Not Ufotable, But A Masterpiece: Why Fate/strange Fake's 'Rough' Visuals Beat Zero's Cinematic Style

First off, my bad.

In my previous Watch Order Guide, I was a bit skeptical. I said A-1 Pictures was "flexing," but I still had that lingering doubt: "Can they really beat Ufotable?"

I was wrong. They didn't beat Ufotable. They destroyed the need for them.

The "Ufotable Problem"

Look, we all love Fate/Zero and Heaven's Feel. Ufotable is the king of Digital Compositing. Their lens flares have lens flares. Every frame looks like a 4K wallpaper.

But that style is static. It feels like a video game cutscene.

Fate/strange Fake is not a clean war. It is a glitchy, broken mess where the rules of reality are crumbling. Ufotable's pristine, shiny aesthetic would have felt too... safe.

Why A-1's "Roughness" is Peak Cinema

A-1 Pictures (specifically the team led by Enokido and Sakazume) opted for a style that prioritizes motion over detail.

Instead of perfect character models, they use:

• Rough Line Art: You can see the pen strokes during high-speed combat. It feels chaotic and alive.
• Impact Frames: Rather than just glowing beams, we get black-and-white flashes of raw impact.
• Debris acting: The environment breaks apart in a way that feels heavy, not just particle effects.

The Gilgamesh Test

The true test is always Gilgamesh.

In Ufotable's hands, Gilgamesh is a golden statue who shoots lasers. He is divine, but distant.

In Strange Fake, Gilgamesh is a brawler. When he laughs, his face distorts. When he creates a crater, the dust isn't a transparent PNG; it's a gritty cloud of ink. This "rough" style captures the primal joy of his fight with Enkidu in a way that polished CGI never could.

If you are a "Sakuga" nerd, this show is your holy grail.

It proves that animation isn't just about high pixel counts or expensive lighting effects. It's about energy. Fate/strange Fake doesn't look "expensive" in the traditional sense—it looks feral. And that is exactly what this series needed.

!NOTE Start watching now on Crunchyroll. Don't wait for the Blu-ray fixes; the rawness IS the appeal.