Score: A-

We got a pretty good taste of what Fate/strange Fake is cooking with this first look at that setting. In some ways it was a chaotic event with a good deal of people being killed, betrayed, or put through some extreme circumstances. Then of course you have someone like Flat blissfully making his way through all of this because it just seemed so darn exciting. Of course, if he’s interested in a thrilling time then I think he made the right call. This has the feel of a situation that could spiral even harder into chaos as time goes on. And part of that seems utterly intentional.

Assassin has a real fan

Never has summoning a servant felt like such a terrifying concept. I won’t say Masters haven’t gotten killed by their own servants or relatively soon after summoning before. But this one felt like a highlight pack of slaughter. Maybe part of it is because we got to see so many Masters meeting their servants in a relatively short period of time. This just showed how deadly the whole affair is even before people start trying to kill each other for the Grail. If one guy wasn’t clearly non-human then the body count would have been even higher!

While the Master seems utterly insane, that Assassin is no joke either. She just went around killing her own master and everyone else in proximity despite how much of a drain that would do after she seemingly killed her master. The whole concept of this grail war was so utterly brutal that she was immediately set to start killing anyone in sight. One would think she’s a Hassan of sorts, but will have to wait and see there.

Curious how things will play out for this girl

I think one of the more interesting Master situations is the girl who is obviously…not well. It makes me think of another Master in the Fate franchise who had a relatively similar situation going for her. No question that she ended up a Master and her servant…did some things. Considering we saw the bruises(?) forming on her father’s arm I don’t think he and his wife are still alive. Her servant is still undefined but clearly it is deadly. Presumably it is what Enkidu and Gilgamesh were talking about when their “fight” was forced to be cut short. A curse of death doesn’t sound super friendly. But if she’s basically dying then it wouldn’t be all that surprising for her servant to reflect that.

Of course, not much sympathy to be had for her parents. They are mages though and in that setting things can be cruel. The only thing they were particularly happy about regarding her condition was that her reproduction organs were good. So obviously all they cared about was making sure their daughter could be forced to get pregnant and give birth to continue their line. I do get why that matters so much to them…but it’s still awful.

Certainly has style going for him

Might as well tackle the situation of Gilgamesh. Will be honest in saying that I’ve generally disliked him across the franchise. Mostly since…he’s been evil for much of it! Though I suppose there is no avoiding having to distinguish between Gilgamesh depending on time and circumstance. There are negative elements that remain consistent throughout, but he can be better or worse depending on what version of him you are talking about. This one is probably closer to his Fate/Zero incarnation which makes sense. It’s not as mature or wise as his Kingly version from FGO Babylonia, but not as blatantly evil as standard FSN.

I still somewhat expect Gilgamesh to get killed relatively early in this war just because he is the most obvious target for anyone to go after if they want any hope of winning. But through this one he makes it through just fine. It is somewhat nice that despite the attitude he is looking after his master. Tiné seems like a good girl overall. Not one to be underestimated in her arena, but still a kid in the end. She’s taken on a lot of responsibility and goodness knows trying to handle Gilgamesh is a serious task. She must find the fight balance or he’s liable to get bored and turn on her.

They sure made a mess

No question that the Enkidu and Gilgamesh skirmish was the big show here. Not that these two have had many opportunities to clash in Fate itself. But this has a different feel from one of the only other occasions I’ve seen. And that’s mostly due to Enkidu truly being himself and Gilgamesh being at one of the most powerful points in his life. There wasn’t exactly much holding back with both gladly throwing their best attacks at the other. No shock from two extremely old friends. That friendship never would have formed if they weren’t both willing and able to lob attacks at each other without a hint of concern. In a way it is nice to see those little moments between them even if I still don’t really like Gilgamesh.

Such is the life of Waver

My condolences go out to Waver. No question he felt a temptation to get out there and try to summon Iskandar. But that kind of pull was kind of covered in his own show so no need to tackle it here. Now he’s got a headache of a situation with Flat having made his way into the middle of this war! That kid is clearly incredibly capable in terms of his abilities and is a total dunce. Raced out there with something that was clearly not a real catalyst and…the results speak for themselves.

I will say the concept of Jack the Ripper remains interesting. It makes sense that this individual can show up in any number of forms due to the mystery that is Jack the Ripper. Whether we’re talking the Jack from Fate/Apocrypha or this Jack they are both equally legitimate. I can get that this version simply wants the Grail to try and discover more about himself. His Master is arguably more of a crazy berserker than he himself is, but I guess they’ll find a way to make it work. I do wonder how capable this version is in combat though.

The show will be interesting

There is so much going on in this thing that I could talk about it for a lot longer. But with a tv anime announced recently there’s time to always tackle it then. I am curious to see how all the various forces and factors come into play. After all Enkidu’s master is basically a canine chimera. We have a master that was/is currently hospitalized…Flat, crazy “I have a firing squad” guy, and of course Mr. “Justice” the police chief. I have no idea how all these factors are going to come together. The character that appears to be set as a protagonist (who knows) barely showed up at the end and made me feel bad for her servant whoever she is. I fully expect Fate/strange Fake to be good when it does air, but I hope they handle it carefully.