Fate/strange Fake - Episode 5 discussion

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Should i watch this episode at night or at noon?

And so many introductions are had today, most importantly of all Sigma. As Narita mentioned in his live tweets today, while Narita’s works are of course ensemble casts, he can be considered one of the “Protagonist Factions”. He’s apparently about Faldeus’s age, or even older, despite his young appearance making him look like a teenager.

Also he is in fact related to “That Person” from Fate/Zero, although his brief mention in Zero was cut out of the anime.

Narita even asked Urobuchi for permission to use him!

oh my god they mudded Herc again, those bastards!

Great Episode

Imagine what it could've been if we actually get a proper Archer Herc and not the aura merchant we have here

This makes a total of 4 Servants who killed or attempted to kill their Masters so far.

Bazdilot doing the reversal with the "Are you my Servant" line with no Command seals is some serious aurafarming.

You dawg, I heard you like characters. So 6 episodes in, we're giving you more characters!

Franescea is pretty cool eh,
Calls [someone](https://www.inside-games.jp/imgs/zoom/1148381.jpg) a "Scar red" (Dirty red), gets murdered several times over and doesn't afraid of everything.

Cordelion is pretty cool eh,
Sacrifices over 24,000 people, uses them as mana batteries powering a Servant, and doesn't afraid of everything.

Man, [Gil is in such great mood I'm starting to get worried LOL](https://i.imgur.com/XBApxGZ.mp4)

We get Archer Heracles in all his 2 minutes of glory before his evil Master muds and alterizes him. God he was so beautiful. Not like his hulkier version.

They did change the ED! I love how it ends with "gas explosions". Also, Assassin getting along with Tine while smacking Jester away.

FYI, it seems Crunchyroll was releasing incomplete episodes due to dubbing constraints. Amazon has the finished ones.

Did Francesca just summon herself? lol

All 3 summonings from this episode have different methods of doing it.

Hearing Maaya Uchida as Francesca is such a treat to my ears. That gremlin energy is too compelling to pass up on.

Touko aozaki, what a mage you are.

Francesca giving off crazy selfcest energy. Definitely seems the type to love herself.

What all should I watch before watching this? I started the 1 st but did understand anything.

this is the reason why you need to watch FSN trilogy and F/Z before this series. You wont know what that mud is

Enter: a child soldier (Gakuto Kajiwara)! Turned into a ruthless, efficient, killing machine from a young age until he could kill like any good mage soldier should! On the auspices of reuniting with his mother, though frankly it seems like he stopped caring (if he ever did) to the point where finding out she died in Japan did nothing for him.

But then he met a shota with a very familiar set of eyes and white hair, and was recruited to eventually serve, in the present-day, as part of Francesca and Faldeous' plans. He is to become a true Master, and Francesca is giving him the freedom to do WHATEVER he wants. Because he is a soldier, older than his looks, who has nothing and wants for nothing and no desire to do anything more than fulfill orders. What kind of Servant will he summon in this Holy Grail War? Especially without even a catalyst?

Turns out the Servant he would summon is...himself! With the ghost of several other Servants voiced by top tier seiyuu floating around him. We've got Pirate Naoya Uchida! Yoko Hikasa as Amelia Earhart (?), Shoya Chiba, Ryota Suzuki, I think I heard Yuko Kaida or Akeno Watanabe in there as the Crusades boy...seems like this guy has become True Lancer, and will go on a heroic journey to gain an identity as a Hero and help solve this fake Grail War under the auspices of The Watcher.

Badzilot (Kenta Miyake!) is a CEO/mafioso who is absolute, uncompromising, evil...so of course HE is the one who summons Heracles in his full Heroic state awaiting his first new labor. And Badzilot uses ALL his Command Seals and some dark Grail mud to erase the heroic nature of Heracles, to deprive him of the "pretense" of being a Hero, to inflict the dark and cynicism of humanity into him. And thus do we get Aclides and Badzilot turning the usual Servant phrase on its head...because Aclides is HIS Servant.

And of course Aclides, in his current state, only cares about avenging himself from the Gods and erasing all trace of the name "Heracles" from the world. Even if that means going along with Badzilot and the thousands of people he's killed to gain enough magic crystals to empower Aclides through this entire fight. Jeez.

Francesca has been killed/erased by people so many times that it's no big whoop for her, let alone something she would hold a grudge over to the point where she wouldn't work for a former enemy like the US. Even her and Faldeous, while ostensibly aligned in their shared desire to tear the current world of magic, are ultimately just rivals in this Holy Grail War. The only person Francesca is truly allied with is her Servant, True Caster (?), who is none other than herself...or himself, because it's her former Shota body Francois. Now the two are linked together in a shared desire to win and watch the world burn.

Flat could wax on for hours about how great Waver is...but he and Berserker have to deal with the mist overflowing Snowfield. This will not end well.

Looks like True Lancer's first heroic trial will be battling Assassin. He just HAD to bring up her "master." Although what's Ayaka doing there!? Though now Saber can have a rematch.

New Strange Fake Phantasm ending! Featuring everyone partying, from the pool, to the slots, to the drinks! Best part is Ayaka in a swimsuit and Saber FINALLY making her smile! And it all blows up, which I'm sure isn't an allegory for something.

herc's transformation into alcides was brutal to watch, holy hell

the [digital spark-like](https://imgur.com/a/Oez1IWP) effects they put on heracles was really cool, and the comp on [the transformation scene itself](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/299177) really sold the feeling of herc being like corrupted

I am so lost. Lol I'm done trying to figure this out..just gonna enjoy the ride.

That foot shot of Assassin was absolutely necessary.

Assassin has been doing all that hopping around barefoot, that's kinda nuts

Scar Red can only refer to Touko Aozaki, a veteran with multiple Type-Moon appearances, most notably in anime as Kara no Kyoukai, Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II, and a brief cameo in Heaven's Feel. Killing Francesca less than 3 years ago would put that after any of her previous appearances in Fate.

Ah yeah when it wasn't fucked up enough welcome the wildest servant idea so far:

The fucking sky whale (That has a sword)

The new version of the ED is so good. Richard won't have fun without Ayaka lmaoo

That scene with Francesca and the clapping hands, and then the instant cut of them bursting into flames and screaming was so good.

You know that's a smart way to use a corrupted grail. They used the original one corrupted in Fuyuki as a primer or prelude to manifest a new uncorrupted grail and use that template to summon new servants. Still, corrupting even just one servant from the "true" batch is quite counter intuitive, oh well there's no true Lancer anyway so I don't think even the Grail can grant wishes properly, even if they all duke it out.

Had they had El-Melloi's expertise the ritual would've gone a different way. It's a different kind of way getting grail than the one used by Darnic in the Apocrypha timeline too and that guy had a ton of grail wars to get data yet they couldn't turn the 3rd magic into magecraft(if I remember correctly the only timeline that was able to do that was on Extraverse, but that's because of the Alien supercomputer that doesn't exist in other timelines)

Also certain Watcher shadows [spoilers from FGO]>!have the same VA as their servant counterparts. I thought they would've chosen different VA's too.!<

So as an anime only, I have some thoughts— note I have seen Fate Zero, FSN, Unlimited BW & Heavens Feel as well as some amount of Grand Order.

I really hope that this child soldier boy turns out to be related to someone from Fate Zero because it certainly seems like his lineage is relevant, I am just hoping it doesn’t turn out to be some red herring that is never addressed. LOVE when they connect it back to the original stuff in obvious ways.

Speaking of, I know people are saying ‘introducing characters in episode 5 is crazy work’ but for a show that has so many characters and is clearly meant to be at minimum 25 episodes, I do not think that’s really a concern it’s really more a feature of this show. What an insane cast.


I cannot explain enough how AMAZING I think the Scradio Mafia family storyline is. Just because this is an American holy grail war and the idea the mafia is using the bodies to create Magical Energy is frankly just really good writing.


The Francesca summoning herself thing is absolutely NOT something I saw coming— does that mean she is effectively a Servant herself? Her Team has the Magical Energy of two servants?!


Seriously the power levels of these Servant/Master combinations is absurdddddd

Ayaka once again be like "I'm not even supposed to be here today!".

I felt so sad watching Heracles becoming corrupted, poor Hipollyta she could have had a rematch against him had he been summoned by  someone else.


I wonder how Watcher will make Sigma lancer? Since those shadows does not have any abilities whatsoever does that mean that Watcher will awaken "something" within Sigma?

All the servants revealed so far are:

True Holy Grail War Servants:

**Saber**: Richard I or Richard of Lionheart (Ayaka's Servant)

**Archer**(Avenger?) - Alcides (Bazdilot Cordelion's Servant)

**Lancer** \- Soo a lancer was not summoned, instead it is a watcher class(?) servant, and child soldier will eventually be true lancer?

**Caster** \- François Prelati (Francesca Prelati's servant)

**Rider** \- Hippolyta (Queen of the Amazons, killed by Heracles) (Master Unknown)

**Assassin** \- Looks like an even scarier hassan (Faldeus' Servant)

**Berserker** \- ??? (did I miss this or has it not been revealed yet?)

Fake Holy Grail War Servants:

**Archer:** Gilgamesh (Tiné Chelc's Servant)

**Lancer**: Enkidu (White Wolf's Servant)

**Rider**: black thing that spreads disease (Tsubaki's Servant, the girl from the hospital)

**Assassin:** Female Hassan (Jester Karture's Servant)

**Caster:** Red Checkered Teeth Guy (Orlando's servant)

**Berserker:** Jack the Ripper (Flat's Servant)

**Random Thoughts:**

Almost all servants have been revealed so far, with only true berserker and fake rider's identity not revealed yet.

also Atrum Galliasta was caster's first master from fate stay/night. Definitely feels like watching other fate series would improve the watching experience due to amount of cameos.

I first thought François Prelati was the master of gawain in fate extra, I guess only their hairstyle looked the same lol.

Justice for heracles, can we please have the normal version of him.

\[Fate/Stay Night Spoiler\] >!So does francesca summoning Francois similar to if Shirou summoning Emiya archer instead?!<

The ED is absolutely incredible. I need to rewatch it over and over, there's so much going on.

I cannot believe I ended up being right about Francesca being a Servant after the reveal of her being a Master. Them being both a Master and Servant of themselves is so cool!

I had a suspicion from the op that Francesca's Servant would be herself or her twin. Turns out I was right xD

So if I’m understanding things correctly, the servant who’d been summoned by Francesca is… herself?

I did not know about this possibility. Apparently, she’s quite a famous personality. But how does this actually work? Since she presumably cannot split up her soul, she must’ve summoned the Francois Prelati known from stories.

With lots of Francesca, this was obviously (another) great episode. Cannot get enough of her unhinged behaviour.

- [So simple…](https://i.imgur.com/lIcs6X5.png)

- [Hooboy…](https://i.imgur.com/PwFclpD.png)

- [Only *shadows* of the Heroic Spirit…?](https://i.imgur.com/0kxReum.png) [](#morethanonewaifu)

- [Ooh, interesting…](https://i.imgur.com/vHEP5Tm.png)

- [Concerning.](https://i.imgur.com/1LPPxPr.png) [](#sakurathink)

- So that’s how Heracles got turned into the Alcides monstrosity we saw fighting last week. [](#emiliaohdear)

- [Ah.](https://i.imgur.com/LTzpjLh.png) [](#wakarimasu)

- […well *damn*.](https://i.imgur.com/Au3BnMY.png) [](#whatdidijustread)

- [Oh this just got *really* interesting.](https://i.imgur.com/pfnQNc7.png) [](#concealedexcitement)

- [Uh-oh.](https://i.imgur.com/OiiG00h.png) [](#emiliaohdear)

- Ooh, new visuals for the ED! [](#neat)

Holy shit are there no breaks for this holy grail war? Every fucking hour theres always action happening lmao I mean there are 13 servant/masters in this war what did I expect like goddamn even some Masters themselves are joining the battle while also including the police chief forces, the overseer/executor and maybe even forces from the government! all of them are looking for the fade!

So, fun fact for those familiar with Fate Zero. The caster there, Gilles de Rais, used the Noble Phantasm "Prelati's Spellbook". This book is an NP Gilles received through his association with Francois Prelati, an alchemist in his service. From the Fate Zero animation visual guide

"Made with a cover of human skin, it is said to be a grimoire containing forbidden knowledge of ancient evil gods. The spellbook held by Caster is an Italian translation created by François Prelati. The original is said to have been written in Chinese during the Xia Dynasty."

So Francois Prelati here is the same one who had the association with that guy and was very much associated with the type of shit he was doing in Zero for people unfamiliar with the legends about the guy.

[The child soldier is a very interesting character!](https://i.imgur.com/7GDcWTP.jpeg) He's pretty much Francesa's experiment just to see what kind of servant [someone who doesn't want or have anything](https://i.imgur.com/RaW3dWN.jpeg) will summon and what the actual fuck! The kid ended up summoning an Extra Class I haven't even heard about! As for the identity of this Watcher and its Shadows, I think it's pretty easy to guess their identity based on visual clues.

* [Shadow #1](https://i.imgur.com/GS5myjz.jpeg) - A man with a white pegleg and calls himself Captain? This dude is clearly Captain Ahab.

* [Shadow #2](https://i.imgur.com/F5h16wx.jpeg) - Someone who looks like they're from Ancient Greece and has a wing? Probably Icarus.

* [Shadow #3](https://i.imgur.com/fp3ggJc.jpeg) - A kid with a snake staff and white hair? This one is definitely Child Asclepius.

* [Shadow #4](https://i.imgur.com/Q1y7oR9.jpeg), [Shadow #5](https://i.imgur.com/n1vqJx9.jpeg), & [Shadow #6](https://i.imgur.com/5M7Omuz.jpeg)- Not sure who these three are, but I think I the Samurai might be [FGO & FSR]>!PHH Musashi!<?

* [Shadow #7](https://i.imgur.com/ii7RrWz.jpeg) - A woman with strong aviation theme? My immediate guess is Amelia Earhart.

As for the Watcher itself, I think this one is obvious, considering who the Captain is. This one has got to be Moby Dick. Like, come on! [It's a big fucking flying white whale!](https://i.imgur.com/eOm0Uxc.jpeg) What other famous whale do we have in literature? I think the connection among these Shadows is that they all fell to ***hubris***, aka their White Whale. What a fucking cool idea for a servant!

So we have [a mob boss Master](https://i.imgur.com/XCIiYWk.jpeg) and he's the one who summoned [Archer Herc](https://i.imgur.com/cxfln4r.jpeg) and immediately uses all of his Command Seals to taint him with Grail Mud? WHAT THE FUCK! At least we have an explanation [for why he's an Avenger now](https://i.imgur.com/gv4Lr2d.jpeg) and why he didn't even hesitate to try to kill Tine. >_<

Also, I'd like to note that in one of Herc's memories was definitely [Jason telling him he won't be a monster when they're together. ](https://i.imgur.com/FyvtIMv.jpeg)

[I'm sorry, but what the actual fuck?](https://i.imgur.com/5kd4h1U.jpeg) Francesca's servant is herself? WHAT?! How is that even possible? Did he summon himself? I have so many fucking questions right now. O_O

[I'm curious what's going on with this hospitalized Master, tho](https://i.imgur.com/7JnC97C.jpeg) and how she's also [awake with her servant at the same time.](https://i.imgur.com/vuRbFR5.jpeg) What the fuck is even her Servant? People weren't kidding about the "Strange" part of this series' title!

[So we have Richard saving the child soldier from Assassin?](https://i.imgur.com/mGbRdXq.jpeg) Looks like this might lead to some alliances. Why were Ayaka and Richard there in the first place?

[**THE NEW ED IS SO FREAKIN' CUTE!**](https://i.imgur.com/QFRUZxS.jpeg) So is the first one just a placeholder, and this is the actual ED? Or are we gonna get new EDs like every four episodes? I really love how the ED keeps leaning hard into Carnival Phantasm vibes. xD

The Watcher reveal was so sick holy shit.

I loved the vocal OST during the Francesca/Francois scene so much, can't wait for it to be released. Also she's so hot.

20ish years into Fate lore and I can actually follow this anime

You can always expect from the Americans to create the biggest clusterfuck in history. They never like to make things small, lol.

Oh god i thought Faldeus summoned the creepiest shit, Tsubaki little girl the heck did you summon.

"I am watcher and I have been summoned because things have gotten a little out of hand"

Really? Who could have guessed? You have Jack the Ripper and Richard the Lionheart fighting several actual demigods, Francesca summoning theirself, and some weird ghost plague demon. The Holy Grail's power scaling is whack. You'd think there'd be some kind of mechanism to put everyone on the same level vs a literal gacha system

[removed]

Bro this is getting out of hands and we are way too far from just archers using swords as projectiles !!

we have :

\-A girl who have no idea of what's going on (like me) who summuned a EX level extroverted saber
\-A doggie who summuned a lancer who has no lance lol
\-A small girl who summuned some kind of disease being ??? as a rider ???
\-A vampire who summuned an actual assassin but the assassin refused to work for him so she left lol and is now attacking any other potentiel master/servant
\-A golden retriver who wanna be friend with a battle royal participants and who summuned one of the craziest and mysterious british criminals that can shapeshift as he likes
\-A mafia boss guy who used all the magic Shenanigans to summun and turn poor heracles intos an alter version of himself let's call him avenger and not archer because why not
\-A caster who summuned himself like what ????
\-And then a guy who summuned a whale with like 7 other people with it who are a new class called watcher ??? and they want the master to become the lancer even though he has no lance and thats like the smallest problem we have lol