Fate/Strange Fake Review: Absolute Chaos

Article at a glance:

• The Holy Grail War in Snowfield is unlike anything we’ve seen: forced into existence by the US government, packed with unusual Servants, shifting alliances, and wild cards that keep things unpredictable.
• FSF nails almost everything: incredible fight scenes, an enormous cast where everyone matters, S-tier voice acting, and Sawano on the soundtrack.

Okay, man, I knew Strange Fake would be good just based on the premise alone, but MAN, I am still blown away whenever I think about the last 3-4 episode stretch. We got some insane action back-to-back with some really good character moments. I know we still have two more episodes to go. But man, I really cannot think of a better time to review Fate/Strange Fake because I still feel the high of having binged those past 2-3 episodes just moments ago.

Before we get into the review itself, though, there is something else I want to talk about. Given the nature of the Fate series and how big Strange Fake has been, I want to discuss whether it is a good entry point to the series first. So let’s get into it.

Is Fate/Strange Fake a good Introduction to the Fate series?

No, it is not. You absolutely can watch and enjoy Strange Fake without any prior knowledge of the Fate series. But the thing is, Strange Fake is all about breaking the norm. And you wouldn’t be able to appreciate how FSF breaks and bends the rules if you’re not familiar with the rules themselves. FSF is amazing for the long-term fans because it breaks so many of the established rules. And while someone new to the series may enjoy the fights, to truly appreciate how good FSF is, you need to do a bit of homework.

My recommended entry point for the Fate series is still Fate/Stay Night: UBW. I don’t think that even Fate/Zero is a good starting point, despite how much I love that anime.

With that said, let’s get into the review itself. There will be mild spoilers ahead, I won’t go into specifics, though, because I intend to keep this review aimed at newer fans or people who haven’t yet watched FSF.

Plot

So Fate/Strange Fake is loosely set up as a sequel to Fate/Stay Night. But instead of the grail war taking place naturally in Fuyuki, the US government has forced the grail to manifest in the town of Snowfield through various convoluted means. Right off the bat, I really like how much politics play a part in the overall story of Strange Fake. Having all different organizations with their own agendas involved creates interesting dynamics. Then we have the wild cards like Jester, who have no affiliation and just pop up randomly to make things harder for others.

Strange Fake lives and dies by the character dynamics. The alliances and loyalties are consistently shifting, and that is what makes the story interesting. Of course, the unusual and convoluted nature of this Holy Grail War also plays a strong part in making the story interesting. I love how much world-building Strange Fake adapts. A lot of things we have only heard about in Fate lore, we get to see in FSF. I also love how creative they got with the Servants. There are SO many unusual Servants in Strange Fake.

While the “decentralized” nature of the story is what makes Strange Fake interesting, it also has drawbacks. A lot of times, when one side of the story is picking up, they cut away to show us a different side. This can really kill the momentum of certain scenes and fights. I know why they do it; they want to show that all these things are going on at once, but it can still get annoying. Also, sometimes the dialogue can feel like a lot of technical jargon that doesn’t really add much. So I will they toned that down just a little. That type of dialog IS a Fate series classic, though.

Characters

As is typical of Ryohgo Narita’s stories, we have a HUGE cast. Almost every single person in the major cast is important in their own right and even get their own backstories. There is no single defined protagonist; we switch who we are following based on what the anime wants to show us. The story is also full of unreliable narrators like Sigma or Jester. Despite there being 13 Servants and their respective masters and even faction members, the cast never feels bloated, and every single Servant has a presence and is memorable in their own way.

I absolutely love how much respect the story shows powerful characters like Alcides and Gilgamesh. It took 3 Servants and intervention from an actual Goddess to defeat Gilgamesh. The anime really does go out of its way to drill in just how powerful those two are compared to the other Servants.

Obviously, because of the large cast, not every character gets as much attention as they deserve, but I am sure that will be fixed later on. This is just the first season, after all. But yeah, I do wish we got more attention on characters like Francesca, given how much she seems to be involved with every faction. I wish we got to see more of the goddess I mentioned because I love how she is characterized here over her FGO counterpart.

Production

I feel bad for anyone else trying to adapt the Fate series. They will ALWAYS have to live in the shadow of ufotable. So I’m gonna throw the ufotable comparisons out of the window for now. Let’s judge A1 Pictures on their own merit first.

The soundtracks across the board are amazing. Of course they are, we have Sawano in charge. Of course, the opening theme and both the ending themes are great, but the damn fight music across the board is so damn nice too.

As for the animations, they can sometimes look a little goofy. The quality drops sometimes, don’t feel very good, to be honest. But they do lock in when it matters. Pretty much every single fight scene in the whole show looks incredible. And it is very well directed, too, without going into spoilers, the Alcides fight from Episodes 8-9 is so damn good.

And lastly, the voice acting overall is just S-tier. Some of the best voice work I’ve heard in a while. The voices play such a big part in making the characters charismatic, and they nailed the casting across the board.

Rounding up

Here are my final review scores for Fate/Strange Fake

• Plot – 8/10
• Characters – 9/10
• Productions – 8/10
• Enjoyment – 10/10
• Overall – 9/10

Not a single bad or boring episode so far for Fate/Strange Fake. And I doubt that will change with the remaining 2 episodes. But yeah, that concludes my review for Fate/Strange Fake. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check out my thoughts on Dragon’s Dogma 2 here!