YMMV / Fate/strange Fake

• Adorkable: Flat's ditziness and enthusiasm make him very endearing.
• Awesome Music:
  • To accompany the novels' animated trailer, Fate/strange Fake received its own original theme song, "BELONG", written by Hiroyuki Sawano. It's one of the most uplifting vocal songs in the Fate Series with a fist-pumping chorus, intense guitar work, and Yosh's exhilarating vocals. The song really gives off the impression that one of the most epic Holy Grail Wars in Fate history is about to begin.
  • For the summer 2023 anime special, the theme song "FAKEit," also written by Hiroyuki Sawano and performed by Laco, carries an American feel (since Snowfield is in the state of Nevada) with a bit of rapping. The lyrics seems as if the song is unraveling the deception of the Fake Grail War, yet also encouraging on the False Servants.
  • "THE COIL" is a rap calling for Orlando's Clan Calatin to muster all their might for the sake of their Chief's justice.
  • How do you signal the major case of Serial Escalation that will ensue with this upcoming war? Why, with "BITE DOWN" of course, an intensely badass metal-rap jam, as the first proper battle of the False Holy Grail War begins, with Gilgamesh and Enkidu, for the first time in the entire Fate franchise, go all out. Under the sheer weight of their incomprehensible power, the heavens shook, the earth trembled, and all who looked upon this terrible wonder did so with awe and reverence. But for Gil and Enkidu, it was Tuesday.
• Common Knowledge: There's a persistent idea in the Fate fandom that Narita doesn't want any strange Fake characters showing up in the Nasuverse's Massive Multiplayer Crossover, Fate/Grand Order, until he's finished the novels, and was unhappy with Enkidu showing up there. While he's ruled out a strange Fake collab until the novels are done, as it would be difficult on both sides, he has no problem with strange Fake characters showing up in FGO before then.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Flat Escardos is pretty much THE most popular non-recurring^note i.e. not Gilgamesh, Zelretch, El-Melloi II, arguably Enkidu, etc character in Fate/strange Fake, thanks to his sunny disposition and refreshingly relaxed relationship with his Servant. He even had a cameo in the first episode of the Fate/Apocrypha anime!
  • True Archer has been the most popular of the new Servants, aside from possibly Enkidu, ever since his introduction in volume 2 which has him fight Gilgamesh head-on and basically make a fool of him. His popularity's only gotten higher when volume 3 revealed that he is a form of the long-awaited Archer Heracles.
  • False Berserker has a following among those who dislike Assassin of Black, because they're a much Truer to the Text version of Jack the Ripper (and even gives an indirect Take That! towards their Assassin counterpart at one point).
• Epileptic Trees: There's actually a rather prevalent theory about Watcher in Japan. It goes like this: When Sigma told Faldeus that his servant is Lancer Charlie Chaplin, he was actually being subconsciously influenced by his servant to reveal his true identity. Chaplin can take on multiple appearances because he's an actor, and he had a long conflict with the FBI when he was alive eventually leading him to being evicted from the US, which made J Edgar Hoover (Who is kinda sorta confirmed to be Learning with Manga!'s Assassin) his archnemesis. So he lied about falling under the Watcher class as maybe part of an elaborate revenge scheme against the States/FBI/Gudassassin's currently working agents. Some people also theorize that this is the reason that DelightWorks doesn't want to put Gudassassin in Fate/Grand Order yet, as they either don't want to acknowledge the theory or don't want to give something majorly relative to the story away.
• Fan Nickname: Faldeus has become known as Faildeus in some circles, due to his hilariously poor track record as the supposed mastermind of the war.
• Ho Yay: The bond between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is so strong that they can sense each other's presence◊ even when they are a whole country's distance apart.
  • In the light novel, Gilgamesh is the kind of Crazy Jealous Guy that would chase off anyone Enkidu tried making friends or ally with with ridiculously high demands in order to prove themselves worthy of knowing them. If Saber were to fail, according to Enkidu, Gilgamesh would likely kill him on the spot as he'd be a "thief with an eye on his treasure". Anyone even attempting to know his friend seems to earn Gil's ire, as Enkidu warns Saber to just hide somewhere safe if he didn't seem capable of fighting Gilgamesh.
• Mind Game Ship: Jester gets very excited about both Assassin's beauty and the idea of crushing her faith.
• Moral Event Horizon: See here.
• Shocking Moments: How about that one moment where True Rider interrupts an epic battle between Gilgamesh and True Archer by essentially showing up out of nowhere and punching the latter SO HARD he flies into a mountain which then proceeds to spontaneously ERUPT upon the impact? And if that is what happens in just the second volume, then one has to wonder what future parts have in store...
• Trans Audience Interpretation: Jester Karture is interpreted as a trans man by some fans as his original form was that of a girl named Dorothea, but all the bodies he primarily uses are men with no seeming interest in female bodies. He goes to great lengths to hide his original name in favor of Jester and only shows unbridled hostility to anyone who mentions it.
• The Woobie:
  • No Name Assassin had it rough. She was so devoted to her faith that she never saw any faults in others (despite their clear resentment, mistrust, and anger at her actions) and only despised herself (and heathens) for not being pious enough, despite being what was called a "religious fanatic" or a zealot. The idea that she never blamed anyone but herself for her ideals, treatment, and eventual summoning by the Grail (which she is repulsed by as it denies her faith) is heartbreaking.
  • The story of the Master of False Rider, little Tsubaki Kuruoka, is quite simply heartbreaking. Strung along by the callous appearance of love and devotion from her parents: who only ever saw her as their prized test subject to create a great magus. Poor kid was infected by magical bacteria that left her comatose and wandering alone in a dream world for years. She’s been comatose for so long that most of the hospital staff has given up on her recovery (aside from Dr. Amelia Levitt) and her parents couldn’t care less since her condition won’t keep her from developing a womb and giving birth to children that they can make use of instead. All the while, she’s left to cry because she’s lonely, and believes she’s failing her disgusting excuses for parents. She finally finds a companion in False Rider, who is devoted to protecting her and making her happy, but is still a living personification of disease and death with no sense of right and wrong and her position as a Master leads so many people to pursue her. It’s frankly a miracle she’s still as cheerful and innocent as she is.

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