Crunchyroll Will Stream ‘Fate/strange Fake’ Episode 1 for Free for a Limited Time, and Here Is What We Know About Episode 2

The main focus of Type-Moon’s Fate series is the Holy Grail Wars, which are battles for the Holy Grail between Masters (talented wizards) and Servants (incarnations of called-upon heroic spirits). The series was developed under the artistic supervision of Takashi Takeuchi and guided by Kinoko Nasu.

The visual novel Fate/Stay Night served as the inspiration for the franchise, which includes prequels, sequels, parodies, and adaptations, all connected by the prefix “Fate.” Due to its enormous popularity, the franchise has spawned numerous well-known anime adaptations and developed into successful video games.

The anime adaptation is the most famous iteration of the original works, and we are happy to report that a new addition to the anime canon is coming later this year. There is also a free surprise for all the lucky viewers who are inside the region-locked release of the free episode of the latest Fate anime series, Fate/strange Fake.

Crunchyroll is currently the main anime distributor in the West, and while some other streaming services managed to steal away some major titles from them, they remain the best and most trusted source of anime for Western viewers.

In light of that, it is natural that the Fate series is distributed by them, which also means that the upcoming Fate/strange Fake anime is going to be available on their service.

Episode 0 of the upcoming anime, “Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn,” premiered back on July 2, 2023. The first episode of the series will officially be released on December 31, 2024, but before that, it had its premiere on November 23, 2024, in Hollywood, which is where the lucky attendees were able to see the episode, titled “The Heroic Spirit Incident.” But, that’s not all!

Namely, Crunchyroll decided to release the first episode for free on its YouTube channel and this is where you can watch it as of the time of writing. Here is the link:

In case the video is not opening for you, well, we can confirm that there are three catches here.

First, the video is region-locked, so if you’re not inside the approved regions, you won’t be able to see it legally. Sorry. Secondly, this is the dubbed version of Episode 1, so if you’re not a fan of dubs, this might not be such a bad thing for you, but if you are… well… you know. Thirdly, the episode will remain online for a week, after which it will be taken down.

As said, the Japanese version will be released on December 31 and we assume that the anime will continue airing on a weekly basis after that date. As for Fate/strange Fake, it is based on Ryogo Narita’s light novel series that actually began as an April Fool’s prank.

The original story, “Fake/states night,” was released on April 1, 2008. The prank was later removed but was re-released in the form of a novel and is still being published since 2015. There are nine volumes as of the time of writing this.

The anime will adapt the story, whose official synopsis reveals the following information:

Fate/strange Fake takes place around 2009. The plot 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 “hero” being blurred.

Alongside the information we provided, a new character poster was also released:

As for the cast and crew, here are the known crew members for you:

• Director: Shun Enokido 
• Director: Takahito Sakazume 
• Character designer: Yukei Yamada 
• Series composer: Daisuke Ohigashi 
• Art director: Kusanagi’s Ayu Kawamoto (Digimon Adventure 02: The Beginning)
• Compositing director: Youhei Miyawaki 
• Color designer: Takahiro Mogi 
• CG director: Graphinica’s Shinichi Miyakaze (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury)
• Music composer: Hiroyuki Sawano 
• Sound director: Masanori Tsuchiya 
• Sound effects: Yasumasa Koyama 
• Animation production: A-1 Pictures 

And also the cast members:

• Kana Hanazawa as Ayaka Sajyou
• Yuki Ono as Saber
• Sumire Morohoshi as Tiné Chelc
• Tomokazu Seki as Archer
• Yu Kobayashi as Lancer
• Lynn as Assassin
• Tatsumaru Tachibana as Jester Karture
• Kenyu Horiuchi as Berserker
• Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Flat Escardos
• Daisuke Namikawa as Lord El-Melloi II
• Shotaro Morikubo as Caster
• Wataru Hatano as Orlando Reeve
• Maya Uchida as Francesca Prelati

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!

Liked this article? Join us on Reddit for the latest Marvel & DC news!