Fate/strange Fake is a Japanese light novel series in Type-Moon‘s Fate franchise, written by Ryōgo Narita and illustrated by Morii Shizuki.
It was originally placed on Narita’s homepage under the title of “Fake/states night” on April 1, 2008, presented as a prologue and introduction for a role playing style game as an April Fool’s prank. The text was taken down after April Fool’s, but was later re-released in the form of a novel included as an extra with the magazine TYPE-MOON Ace 2 in 2009, with illustrations by Morii Shizuki and an afterword by the author.
In 2014, it was announced that both a novel and manga series would be published and a brief trailer was made. An anime television film adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures titled Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn premiered in July 2023. An anime television series adaptation also produced by A-1 Pictures is set to premiere its first episode in December 2024.
Plot
The story centers around a Grail War faultily copied from the Third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki. After the end of the third Grail War, an organization from the United States that has magi separate from the London-based Mage Association as members took data from Fuyuki’s Grail War and planned their own ritual. After seventy years, they used the city Snowfield as the Sacred Land for their own Grail War. They were unable to successfully copy every aspect of the ritual, which led to it acting only as an imitation that has lost the Saber class and allowed for the summoning of strange Servants due to the definition of a “hero” being blurred.
The Mage’s Association has sent Langal and his pupil, Faldeus, to investigate the city and the status of the war. Faldeus, a spy from the US organization, has Langal sniped upon arrival, despite knowing that Langal was simply a puppet. He announces that their Holy Grail War has been in development and that it is real, which causes an uproar at the Clock Tower, and wishes to “advertise” the project to the Association.