Fate is no stranger to all kinds of creative minds lending their talents to the brand in all manner of short stories, novels, and screenplays, just like Gen Urobuchi wrote Fate/Zero. But of the myriad stories, Fate/Strange Fake, from Baccano and Durarara author Ryogo Narita, is one spoken of very highly, that fans have been craving an anime adaptation of for ages.
Funnily enough, the story began as an April Fools' joke titled "Fate/States Night" in reference to the story taking place in the United States but became a novel and manga series starting in 2014. Since then, there have been seven novels and the series is still going on, chronicling the war in Snowfield, Nevada.
The "Fake" Grail War
Like all fate stories, it involves a holy grail capable of granting wishes, and seven Masters each summoning a heroic spirit to fight in the name of claiming it to grant their wish. However, this war is a complete fabrication, a duplication of the usual ritual, all performed by an American splinter group of mages.
Strange Fakehas been compared to Fate/Apocrypha as both stories' concepts stem from the events of the Third Holy Grail War and its effect on current events. They are also both stories depicting two separate sides of a larger Grail War. In Apocrypha, it was the Masters and Servants of Black vs the Masters and Servants of Red.
In Strange Fake, the imperfect recreation of the grail war has created an even more chaotic battlefield, where the battle lines are not clearly drawn. There are the participants of the Fake Grail War and those fighting in the True Grail War. This war seemingly has more politics and competing motivations wrapped up in it than any other Fate story.
The Servants
As there are at minimum 26 major players in the war, not counting supporting characters and those not direct participants in the war, there are a lot of characters to keep track of. In a series like Apocrypha, this was already a point of contention that made it hard to be invested in all the characters. However, given Narita's reputation as an author, a story like this fits perfectly.
Narita's work on Baccano and Durarara is exceptional, as they are such huge stories that break up their complex weaving threads with excellent character writing. Everyone is likely to have a different favorite character in Durarara, with the central idea of the story being that everyone is a protagonist in their own way.
Narita is good at making each thread an engrossing narrative on its own, so to have him write Fate, a franchise where each Servant has some inherent lore behind them, is a match made in heaven. Characters like Gilgamesh return, as well as characters like Enkidu, who has deep ties to Gilgamesh.
Many key characters in Strange Fake are notable as they have been in other highly popular Fate works. Gilgamesh is obvious, and Enkidu was a big part of the Babylonia series, but characters like Waver Velvet and Flat Escados also make appearances. This is to say nothing of the new servants and their masters.
Most notable is probably King Richard the Lionheart, the Saber Class Servant of the True Grail War. His Master is Ayaka Sajyou. For those unaware, Ayaka was the original protagonist of Fate/Stay Night before Shirou Emiya was created and made the main character instead.
The Anime
A1 Pictures is producing what has been described as a TV film adapting the story, though it isn't known how long it will be. Fans eager to see how the show will look beyond the recent short teaser will be delighted to know that the staff working on it have already put it to animation in some form before.
Back in 2019, A1 Pictures produced a 30-second ad (seen above) to promote the novels, with music by Hiroyuki Sawano and vocals by Yosh Morita of the band Survive Said The Prophet. The ad was electric and made fans hungry for a full anime, and given the returning staff and Sawano returning to compose the music, the dream couldn't be more tangible.
With this project having only been announced as a TV special, one might worry that it was a one-off OVA with no real promise of a continuation in a timely manner. After all, the novels are still going. However, one can hope that the film will serve as the jumping-off point for a series or more films to adapt the most exciting Fate story in years.