Fate/strange Fake

Episode 4

This week, we dive full steam into the chaos of this Holy Grail War with our first non-one-on-one battle. It first begins as a clash between Gilgamesh and Alcides, the False and True archers of this twisted Holy Grail War.

Of course, this is far from the first time these two have clashed. Back in Unlimited Blade Works, the two fight with Gilgamesh coming out on top. Moreover, Gilgamesh's victory in that anime was because he targeted Illya, forcing the then Heracles to take all the hits aimed at her until finally falling before the infinite amount of weapons.

In this battle, we get the opposite. The opening surprise attack, while seemingly aimed at Gilgamesh at first, was almost certainly aimed at Tiné in hindsight—something that Gilgamesh himself realizes, hence his taking her along on his airship. Shortly after, Alcides attempts the kill shot on Tiné again, and we get to see that not only does Gilgamesh know he's a hypocrite, but also that he believes it's okay to be one because of who and what he is.

Their battle is interrupted by the arrival of True Rider, Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. With her, we get a different motive for fighting. Both Gilgamesh and Alcides are fighting for the Grail. However, that is not why Hippolyta is intervening in their fight. She's fighting for personal reasons.

The fact of the matter is that, while he may have killed her in their first lives, she respected him as both a hero and a warrior. She could accept her death at his hands because of this fact. However, seeing the lauded hero Heracles try to kill a young girl is abhorrent to her. It spits in the face of his legend and her own life in the process.

However, the fact that he would do a thing so antithetical to who he was in life is just the first hint that there is something very wrong with Alcides. The others are the fact that he seems to be able to summon something akin to the Holy Grail Mud that corrupted Heracles in the Heaven's Feel movies and that Francesca refers to him not as True Archer but as Avenger—a non-standard class in the Holy Grail Wars for those consumed by their need for vengeance.

The battle ends when Francesca's servant, whose class we don't know yet, intervenes and traps the servants in an illusion. While they all seem to be able to see through it on various levels, none want to continue the fight on such uncertain ground and so retreat.

The B-plot of this episode, on the other hand, is a much more lighthearted story about what Ayaka and Saber are up to—basically an all-night jam session in a small nightclub. While silly on its surface, it serves as a chance for us to get to know a bit more about both Saber and what he can do. He explains that the voices he's talking to are, in fact, other Heroic Spirits responding to his call—from this, we can assume that the two we've seen him talk to so far are Pierre Basile and Robin of Loxley.

Of course, this all but outright states his True Name, which bothers Ayaka. While she has all kinds of reasons why she shouldn't be told such information, it all boils down to a lack of self-esteem. Regardless of anything else, she doesn't see herself as worthy of being a Master, especially to someone like Saber.

But what she doesn't realize is that he already sees her, a person with a kind heart, as more than worthy of being his Master. After all, neither of them is after the Grail and its wish. And as she's in danger because of her connection to him, he's willing to do what it takes to make sure she survives the next few days. And so he reveals himself as King Richard the Lionheart.

Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• Can I just say I love that they got Tadahisa Saizen to be the voice of Alcides? Oh sure, he's been voicing Heracles in Fate from the start, but his “spoken lines” have almost entirely been nothing but grunts and screams.

• Alcides refers to Hippolyta as the “Queen of Betrayal” because in the original legend, Hercules and Hippolyta had worked out a deal. However, Hera disguised herself as an Amazon and convinced them to attack Hercules. In the resulting battle, Hippolyta came to the aid of her fellow warriors, battled Hercules, and was killed.

• Gee, Hippolyta, that hairstyle sure does look familiar.

• Apparently, Crunchyroll aired the pre-release version of this episode (which I personally saw at the Japanese premiere) instead of the final version shown on Japanese TV and streaming services. It has been fixed.

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Fate/strange Fake is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.