What Is Fate/Strange Fake: The Strangest Fate Spin-Off

Fate/Strange Fake, another entry is the Type-Moon Fate/Series will be getting on OVA adaptation titled ‘Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn‘. The anime will be adapted by A-1 Pictures who previously did the Fate/Apocrypha anime and will air in July of 2023.

So what is Fate/Strange Fake? The title certainly describes it well. The concept began as an April Fools joke before being made into a proper light novel series in 2015. The novels are written by Ryohgo Narita, the man behind the popular Baccano and Durarara series, and illustrated by Shidzuki Morii who has designed several Fate servants including Ishtar, Ereshkigal, Tristan, and Semiramis.

In the Type-Moon New Years’ Eve stream, a new preview trailer of the OVA was screened:

The series is well summed up with its’ title: it’s about a ‘Strange Fake’. The novel revolves around a ‘Fake’ Holy Grail War created by an organization of American mages using the data of the Third Fuyuki Grail War, taking place in the fictional city of Snowfield, USA.

The Servants/Masters

The result of the grail being an improper copy is that many of the servants come across as strange, and are summoned by equally strange masters. Here are each of the servants/master pairs in the war:

Lancer (Enkidu)/Wolf:

So if Strange Fake is famous for anything, it is the place where Fate’s interpretation of Gilgamesh’s best bro Enkidu originated. Despite being described as a savage beast-man, Enkidu here is an androgynous Bishounen. His original master dies and their Wolf Familiar becomes his new master. The Wolf acts pretty much like a regular wolf with no interest in the Holy Grail War.

Archer (Gilgamesh)/Tine Chelc:

Yup Gilgamesh is back and pretty much exactly how he always is: arrogant and douchey but with Enkidu here, he has different priorities than winning the war. His master is a 12-year-old Native American girl named Tine Chelc. Despite being an actual child, Gil is surprisingly ok with working and taking orders from her.

Rider (Pale Rider)/Tsubaki Kuruoka: 

This is where it gets really weird. Tsubaki is another little girl trapped in a coma due to her parent’s experimenting on her. Her servant is the Pale Rider, one of the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse and the embodiment of pestilence. Rider communicates with Tsubaki from her dreams and enacts her childlike wishes.

Caster (Alexandre Dumas)/Orlando Reeve: 

Reeve is the police chief of Snowfield and a veteran mage. His servant is Alexandre Dumas, the author of ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ and ‘The Three Musketeers’. Like other authors turned servants, he’s completely useless in battle but has an OP noble phantasm that allows him to recreate other noble phantasms. Dumas is also a letch that spends most of his time gambling, eating, and hitting on girls.

Assassin (No Name Assassin)/Jester Karture: 

Assassin in Strange/Fake is yet another Hassan I Sabbah… sort of. She was a candidate to be a Hassan (leader of the historical Assassins) but was turned down for being too powerful and fanatical. Oh, and her master Jester? He’s a vampire and his goal is to use the grail to wake up a giant vampire alien death machine to destroy the world. They’re quite the pair.

Berserker (Jack The Ripper)/ Flat Escardos:

Jack The Ripper has appeared in Fate before but this Jack is very different from the leather-clad loli of previous works. Since Jack The Ripper’s identity was never uncovered, Berserker Jack has no true appearance so he takes the form of various other people. Even he doesn’t know his real identity. Flat is one of the more normal masters, being an over-enthusiastic student from The Clock Tower who studied under Waver Velvet.

Saber (??????)/Ayaka Sajyou:

Ayaka was originally the protagonist of Fate/Prototype but this version is a completely different character. Like many Fate/protagonists, she’s a muggle that was roped into the war and doesn’t really want to be here. Saber’s identity is a mystery but without spoiling anything, he’s a highly successful noble that is cheerful, loves fighting, and really wants to be more like King Arthur (he is one of the few sabers in the series with no connection to King Arthur). Also, there originally wasn’t even supposed to be a Saber class in the war due to its imperfect nature, yet here he is. You’ll have to find out why by watching the OVA.

The Cast

The anime is being made by A1-Pictures with Shun Enokido and Takahito Sakazume as the directors. They also acted as the animation directors for A1’s Fate/Apocrypha anime. Daisuki Ohigashi (Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045) will write the script and Hiroyuki Sawano (Promare) will compose the soundtrack.

According to Siliconera here are the confirmed voice actors for the Japanese and English dubs:

• Ayaka Saijo: Kana Hanazawa
• Saber: Yuki Ono
• Archer: Tomokazu Seki
• Lancer: Yu Kobayashi

And here’s a list of the confirmed English voice cast.

• Ayaka Saijo: Anjali Kunapaneni
• Saber: Ben Balmaceda
• Archer: David Vincent
• Lancer: Marin Miller

Fate/Strange Fake

There are more characters (including more servants) introduced as the volumes go on but going into more details would be spoiling the plot. The light novel is yet to be finished which is probably why it’s getting an OVA adaptation as opposed to a full series. I will say however it does get even stranger.

It feels like Narita wanted to fully explore just how eccentric the Type-Moon universe could possibly be with this project and he very much succeeds. Hopefully, more people will see that when the OVA drops at the end of the year.