Snowfield, Nevada. A young blond woman, Ayaka Sajyou, walks into a convenience store asking for a recommendation for a cheap motel in the neighborhood. She’s looking pretty shell-shocked, which is borne out even more as the conversation continues: she knows she’s from Japan, but can’t remember where exactly; she wants a motel with an elevator (?); and she overpays the guy in the store by a long shot, despite looking for somewhere cheap to stay. It comes as no surprise when she’s kidnapped as she wanders the sketchy neighborhood in a daze. Meanwhile, Faldeus, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind this fake Holy Grail War, set for the first time outside of Japan, doesn’t quite know what to make of this young woman, whom his surveillance system picks up pretty quickly. Things aren’t going so well for the police chief either, as his Servant, Caster, proves to be a lot more wily than expected. Over in London’s Big Ben, Lord El-Melloi laments the seeming Americanization of the new Holy Grail War, which appears to be turning into a bit of a game show. Only crazed teenaged-looking “old hag” Francesca is in her element, watching all these unexpected convolutions play out and possibly stirring the pot a little herself, challenging Faldeus’s mastery of the “game”. When Ayaka wakes up on the stage of a grand opera house, bound hand and foot, there are no answers at the ready, only more questions, as things take an even more unusual turn. Where does the fakery of this Holy Grail War begin and where does it end? Who is in control? And will there really be no Saber this time?
This episode is set between the end of the hour-long OVA that premiered in the summer of 2023, and its post-credit scene, which the premiere episode works up to in the final few minutes. If this unusual chronology confirms anything, it’s that this latest installment in the mind-bending multiverse-like Fate franchise is ramping up the intrigue and unpredictability! We’re now an hour and a half into the new series, and it’s still not confirmed how many Servants and Masters will be active this time around, despite Faldeus’s insistence that there will only be six. (He’s definitely wrong.) There’s a fair bit more meta-narrative going on here this time too, with observers and wannabe game masters and all sorts interfering or vowing not to interfere, including a new band of priests and nuns who seem like they’ll be a lot less creepy and more entertaining than earlier religious authorities. We can expect some pretty significant new lore with this one, I think. The animation is all that we’ve come to expect of a Fate series, with A1 Pictures proving themselves up to the task. The cast so far is a little more diverse than usual too (perhaps due to its American setting?), which is nice to see. Ayaka is swirling in mystery and incongruity—not least being her physical similarity to Saber—making for an interesting focal character this episode. It’s wonderful to hear Hiroyuki Sawano’s soundtrack again, and his score really adds emotion and energy to the episode. All in all, I have a ton more questions now than I did after the OVA, which is a good sign for the rest of the season. Looking forward to this strange ride, for real! (Haha, sorry.)
PS Update: Looks like this episode is it for now! The rest of the season will air at some point in 2025, but the dates of release have not yet been confirmed.
Fate strange Fake episode 1 is streaming on Crunchyroll, subbed and dubbed. The rest will air at an unconfirmed time in 2025.
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