Fake

"Fake" roams around the troubled relationship of two American cops while solving a complicated case.

As great fan of the manga I held up my expectations for this OVA. This anime adaptation of "Fake" focus on the Act 5 of the Manga, published on the second volum which, by itself, reduces very much the potential of the story. The flashback trick of the manga is explored here, but it was still disappointing not to see more.

The manga story holds many detailed complexities, that were basically left out in the anime. However, it's still a great action and mystery tale.

The characters were prefectly characterized: many hints ... and a lovely flashback are presented for us to know what is going on between them. However, for those that have not read the manga, a mistery remains: who the hell are Bikky and Chal and what are they doing there?

Special kudos for the voice actors, a great cast that worked their job perfectly. Only Dee's voice seemed "not quite right", but after some minutes I got used to it and now I can't imagine him differently.

This is very enjoyable, much more for the adventure and mystery than for the BL (which, being near to none and not explicit at all, is well done and realistic).

I prefer the manga. The drawing in the anime isn't that good, and I wasn't impressed with the voice-work, either. The plot is the same familiar one as in the manga - though with lesser details, of course. A nice watch, sure, but nothing to be impressed about. (Then again, I think the manga is brilliant, so it is rather hard to beat that :D)

"Fake" is an adaption of the 5th story arc in Sanami Matoh's manga of the same name - NYC detectives Dee Laytner and Randy "Ryo" McLane are enjoying some down time in the English countryside together and Dee is preparing to take their long time flirtation to the next level...until a guest at their hotel winds up murdered. The story follows the protagonists' slow burn romance in media res alongside the developing case.

a) Story! - Fair

"Fake" doesn't adapt the entirety of the original manga; only the 5th chapter in Volume 2 out of the published 7. So, of course, there's a lot of missing context ... and the narrative feels isolated from the larger work. I was never confused about character dynamics however and always felt sufficiently informed about Dee and Ryo's history thanks to various quick flashbacks and context clues! It's just important to remember that you aren't going to get everything from this one OVA; this is a Free Sample at CostCo that you can taste before buying the whole box of crackers (i.e. reading the manga)

This OVA does tell a complete narrative though! It's most enjoyable aspects are it's character interactions and it's development of Dee and Ryo's romance. The two of them are in an awkward transitionary period where they know each others feelings, but Ryo especially isn't confident in persuing them - he learns to be more open and expressive with Dee via the help of some really well written secondary characters!

The mystery aspect is kind of subpar unfortunately. There are some surprising revelations and even a supernatural element that becomes apparent early on! But the overall murders are woefully predictable with no room for the viewer to make deductions on their own.

b) Art! - Fair

I'm honestly not a huge fan of the art style! It's an excellent 90s anime throwback especially character design wise, but the way resting facial features are drawn doesn't sit super well with me. The characters seem melty? Or droopy? It doesn't quite fit with the overall aesthetic.

The classic 90s facial expressions are SICK though!! The visual comedy is really well executed and will definitely do you right if you're looking for some of that nostlagia.

Background art is relatively unremarkable but well executed! The lighting is rendered very tenderly, especially at sunset and night time.

c) Sound! - Good

Kind of unremarkable! The music isn't exactly memorable?

The voice acting is really well suited to the characters! Dee's lines hit all the right notes of loud, exuberant, and comedic without becoming obnoxious. Dee's VA also balances the comedic and serious heart to heart scenes really well - it's incredibly organic and a huge part of why the character performance was so enthralling.

d) Character! - Great

The characters are the highlight of this OVA! Despite being only 55 minutes, you get a really good feel for Dee and Ryo early on that quickly endears them to you. Dee seems initially like the jocky, No-Homo stereotype that could potentially spend the whole OVA in an "AM I GAY??" panic scenario - but no! Dee is the character who's most confident in his feelings for Ryo and Ryo himself also avoids this annoying trope. His calm, collected presence juxtoposes well with Dee's energy and their banter and overall dynamic is a joy.

The secondary characters are less developed, but still interact well with the protagonists and are memorable! Berkley Rose specifically is a great addition, since most of the side characters are comedic relief and Berkley functions more so as a serious narrative foil to Dee.

e) Enjoyment! - Great

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Fake!! It's not a masterpiece by any means, but I mean. I had fun! I watched it with a friend, which maybe heightened the enjoyment factor since we were talking and theorizing and joking - but even if I'd seen it alone, I think I still would have enjoyed it because the concept and the character dynamics are just exactly up my alley!

OVERALL/TLDR:

yknow how police procedurals and buddy cop movies are kinda gay and people joke about it? "Fake" is a gay police procedural that plays that completely straight. to reference twitter account We Rate Dogs:

"it's a good ova Brent"

It is a Gay couple that are also cops.
This ova made me feel great the love story between both protagonists is so natural and treated with respect, in this world their relationship is normalized has it should be in all the animes they have compelling personality and great side characters that just in 1 ova gave me the impression that they were all just a big family with strong bonds.
I did not need to read any manga to understand where each character was standing but gave me the desire tor read the source material because I love the chemistry between the couple and friends. For ... being an old anime the portrait of this gay relationship is so pure and nothing in the erotic interaction seems forced like in other animes were one of them is usually nor comfortable here we have 2 consenting adults knowing what the want.

Rate a 6
English Dubbed

Feelings:Comedy and curiosity.

Comedy: among all this chaos and love it is hard to become swooned for almost at each advancement becomes shot down on some basis. Oh the struggle that is love.

Curiosity: Mystery anime come in various of forms. Whether it is complex or straight forward or in other. One can't help but become wrapped in the mystery despite the fact this was time to relax.

Story
Work and pleasure shouldn't mix. An old saying that holds truth. Sadly, how can that work if work constantly infringes on one's couple's free time? To make matters worse they are faced with the spew over ... of another country's mess of work. If that wasn't bad enough as far as the 'pleasure' was concerned more and more people became entangled in this affair. So much for a 'straight' affair.

Ending is questionable. For while a path had reached its end some minor questions were raised. Such as ghost or no ghost? Why the transfer? Sure the anime hints at them but it hints at both directions. So, knowing which one is right is debatable. Come to think of it that is quite a fair way to and a mystery show. For not only does it build on the comedy aspect as one fights with friends and or family on who is right but it allows the audience to do some deducing of their own.

Having watched this on a whim with no knowledge of the manga it was based off, I found it really fun and intentionally or otherwise really comedic.
The english dub was a blast to watch through, with it being kind of shitty but at some points feeling like there was heart and effort into the voice acting. All of the characters have pretty good chemistry with eachother, I especially liked Dee and the kids banter. I think the white hair guy was kind of a weird add considering he didn't add much to the story but I don't know anything about the manga he could ... be a prominent character in that for all I know.
If you treat this as a kinda crappy b movie schlock kinda thing to watch together with friends it's a good watch. Definitely watch it with the english dub, I don't think I would've enjoyed it nearly as much if I watched it in Japanese. Other than that I don't think anyone else would have enough of a reason to watch this.

I watched this simply because it was mentioned by a youtuber talking about the dynamics of gay relationships in anime. As someone fairly new to yaoi in general, I became interested and decided to watch since I was told that while this is an OVA, it's pretty much a stand-alone in and of itself. I have not read the manga, so that might influence my judgement, though I will try to make this as unbiased as possible.

First off, the story: I'm going to be straight up-- other than about five-ten minutes in between, there's really no romance. And the romance that is shown is ... mostly just some kissing, and once it nearly escalates before being interrupted. So if you're here for the shipping aspect, this really isn't for you! On the other hand, for people who prefer a different type of story, there is a murder mystery going on in the background. Personally, while I'm a really big crime and horror fan myself, I found this unsatisfactory-- it was very, very painfully predictable, and in many spots it really did make sense. I won't go into detail here because I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but it was disappointing as a mystery overall since I was able to figure out pretty much the entire way the story would play out in the first ten minutes-- it was ridiculously simple.

I don't really watch old anime all that often, but I have seen a few (mainly Ai No Kusabi from 1992-1994 and Hunter x Hunter from 1998 and 1999-2001) and both have a cleaner art style that leads me to believe more effort could have been made. The art isn't necessarily BAD, but at times it seems sloppy. However, I was very happy with the more realistic body types-- most of the time in 'gay' anime, the seme tends to have a massive, hulking structure with gargantuan shoulders, while the uke is more of a tiny little feminine dwarf. I'm glad that both of our leads looked like... well, men. Normalish men. That being said, I didn't really like how the eyes were designed on most of the characters, but that can be easily overlooked.

The background music and songs of this OVA weren't bad, but completely forgettable. All of it really lacked the fire to make a real impression, so I really didn't care for them. As for the voice actors, I watched a dub, where they did mostly a good job, other than some parts were they sounded rather flat.

I think the main thing that saved this OVA from being completely terrible was the characters. While I didn't really like the way some of the characters were structured and the things they were saying (there were too many stereotypes, including the 'I'M NOT GAY! guy who just kissed a guy and admitted to having feelings for a guy' guy, the 'let's rape this person just because they totally gave me consent though they are currently struggling as I try to get close to them' guy, and the 'totally nice old person who really isn't as nice as they look' guy). On top of that, some of the dialogues were unnatural because... well, people don't really talk like that... Regardless of all that, however, I found the chemistry between the characters to be endearing, even if some of the slightly racist and homophobic comments haven't really aged all that well.

Overall, this wasn't too bad, but not really what I expected.

I would recommend this if you: like murder mysteries, like simpler murder mysteries, like (just hints) of romance in your anime

I would NOT recommend this if you: are here for the romance/yaoi, like more complex mysteries, don't like cliche/predictable plots, are really touchy about slightly assaulty behavior (think classic seme forcing themselves on someone clearly saying no but then the entire situation being treated like a joke...)

Have a great day everyone!

Disclaimer: My reviews are my own and I'm not a professional so take this with a grain of salt, etc, etc.

This OVA is fine? It relies on you to already know these characters, who's invovled with who and so on (so if you haven't read the manga, you won't have a clue what is going on). So on that basis alone, you may not enjoy it.

I personally went in blind having never read the manga (and this was my second rewatch since quarantine has allowed me to rewatch a load of old anime, this being one of them) and I had a good time with ... it.

If you have an hour to kill and you want to watch some goofy cops, then go for it.

I decided to watch this as a joke and ended up enjoying it so much that I watched it again.
FAKE is old and it looks super old. Some of the... actions of the characters are kind of questionable but... I don't know a gay cop story where the main characters actually kind of have a nice chemistry was refreshing to see even in this day and age.
Also,,, the opening... Oh my God. I've been looking for the full version of it for years and I can't for the life of me find it. It's. A. Banger.
It has that lovely old anime nostalgia, with the bright ... colours and over-exaggerated expressions... It was so much fun.

Likes; the opening, the characters, the story (there was actually a story oh my god,) the nostalgia, the english dub
Dislikes; dated tropes, dubious tropes/ actions, the english dub

Seriously, watch the English Dub- it's an experience.

FAKE is kind of an anomaly in that it's hard to recommend it, but hard NOT to recommend it.

It's entertaining in that cutesy 90s slapstick, romcom, fast-paced-banter sort-of way, where all the main cast are all familiar with each other and have their own intertwining circles of harem. If the dynamics of Kimagure Orange Road (or Ranma 1/2) turned gay and given a crime-mystery feel to it, you'd have FAKE. (And maybe that's an oversimplification but the bill should fit somewhat.)

With how they rapidly introduce the main cast, it feels like you're being dropped in the middle of a series, with only enough detail ... to get a superficial grasp as to how they're all connected. To their credit, they did give a 5-minute background check on the main couple, Ryo and Dee, and how they became involved with each other. Everyone else, including the love interests of Ryo and Dee respectively? Not a chance. Still, it's pardonable given that they try to tell a cohesive, original story in 1 hour, and they do it alright.

The mystery was a sloppy Burger King special. After the scene is set, it's laughably easy to narrow down the suspects, and therein the motives. No taste, much less flare. But the anime laughs it off anyways; it's background music for showcasing the main duo's relationship, which seems one-sided but is surprisingly mutual. There's also not much development you can do with a story that's already crammed with mystery, slapstick, spurts of fanservice (?), and frequent character introductions, so their ending, while sweet, falls a little flat.

The music was greazy. Not much else to it.

It took a good while to get used to the animation. Not cause of its stereotypical 90s look, but their faces. My god, their faces. I'm used to seeing cutesy art like the original All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, Slayers, and the like, not...even Kizuna and Zetsuai weren't so bad compared to FAKE. But that's probably more subjective than not.

Overall, it was an entertaining hour that's purposefully open-ended in that "and their journey continues" kind of way, with new developments up to the last minute before credits, but at least leaves you not feeling weighed down. It's not an anime you should go searching for, but if you find yourself interested, you probably won't be too bored.

Ok,so I watched this on YouTube, in sub (luckily), and I liked it! I liked the characters, and the designs. It reminded me of Descents Of Darkness (a manga & anime) I liked the mystery and romance! I think it was interesting that the main character (Ryo) was mixed, as in lots of animes characters aren’t usually mixed. The guy with the white hair (J.J) I felt like he didn’t belong that much, because he rarely showed up but I did like him, I wish we could see more of him. He might play a bigger part in the manga Idk. The romance was ... kind of confusing, Dee liked Ryo, but I don’t think it was ever explicitly said that Ryo liked him back, or if they did say that he didn’t really act like it. I wish there was more of a romance factor in it. It was enjoyable, interesting, check it out!

First off, I'm going to keep this review short as I don't want to waste too much time. Second off, don't get butt hurt just because I don't like it.

As a heterosexual male, obviously this isn't something I would be open to watching or enjoying. So, I went into watching this with a pessimistic approach. Overall, I rated it a 4 (Decent), which it wasn't. It was utter garbage, but rating it a 1 is too much imo.

Story:
2 Cops solving a case, but the case keeps on getting interrupted with sudden ass pumping. To be fair the story had its mystery and not a half ... bad plot line, but the 2 cops kind of ruin that. The cops case is a murder case, but without revealing too much, the case is unrealistic and doesn't really make any sense. So, if you don't like an unrealistic story, then this isn't for you.

When I look at the plot and genre, I guess I can't help but feel like the anime did in right. Obviously I'm not going to enjoy it because of.. reasons. But, if you like that stuff, go ahead and watch it.
Story: 5

Art: This OVA was released in the late 90's, so the art and animation wasn't spot on and to be honest I don't like older art styles, probably because I'm used to newer and cleaner animations. For the time, the animation and art was pretty good, not amazing. But good. It suited the presentation of the plot and the relationship of the characters, but again, compared with modern art and animation, it's not great. so..
Art: 6

Sound: The music in the anime varied from pumped up cop action music, to generic romance music, for obvious reasons. Non of the soundtracks really stood out as being bad or good, so I thought a 5 would be an overall good assessment.
Sound:5

Character: Well, the obvious problem with the characters is that they don't understand their profession. Their job is to capture criminals which could cause problems to society, but instead they see their relationship with each other to be more important than that. They work perfectly for the genre and romance, I guess, but I can't say I felt any sympathy or connection with the characters. The only one character that I didn't mind was Carol, was actually quite an interesting character, but unfortunately looked like she was drawn by a 5 year old. This kind of goes back to the art, but it's obvious that the art has been directed on the men of the show because the girls just look so.. stupid.
Character: 3

Enjoyment: I have pointed things out throughout the review and I think it's pretty obvious that I didn't enjoy it, it's just not something I can sit down and watch normally like everything else, instead my watching experience was cringing and hitting my head on the table wondering why these cops can't do their job properly.
Enjoyment: 1

Overall: 3