#ryohgo

[humbertozero]

How to read Fate/Strange Fake Light Novel

Read the First Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.1 (2015) PDF

Read the Second Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.2 PDF

Read the Third Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.3 PDF

Read the Fourth Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.4 PDF

Read the Fifth Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.5 PDF

Read the Sixth Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.6 PDF

Read the Seventh Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.7 PDF

Read the Eighth Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.8 PDF

Read the Nineth Volume: Fate/strange Fake Vol.9 PDF

Volume 9 PDF updated 2/3/2025:

Volume 9 updated and completed

Note: From this point onwards I don't think I'll be able to keep up with the updates. I barely read it anymore, a lot of years have passed and I have more pressing matters to attend IRL so these PDFs will only work as a quality of life for those that want PDF reading but are not desperate to read the updates as soon a translator picks them up. Sorry for the inconvenience.

It's all about the sauce:

The chapters translations are made by OtherSideofSky and Comun. You can read the original raw text submitted by the translator in The Beast Lair along with epub versions.

About the Manga:

You should also read the manga. It has a sharp and beautiful art style (by Morii) and complements the story already being told in the LN.

Credits to:

Thanks to Nakula for translating the initial version (2008) of F/SF Vol 1, and Mew and Food for the extra chapters to complete the final Volume 1. Thanks to OtherSideofSky for translating the Volumes 2 to 6 and Comun for Volume 7 onwards. And thanks to Ryohgo Narita for writing Strange Fake!

I suggest following me on Twitter if you so desire getting updates when I... update... these PDFs. It's also a better way of communicating with me in case it's necessary since this post is a revision of the original I made back then in 2017 but the Tumblr account was breached and deleted the pinned post (this one) so... yeah, there's that.

@ZeroDestreza on Twitter (I’m not calling it “X”, that’s dum dum)

[qweaenr]

DURARARA - Light Novel

[yaoioioay]

[shibaleeart]

Read that CANON side story where a succubus tried to seduce Shizuo by turning into Izaya

[autisticshizuo]

20 years ago, on this day the first volume of Durarara!! (デュラララ!!) was released in Japan. This volume contains the Dollars/Mika Harima arc, which is the start and readers' first meeting with such a well written plot, complex characters and artsy language.

Happy 20th anniversary to Durarara!! It will be forever my favorite media; no book, anime or manga can come close to the place that Durarara!! has in my heart. It will remain as a unique and one of a kind work, not only to me but to many other readers as well.

[soultiio]

WE ARE SOOO BACK (la cara de perro confundido q tiene shizuo perdón amor)

[aizencalledmeabitch]

These twoooooooo. They make me sick 😭😭😭

[readtilyoudie]

DURARARA! VOLUME 1

[bookaddict24-7]

For us, the playground of fiction is just as important as reality."

--Ryohgo Narita

[shazzeaslightnovels]

Fate/Strange Fake 9

Author: Ryohgo Narita

Illustrator: Shizuki Morii

Label: Dengeki Bunko

Release Date: 8 March 2024

My Score: 4/5

I'm facing the same problem I always do when talking about this series: it's impossible to really talk about the volumes without giving away spoilers which I really want to avoid doing and ruining the fun with the anime on it's way and the series unlicensed.

Anyway, this is supposedly the penultimate volume in the series and it kind of feels like it but it kind of doesn't. There's some grand battles and intriguing developments (for example, Ayaka's true identity is finally revealed), but there's still so much left unresolved by the end of the volume, that unless volume 10 is super long, I struggle to see how the story will end in a satisfying way. Regardless, it was a fun time as per usual, and is everything that a Fate story should be.

True Rider is on the cover this time. One of the cool things about Strange Fake is that most of the characters haven't made it into Grand Order yet (I assume they'll come with the anime), so it means more fun can be had with revealing the servant's true identities and the identities of their Master. And I don't want to spoil anything with True Rider, given that she appears rather late in the series, so I'll just say this: she's awesome and is one of the character's I'm most excited to see in anime and she gets quite a bit of spotlight in the volume with her fight with True Archer.

[qweaenr]

DURARARA - Covers

[yaoioioay]

[shibaleeart]

if Iseya is any bit like Izaya in personality:

[animehouse-moe]

Fate/Strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn - The Abridged Rundown

I'll be real, it's an hour long special, there's a lot to get through in regards to it. I'm going to keep things short, and try and condense my thoughts as much as possible which means I'll be skimming over character (and story) related stuff quite a bit. So here's the gist of it: the US is making a fake Holy Grail War without the Mage Association in hopes of it becoming a real one, and we're thrown into the chaos that is fake and real servants colliding in a story that began as a joke on a website in 2009. Yeah, it was originally a joke, turned light novel, turned manga, and now turned anime, so I really recommend reading up on Strange Fake a little bit and as much tertiary Fate information as you can if you want to grasp it, because that's not the goal of this post.

What is the goal though is explaining my thoughts on this hour long special episode, and what it spells for the series going forward (and maybe just a little story and character stuff, who knows).

I'll get it out of the way right off the bat. The production quality? All over the place. In quite a few moments I was left wondering if characters like Faldeus were off model or if it was a creative decision, and there's plenty of examples of downright questionable animation and decisions. I'm rather disappointed in A-1's output considering the addition of a delay. Was the delay to accommodate a single episode special turning into a full series? Or was it just trying to buy time for the more rough pieces displayed in this episode? It's hard to say, but my prior statements still stand. With the help of a few examples, that is.

Anyways, how about some cool stuff? If there's one thing that Strange Fake has going for it, it's style. Weird, right? Production isn't quite there, but the style really is. One of the more bold and interesting examples of Strange Fake's style is through its camera rotations. Sometimes it leads to super odd and rough cuts like the above, other times it creates really striking and inventive scenes like the following. It adds a very nice feel to the content that it appears in, and draws out that sense of drama and suspense quite well. Also, I love that since it's in America they just couldn't help but feature guns and military.

Of course, rotation isn't the only thing that comprises the visual style of Strange Fake. If you were to draft the number 2 spot for most used approach, it would certainly have to be the aggressive camera angles. Not as flashy as the camera rotation or movement itself, but it still plays into that almost melodramatic feel that this story displays for viewers, steeping itself in grandeur and showmanship.

Now, I will say that it misses the beat on its showmanship nearly as much as it nails it, as layouts aren't the only important thing in selling viewers a story. Right alongside it is character acting, and quite often it's relegated to just sort of vibrating pngs on screen that will interact with one another. For comedic effect I think it has a time and place, but I don't think it needs to be used as much as it is early on in this episode. Thankfully though, the good pieces of character acting are really good. Just take a look at Fake Caster here (even though it's just a hand). It captures their personality, their feel, the emotions of their voice (which you can't hear) incredibly well. Though I'll also say that the camera work adds a large amount of feel as well. Just an all around impressively well

Hmm, so where to next? I think, a fun thing to chat about would be the nature of servants, which ironically, plays a really big role in the pairings and purposes of characters throughout this story. I won't go on spoiling things (though I really don't have any information that is spoilers, unless this is your first fate series). Anyways, lets get it started with the coolest and newest servant: Enkidu.

Enkidu is Gilgamesh's counterpart, and the anime makes sure you understand that. Gil is summoned in the middle of a desert, into the hand of a young girl who completely surrenders herself to Gil. Enkidu on the other hand appears in a forest, summoned by a wolf Chimera. The symbolism of the tree of life that appears as lightning is no joke in poor taste, no sir. Enkidu is the blood-brother of Gilgamesh, a warrior who fought side-by-side the king of legend. The parallels are endless between this infamous pair. The disparity between control and freedom, ruling and harmonizing, so on and so forth ad infinitum. This pair was made for one another, and the anime does a great job of conveying that.

Next on the list of incredibly curious has to be our new Berserker and their master, Flat Escardos. I love this idea so, so much. Two peas in a pod these characters are. Unrestricted, unforgiving, and unlimited. The pair are two sides of the same coin with Jack The Ripper comprising the dark of the pair, while Flat the light. It's a really great dynamic, and the character play off each other incredibly well for comic relief and surprisingly dark comments. It's also with Berserker that we get treated to the first of our trio of title cards (though neither of the other two give names). That is, image stills that represent who our servants are, what their story is. Really, really great stuff.

Next up we've got our Assassin, who tells a very simple story alongside the poorly done slam poetry provided by their master. Not a lot to comment on, but I enjoy how not-so-subtle they are with Assassin's background as a religious woman before her fall from grace. Very befitting story, for sure.

Now, the last and certainly not least is our 'wild card' servant and master combination. This one's really something else (I'll share more afterward), but their concept is 'Pestilence'. You might call them a horseman of the apocalypse, the Pale Rider, the Black Plague, whatever name you might fancy. But what they are remains fact: disease. It's really interesting when paired alongside the youthful and innocent Tsubaki, especially as her father takes on the rot/curse of Pale Rider rather than his daughter. Neither like Berserker nor Assassin, Pale Rider is more symbiotic with Tsubaki. A curse, certainly, but one that also cares for and understands Tsubaki, contradicting their very existence as Pale Rider. It's a really curious character that puts even Enkidu and Gilgamesh on alert, so I'm incredibly interested to see what they get up to in this story.

And that's where our information in regards to servants and masters ends. Of course, I've still got a bit more to go so bear with me for just this little bit more.

Strange Fake's style really is something else, as I've said before, but I think one of the more important pieces to it is how fluid it remains. There's all sorts of crazy interesting ideas, from the title cards I've just shown, to the insane impact frames, the dazzling approach to lighting, or even the art style itself. Hell, they use CGI with Pale Rider and it works perfectly to convey that disturbing feel they exude.

Now, this one's separate just because I wanted to chat about it a little. Francesca here's a little drama queen. You already know from her appearance and disposition that she likes to show off, but it extends far past that. Much further past into truly commendable territory all for the sake of showing off. She knows of her short stature, but wishes to impose upon Reeve in this scene, so what does she do? Make a show of trouncing all over his desk. Kicking his lamp over only after performing a perfectly executed stunt to show that she didn't need to kick the lamp over, positioning herself above him so that the shadow she casts is far greater than that of Reeve's, and (effectively) stomping on his police hat to squash his sense of justice underfoot. It's an incredible setup all for Francesca to toy with Reeve in this scene, and I absolutely love it.

Okay okay, last piece. The super cool Gil and Enkidu impact frames. Love that their color schemes are opposite as well. Very very well done, though I wish their fight itself had a bit more impact to it.

And there it is, the end of this Strange Fake special episode. Would I say I'm completely satisfied? Not really, no. There's a lot of production weirdness and concern that I have with a large amount of material through the episode. The story itself is outstanding though, and is presented impressively well. It's just that the animation and some of the creative decisions in regards to that animation is subpar and in poor taste. Strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn is held back from greatness by a single chain, strained at each link, almost begging to be let loose. We didn't get the perfect beginning that A-1 might have hoped for, but I think it's one that plenty of viewers will be enthralled by nonetheless.

[frogkunlit]

Ranking the Fate/strange Fake Master/Servant Pairs

I absolutely loved watching the Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn- TV special. Sure, it’s more of a highlights reel than a proper adaptation, but it sure got me pumped for the forthcoming full TV series. Although I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a hardcore Fate fan, I’ve enjoyed most of the franchise installments. I was particularly looking forward to seeing Fate/strange Fake animated…

[readtilyoudie]

DURARARA! VOLUME 1