itself from the series proper, then? It’s all in the crazy-ass execution, and the show doesn’t wait a moment to declare it. Written by Ryohgo Narita of Baccano! and Durarara!! fame, one might expect to find a take on the Fate series steeped in his signature chaotic style. However, Fate is itself famous for wanton chaos, so it already exists as an ideal canvas for Narita’s authorial sensibilities. The undefined nature of Fate’s magic system has allowed Narita to take fascinating liberties with the rulebook, compounding wonderfully with his ensemble cast of Mages and Servants. He has reached into distant parts of the Nasuverse to procure special ingredients—Dead Apostles, long-lost protagonists, and more—and tossed them into the narrative stew, resulting in an amazingly functional Frankenstein of Type-Moon favorites. Unbelievably, the visual command from A-1 Pictures keeps up with Narita’s many moving parts, matching the unstable energy like a hot dog sliding into a bun. The story is not a puppet dancing before its master, but a puppet and its master as equal partners, thriving on entropy in striking symbiosis. Strange Fake is vividly frenetic when foreign Mystics collide and stimulating even when lingering on lengthy dialogue, leaving no doubt that Fate and Narita are a match made in heaven.

Visually, Strange Fake takes up the torch from the non-ufotable branch of Fate anime, making typical use of the smear animation and experimental techniques those titles are known for. This is the main style of both Apocrypha and Babylonia, and it’s certainly a great choice here, too. After all, how should animators capture Noble Phantasms that could be world-ending threats if misappropriated? There are times where putting these concepts to screen is essentially the animation equivalent of staring directly into the sun. The smearing and mindful compositing make these epic attacks into highly distorted, colorful depictions befitting their apocalyptic natures. Constantly on display is a maelstrom of light and might brimming with incalculable energy, elevated by direction that knows how to show it all off. Sky-high vistas are used to view massive attacks and climactic confrontations between Servants. Close-up shots can get so involved when it comes time to throw hands that they seem to have agency of their own, almost actively participating in all the ducking and weaving. It’s intentional visual storytelling that balances all the drawn-out conversations with the firework shows obligatory to every fight scene. The sound design also does some heavy lifting; rumble effects to give weight to the big booms and music that swells in harmony with Noble Phantasm incantations. It all works as one to propel the action to orbital heights, uncompromising in its mission to broker spectacle upon spectacle.

The characters are where the rules of these True and Fake Holy Grail Wars really go haywire. Of course, listing off Masters and the True Names of Servants is tantamount to spoiler territory. But as it turns out, that’s where much of Strange Fake’s fun lies. Many contenders come with fairly unique caveats—Masters who aren’t even human, Servants summoned with twists to their Spirit Origins, and other peculiarities that drag the story ever deeper into Narita’s lawless pit of darkness. Certain identities demand careful parsing, and the complex network of personalities becomes labyrinthine. Every character here has secrets, and much of the anime’s time is spent investigating them for everything they’re worth. The point-of-view focus routinely shifts from one eccentric character to the next, back to back to back, creating a thrilling perspective whiplash. In short, the characters all worship chaos in their own ways, and their combined rampage plays right into the narrative clusterfuck. The point, after all, is a flamboyant, wackadoodle shitshow of a Holy Grail War, and that can’t happen without at least a few oddballs running amok. So, is Strange Fake satirizing Fate’s tendency to play Grail War Simulator over and over? Is it idolizing that repetition, kissing the shadows of Wars long past? The portrait so passionately painted by this story is, unmistakably, one of admiration and celebration.

In retrospect, Fate/strange Fake is a brazen and confident showcase of the franchise’s wild side. Narita has employed his best tendencies here to openly and unapologetically indulge in Fate’s star attraction—spectacle. The plot might seem scatterbrained at first, but upon stepping back and taking in the bigger picture, it becomes clear how structured it actually is. That careful coalescence of themes and subplots is pretty much the customary payoff from Narita’s playbook, and here it’s bolstered by the esoteric systems of Fate’s world to craft a love letter to the series at large. Despite playing up the action to heights rarely seen, Strange Fake manages to spare some room for waxing philosophical. The poet John Donne wrote: “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.” It’s a sentiment that’s perfectly in tune with Fate, a series where all manner of entities—even Death itself—are ultimately powerless before greater forces. Against fate, against chance, it doesn’t matter if you’re a Heroic Spirit, a god, or merely human—all are made equal. But the best part of Strange Fake? It proclaims from on high that all the bombast, the spectacle, and the wealth of Noble Phantasms are not deviations from the Fate formula, but characteristic of what the formula has gradually become. Strange Fake is just happy to be the title that’s finally so honest about it.

As the season enters its last third, Fate/strange Fake is shaping up to be a pretty damn good show. While its reception has generally been indicative of this, it does have the potential to be somewhat divisive, and with good reason. It’s not a show for everyone, and yet its reach has been surprisingly wide, which, in my opinion, speaks of its qualities. While the review will be somewhat preliminary, I think I’ve seen enough to get a general impression of the kind of adaptation this anime attempts to be.

THE STORY:

The reason Strange Fake succeeds as a story, especially a Fate story, isn’t because ... it’s perfect. It’s not because every single aspect of it is brilliant or groundbreaking and it certainly isn’t because it has universal appeal. It is good because it knows what it’s doing. Narita deliberately introduces a giant cast of characters, as is pretty much tradition for him, which can be a pretty tough task. The more characters, the less screentime per character, that much is given. Thus, you should not expect every single one of them to be extraordinarily complex (although there are some notable exceptions). To certain people that might be a minus, but to me personally it is a feature of the story. The same way Fate/stay night is a story about a small cast of fan favorites, whose psychology and ideals are explored in detail, Strange Fake is a story about the event itself: the characters, while colorful and memorable, are pieces of a grand narrative, the purpose of which is to subvert every rule of the Fate franchise, while involving as much lore from the wider Nasuverse setting as possible. It is fanservice, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. And Narita is really good at writing characters that are memorable and likable despite their limited role in the grand scope of things.

Strange Fake is clearly a story written by a Fate fan for other Fate fans, and no matter how much people try to tell you otherwise, this is the main draw of the story. That’s not to say that you’re not allowed to enjoy it as a newcomer or that it doesn’t have enough merit to stand on its own. Many people who are vaguely familiar with Fate and Type-Moon are jumping in and loving it: be it for the stellar animation, music or just the hype factor. That is a valid way to engage with the show, if it works for you. However, it certainly doesn’t work for everyone, hence why the show draws criticism too: characters feel underdeveloped, worldbuilding is cryptic/obtuse, the purpose of anything that’s happening is a complete mystery. While it’s fair to think this if you’re looking at FSF from the perspective of someone who doesn't understand Fate, it must be stressed that this is by no means the fault of the story itself. It builds off pre-existing media and it expects you to have knowledge of that media, which is perfectly normal for a spin-off. Anyone who makes the conscious decision to start here must do so at their own risk.

Despite this, the story is just so entertaining that the lack of perfect lore knowledge doesn’t impede the enjoyment of it for most people. Whether you’re a Type-Moon veteran, a causal fan who has only seen the most popular anime versions, or a complete noob, there’s a good chance you might find something enjoyable here, hence why I tend to be somewhat open-minded about the idea of starting here. That said, it is absolutely not the best entry point in the franchise, and it was certainly not intended to be. Fate/strange Fake is not only a reference galore, but also a meta commentary on Fate as a whole. The more you understand this franchise, the more Narita’s brilliance and his love for this world become apparent. If you’re starting here, I do beg you to revisit this story later on, once you’ve dug deeper into this complex, and sometimes confusing, world.

THE ADAPTATION:

What must be mentioned is that this anime is not an original work, and comparisons with the source material are pretty much inevitable. As an adaptation, I think this anime is at the very least very solid, if not great.

While the general plot of the anime is pretty faithful to the novels (nothing fundamental was changed from what I noticed), it is certainly a pretty condensed version of this story. To some people that might be a negative, to others not so much (some people think the pace is too slow, others call it too fast: I personally feel it’s subjective). Some events are sped up, plenty of dialogue is cut and backstories are rushed through, that much is a fact. While the original novels do expect you to understand Fate, they still go to greater lengths to provide readers with useful information regarding the worldbuilding than the anime does.

This begs the question: did anyone really expect anything different? Movie/television adaptations losing details/depth compared to their source material is a story as old as time (even the gargantuan Lord of the Rings trilogy, which lasts over 10 hours gets accused of this). Production and time limitations are always a factor when adapting pre-existing works, and differences in medium make it difficult to translate the author’s vision 1:1. This is why even the most stellar adaptations in history have their haters, and FSF is no exception.

To this I say, this anime does an amazing job at elevating the parts it can through visuals and music, while keeping the main spirit of the work perfectly intact. Adaptations are always meant to be complimentary: their purpose is to give new life to existing works, to demonstrate a perspective on a story that the original could not. It is not meant to be a replacement for the novels, and sacrificing certain aspects for others is not necessarily “a butchering” of the story. The anime is perfectly in line with the spirit of FSF, which, in my opinion, makes it a great adaptation.

Some people would fairly complain that the novels are not necessarily the most accessible, as an official translation has yet to be announced. That said, this is by no means the fault of the studio. Fate is primarily made for a Japanese market, and the chance of a localization of the novels (or the manga) entirely depends on the success of this anime, which is why I implore anyone who wants to read FSF in English to support this project as well as they can. For better or worse, capitalism is a fact of life, and I think commercial art needs to always be judged with this in mind.

THE VERDICT:

Fate/strange Fake is not a traditional story. It is, in fact, a very strange one, as its title implies. Thus, it is not for everyone. And to be honest, it shouldn’t be. It’s chaotic and confusing, but it’s also extremely fun and, as a Fate fan, even somewhat thought-provoking. A1 Pictures are certainly doing their best to create a version that works well for its medium, hence why I would say that my expectations were more than satisfied. If you love Fate, I certainly recommend this one, chances are you will enjoy it. If you’re new to the series but this just looks cool to you, by all means give it a go, but be warned: you will not understand everything, and you should definitely give stay night and Zero a try (ideally before watching this). The choice is up to you.

I never thought i'd be dissapointed by a fate entry outside of the rushed grand order adaptations. But here i am. Honestly there's not much this grail war does even half as good as the worst of the previous entries.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. The MC for this grail war.Weak. Very weak.Ayaka spends literally 12 out the 13 episodes keeping a stance that she doesn't want to even participate in this war.She is simply in the show to react to stuff happening around her,and as an MC she drags the whole show down with that.Especially when you compare her with literally ... every other MC in the verse.

Now... the fate series is known far more for action then for yapping. The studio who made this season doesn't seem to realize that,because we spend most of the time listening to pointless arguments between underdeveloped characters. I don't mind storytelling,but most of the yapping is pointless.It does nothing to uncover the misteries or advance the plot.

I mean forget the plot for a second we have barely any explanation for any of the damn heroic spirits that were summoned in this war. Neither for them or their noble phantasms.Even though in any previous iteration we'd already have an explanation this deep into the grail war.At least for the servants that actually fought more then once.But outside of Richard and the already well known Gilgamesh .... Nothing.i mean Enkidu doesn't require that much of an explanation if you've know the verse but everybody else ...? These are servants that don't appear anywhere else,even in the games,but we know barely anything.A very good example is the Assassin lady.She can basically use all the zabaniya techniques even some we never saw before but we got nothing to explain anything.Not even her name.

Not to mention there's supposed to be 13 servants in this grail war,but we only see 11 servants and their masters.(I really didn't add the Francesca that sits in that room in the bed,but even with her there's 12 not 13).6 "fake" servants and 7 True servants that is.So we are one servant short. And that's honestly a huge plot hole.

Now back to the plot.... A whole season and not a single master and servant have perished.Basically 13 episodes of flashy fights with no substance,because we are still basically at the start of the grail war. It's like they are trying to milk this series and the fate name for everything it's worth. And don't get me started on that obvious sequel baiting cliffhanger ending.And what happend... cuz that's just so bad.

And of course,flashy fights that are nowhere near the level of ufotable.A-1 pictures is not bad by any length,but they clearly have issues with small detailed fights.They are good at big explosions and flashy stuff though.I mean watch the Archer vs Lancer fight from UBW,and you see the difference like day and night.

On a smaller note,why did they make Gilgamesh fly?He was never able to do that.That's not an abillity of his.

I can't recommend this show. To put it simply if you expect the quality of Zero and/or UBW,hell, even kaleid,apocrypha and even extra,don't watch this one. But if you're a tourist you'll probably enjoy this.Perfect for people who only like flashy fights with no substance. But a hard pass as a fate fan.

Perhaps my favourite instalment of the Fate series, at least in anime form. I have been waiting patiently for months since August after discovering it for the first time, and I am glad it has finally arrived with all its splendour and grandeur.

It is a visual treat, and I love it dearly. The studio at A1 has outdone themselves. Every episode has been enjoyable, especially my particular favourites 6 and 10. Many serious reviewers would criticise this anime for a lack of anything meaningful narratively, like for example the complex story of Fate/Zero. I hear these criticisms, and I understand what they mean, but I ... disagree on two points:
Firstly, that Fate/Strange Fake ought to live up as a intricate narrative onto various equally intricate philosophies (like the Utilitarianism of Kiritsugu). It doesn't need to. It doesn't need to be heavy. This series purpose is not an introspective one, its intent is distinctly separate, and of a different nature that I will explain. Secondly, the idea that there isn't anything meaningful within its depths is also a mistake. Perhaps there is no meaning to you, but that is because you are looking at it entirely wrong and from the wrong perspective. What you seek is not what it gives. This series has meaning, merely not the one you (the critic) wishes to see. I hope that makes sense.

This anime serves largely as a treat for fate fans. It is enjoyable in its own right, but you may consider it a fan-fiction that has been granted canonical status on account of its epic proportions. What a viewer can expect is not a complex story talking about abstract concepts, but rather redirecting the attention of the audience to a matter that has long since been forgotten in this age, where grey morality and 'realistic' problems reign supreme:

Heroes exist. They always have, and they will continue to exist. Heroism is what all men yearn for, it is what a man's masculine nature wishes to express - and often times, this heroic spirit is expressed most poignantly in war. Heroes are what man have written about since the dawn of time, in fact the very first story penned to tablet is that of the King of Heroes, which is a fitting name this series has given to Gilgamesh.
Heroes exist as the pinnacle of humanity, embodying its strength and virtue that all are possible of, but only a few can properly fly to the sun to acquire. They exist in contrast to the evil of this world, and act as a symbol of hope able to vanquish darkness. It is on the shoulders of heroes that humanity has been able to accomplish anything notable.

In this vein I believe it fulfils what Fate was always meant to be. A clash of history's best amongst each other, whilst seeing a little bit of what makes their characters so strong, so compelling, and so awe-inspiring, setting an example for the participants and observers of the Holy Grail Wars, including you. You too, are a spectator in this epic battle.

This series is meant to show you what heroism looks like, which is such a breath of fresh air. I love Saber, whose name I shall not spoil, but just know that I ended up looking into the history of his character, and it was just as inspiring as the anime depiction, if perhaps not more exciting. I appreciate this anime's depiction of Saber. His physical, historical counterpart is now someone I hold in high regard and look up to.
The same can be said for Gilgamesh (my goat). I ended up picking up his Epic again, and though I haven't gotten far as of writing, I love the antique nature in which stories used to be narrated. I much prefer it over whatever the modern world yields - there's simply so much more soul!

It is for these reasons I think Fate/Strange Fake is a compelling anime. Ignore the naysayers, it is a swell adaptation, and if it doesn't live up to your expectations, then perhaps read the LN. I've heard good things about it (haven't gotten around to it yet - too busy with the Conan Chronicles!).

And also, the OST is done by the magnificent Sawano Hiroyuki-sensei. You know, the guy that did the AoT OST too.

Please sit back and enjoy the show. Try not to think too hard, it won't do you any good. It's a shame that adults can't appreciate to the same degree what our child selves were able to indulge in without worry about narrative perfection - they always have to find flaws and cracks and voice those criticisms - which I suppose is fair enough, but they detract from their enjoyment at the end of the day.

I would advise watching Fate/Zero and Fate/SN UBW at the very least before watching this, though. You'll enjoy it more.


TLDR: Ignore the haters, heroes rock, enjoy the spectacle; buckle up and get ready for Fate/strange peak.

I'll try my best to keep this review as brief as possible without going on a full tangent.
The anime adaptation of Fate Strange Fake is, serviceable, as someone who has read the source material I'd say when it comes to adapting the fights, it does its job well enough.
The way the anime handles the characters are pretty unique, as there isn't a predetermined main character each fight feels like it has something at stake.
The animation and character design is incredible and thats where most of my positives end.

Since it is an installment in the Fate universe, the adaptation being somewhat butchered is a given. A ... lot of content is cut in service for more action, and this also includes some character defining moments being absent from the anime as well. Not to mention the fact that backstories are either completely gone or treated like a slideshow giving as minimal context into a characters history to include more fights and aura farming moments does take me out of the immersion at times.

Now does it make the anime completely terrible, not necessarily, just like the Stay Nights adaptation, Strange Fake has amazing fight scenes and choreography, and if you're into that, then this anime is for you.

All style no substance. Big fan of OG fate; AKA mainline fate. Fate/strange falls for the same curse as the other fate spinoffs. Aura but no depth. If you like bright colors, flashy lights, and sakuga animation. Strange fake is great! If you care about writing, it's not for you.
Characters are badass but everyone is badass.
It's hard to take characters seriously when everyone wants to flex without any insight onto their personality. I'm sure the heirachy will get established later on, but I don't care about any of the characters. Gilgamesh ironically is less engaging as a protagonist. He comes off as a fan fic ... parody. The edgy golden knight, smiting anyone who dares threaten his damsel in distress.

The Fate series has always intrigued me because of its core concept, even though I’m not someone deeply invested in every entry or the visual novels. I’ve only watched Fate/stay night (Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel) and what I consider the best part of the franchise—Fate/Zero.
Fate/Zero is, without a doubt, one of the best anime I’ve ever watched.

Now, moving on to Fate/strange Fake. I heard many people say it’s an important entry, comparable to Stay Night and Zero, which motivated me to start it.
At first, I was very optimistic. I won’t lie—the beginning was genuinely strong, and the setup was solid. The idea of ... a “fake” Holy Grail War, along with a large number of Masters and Servants, felt fresh and interesting.

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What I liked:

First, the core concept of strange Fake—a fake war with a large cast of Masters and Servants, set in America—felt new and engaging, especially for someone not deeply immersed in the franchise like me.

The art style is also excellent. It’s visually appealing, clean, and quite distinctive.

As for production, it’s undeniably high quality. The animation is strong, and the soundtrack is engaging. These elements alone can make many of the fights enjoyable, even when you’re not particularly invested in them. I won’t go too deep into production, since its quality is already obvious.

Finally, enjoyment. I know enjoyment is subjective, but despite the major issues I’ll mention, I still found myself enjoying the show to some extent. I think that comes from my personal appreciation of the Fate concept combined with the strong production values.

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The problems:

Unfortunately, Fate/strange Fake suffers from several major issues, the biggest being the adaptation. If you’re even slightly aware of what was cut—even without reading the light novel—you’ll notice how rushed it is. This becomes especially clear in the second half of the anime, around episode 6 and onward.

Remember when I said the large number of Masters and Servants was interesting? The idea itself is great, but the execution is not. It leads to one of the biggest flaws: character overcrowding.

There are simply too many characters. This actually reminded me of One Piece. Do you know why not every character in One Piece gets strong development? Because of the massive cast. But strange Fake makes it worse by cramming a huge number of characters into a limited episode count. As a result, I found it hard to care about anyone.

This leads to two major issues:

First, the relationships between Masters and Servants feel weak. Due to the overcrowding, they don’t get enough time to develop. Only a couple of relationships stand out—like Ayaka and Richard toward the end, and the relationship between Lord El-Melloi’s student and Jack the Ripper.

Second, the fights often lack impact. Since you don’t know much about the characters, it’s hard to stay invested. I’ll be honest—I forgot many character names, which made it even harder to care. On top of that, many fights don’t even properly conclude, as they often get interrupted or end abruptly.

Another issue is that the show sometimes feels like fanservice for hardcore Fate fans. It relies heavily on prior lore knowledge in a way that can feel excessive, even in smaller details. That said, this isn’t as major as the other problems.

Also, the pacing is extremely fast. A lot happens in a short time, to the point where some events feel unclear—you don’t fully understand why things are happening or what motivates the characters. The plot itself becomes messy. Not the most chaotic thing out there, but it’s clear the rushed adaptation plays a big role in this.

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Conclusion:

Fate/strange Fake had the potential to reach the level of Fate/Zero, or even surpass it. However, multiple issues hold it back, and they stack up like a domino effect.
Overreliance on lore + rushed adaptation → weak execution → messy narrative → underdeveloped characters → weak relationships → less engaging fights.

I still hope the next part improves things. Despite all these issues, I did enjoy the show overall, mainly thanks to the strong production quality, which helped carry many of the fights even when they lacked emotional weight.

Score: 7.2/10
Honestly, it might deserve a lower score, but I still found it enjoyable enough.

After numerous delays, the first season of Fate/Strange Fake turned out to be fairly solid. You can clearly see how earlier Fate works have influenced it as the series draws heavily from Fate/Zero, at times almost responding to its themes, concepts, and worldbuilding.

The music is excellent, as expected from Hiroyuki Sawano. However, the opening and overall soundtrack give off a more modern, high-energy feel, almost as if he is trying to push anime toward a faster-paced, more upbeat direction. It has a strong Solo Leveling-like vibe, which gives me the impression that A-1 Pictures is once again trying to reshape trends, similar to how they ... influenced the industry with Sword Art Online a decade ago. That said, while the soundtrack is impactful, some of the core tracks are reused a bit too often. The first few times during fight scenes, they’re thrilling, but by the tenth repetition, the effect starts to wear off, which is a similar issue I notice for Sawano in Re: Creators.

The anime is not a beginner-friendly series at all. Even fans familiar with the Ufotable Fate adaptations may find it difficult to follow the series. Despite all of that, when judging Ryohgo Narita from a Type-Moon fan perspective, his approach feels somewhat surface-level. The series introduces a wide range of characters and concepts from the Type-Moon universe, but often in a way that feels more like name-dropping rather than deeply exploring their significance.

Strange Fake comes across as a more Westernized take on Fate/Zero, and in many ways, an improvement over Fate/Apocrypha. The action is easy to digest, with most episodes maintaining a fast pace even if the overall plot progression is relatively slow. While some viewers feel the adaptation rushes through the source material, I think the anime provides enough screen time for characters and context.

The first half of the series focuses heavily on introducing a large cast. Characters are presented through a mix of flashbacks, fight scenes, and dialogue, and while there is some variation, you can start to recognize a pattern in how introductions are handled. The fight scenes are visually impressive, clean, sharp, and polished, which makes the long delays feel somewhat justified. However, most fights are quite short. They build excitement quickly, only to end after a minute or so, followed by dialogue before the next confrontation. This happens repeatedly and gives the impression of a deliberate production strategy: maintaining high animation quality without overextending resources.

That structure defines the overall tone of the series. It feels like a prolonged battle of attrition where conflicts happen frequently, but rarely reach full resolution except during major climaxes. Fights are often used as tools to introduce characters, showcase their philosophies, or move the plot forward, rather than serving as extended set pieces.

The show also features a large ensemble cast where many characters could be considered main characters, yet none are given a clear central focus. Personally, I don’t see this as a flaw, as I enjoy this kind of narrative approach. For Fate fans, the series is almost a dream, packed with references and fan service. However, the heavy emphasis on Fate/Zero sometimes makes me wonder whether Narita is more of a Gen Urobuchi admirer than a broader Type-Moon enthusiast.

Overall, I enjoyed the series and would rate it highly. That said, I wouldn’t recommend it as an entry point for newcomers to the Fate franchise. It’s better to start with earlier works, which are excellent in their own right, and come back to Strange Fake later for a more rewarding experience.

Fate/Strange Fake is undoubtedly a true love letter to Type Moon that integrates countless references and in-universe concepts that would delight any Type Moon fan had it been executed well or edited in the production process by anyone sensible.

F/SF discards the most BASIC of fundamentals of story telling for useless "aura farming" eating up airtime to achieve nothing substantial. Neither studio nor author needed to go out of their way to hype up characters in half-hearted stake-less confrontations to convince the audience that these characters are cool, powerful, likeable, or what have you. Fate has always been able to achieve this without this nonsense. ... If anything, these confrontations achieved the opposite of what they intended to.

An incoherent mess throughout all 13 episodes. Comprised almost completely of exposition yet fails to develop any of its cast members or explain itself in any way, shape, or form. It is difficult to be invested in any of the characters from this adaptation. Terribly disappointed in this as a Type Moon fan as I was led to believe for years that F/SF would be impressive. An inability or dismissal of fundamental storytelling to this degree is unpalatable to followers of Type Moon and outsiders alike. This is overcooked, and badly so.

That's it. As for my opinion on "Fate/strange Fake", which is another series about the Holy Grail Battle itself, also receiving references to various Fate series, including Zero. The final episode featured flashbacks to the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War, also expanding on the story of Ayaka and Richard during that time. Overall, the final episode was good, suggesting that this wasn't the end. It was predictable that we'd get a sequel later. The music is really good, the animation and art are also up to par (in my opinion, it's on par with Ufotable's UBW, meaning A-1 Pictures nailed it). In terms ... of art itself, it stands out significantly from other Fate series. It's a bit unique, but it also has its charm.

The final rating is 9/10, one of the better post-UBW Fate series I have ever seen, even though the anime adaptation cut out some storylines and some appeared later, now all that remains is to wait for the next season.

Episode six is a standout but the rest of it is a testament to why these Fate spinoffs don't work. They have no point, they're just kind of loose, and have no thing that they set out to do.

The original Fate/stay night is different in this respect and is mocked as being just a dating sim but that takes for granted just how seamlessly the integration was done. It also gave the original a purpose.

It has not struck me up until now just how boring of a character Gilgamesh is when you take him out of his natural environment. All this guy does is open ... his gates and never use Ea. He throws about six million swords at the guy who wears a carpet over his head even after being told that they're no good. 'Oh but he's arrogant' yeah, he's boring. There's no other mode that he's in. He's fine as a villain but when you try to make him a character you realize he's got no depth.

Because the focus is divided evenly it's difficult to really like any character or get attached to them. This would've been difficult already considering half the cast is obnoxious. The Dead Apostle guy just never shuts up and the Church Executor is an aura farmer.

In general, there's too many aura farmers, and they're not even good at their job. The chief of police gets smacked up in his first combat engagement. Francesca's annoying.

There's also too many of these spectator characters (the Watcher, Jack the Ripper) who just yap about what's happening instead of actually doing anything.

There's too much narration and an excess of talking. I would care if there was something to care about but there's no real focal point to bring it all together. The characters are unreal.

Episode 6 is a good example of why the rest of the show sucks to watch. Here, everything is framed very thoughtfully and aligns to what the characters are talking about. There's a brief fudge where it tries to imitate Shaft by zooming in on Enkidu's mouth twice (the zoom-in is too long or doesn't happen soon enough) but the episode is otherwise seamless and exposes a lot of bad framing that happens everywhere else.

The characters are also not that nice to look at; Gilgamesh looks like he's been starving in a desert for several years; the Saber duo look pretty good but Francesca’s design is bizarre.

There's a lot of stalling too, where people fight, and then they might as well have not fought, considering there's no real lasting consequences. Fate/zero at least, for all its yapping, has Saber be injured in her first engagement with Lancer, which has lasting consequences that need to be addressed. Fate/strange fake has at least three fights... four fights... where there's no consequences for anyone.

These fights don't look good either. An excess of rotoscoping, a feeling that their faces are going to somehow snap off… the bits of sakuga last only a few seconds, and then it's back to rotoscoping.

The characters are hard to care about because their development is spread thin and the little development they're given isn't that impactful due to how unrelatable their circumstances are. In terms of the three real characters the story has (Flat, Saber's master, the guy who's dead inside) the guy who's dead inside has the most going on, but his relationship with his Servant is boring, and his Servant is boring too. There's already three different commentators on the action (Dumas, Francesca, and the fake Overseer) so to add another one is wasteful.

Richard is interesting but there's not enough time to develop him. The rest are either aura farmers (doing nothing with long-lasting impact) or commentators (telling us what we don’t need to know).

There's not quite as much talking as the first few episodes indicate but there's still a lot to get through, and once you get through it you're treated to... fairly standard action-shonen animation. Compared to something like Yozakura Quartet (the ryo-timo ones) Quartet easily surpasses it in terms of background detail, animation, direction, and sound design.

As a Fate spinoff it's not bad; it provides some interesting commentary on Fate/Zero, but it doesn't really have a point, so I can't recommend it.