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May 9, 11:11 PM
#1
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Apr 2022
87
Is it okay to watch by the release order? Or there is more to it? I am really confused with fate.
May 9, 11:21 PM
#2
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May 2020
5
I dont know what the best order is, what I can say is that i watched it in release order and had 0 Issues.
May 9, 11:23 PM
#3

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Feb 2014
4119
Kinda?

Ideally you should read the Visual Novel: It's been fantranslated for 11 years and officially available ever since last year, then read it's sequel VN, hollow ataraxia. Then, optionally, you can read the prequel Light Novel, Fate/Zero.

But assuming you want to be an anime only: This is DEEN's stay night, which cover the Fate route (Though they added some elements from the Unlimited Blade Works route, so you're getting spoiled on that). Years later, DEEN would also make an UBW film: Fate/stay night Movie: Unlimited Blade Works
DO NOT WATCH THAT ONE, instead watch ufotable's adaptation of the route:
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works Prologue -> Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works -> Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season -> Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season - Sunny Day (Optional)
Then watch ufotable's Heaven's Feel trilogy:
Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower -> Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - II. Lost Butterfly -> Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - III. Spring Song

Hollow Ataraxia was never adapted, so you can jump and watch Fate/Zero if you want, followed by Fate/Zero 2nd Season.

Everything else is an spin-off, an alternative timeline or both at the same time.
But the spin-off's set in the same timeline are Lord El-Melloi II-sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note - Hakamori to Neko to Majutsushi -> Lord El-Melloi II-sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note -> Fate/strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn -> Fate/strange Fake
May 9, 11:24 PM
#4
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Jun 2024
17
for me the best order is fate Zero , stay night UbW then Fate Heaven's Feel
May 9, 11:25 PM
#5

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Feb 2014
4119
Everything else SHOULD be fine by watch other alone since nothing is related to each other.
The only exception being the Fate/Grand Order stuff where the order is all different.
May 9, 11:27 PM
#6
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Jan 2016
98
i think people put to much weight on what order to watch it.
i dont think it matters much.
either of the fate/stay night to begin with, then whatever order you want.
i started with the original, and i believe its so much better than people give it credit for!
May 9, 11:29 PM
#7

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Jan 2021
1933
I watched the main entries by release order too.
This is one of those things where no matter where you start, once you're done with the core shows, you'll get the whole picture. Then you're good to start spinoffs.
May 9, 11:32 PM
#8

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Jan 2017
6334
MeherabHB said:
Is it okay to watch by the release order? Or there is more to it?


Release order is not that good of an idea, because of Fate/Zero released in second.

MeherabHB said:
I am really confused with fate.


Actually, it's not as complicate as everyone makes it to be.

The source material is a Visual Novel, with 3 Routes. Meaning, there is 1 story divided into 3 parts, with the same characters and starting the same way, but developping and ending differently. A little bit like a time loop, where the timeline is resetted between each. Fate is a little bit different than other Visual Novel, in the way that the 3 Routes are locked in a certain order (Fate/Saber => Unlimited Blade Works/Rin => Heaven's Feel/Sakura); you can't play it however you like.

It's more than extremely rare for a Visual Novel to receive adaptations for each Routes, and Fate was the same, getting only the 2006 Anime (adaptation of the 1st Routes with a few elements of the 2nd and 3rd).

Then came Fate/Zero, a Prequel Light Novel, built on the revelations of the 3 Routes, telling a story of the past. Its massive success in Anime led to a separate adaptation of the 2nd and 3rd Routes of the original Visual Novel.

So the order is 2006 => Unlimited Blade Works (preferrably TV) => Heaven's Feel => Zero.
But as you can maybe see everywhere, the 2006 adaptation is not very well liked, especially in comparison with the productions of Ufotable coming after.

If you want the complete order of the franchise, with more thorough explanations, i redirect you to this blog : https://myanimelist.net/blog.php?eid=827694
"Genius lives only one story above madness."
– Arthur Schopenhauer.

"Stupidity is a talent for misconception."
– Edgar Allan Poe.

"I'm tired... and hungry."
– Alexioos95.
May 9, 11:38 PM
#9
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Nov 2019
98
Just consume it in release order. Nothing wrong with that
May 9, 11:39 PM
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Feb 2022
1
So there are a couple different opinions but me personally I watched by this order:

Stay night is the first visual novel that has three possible endings split into different series. These three endings are fate(the stay night 2006 show), unlimited blade works, and heavens feel. Fate/Zero is a prequel that shows the backstory of a few major characters and is one of the best parts of the franchise.

Fate/stay night (2006)
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works
Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel (three movies for the whole route just watch 1 2 then 3)
Fate/Zero

That's all the main stuff for stay night you can watch Lord El-Melloi II and Today's Menu For the Emiya Family if you want but they are not essential to the plot. It's not exactly release order since ubw and hf came out after zero but you will be lost for a lot of the plot especially the end.

Grand Order I admittedly did not finish because it is based on a mobile game that will probably never have the entire story animated. Beyond that, it throws you into the middle of the plot with characters you don't know. It isn't directly tied to stay night at all, but it has a ton of direct references.

Fate/Grand Order - First Order
Fate/Grand Order - Moonlight/Lostroom
Fate/Grand Order - Divine Realm of the Round Table: Wandering Agateram
Fate/Grand Order - Divine Realm of the Round Table: Camelot
Fate/Grand Order - Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia
Fate/Grand Order - Final Singularity Grand Temple Of Time: Solomon

There's another non-essential spinoff called Fujimura Ritsuka Doesn't Get It

Past that, there are a couple more spinoffs you can watch whenever. The only one I can personally vouch for is Fate/Apocrypha. I enjoyed it very much for what it was. There's also Fate/EXTRA Last Encore, which I've heard is alright if you can see past how confusing it is, and the Prisma Illya series, which has a reputation of being a lolicon show, so I never watched it.

Finally, there is a show that has two episodes out called Fate/Strange Fake. There's no say on when it will come out yet so if you plan on watching as it releases you may want to wait until it's dropped.

Hope this helped you
May 9, 11:56 PM
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Jun 2023
88
Start with Fate/Zero or Unlimited Blade Works first
May 10, 12:39 AM
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Apr 2020
2
There are a few watch orders you can go with, but there is no "best order". Here are a few orders:

1.) The chronological order:
Fate/Zero -> Any of the Fate/Stay Night routes (Fate/Stay Night or Unlimited Blade Works or Heaven's Feel) -> anything else you want to watch.
If you want to watch UBW don't watch the movie.

2.) The non-chronological order:
Any of the Fate/Stay Night routes -> Fate/Zero -> anything else you want to watch.

3.) The freedom order:
Ignore anything I said and watch whatever the fuck you want to watch.

4.) The weird order:
Watch the entire Fate/kaleid liner Prisma★Ilya series (why would you do that?).

At the end of the day it doesn't matter what order you watch it in as long as you have fun. I went with the 1. order and watched Fate/Zero -> F/SN -> UBW -> Heaven's Feel movie trilogy and I had fun with that. Someone might have enjoyed a different watch order and that's fine too. There's no "best order" or "wrong order". The main story are Fate/Zero and the 3 F/SN routes, Fate/Zero is prequel to the F/SN routes so I'd recommend watching it first or last, but you're free to do what you want. Regardless of the watch order, you're gonna have fun unless you're watching the UBW movie (seriously don't watch it, it's trash).

Just pick any watch order from this discussion that includes the main story and you can't go wrong.

👍
May 10, 12:46 AM
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Apr 2022
87
rooSip said:
I dont know what the best order is, what I can say is that i watched it in release order and had 0 Issues.

your rating ?/10 (character limit)
May 10, 12:54 AM
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Apr 2022
87
Ctes said:
i think people put to much weight on what order to watch it.
i dont think it matters much.
either of the fate/stay night to begin with, then whatever order you want.
i started with the original, and i believe its so much better than people give it credit for!

even if it doesn't matter, its enough to make me lost lmao
May 10, 1:09 AM
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Nov 2015
122
Even if 2006 version is not technically as good as Ufotables adaptations, it covers the most important route of the visual novel. I wouldn't skip it.
May 10, 1:14 AM
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Apr 2022
87
CoolRat61 said:
There are a few watch orders you can go with, but there is no "best order". Here are a few orders:

1.) The chronological order:
Fate/Zero -> Any of the Fate/Stay Night routes (Fate/Stay Night or Unlimited Blade Works or Heaven's Feel) -> anything else you want to watch.
If you want to watch UBW don't watch the movie.

2.) The non-chronological order:
Any of the Fate/Stay Night routes -> Fate/Zero -> anything else you want to watch.

3.) The freedom order:
Ignore anything I said and watch whatever the fuck you want to watch.

4.) The weird order:
Watch the entire Fate/kaleid liner Prisma★Ilya series (why would you do that?).

At the end of the day it doesn't matter what order you watch it in as long as you have fun. I went with the 1. order and watched Fate/Zero -> F/SN -> UBW -> Heaven's Feel movie trilogy and I had fun with that. Someone might have enjoyed a different watch order and that's fine too. There's no "best order" or "wrong order". The main story are Fate/Zero and the 3 F/SN routes, Fate/Zero is prequel to the F/SN routes so I'd recommend watching it first or last, but you're free to do what you want. Regardless of the watch order, you're gonna have fun unless you're watching the UBW movie (seriously don't watch it, it's trash).

Just pick any watch order from this discussion that includes the main story and you can't go wrong.

👍

So the spin offs are after completing Zero and The 3 routes?
May 10, 2:22 AM

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Aug 2018
299
Best way in my opinion for the main storyline is to watch the original stay night, followed by Unlimited Blade Works (prologue -> s1 -> s2 -> Sunny Day (the UBW movie can be skipped, it came out first but it tells the same story in a much more condensed way. Almost like a compilation movie but in reverse)), heaven’s feel movies (1-3), and then zero (s1-2). There is another VN (Hollow Ataraxia) that isn’t adapted as an anime that would be after Zero so if you want you can play or find a playthrough of that (it takes place after the three stay nights). After Zero spinoffs like Strange Fake and Apocrypha can be watched whenever you feel.

As for the other storylines only Kaelid Liner is available fully in anime form, you’d need to play the games to get the full experience for the other storylines.

(I’d recommend using this as reference also, it’s what I used when watching the main storyline: https://www.reddit.com/u/PurpleDeco/s/6hS2Dl3z6N. Just note it doesn’t have Fate/Zero Cafe (which afaik is lost media anyway), UBW Sunny Day, or any of the recaps if you care about those)
TheColdMayorMay 10, 2:26 AM
May 10, 3:47 AM
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Jun 2023
105
start by watching Fate/kaleid liner prisma illya
May 10, 6:27 AM
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May 2020
5
Reply to MeherabHB
rooSip said:
I dont know what the best order is, what I can say is that i watched it in release order and had 0 Issues.

your rating ?/10 (character limit)
@MeherabHB No clue what you mean with the character limit part

Scores mean different things for different people, overall score for me is probably like a 9/10, some parts lower, some parts very high. i watched fate/stay night, fate/zero, fate/unlimited bladeworks and fate/heavens feel all this year and it has quickly become my 2nd favorite anime of all time.
rooSipMay 10, 6:33 AM
May 10, 7:00 AM
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Apr 2022
87
rooSip said:
@MeherabHB No clue what you mean with the character limit part

Scores mean different things for different people, overall score for me is probably like a 9/10, some parts lower, some parts very high. i watched fate/stay night, fate/zero, fate/unlimited bladeworks and fate/heavens feel all this year and it has quickly become my 2nd favorite anime of all time.

I see thanks. and MAL doesn't let post reply with text under 15 characters sot thats why lol
May 10, 8:13 AM
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Jul 2024
17
I watched it like this and it's the way I recommend people watch it:

1. FSN (2006)
2. UBW
3. F/HF
4. Zero

after that it doesnt really matter. although fair warning, FGO adaptations won't make the most sense if you didn't play the game.
May 10, 8:47 AM
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Apr 2020
43
1. fate stay night 2006
2. fate zero
3. lord el-melloi
4. Fate UBW
5. Fate Heavens Feel


ive found that watching fate zero before the others doesn't even ruin anything for me at least.
May 10, 9:10 AM
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Nov 2019
330
Yeah. That’s what I did. Most of fate ain’t even connected to each other, it’s neither a spin off standalone series or just a different route (UBW, Heavens Feel or this version). Only one that I guess that actually matters is Fate Zero then watch any of the 3 routes i mentioned. The rest is irrelevant.
thischeetobussinMay 10, 9:15 AM
May 10, 11:22 AM
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Oct 2023
38
Fate Stay Night Series are just different roads, it's visual novel based anime.

However, Fate Stay Night Heaven's Feel should be watched after one of these, as the beginning is skipped.
May 10, 5:39 PM
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Jan 2020
509
It's not as complicated as people make it out to be. Just watch the original Fate/stay night, the Ufotable's adaptation of Unlimited Blade Works, then the Heaven's Feel trilogy of movies. After all that Fate/Zero.

There are a lot of folks that say to start with Fate/Zero, but Fate/Zero is a prequel series to the original Fate/Stay Night, Unlimited Blade Works, Heaven's Feel. Watching Fate/Zero first would be like watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy before the original trilogy. People make the stupid argument that Unlimited Blade Works spoils Fate/Zero and Fate/Zero spoils Heaven's Feel because of a joke video by Gigguk, but in actuality the light novel that Fate/Zero is based on came out about a couple years after the visual novel so it assumes readers have already played the visual novel. It goes into further details and backstory on elements of the visual novel that were major twists and reveals because it assumes you already know them, but if you were to watch in chronological order, makes those reveals fall flat.
May 11, 6:59 PM
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Nov 2018
227
its fine. in reality, it doesnt really matter which series you watch from
but the general explaination for the basic premise is at unlimited blade works, zero and heavens feel

so ideally youd start from one of those, finish the rest, then its up to you

example; if you started at fate ilya, you'd never know what a holy grail war is, because they are in the future, after the holy grail war had ended
May 11, 7:04 PM
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Nov 2018
227
KayShawn258 said:
its fine. in reality, it doesnt really matter which series you watch from
but the general explaination for the basic premise is at unlimited blade works, zero and heavens feel

so ideally youd start from one of those, finish the rest, then its up to you

example; if you started at fate ilya, you'd never know what a holy grail war is, because they are in the future, after the holy grail war had ended

in fate, the most popular thing is ubw, fgo and astolfo (apocrypha)

but imo, when youre watching it, its super good. but then it gets better at fgo. but then, it gets better again at fate ilya.

its like, watching a 9/10 series, then it became 10/10, then 11/10
May 12, 12:50 PM

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Sep 2024
22
I started with Fate stay night 2006 and I regretted not having started with Zero, Zero for me is without a doubt the best and most surprising thing about Fate and if you watch something else before Zero you already know everything that's going to happen so it ruins it. Plus, it was the first ufotable adaptation, so it's made so you can start with it. Oh, and I don't recommend skipping 2006, for me it's the best route, it doesn't have the ufotable lights but it has its essence
May 13, 4:42 AM

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Jun 2021
156
zero > ubw > heavens feel
May 13, 4:25 PM
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Jul 2020
19
Fate/stay night (2006) —> Fate/stay night UBW —> Heaven’s Feel (3) —> Fate/zero —> other fate spin offs (not including FGO)


Fate/stay night is based on the VN, which follows 3 routes that correspond to each of these anime: fate/stay night (2006), UBW, Heaven’s Feel. Watching in this order is what is intended in the storytelling from the get-go.

Watching 2006 version is hard to put up with but it really helps in understanding the story, characters, and what is going on. UBW expects that you know the story and events that happen, so it doesn’t explain much to start with UBW first, and watching 2006 enhances the experience. Fate/zero is typically watched last as it spoils some plot points used and built up in the main story.
May 13, 5:23 PM

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Jul 2022
35
I've been watching the series since I was a child, and watched in completely random order (with the UBW movie first!) and ending with Heaven's Feel. If you watch the DEEN series first, it's the Fate route and focuses mainly on Saber, so it's a pretty good series to start on since you will begin to understand the characters and their motivations a lot more. (Also I think the light novel goes automatically to Fate when you start it). UBW should always be after Fate because I feel that it requires a grounded understanding of what's going on, which is happily explained in the DEEN version. I feel that if you start with Heaven's Feel you will be missing out valuable information at the start. For me, depending on when you watch it, Zero is like a reward for watching all of the other routes and may only satisfy someone who knows all that is going to happen after it.

As someone who has been watching for years and constantly rewatches the series, watching randomly did not make me confused. But I do understand there might be an optimum watch order, so do go for it if you wish :)

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