Light Novel Adaptation by A-1 Pictures
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Premise
Wizards and mages vie for supremacy in the Holy Grail War, summoning figures from myth and legend as Servants to battle it out until only one remains. But this time it’s happening in Snowfield, Nevada, United States of America. As local cops clash with the feds, the Mage’s Association clash with the Catholic Church, and unknown wild cards clash with the very rules of engagement, all kinds of unexpected events are occurring in this strange, fake imitation of the original Grail War.
Iro’s verdict: We Are So Back
The most crucial element of Fate/strange Fake is that it predates most other spinoffs: it’s pre-Grand Order, pre-Apocrypha, pre-Extra. Fate/strange Fake originally hails from the days of 2008, mere months after the original Fate/Zero light novels finished their run. It started as a one-off April Fools’ joke, a glimpse of a tongue-in-cheek Fate spinoff. It detailed a pseudo-sequel featuring a corrupted Holy Grail War, far removed from the context and limitations of the original. Only in 2015 did Type-Moon tap Ryohgo Narita to write a full-on light novel series, and only now in 2026 is it getting an anime adaptation.
If you’ve read any of my other posts on Fate, then maybe you understand that this gives Fate/strange Fake a specific vibe. It’s of the time when my interest in the franchise was at its peak; a time before Type-Moon formally cordoned Fate and Tsukihime into separate boxes, a time before Grand Order fully gacha-fied the Servant concept, a time where one could reasonably have read/watched everything there was to the franchise. A time where it felt like there was infinite possibility.
Combine that with Ryohgo Narita’s signature madcap, maximalist storytelling (as seen in Baccano! and Durarara!!) and the result is a total mess. A beautiful, wonderful mess. Fate/strange Fake tackles the idea of “figures from history and legend as summoned Servants” with a rakish audacity, interpreting the Grail War’s “rules” even more loosely. Even after the hour-long Whispers of Dawn prologue special and a first episode proper, the show has barely begun to set up all the pieces. Yet it already feels like the bomb is ticking, and everything might explode at any moment.
If you’re a casual Fate fan, you can appreciate the absurdity of it all. If you’re a franchise sicko, you can catch all the bizarre references Narita slips into every layer. If you’re a newcomer… I have no idea what you might think, but hopefully you’ll at least be entertained. I certainly am.
Zigg’s verdict: Strange Brew
All these years later I still can’t quite work out if I am a fan of the Fate franchise or not. What I do know is that it’s a universe where the space between “This is so dumb (complimentary)” and “This is so dumb (derogatory)” is razor thin at the best of times. A little bit of Fate goes a long way, and for every enjoyably sly riff on history and myth there’s a story buried beneath the crushing weight of bullshit.
So far at least, Strange Fake seems to be riding on the ‘fun’ side of the line…just. This is still a very talky, heavy slab of opening material, especially if one also chooses to consume the Whispers of Dawn prequel movie (and you really should to have even a slim hope of understanding what’s going on). The frequent knowing winks and pastiches to other Fate material also grate a little after a while if you’re merely a casual fan like myself, and I suspect I would have been utterly lost without Iro to guide me through some of the messier patches of lore.
Yet there’s definitely a spark and verve to the storytelling in Strange Fake that I feel has been missing from a lot of the more rote, franchise fuelling Fate material of recent years. I’m always down for a slice of Anime America and wacky concepts like the perpetually gobby, burger munching Caster or the Noble Phantasm Police Force are the kind of dumb goofs that I enjoy the most in any Nasuverse material. It could all go catastrophically wrong at any moment of course, but that’s arguably part of the appeal. For now this seems to be a bracing pulp adventure that (hopefully) won’t get too precious with itself.
The Glorio Blog 