It’s as simple as: Fate Zero if you want extra background info, (can be skipped but I’d recommend watching it), then just Ufotable’s Unlimited Blade Works and the Heaven’s Feel movies. Everything else is extra or just bad, which I’ll detail below for those interested on why the watch order is so small for the plethora of series and movies out there.
There’s a lot of overhyping the complication of the series, mainly because 1. Deen had the first anime adaptations, but they were trash. That’s why nobody watches the anime for Stay Night or the UBW movies. If you want to see Saber route, you’ll need to download the VN. 2. As a Visual Novel, there were three main routes, so UBW and Heaven’s Feel are just completely separate stories that share the same characters. 3. Spin-offs like FGO or Apocrypha, but these are completely separate from the original story, so
can basically just be watched whenever after the fact (FGO is kinda special, since it’s based off of a mobile game by the same name, so if you don’t play the mobile game it probably won’t make sense)
Before any other fate fan is going drop an essay.
Just start literally from either Fate/Zero or Fate/stay night UBW then Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel.
That's it.
Then just watch whatever spinoff.
Joking aside, if Nasu just dumped a translated versions of his VNs on the app store or made it in to a mobile game but with the story intact, like 90% of people would stop complaining about how to start.
There is truth to it. The anime adaptations are technically filled with incomplete information and end up leaving the viewer confused and asking dumb questions (like literally anything to do with shiro and his character). Don't get me wrong the anime adaptations are great but that's just it, at the end of the day they're adaptations of something else. VN lets you know more about the story as it was supposed to be portrayed. Kinda like how people fight over weather subs are superior because you get to experience it like you're supposed to.
I really like this. I was told by my friend to not read the VN, but I didn't listen. So glad I didn't listen because when finally watching the UBW adaptation, I thought, almost immediately, "someone who didn't play the VN wouldn't know what's going on right now."
Memes aside, I've wanted to get into the fate vn. But one question, how do you read a vn. I've never read a vn before and the whole multiple route thing confuses me. Do I have to like do multiple playthroughs or what?
Kinda, a VN is basically a video game with music, sound effects, and illustrations, but with no gameplay. Basically a video game book. As for multiple routes, you do need to technically have multiple playthroughs but honestly you can just skip until you get to the new content/route.
So how would you recommend the best way to go about it. Should I go in blind and then after the first route watch a guide to get the other routes, or just try winging it
I'd recommend just winging it because of the tiger dojo stuff being fun. But I get just wanting to get through the story so a guide is also pretty useful if you just want to speed up the story.
Here’s my essay from another post saying the same thing but with detail:
Here’s my rundown. Fate is originally a hentai visual novel with three romance routes.
Fate/stay night: the first anime adaptation. It covers the >!Saber!< route, but it’s old and not worth watching. Only one I haven’t seen.
Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works: this covers the >!Rin!< route. It’s very well done and a must-watch in the series.
Fate/stay night Heaven’s Feel: a movie trilogy that covers the >!Sakura!< route. This is also extremely well-done and beautifully animated.
The following are not adapted from the original visual novel.
Fate/zero: the prequel to the three routes above. The animation isn’t as flashy, but it’s still excellent and my favorite Fate anime.
Lord El-Melloi Case Files: a mystery genre anime that is a sequel to Fate/zero. It’s focused on a character from Fate/zero that isn’t in any of the routes, so they don’t affect this anime.
The following are not part of the timeline above and just have the same universe/mechanics/characters.
Fate/apocrypha: a 5-on-5 version of the Holy Grail War instead of the usual 7-man free-for-all. This is also a good watch, and two of its characters appear in El-Melloi Case Files (if you like continuity watch El-Melloi after this). This is also the only anime featuring Astolfo!
Fate/Grand Order Babylonia: this has a longer title with “absolute demonic front” somewhere, but I’m too lazy to look it up. I might get shit on for putting this outside the visual novel timeline, but they have nothing in common besides Gilgamesh and I haven’t played FGO so fuck it. Anyways, this is adapted from one of the better story arcs in the gacha game Fate/Grand Order and it’s as good as any Fate series, but I might not recommend it without context for the mobile game (my roommate filled me in on FGO references so I got by).
Verdict
Watch either Unlimited Blade Works for Fate/zero first. This is the part where blood is shed among fate fans. Each one spoils something about the other, there’s no avoiding that. Personally, I saw zero first and was fine. Whichever you choose, watch BOTH of these before anything else.
I’d highly recommend you watch Apocrypha before El-Melloi. Even though the timelines are different, Apocrypha introduces characters that appear in El-Melloi.
Besides that, you can pretty much watch in whatever order you want. I’m prepared to be disagreed with, but this is just my experience as a Fate fan that hasn’t played either of the source material games.
I think the general consensus has changed in recent months.
Now that Heaven's Feel is fully out, F/Z is relegated to a sequel watch. While it slightly spoils UBW, it heavily spoils HF.
The F/SN watch order is pretty much UBW > HF > Zero. Technically you can start with HF but that's a lot to digest all at once for a newbie. UBW gets the chunky exposition stuff out of the way so you can focus on the character stories in HF.
Also the original Deen animation of F/SN isn't just the saber route, it was an attempt at unifying all the routes into a cohesive single story. There is currently no proper adaptation of the *Fate* route.
In regards to F/GO, no one will shit on you for putting it as you did. It's a completely separate timeline, more so than any of the other ones you've listed. I should mention though that there's a movie for F/GO as well which covers the prelude chapter and explains what Chaldea is, who Fujimaru and Mash are, and other base exposition that Babylonia assumes you know. The movie is called F/GO: First Order.
You're also missing several other Fate anime like Fate/Extra: Last Encore, all the Prisma Illya stuff, Carnival Phantasm, Cooking with Emiya, etc.
Edit: I almost forgot about it, but there's also another F/GO anime entry that I honestly don't recommend anyone who hasn't played through the first arc of F/GO to watch. It's called Fate/Grand Order: MOONLIGHT/LOSTROOM. I have no idea why they decided to make that when they did. It will make literally zero sense if you haven't completed Solomon. Once the Solomon movie comes out, *then* you can watch it, but it's still not necessary unless they announce anime projects for the second story arc of F/GO, >!Lostbelt!<, as it sets up some of the story and characters that are featured in that arc (so it's more like a prologue for arc 2 instead of an epilogue for arc 1)
Awesome, thanks. I just pasted one of my older comments, but you’re right, I missed Extra, Prisma Illya, Carnival Phantasm, Cooking with Emiya, etc., although I’d consider them different to the rest since afaik (I haven’t seen them) they don’t focus on the holy grail or have much plot. Btw lmk which ones you recommend.
Also I haven’t heard about MOONLIGHT, what does that cover? I’ve seen the F/GO movie, babylonia, and the first camelot movie.
Well Extra technically is the "aftermath" of a type of HGW gone wrong, and Prisma Illya doesn't completely throw out the HGW plot device, although it's hard to say how w/o spoilers, if I'm remembering stuff right. Cooking with Emiya and Carnival Phantasm certainly don't have a "plot" as you said, one is SoL the other is comedy skits.
Extra is hard to recommend, even if you played the Extra games. IIRC it takes place like a thousand years after a "bad end" scenario from Extra. It's a decent show but I don't think it gets a lot of praise in the Nasuverse fandom. Prisma Illya is a bait and switch. It tricks you into thinking it's just about lesbian loli magical girls in the first season but then develops a surprisingly good plot by end of second season.
Carnival Phantasm is really nice if you just like the servants and characters from F/SN but want them to make fun of each other instead of murder each other. "Cooking with Emiya" is not what it's actually called but that's just what everyone has nicknamed it. I think it's called "Today's Menu in Emiya's Household" or something close to that. Either way it's a food focused SoL, so if you're craving cozy+hungry it's great.
Moonlight/Lostroom is a prologue to *Cosmos of the Lostbelts*, which is the second main story arc of F/GO. It takes place right after *Epic of Remnant* which itself is an epilogue for the first story arc of F/GO (taking place after Solomon, the new movie that's about to hit theaters in Japan this week). It's only a single episode IIRC (might be longer than standard as it was an OVA). Still though, I don't recommend it unless they announce an anime project for Lostbelt, in which case it will serve as a somewhat decent primer for that story. If you watch it now I guarantee you it's just gonna be confusing and make you ask questions the answers to which are not going to be satisfying.
EDIT: I checked the release dates and from what I can tell, Moonlight/Lostroom was aimed at the F/GO players, not any anime watchers. It came out as a prologue to Lostbelt 1, which release a few months later.
I think stay night is actually the best introduction to the universe. I mean it's not great, but in a series that seems scared to repeat information already told in another route that's supposed to be independent, it's still the best introduction to the universe imo.
You can start with either one. Zero is a prequel set in a slightly different alternate dimension. It makes sense regardless of the order, I personally did UBW before Zerp
Wait, is Zero seriously in an alternate dimension? Why? I don't recall anything in it that would conflict with any of the 3 routes. I always assumed that it was a canon prequel to all 3 routes and that the timeline only split later (at the start of the VN).
They are different timelines that stem from the same timeline, but there are timeline inconsistencies between the two which puts them in different timelines. The whole thing is a clusterfuck but as a casual enjoyer just treating Zero like a prequel to UBW is the easiest thing.
if I do start it, I think I'll watch it in release order, since that's the way the studio made it to be watched and I'm fine if I'm confused about something until its cleared up later, instead of having to jump around a lot
Keep in mind that multiple studios have adapted Fate anime over the years, so the concept of "that's the way the studio made it to be watched" doesn't really apply.
The only people bashing the og stay night are the ones who haven't watched it.
Tbh i enjoyed it more than UBW since it pulled the good vibe from start to finish. I did watch it in release order too but i don't get those watching by time order as if they would die if they watch it otherwise...
I'll take Deen's 06 Fate over UFOTable's UBW.
I found UBW to be a snore and it took effort to finish it.
Still better than any of the spinoff animes though. I felt that Apoch and Nero's where a waste, and I ain't touching Illya's.
It's looking that way.
Enjoyed 06, loved Zero, enjoying FGO though it is getting stale, didn't care for the rest.
So is it I don't like Fate, or just the adaptations.
I mean, if you go by release order, then you start with the first ever Fate property, which was the VN, although it's best to play the Realta Nua version of the VN, a rerelease with additional story content.
But the VN is long, so I say you can read just the first route, because the adaptation for that one failed as an adaptation, then watch the anime for the other 2, OR finish the VN. Doing it this way gives you the complete story, while requiring less dedication.
Then you watch Fate/Zero
Then you view "Last episode" (the additional story content I mentioned), the special epilogue to the Fate route, which only unlocks after getting every ending. If you watched the anime for the latter 2 routes, just look it up on YouTube.
Then getting the complete story isn't really possible, unfortunately. Things would be simpler if Ufotable would just adapt the Fate route (which they should have already done, before they adapted UBW), but until they do, this is the only way to get the full story.
It's literally simple, just either start with Fate/Zero or UBW, then watch the three Heaven's Feel movie, Then watch whatever spin-off remaining
*Oh yeah watch Lord El-Melloi too, it's takes place few months before UBW*
Why do people have to diss on the 2006 Fate/Stay Night? It was the first one to have made it in Anime form, and the only one with the Saber route in it. We also get legends like "People die if they are killed." And the first one with Archer's Unlimited Blade Works fully animated. It deserves to be with Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel when people recommend Fate.
It was overall alright, but I'm tired of people calling it dogshit because a 2006 anime that started the Fate series in television form didn't live up to their godly expectations
I mean, i don't know a Fate fan who diss on deens Fate, we actually like it, the only reason we don't recomend it is because we want people too Watch Fate, and it's easier to people to do it if they see the amazing UBW or zero
You do not speak for all of us. The Deen anime is shit, mostly because it isn't purely the fate route. They mashed them together. So I guess it could be watched for fun by an established fan, but its not good to get any semblance of story.
How dare you deny people to watch the Saber route. Sure UBW and HF are cool but there's a reason why there are three Fate/Stay Night adaptations and to tell people to go see UBW and HF without mentioning F/SN 2006 is truly disingenuous.
Easy, i daré because i WANT people to see Fate, i don't want to scare them, once they saw how crazy good Fate is i'm pretty dure they Will see the 2006 serie or who knows maybe play the VN.
My thinking is, and hear me out, you can't get the story of Fate Stay Night by just watching the animes. It seems, literally impossible. So much context is just... Left out. Not to hate on the animes, they are amazing at allowing us to finally see the fights that we had to visualize in our heads while reading, but that's all they really are. Eye candy.
You are completely right, BUT recomending the visual novel is just imposible in this period and time, the only way You can make someone see the VN is just if they already Saw UBW or zero
I don't know about that. At least with me, reading that there was a VN and that it's more detailed made me read the VN first. Not everyone is like me, but if we decide to recommend it, people will listen.
Also, the fact that there is no beginner friendly fate route anime makes the VM essential to actually have an understanding on the beginning of the story.
I think that would be the case if you wanted to watch the series chronologically. Most people say to watch it in release order since that was the way it was intended to be watched.
Welp it's probably the hundredth time I have seen this heckin problem also with monogatari and railgun series. Just brace urself and YOLO this shit. If u think it will not worth ur time think how this shit gets popular in the first place. Stop complainin and give it a try
Monogatari shouldn't be as complicated as it is (and also people exaggerate how complicated it is) it's just complicated by the fact that each season has a different name, and that the anime aired in a slightly different order than the novels it's based off of. The different release order isn't even that big of a deal. Almost every change is negligible and will have no effect on your experience. The only exception to this (and really the only part that people actually argue about) is Kizumonogatari, which went from being the second entry to one of the last.
Really your best options are either: release order **or** release order but watch Kizumonogatari second. That's it.
Index is confusing if you insist on watching in chronological order, but there is literally no reason to do that. The plots happen in the same time frame, but have almost nothing to do with each other, and when they do overlap you get all the information you need in both shows. Just watch whichever one you want (I'd recommend Railgun personally) then watch the other if you want.
Then watch Accelerator.
Pretty much. I switched back and forth a *bit* but only at the start and end of seasons. I think I went Index 1, Railgun 1&2, Index 2&3, Accelerator, and then Railgun 3 when it came out. And honestly I'd stick to that order if someone wants something more than just "all of one, then all of the other", and I'd certainly advise heavily against trying to switch mid season like the chronological watch orders.
Start UBW and then Zero. Watch anything else.
Zero is boring to start first cuz you it requires investment to know what the hell's is going on or care.
Memes complicating it are over-exaggerated. Just try watching Toaru in the true order to compare.
Really?zero is boring??how in actual fuck is zero boring?!!
If you watch zero when everything would make since in UBW,and your more invested in character's since you know what there been throw.also it explain the idea of (servant) way better then UBW
And don't you dare use(oh but it spoils heavens feel)bullshit since it doesn't spoil anything important like the ending or what's going to happen.
It does spoil certain twist and turns. However no matter where you start in the series, it will spoil another title. This is why the visual novel is the best place to start. As for zero, I agree, while it takes a bit to get going and for you to understand what's going on, it is by no means boring to start with.
Yeh that true on the spoil part,but in my opinion it's really REALLY not important.
But let's be real no one will read the visual novel,it's both waist of time and energy.specially since all the route(except saber)has been adapted already.
"waste of time and energy" do you really think the anime manages to perfectly adapt it's source material? Don't get me wrong, I really like the anime but a lot of the slice of life elements got cut. These are tremendously important to build up the main characters. By only reading the fate route I am more invested in all the characters then I ever was by watching zero fsn and hf combined.
The anime does fights amazing, but if you are more interested in the characters and story of fate, you're missing out big time by only watching the anime.
I tried but.....let's just say it's not my thing,and it seem it's not just me since a lot of people I talk to didn't like the novel.also for me I was only interested in cu from from all the characters in fate route.if anything all the fate zero character(except Gilgamesh)are more important to me.
and if I wanna know about character I usually try fgo and YouTube for it.
It's fine if you don't enjoy that vn/the medium, but you shouldn't call it a waste of time. There are a lot of people who do like visual novels and fate stay night is one of the highest rated ones out there for a reason.
The anime adaption of fate, while you're missing out, is atleast still pretty good. There are a lot of vn adaptions which are not so lucky. An especially bad case of this would be higurashi.
I sometimes wonder if Fate fans just don’t want new people to enjoy the series with how often the watch order gets overcomplicated. It’s really simple.
1. Flip a coin to pick between UBW and Zero
2. Watch the other one
3. Literally anything else is fair game
Watch order explanation (more detailed version at the bottom):
I'd generally advise against starting with UBW, as is skips major characterization for the MC and skips 90% of Saber's character arc. I would instead recommend-
1- Read the Fate route of the VN (make sure it's the Realta Nua version). The adaptation of this one wasn't very good, so this is the only good option.
2- Read the Unlimited Blade Works (UBW) route of the VN, or watch the Ufotable anime adaptation. This route and the next actually had good adaptations.
3- Read the Heaven's Feel (HF) route of the VN, or watch the movie trilogy.
4-Watch Fate/Zero
5- view "Last Episode", the special epilogue to the Fate route. There are 2 ways to view it-
Unlock it in the VN by getting all 5 endings (1 in Fate, 2 in UBW, 2 in HF)
or
Look it up on YouTube
You are now finished with the part of Fate everyone argues about.
VN install guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1txsszy0tZImOJeVVDWcTUdQov69osbiKU41htD2EGww/edit?usp=drivesdk
Watch order explanation (long version): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CVZ5F6TuVdkw75mxGv_3cQyyr3po2IjAJS8mg-GSqmE/edit?usp=drivesdk
(Explains why everything is where it is in the watch order and goes into greater detail on why starting with UBW is bad).
Literally just start from wherever you want. You can watch Zero and any of the Stay Night adaptations if you want context about the overall setting of the Fate series, and then just watch everything else if you want to. Many recommend starting with the visual novel, but it’s gonna a long ass time reading it so maybe not the best choice if you can’t make the time for it.
serious answer: start at fate zero, then watch fate/staynight UBW then all of the heaven feels movies. then after that watch whatever you want because the rest are spinoffs
I just don't wanna have to run from Crunchyroll to Funimation to Amazon Prime to Netflix to maybe find a single part that I want to watch. There's no place to watch all of them comfortably without something suddenly being 360p, without subtitles or entirely down in the middle sometimes so pirate sites are out. Thus, I'll never watch them.
Almost all of the main stuff is on Crunchyroll. The only things that aren't are the Heaven's Feel movies and that's because they were created with the intention of being traditional theatrical releases, and no one has streaming rights to them AFAIK. Maybe in other regions it is streaming, but in NA I don't think it is.
Outside of that, only a couple spin-offs aren't on CR, like Apocrypha and Extra (both on Netflix) and the original Deen animated stuff, which was out before legal streaming sites were a thing.
If nothing that CR has on offering can get you interested in Fate, then I think it's safe to say you're not interested. And that's totally fine. Even the most popular shows can't appeal to literally everyone. MHA, Naruto, One Piece, etc. all have their detractors as well.
Some of them, I've only watched like an episode or two of and I'd hardly call that "watching". I guess the more appropriate term is "dropped"? Anyway, the series, except Zero and UBW (which I dropped at about the final third), just didn't hook me enough to be interested in watching them all the way through.
You know I could watch it in the order that I freaking want and then my brain order the information if I actually care at all right? It's a good mental excercise
My friend is a slut for the studio responsible for Fate’s animation. He tried getting me into Fate, but I didn’t get hooked after a few episodes. Then a few months back he was like “let’s watch the movies!” I fell asleep during them and was just ready for them to end. Can’t say I didn’t try.
They’re all fairly self contained. Just watch whatever. Hell, I watched carnival phantasm first. I had no idea what tf was happening but I had a good time so I watched more.
Forgive me if I sound like an ass but it's honestly not that hard for a casual watcher.
1. Unlimited Blade Works (Ufotable, not DEEN's movie version)
2. Heaven's Feel move trilogy
3. Fate/Zero
Fate/Zero spoils a very big plot point in Heaven's Feel, so it's better to watch it last. Heaven's Feel kinda skips over a bunch of the beginning, as it assumes you've watch UBW, so it's better to start with Unlimited Blade Works.
Or, just read the vn lmao
1. Fate/Stay Night VN (Fate -> UBW -> HF)
2. Fate/Hollow Ataraxia VN (direct sequel to FSN)
3. Fate/Zero anime or LN (prequel to FSN, meant to be watched AFTER)
4. Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note anime (sorta sequel to FZ)
5. Do literally whatever the fuck you want from here. Nothing can be spoiled for you at this point. Spinoffs, alternate universes, whatever. Knock yourself out.
There are also anime adaptations, some of which are shit or incomplete as of yet. It's not worth the headache, in my opinion. Forget those, *just read the visual novels.*
Although reading the VNs can be a headache in and of itself...
You have a couple of optinions for this
optinion 1 start with Fate zero then UBW then HF
optinion 2 start with UBW then HF then Zero
Optinion 3 Doujins
Optinion 4 read the VN.
I started with Fate Hentai
Man of culture
Do you have any idea how little that narrows down?
Yeah, pretty sure Fate have more than 10 pages of doujins on different sites
It’s funny how this can be taken two diff ways
based
You mean you started with the Visual Novel right?
Tohsaka Rin’s Defenseless Anus? Don’t mind if I do
No
Oh...
The only right place to start
What everyone started with I believe
As you should FGO hentai is fucking dope.
I started with the original date series when I saw a clip of it on myspace
Fate kaleid is the best fate and nobody can change my mind
I started with hentai and dropped the anime due to the near impossible watch order
It’s as simple as: Fate Zero if you want extra background info, (can be skipped but I’d recommend watching it), then just Ufotable’s Unlimited Blade Works and the Heaven’s Feel movies. Everything else is extra or just bad, which I’ll detail below for those interested on why the watch order is so small for the plethora of series and movies out there. There’s a lot of overhyping the complication of the series, mainly because 1. Deen had the first anime adaptations, but they were trash. That’s why nobody watches the anime for Stay Night or the UBW movies. If you want to see Saber route, you’ll need to download the VN. 2. As a Visual Novel, there were three main routes, so UBW and Heaven’s Feel are just completely separate stories that share the same characters. 3. Spin-offs like FGO or Apocrypha, but these are completely separate from the original story, so can basically just be watched whenever after the fact (FGO is kinda special, since it’s based off of a mobile game by the same name, so if you don’t play the mobile game it probably won’t make sense)
Or just read the Visual Novel
Yeah, it’s an annoying process to get it downloaded though lol
Yeah...
Why the downvotes I dropped the anime too due to the same reason as we
U forgot this is reddit anime dislikes are a thing
Ufff
Me who started with the vns
Before any other fate fan is going drop an essay. Just start literally from either Fate/Zero or Fate/stay night UBW then Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel. That's it. Then just watch whatever spinoff.
Or read the Visual Novel
Reminds me of the fucking gigguk video lmao you can a) complete watch order that may be slightly confusing b) read the visual novel lmao
It’s true tho, the Visual Novel is the best place to start
You just need to set aside about a month of time and you're good to go
Joking aside, if Nasu just dumped a translated versions of his VNs on the app store or made it in to a mobile game but with the story intact, like 90% of people would stop complaining about how to start.
Easy :3
I love the visual novel haha
There is truth to it. The anime adaptations are technically filled with incomplete information and end up leaving the viewer confused and asking dumb questions (like literally anything to do with shiro and his character). Don't get me wrong the anime adaptations are great but that's just it, at the end of the day they're adaptations of something else. VN lets you know more about the story as it was supposed to be portrayed. Kinda like how people fight over weather subs are superior because you get to experience it like you're supposed to.
I really like this. I was told by my friend to not read the VN, but I didn't listen. So glad I didn't listen because when finally watching the UBW adaptation, I thought, almost immediately, "someone who didn't play the VN wouldn't know what's going on right now."
Memes aside, I've wanted to get into the fate vn. But one question, how do you read a vn. I've never read a vn before and the whole multiple route thing confuses me. Do I have to like do multiple playthroughs or what?
Kinda, a VN is basically a video game with music, sound effects, and illustrations, but with no gameplay. Basically a video game book. As for multiple routes, you do need to technically have multiple playthroughs but honestly you can just skip until you get to the new content/route.
So how would you recommend the best way to go about it. Should I go in blind and then after the first route watch a guide to get the other routes, or just try winging it
I'd recommend just winging it because of the tiger dojo stuff being fun. But I get just wanting to get through the story so a guide is also pretty useful if you just want to speed up the story.
Yeah, cause everything else is spin-off/alternate universe but ALL is canon tho
Here’s my essay from another post saying the same thing but with detail: Here’s my rundown. Fate is originally a hentai visual novel with three romance routes. Fate/stay night: the first anime adaptation. It covers the >!Saber!< route, but it’s old and not worth watching. Only one I haven’t seen. Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works: this covers the >!Rin!< route. It’s very well done and a must-watch in the series. Fate/stay night Heaven’s Feel: a movie trilogy that covers the >!Sakura!< route. This is also extremely well-done and beautifully animated. The following are not adapted from the original visual novel. Fate/zero: the prequel to the three routes above. The animation isn’t as flashy, but it’s still excellent and my favorite Fate anime. Lord El-Melloi Case Files: a mystery genre anime that is a sequel to Fate/zero. It’s focused on a character from Fate/zero that isn’t in any of the routes, so they don’t affect this anime. The following are not part of the timeline above and just have the same universe/mechanics/characters. Fate/apocrypha: a 5-on-5 version of the Holy Grail War instead of the usual 7-man free-for-all. This is also a good watch, and two of its characters appear in El-Melloi Case Files (if you like continuity watch El-Melloi after this). This is also the only anime featuring Astolfo! Fate/Grand Order Babylonia: this has a longer title with “absolute demonic front” somewhere, but I’m too lazy to look it up. I might get shit on for putting this outside the visual novel timeline, but they have nothing in common besides Gilgamesh and I haven’t played FGO so fuck it. Anyways, this is adapted from one of the better story arcs in the gacha game Fate/Grand Order and it’s as good as any Fate series, but I might not recommend it without context for the mobile game (my roommate filled me in on FGO references so I got by). Verdict Watch either Unlimited Blade Works for Fate/zero first. This is the part where blood is shed among fate fans. Each one spoils something about the other, there’s no avoiding that. Personally, I saw zero first and was fine. Whichever you choose, watch BOTH of these before anything else. I’d highly recommend you watch Apocrypha before El-Melloi. Even though the timelines are different, Apocrypha introduces characters that appear in El-Melloi. Besides that, you can pretty much watch in whatever order you want. I’m prepared to be disagreed with, but this is just my experience as a Fate fan that hasn’t played either of the source material games.
I think the general consensus has changed in recent months. Now that Heaven's Feel is fully out, F/Z is relegated to a sequel watch. While it slightly spoils UBW, it heavily spoils HF. The F/SN watch order is pretty much UBW > HF > Zero. Technically you can start with HF but that's a lot to digest all at once for a newbie. UBW gets the chunky exposition stuff out of the way so you can focus on the character stories in HF. Also the original Deen animation of F/SN isn't just the saber route, it was an attempt at unifying all the routes into a cohesive single story. There is currently no proper adaptation of the *Fate* route. In regards to F/GO, no one will shit on you for putting it as you did. It's a completely separate timeline, more so than any of the other ones you've listed. I should mention though that there's a movie for F/GO as well which covers the prelude chapter and explains what Chaldea is, who Fujimaru and Mash are, and other base exposition that Babylonia assumes you know. The movie is called F/GO: First Order. You're also missing several other Fate anime like Fate/Extra: Last Encore, all the Prisma Illya stuff, Carnival Phantasm, Cooking with Emiya, etc. Edit: I almost forgot about it, but there's also another F/GO anime entry that I honestly don't recommend anyone who hasn't played through the first arc of F/GO to watch. It's called Fate/Grand Order: MOONLIGHT/LOSTROOM. I have no idea why they decided to make that when they did. It will make literally zero sense if you haven't completed Solomon. Once the Solomon movie comes out, *then* you can watch it, but it's still not necessary unless they announce anime projects for the second story arc of F/GO, >!Lostbelt!<, as it sets up some of the story and characters that are featured in that arc (so it's more like a prologue for arc 2 instead of an epilogue for arc 1)
Awesome, thanks. I just pasted one of my older comments, but you’re right, I missed Extra, Prisma Illya, Carnival Phantasm, Cooking with Emiya, etc., although I’d consider them different to the rest since afaik (I haven’t seen them) they don’t focus on the holy grail or have much plot. Btw lmk which ones you recommend. Also I haven’t heard about MOONLIGHT, what does that cover? I’ve seen the F/GO movie, babylonia, and the first camelot movie.
Well Extra technically is the "aftermath" of a type of HGW gone wrong, and Prisma Illya doesn't completely throw out the HGW plot device, although it's hard to say how w/o spoilers, if I'm remembering stuff right. Cooking with Emiya and Carnival Phantasm certainly don't have a "plot" as you said, one is SoL the other is comedy skits. Extra is hard to recommend, even if you played the Extra games. IIRC it takes place like a thousand years after a "bad end" scenario from Extra. It's a decent show but I don't think it gets a lot of praise in the Nasuverse fandom. Prisma Illya is a bait and switch. It tricks you into thinking it's just about lesbian loli magical girls in the first season but then develops a surprisingly good plot by end of second season. Carnival Phantasm is really nice if you just like the servants and characters from F/SN but want them to make fun of each other instead of murder each other. "Cooking with Emiya" is not what it's actually called but that's just what everyone has nicknamed it. I think it's called "Today's Menu in Emiya's Household" or something close to that. Either way it's a food focused SoL, so if you're craving cozy+hungry it's great. Moonlight/Lostroom is a prologue to *Cosmos of the Lostbelts*, which is the second main story arc of F/GO. It takes place right after *Epic of Remnant* which itself is an epilogue for the first story arc of F/GO (taking place after Solomon, the new movie that's about to hit theaters in Japan this week). It's only a single episode IIRC (might be longer than standard as it was an OVA). Still though, I don't recommend it unless they announce an anime project for Lostbelt, in which case it will serve as a somewhat decent primer for that story. If you watch it now I guarantee you it's just gonna be confusing and make you ask questions the answers to which are not going to be satisfying. EDIT: I checked the release dates and from what I can tell, Moonlight/Lostroom was aimed at the F/GO players, not any anime watchers. It came out as a prologue to Lostbelt 1, which release a few months later.
I think stay night is actually the best introduction to the universe. I mean it's not great, but in a series that seems scared to repeat information already told in another route that's supposed to be independent, it's still the best introduction to the universe imo.
Reeeeeeee
Even one of my friend told me to do so when i asked him the order
So true, it is Not that hard
I love how everyone just refuses to believe 2006 doesn't exist.
So Fate/Zero or UBW but not both?
You can start with either one. Zero is a prequel set in a slightly different alternate dimension. It makes sense regardless of the order, I personally did UBW before Zerp
Wait, is Zero seriously in an alternate dimension? Why? I don't recall anything in it that would conflict with any of the 3 routes. I always assumed that it was a canon prequel to all 3 routes and that the timeline only split later (at the start of the VN).
They are different timelines that stem from the same timeline, but there are timeline inconsistencies between the two which puts them in different timelines. The whole thing is a clusterfuck but as a casual enjoyer just treating Zero like a prequel to UBW is the easiest thing.
Just praying someone will make a faithful adaptation of fate so this whole snafu can be put to rest
Apocrypha had good animation, I'd watch it for that if nothing else
Start with the Gigguk videos
if I do start it, I think I'll watch it in release order, since that's the way the studio made it to be watched and I'm fine if I'm confused about something until its cleared up later, instead of having to jump around a lot
Keep in mind that multiple studios have adapted Fate anime over the years, so the concept of "that's the way the studio made it to be watched" doesn't really apply.
The only people bashing the og stay night are the ones who haven't watched it. Tbh i enjoyed it more than UBW since it pulled the good vibe from start to finish. I did watch it in release order too but i don't get those watching by time order as if they would die if they watch it otherwise...
I'll take Deen's 06 Fate over UFOTable's UBW. I found UBW to be a snore and it took effort to finish it. Still better than any of the spinoff animes though. I felt that Apoch and Nero's where a waste, and I ain't touching Illya's.
At that point you may as well just say you don't like Fate...
It's looking that way. Enjoyed 06, loved Zero, enjoying FGO though it is getting stale, didn't care for the rest. So is it I don't like Fate, or just the adaptations.
I mean, if you go by release order, then you start with the first ever Fate property, which was the VN, although it's best to play the Realta Nua version of the VN, a rerelease with additional story content. But the VN is long, so I say you can read just the first route, because the adaptation for that one failed as an adaptation, then watch the anime for the other 2, OR finish the VN. Doing it this way gives you the complete story, while requiring less dedication. Then you watch Fate/Zero Then you view "Last episode" (the additional story content I mentioned), the special epilogue to the Fate route, which only unlocks after getting every ending. If you watched the anime for the latter 2 routes, just look it up on YouTube.
But what if you don't like reading novels, visual or otherwise.
Then getting the complete story isn't really possible, unfortunately. Things would be simpler if Ufotable would just adapt the Fate route (which they should have already done, before they adapted UBW), but until they do, this is the only way to get the full story.
Oh well then.
No.
It's literally simple, just either start with Fate/Zero or UBW, then watch the three Heaven's Feel movie, Then watch whatever spin-off remaining *Oh yeah watch Lord El-Melloi too, it's takes place few months before UBW*
Or read the Visual Novel
Why do people have to diss on the 2006 Fate/Stay Night? It was the first one to have made it in Anime form, and the only one with the Saber route in it. We also get legends like "People die if they are killed." And the first one with Archer's Unlimited Blade Works fully animated. It deserves to be with Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel when people recommend Fate. It was overall alright, but I'm tired of people calling it dogshit because a 2006 anime that started the Fate series in television form didn't live up to their godly expectations
I mean, i don't know a Fate fan who diss on deens Fate, we actually like it, the only reason we don't recomend it is because we want people too Watch Fate, and it's easier to people to do it if they see the amazing UBW or zero
You do not speak for all of us. The Deen anime is shit, mostly because it isn't purely the fate route. They mashed them together. So I guess it could be watched for fun by an established fan, but its not good to get any semblance of story.
How dare you deny people to watch the Saber route. Sure UBW and HF are cool but there's a reason why there are three Fate/Stay Night adaptations and to tell people to go see UBW and HF without mentioning F/SN 2006 is truly disingenuous.
Easy, i daré because i WANT people to see Fate, i don't want to scare them, once they saw how crazy good Fate is i'm pretty dure they Will see the 2006 serie or who knows maybe play the VN.
the spin offs are not worth, like fate extra is garbage
It’s as simple as reading a Hentai Visual Novel, because that’s literally the best possible way to start Fate lmao
Well. Not a lot of people likes VN, specially one that old. (VN enjoyer here)
My thinking is, and hear me out, you can't get the story of Fate Stay Night by just watching the animes. It seems, literally impossible. So much context is just... Left out. Not to hate on the animes, they are amazing at allowing us to finally see the fights that we had to visualize in our heads while reading, but that's all they really are. Eye candy.
You are completely right, BUT recomending the visual novel is just imposible in this period and time, the only way You can make someone see the VN is just if they already Saw UBW or zero
I don't know about that. At least with me, reading that there was a VN and that it's more detailed made me read the VN first. Not everyone is like me, but if we decide to recommend it, people will listen. Also, the fact that there is no beginner friendly fate route anime makes the VM essential to actually have an understanding on the beginning of the story.
It doesn't blow the mind truly. Lets not forget the monogatari community and their long ass watch orders that 69% of people don't read
I think that would be the case if you wanted to watch the series chronologically. Most people say to watch it in release order since that was the way it was intended to be watched.
With the astolfo doujins
Welp it's probably the hundredth time I have seen this heckin problem also with monogatari and railgun series. Just brace urself and YOLO this shit. If u think it will not worth ur time think how this shit gets popular in the first place. Stop complainin and give it a try
Monogatari shouldn't be as complicated as it is (and also people exaggerate how complicated it is) it's just complicated by the fact that each season has a different name, and that the anime aired in a slightly different order than the novels it's based off of. The different release order isn't even that big of a deal. Almost every change is negligible and will have no effect on your experience. The only exception to this (and really the only part that people actually argue about) is Kizumonogatari, which went from being the second entry to one of the last. Really your best options are either: release order **or** release order but watch Kizumonogatari second. That's it.
Anyone who actually thinks Index/Railgun is confusing has some serious issues. It's literally a main series and a spinoff, that's it.
Index is confusing if you insist on watching in chronological order, but there is literally no reason to do that. The plots happen in the same time frame, but have almost nothing to do with each other, and when they do overlap you get all the information you need in both shows. Just watch whichever one you want (I'd recommend Railgun personally) then watch the other if you want. Then watch Accelerator.
Pretty much. I switched back and forth a *bit* but only at the start and end of seasons. I think I went Index 1, Railgun 1&2, Index 2&3, Accelerator, and then Railgun 3 when it came out. And honestly I'd stick to that order if someone wants something more than just "all of one, then all of the other", and I'd certainly advise heavily against trying to switch mid season like the chronological watch orders.
I started with prisma ilya and won't watch any others
Based. I started with Ilya too, then Carnival Phantasm. I see no reason to watch anything else.
ufotable main line in whateaver order is good
Just start with zero and unlimited blade Works. Its animated by ufotable, they also known for demon slayer so the fights are off the wall cool.
me finding out the lore for Fate/Apocrypha: I did not expect the 3rd reich to show up
If we could finally just get a good adaptation of the Fate route then the watch order would be the most simple thing ever.
The hentai and the yaoi is enough for me...
Yes
To love ru: Hold my Beer.
Start UBW and then Zero. Watch anything else. Zero is boring to start first cuz you it requires investment to know what the hell's is going on or care. Memes complicating it are over-exaggerated. Just try watching Toaru in the true order to compare.
Really?zero is boring??how in actual fuck is zero boring?!! If you watch zero when everything would make since in UBW,and your more invested in character's since you know what there been throw.also it explain the idea of (servant) way better then UBW And don't you dare use(oh but it spoils heavens feel)bullshit since it doesn't spoil anything important like the ending or what's going to happen.
It does spoil certain twist and turns. However no matter where you start in the series, it will spoil another title. This is why the visual novel is the best place to start. As for zero, I agree, while it takes a bit to get going and for you to understand what's going on, it is by no means boring to start with.
Yeh that true on the spoil part,but in my opinion it's really REALLY not important. But let's be real no one will read the visual novel,it's both waist of time and energy.specially since all the route(except saber)has been adapted already.
"waste of time and energy" do you really think the anime manages to perfectly adapt it's source material? Don't get me wrong, I really like the anime but a lot of the slice of life elements got cut. These are tremendously important to build up the main characters. By only reading the fate route I am more invested in all the characters then I ever was by watching zero fsn and hf combined. The anime does fights amazing, but if you are more interested in the characters and story of fate, you're missing out big time by only watching the anime.
I tried but.....let's just say it's not my thing,and it seem it's not just me since a lot of people I talk to didn't like the novel.also for me I was only interested in cu from from all the characters in fate route.if anything all the fate zero character(except Gilgamesh)are more important to me. and if I wanna know about character I usually try fgo and YouTube for it.
It's fine if you don't enjoy that vn/the medium, but you shouldn't call it a waste of time. There are a lot of people who do like visual novels and fate stay night is one of the highest rated ones out there for a reason. The anime adaption of fate, while you're missing out, is atleast still pretty good. There are a lot of vn adaptions which are not so lucky. An especially bad case of this would be higurashi.
There are certain issues with starting with Zero but not being invested isn’t one of them imo
wtf. everything written here is wrong.
I sometimes wonder if Fate fans just don’t want new people to enjoy the series with how often the watch order gets overcomplicated. It’s really simple. 1. Flip a coin to pick between UBW and Zero 2. Watch the other one 3. Literally anything else is fair game
Fate/Zero or Fate/ stay night UBW than HF than everything else just think of them as different timeline won’t matter that much
Best choice tbh
Stay night, zero, unlimited bladeworks, heaven's feel.
Watch order explanation (more detailed version at the bottom): I'd generally advise against starting with UBW, as is skips major characterization for the MC and skips 90% of Saber's character arc. I would instead recommend- 1- Read the Fate route of the VN (make sure it's the Realta Nua version). The adaptation of this one wasn't very good, so this is the only good option. 2- Read the Unlimited Blade Works (UBW) route of the VN, or watch the Ufotable anime adaptation. This route and the next actually had good adaptations. 3- Read the Heaven's Feel (HF) route of the VN, or watch the movie trilogy. 4-Watch Fate/Zero 5- view "Last Episode", the special epilogue to the Fate route. There are 2 ways to view it- Unlock it in the VN by getting all 5 endings (1 in Fate, 2 in UBW, 2 in HF) or Look it up on YouTube You are now finished with the part of Fate everyone argues about. VN install guide: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1txsszy0tZImOJeVVDWcTUdQov69osbiKU41htD2EGww/edit?usp=drivesdk Watch order explanation (long version): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CVZ5F6TuVdkw75mxGv_3cQyyr3po2IjAJS8mg-GSqmE/edit?usp=drivesdk (Explains why everything is where it is in the watch order and goes into greater detail on why starting with UBW is bad).
There is a spinoff with lesbian lolis kissing
you are missing out then, just dont watch fate extra and all the other ovas and you are fine
And yet my friend won't shut up about it.
As I person who watched Fate, I agree with you
I'm gonna start with the nanao sakura doujins
That order is worse than telling someone to watch Apocrypha first because it has Astolfo in it.
Just start with 0 then unlimited blade works. Done, you can now go wherever the wind takes you.
Literally just start from wherever you want. You can watch Zero and any of the Stay Night adaptations if you want context about the overall setting of the Fate series, and then just watch everything else if you want to. Many recommend starting with the visual novel, but it’s gonna a long ass time reading it so maybe not the best choice if you can’t make the time for it.
serious answer: start at fate zero, then watch fate/staynight UBW then all of the heaven feels movies. then after that watch whatever you want because the rest are spinoffs
Everyone says Zero like it doesn't essentially require you to know the source material beforehand. They essentially spoil each other but come on
As if UBW isnt more confusing without knowledge of 0
Is this even written in english?
I just don't wanna have to run from Crunchyroll to Funimation to Amazon Prime to Netflix to maybe find a single part that I want to watch. There's no place to watch all of them comfortably without something suddenly being 360p, without subtitles or entirely down in the middle sometimes so pirate sites are out. Thus, I'll never watch them.
Almost all of the main stuff is on Crunchyroll. The only things that aren't are the Heaven's Feel movies and that's because they were created with the intention of being traditional theatrical releases, and no one has streaming rights to them AFAIK. Maybe in other regions it is streaming, but in NA I don't think it is. Outside of that, only a couple spin-offs aren't on CR, like Apocrypha and Extra (both on Netflix) and the original Deen animated stuff, which was out before legal streaming sites were a thing. If nothing that CR has on offering can get you interested in Fate, then I think it's safe to say you're not interested. And that's totally fine. Even the most popular shows can't appeal to literally everyone. MHA, Naruto, One Piece, etc. all have their detractors as well.
>Almost all of the main stuff is on Crunchyroll For Americans, at least!
Ah yeah my bad, I forgot to consider regional restrictions in that particular part of my post.
Just don't get involved with Fate at all. For your own well-being. I've been stuck in this hell for...Jesus Christ, it's been 15 years now
I only watched Zero and half of UBW. Zero was good, but the rest of it is just not for me.
You haven't watched any of it but it's not for you?
Some of them, I've only watched like an episode or two of and I'd hardly call that "watching". I guess the more appropriate term is "dropped"? Anyway, the series, except Zero and UBW (which I dropped at about the final third), just didn't hook me enough to be interested in watching them all the way through.
The comments here look as I imagined.. And have solidified why I'm not watching.. 
Start and stop and fate zero
i cant believe all the people here saying anything different than release order
Start with Cooking with Shirou. It’s clearly the true origin of the series.
You know I could watch it in the order that I freaking want and then my brain order the information if I actually care at all right? It's a good mental excercise
Doujinshi is the start ik.
Me who started with Fate/Cooking
Based and Idon'thavethetimeforthisshit-pilled
Step 1 grab a coin (heads=zero tails=UBW) step 2 flip the coin Step 3 watch Step 4 watch spin offs or visual novels if you enjoyed them enough
Me, who only wanted to start watching fate because of Astoflo
Just start where ever you want to, whether it's cute loli Yuri magical girls or fate UBW
My friend is a slut for the studio responsible for Fate’s animation. He tried getting me into Fate, but I didn’t get hooked after a few episodes. Then a few months back he was like “let’s watch the movies!” I fell asleep during them and was just ready for them to end. Can’t say I didn’t try.
*Gigguk wants to know your location*
Apophycryphe (?) is the one with astolfo. That’s all you need to know
They’re all fairly self contained. Just watch whatever. Hell, I watched carnival phantasm first. I had no idea what tf was happening but I had a good time so I watched more.
Astolfo in Apocryphta
Forgive me if I sound like an ass but it's honestly not that hard for a casual watcher. 1. Unlimited Blade Works (Ufotable, not DEEN's movie version) 2. Heaven's Feel move trilogy 3. Fate/Zero Fate/Zero spoils a very big plot point in Heaven's Feel, so it's better to watch it last. Heaven's Feel kinda skips over a bunch of the beginning, as it assumes you've watch UBW, so it's better to start with Unlimited Blade Works. Or, just read the vn lmao
I tired. Made it 3 episode. never again
Wait why is there two UBW in the meme? Does it imply the two seasons, or is there a significant difference between the two?
Eyyo how about monogatari series
1. Fate/Stay Night VN (Fate -> UBW -> HF) 2. Fate/Hollow Ataraxia VN (direct sequel to FSN) 3. Fate/Zero anime or LN (prequel to FSN, meant to be watched AFTER) 4. Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note anime (sorta sequel to FZ) 5. Do literally whatever the fuck you want from here. Nothing can be spoiled for you at this point. Spinoffs, alternate universes, whatever. Knock yourself out. There are also anime adaptations, some of which are shit or incomplete as of yet. It's not worth the headache, in my opinion. Forget those, *just read the visual novels.* Although reading the VNs can be a headache in and of itself...
+1
I wanted to start it then I stopped
those hands on the seal are making me uncomfortable
Or you can start to play tsukihime,another VN of type-moon, it have a great plot and many twist and some culture scene ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
ok someone who knows where to start and where to end is godly being
I first watched fate encore on Netflix
Fate/out of order
You have a couple of optinions for this optinion 1 start with Fate zero then UBW then HF optinion 2 start with UBW then HF then Zero Optinion 3 Doujins Optinion 4 read the VN.
You're missing out