A New Saber Debuts at Fate/strange Fake Episode Premiere

After nearly a year and a half since the Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn special, the upcoming TV anime series premiered for fans at the Fate 20th Anniversary event in Los Angeles. Shortly after the showcase, the full English dubbed episode was uploaded to the Crunchyroll YouTube channel, allowing fans worldwide to watch it. Continuing immediately after the events from the TV special, the episode proceeded to show familiar faces while building out the vast world of Fate/strange Fake. The staff showed off their deep research of the American-inspired backdrop of Snowfield, down to the cheekily named “In-Side-Out” burger chain. This first of twelve episodes promises to show a visually exceptional spectacle, but it will need to be elucidated in its complex web of plots and references.

For those who couldn't attend the limited-capacity event, it was fully livestreamed on the Aniplex USA YouTube channel. Given how accessible the celebration was for those who couldn't snag a ticket, Aniplex wants to feed interest into the latest anime series in the franchise. However, with the endless number of references and new faces stuffed in a single episode, Fate/strange Fake asks a lot of avid fans of the Fate series, let alone someone unfamiliar with the franchise. In addition to requiring a heavy amount of knowledge of Fate and Type-Moon lore, the viewer is dropped into a world at the heart of a mysterious kind of Grail War. Even for those who have watched every single Fate anime released so far—and played Fate/Grand Order—you'll likely be looking up discussion threads and researching every character cameo.

As part of the 20th-anniversary celebration, directors Shun Enokido and Takahito Sakazume joined character designer Yūkei Yamada and Yūki Ono (Japanese voice of Saber) to share their thoughts on the series. Similar to the Anime Expo 2023 premiere of Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn, the world premiere of the TV series began with an English dub rather than a Japanese one. This is likely because of Fate/strange Fake's U.S. setting in the fictional city of Snowfield—as well as the LA event location for the 20th anniversary–the creative staff may have purposely chosen to drum up interest with American fans by showing the English version first.

Unfortunately, fans will have to wait until the TV series premieres in Japan on New Year's Eve to hear Yūki Ono's voice as Saber. After the screening, he and the other guests spoke to Anime News Network about their thoughts and impressions of American fans in a roundtable interview. The only line we've been able to hear from Ono so far is Saber's iconic, “I ask you, are you my Master?” Yet even that clip was cut short during the world premiere discussion panel. A staff member chimed in to explain the dark image before Saber's line, which is why the clip was cut only to the part where he says, “Are you my Master?” They likely wanted to give the audience a visual rather than drop them in a scene with a black screen. Despite the sudden cut, Ono still found it the most memorable moment of the entire event since he could hear and see the audience react to it live.

Surprisingly, Ono wasn't familiar with the Fate series before he was cast. He described how he happened to catch a scene from Fate/stay night. “What was impressive to me was the skirt and armor. I thought it must be hard to fight in that.” Akin to many Fate fans, Ono confessed to cramming his research of the Fate series during his ten-hour flight to LA. “I watched the entire season of Fate/stay night on the flight. When I landed, I had just finished it, and I was so moved by the storytelling. You've gained another Fate fan from this trip.” He shared that his next goal is to watch all of Fate/Zero.

Director Shun Enokido praised Ono's talent, which helped them find Saber's characterization. “Rather than us giving him direction to voice Saber, we let Ono's great acting and timbre do its job. We let him choose the character on his own and reach that characterization. We're fortunate that he grasped the character of Saber through his talent.” Ono added that he was told to voice Saber (Richard) with a gallant tone. “My image of Saber is that he's bright and cheery, with a straightforward and honest personality.” Although Ono didn't initially think of Saber as “pure,” specifically the term seiren (清廉), he eventually felt the word fit him perfectly.

Since the guests were able to watch the audience's live and energetic reaction to the first episode, they commented on how they could feel the passion from fans who felt at home with the setting of Snowfield. “We wouldn't have the same reactions in Japan,” said Ono. “Like during the scene where the heart is pulled out, and people screamed and gasped. Or the hamburger scene where everyone laughed.” To character designer Yūkei Yamada, he was surprised at the reactions to watching the merging of reality and fantasy. “I asked why the audience started murmuring during a scene where Ayaka walks down an alleyway. I was told it's because it looks like a scene in LA, where people in the audience live. They're happy to see their home on screen. It was a learning experience and another way to be creative.”

Closing out our conversation, the creative team explained the challenges of working on an anime series as opposed to a special. Director Takahito Sakazume focused on the fact that the designs lack shadows. “This allows you to focus more on drawing lines, which highlights Yamada's style and his power.” Enokido agreed, adding that they wanted to emulate the feeling of Shizuki Morii's manga style. Yamada shared that his goal was to make a “manga-like illustration” and ran into the challenge of conveying characters—in an anime style—that aren't present, like how Gilgamesh doesn't show up in volume five of Morii's manga. “We've been directing and communicating with the staff members on how to recreate that style.”

The other challenge is expanding on details within a twelve-episode series, which vastly contrasts with their previous work on a TV special. “Making twelve episodes involves many people, and ones outside our circle, to make it a reality. We can't only involve people we know,” said Enokido. “We wanted to cram as much as we wanted in Episode 0, but we probably troubled a lot of people for that,” laughed Sakazume. “I've learned to ask for help and communicate. We need others to take care of our vision for us.”