Winter 2026 Anime Pick: Fate/strange Fake

Happy New Year.
I look forward to your continued support for me and my articles this year.
Well, normally this would be the time to post my winter anime watchlist, but...

• Golden Kamuy: Final Chapter

• Hell Teacher Nube: 2nd Cour

• Jujutsu Kaisen: Culling Game Part 1

• Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Season 2

• TRIGUN STARGAZE

• Vigilante: My Hero Academia Illegals Season 2

• Tis Time for "Torture," Princess Season 2

• Medalist Season 2

I'm the type who focuses too much on sequels to existing IPs I want to watch.
Well, it's just a lineup that makes exploring new things feel like too much of a hassle, heh heh.
I'll wait and see on Oshi no Ko Season 3 until it's adapted in a good direction.
Alright, let's change the plan and pick up that one anime I've been waiting forever to see get a series.
Let me introduce it: Fate/strange Fake.

The Fate series unfolds as a story centered on mages and the Heroic Spirits—Servants—they summon.
This work, Fate/strange Fake (hereafter Fake), is based on an incident that should be called a "False Holy Grail War" set in Snowfield, America.
The original author is Ryohgo Narita, who is well-regarded for his ensemble dramas such as the Baccano! series and Durarara!!.

Originally, it was a Fate fan fiction that the author published exclusively for April Fool's Day in 2008, but as expected, it was discovered by the official side, and it began when it was revised and published in the inaugural issue of TYPE-MOON Ace in 2009.
Just tracing the source material back, it's 18 years old. Isn't that amazing?
There was little news after that and it was thought to have been cancelled, but in 2015, a surprising simultaneous development of a novel and manga began.
To date, 9 volumes of the novel have been released, but it remains unfinished.
According to rumors, it will conclude this year, so it might have been good timing to restart the anime.

Well, as for that anime, the TV special equivalent to episode 0 was scheduled to premiere during the 2022 Fate New Year's Eve Special but was delayed until July 2023, and the advance screening of episode 1 wasn't until New Year's Eve 2024, so we were kept waiting quite a while, heh heh.

Now, what I want to focus on in Fake are the Servants who haven't had exposure in FGO and the Masters who are all quite eccentric.
Setting aside Gilgamesh, the King of Arrogance who appears frequently in past series, the only Fake Servants who have appeared in FGO are Gil's best friend Enkidu and Richard I, who was implemented as a New Year's Servant last year.
In particular, Richard I was implemented suddenly and only appeared in minor roles in events, so a year has passed without the Fake collaboration event (tentative) where he was supposed to play a main role ever happening.
To be frank, Richard I falls into the category of an interesting guy.
From the start, he's a suspicious person who thinks he's King Arthur.
Well, given that he knows those connected to Hassan, he's a different person from the original, though.

Besides those three, a super-sexy Assassin calling herself Hassan, a Berserker (Watcher) calling himself Jack the Ripper, a Caster whose danger is glimpsed just by his voice, and a mysterious Rider who still hides in the shadows support the False Holy Grail War.

There are many types of Masters, but as a long-time Type-Moon fan, I can't help but be curious about the protagonist, Ayaka Sajyou.
Her name and appearance are similar to the protagonist of Fate/Prototype, where a male King Arthur exists, so I suspect there's something going on.
I'm very curious about things like why she dyed her hair blonde.

With that said, from episode 2 onwards, it's uncharted territory.
I'm curious to see how far they'll advance the story.