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I've watched just the 2006 Fate/Stay Night anime series. I know there are other series in the franchise (Fate/Zero, Fate/kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya), as well as the Unlimited Blade Works movie, and the manga. I don't intend to read the visual novel since it's hundreds of dollars to import it, plus it's insanely long. What order should I take these works in, and are there any I can skip without losing out?

Torisuda
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    Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua on PC can be brought on Amazon Japan, it's 3 separate games (one for each route) but you need to clear all their endings to access -Last Episode, there's links to each "episode" is on Type-Moon's Website and [siliconera](http://www.siliconera.com/2011/12/16/fatestay-night-realta-nua-pc-version-to-be-released-as-separate-episodes/) says they cost 2,940 Yen each, convert that to Aus$ which is close to US$ and that's about $29.40 so close to $90 in total. – Memor-X Jul 15 '14 at 22:15
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    Here's the [Type-Moon link](http://typemoon.com/products/fate_dl/index.html) i think you can use but i can't confirm as it's blocked at work for "adult-and-pornography" (despite Which of the Holy Night and Realta Nua being all ages) – Memor-X Jul 15 '14 at 22:16
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    @Memor-X Thanks, good tip! If I can spread the cost out a little, I won't be as unwilling to spend the money. – Torisuda Jul 17 '14 at 20:45

4 Answers4

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If you ask five people this question, you'll get six answers. There are conflicting opinions on this, and I'll try to outline the major options available in this answer. But first, a tl;dr

tl;dr

If you only want to watch anime:

  1. Watch Ufotable's version of Unlimited Blade Works (prologue, first half, second half)
  2. Wait for Ufotable's version of Heaven's Feel
  3. Then, watch the Fate/Zero anime (first half, second half)

If you're willing to do whatever:

  1. Read the Fate/stay night visual novel
  2. (Optionally, watch the Ufotable versions of Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel)
  3. Watch the F/Z anime.

It is generally agreed that Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero are the two core works of the Fate series. They both come in multiple forms. Whatever you do, consuming these two works in some form is the first thing you should do.

Fate/stay night

  • Fate/stay night was originally a 2004 visual novel that had three routes - Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven's Feel (in that order).
  • The 2006 anime by DEEN mostly adapted the Fate route.
  • The 2010 movie by DEEN adapted a highly condensed form of the the Unlimited Blade Works route.
  • Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 saw another adaptation of Fate/stay night, this time by Ufotable, which adapts the Unlimited Blade Works route.
  • At some point in the future, Ufotable will release a movie or series of movies that will adapt Heaven's Feel
  • There is also a manga series that (I believe) adapts the Fate route, but I'm going to ignore it, because it's generally thought to not be that great.

Fate/Zero

Fate/Zero is a prequel to Fate/stay night.

  • It was originally a light novel series (2007). Fate/Zero has no concept of routes, so all media of Fate/Zero cover the same material, more or less.
  • It had a manga adaptation (started in 2011; ongoing). It was pretty good, but if you want to read it, I recommend that you do so after watching the Fate/Zero anime.
  • It was adapted into a 2-cour anime by Ufotable in Fall 2011 and Spring 2012.

Below, I discuss some possible scenarios for consuming F/sn and F/Z.

You want to stick to watching anime

In this case, the best option is:

  • Watch Ufotable's version of Unlimited Blade Works. Then, once Ufotable's version of Heaven's Feel comes out, watch that. Finally, watch the F/Z anime.

The next-best option is:

  • Watch the F/Z anime. Then, watch Ufotable's version of Unlimited Blade Works. When Ufotable's version of Heaven's Feel comes out, watch that, too.

There are pros and cons to watching F/Z first vs. watching F/sn first. Each one spoils material for the other. On the whole, though, I feel that watching F/sn first is the correct choice, since this is the "production order" of the series - the F/sn visual novel followed by the F/Z light novels.

For incredibly spoilery details on how they spoil each other, see below:

If you watch F/Z first, you know how messed up the Matou family is; you know that the Grail is corrupt; you know about Kiritsugu's affiliation with the Einzberns; you know that Sakura and Rin are sisters; you know that Kotomine is not a good guy. These are all major reveals in Fate and Heaven's Feel, and I think that knowing these things in advance impedes one's enjoyment of those routes.

On the other hand, if you watch F/sn first, you know how the Fourth Grail War ends - but this isn't a bad thing. That's how all the original readers of Fate/Zero went into it, and Urobuchi Gen wrote the light novels with that in mind - the dramatic irony that we know that everything's going to hell in a handbasket but they don't is what gives F/Z a lot of its impact.

I do not advise watching the DEEN F/sn anime (the TV series) it is poorly produced, both in terms of objective quality (art, animation, etc.) and in terms of faithful adaptation of the original work. If you really want to know what happens in the Fate route, I guess you could watch it, but honestly, lots of what happens in Fate is also referenced in UBW and Heaven's Feel, so you'll be able to piece it together after watching the Ufotable version of those two routes.

I also do not advise watching the UBW movie at all - Ufotable's version of Unlimited Blade Works is strictly better in every way that I can think of (animation, pacing, etc.).

But you already watched the DEEN F/sn anime

Well, in that case, you're sort of in an "ideal" position - now you can watch Ufotable's version of UBW and (when it comes out) Heaven's Feel, and at the very end, Fate/Zero. This best emulates the "production order" of the Fate series without having to go to the visual novel.

You are open to anything

You have one clear-best option.

Read the F/sn visual novel. Then, watch the F/z anime. Optionally ― if you can grok Japanese or tolerate fan-translated light novels ― read the F/Z light novels.

At any time after reading the UBW route, watch Ufotable's version of UBW; at any time after reading the Heaven's Feel route, watch Ufotable's version of Heaven's Feel (assuming it has come out). The Ufotable version of UBW has a few extra scenes, and is generally agreed to be a very good adaptation of the visual novel (given the constraints of anime as a medium). So, if you want to see your favorite fight scenes animated, or just want to hear more lines by your waifu, I'd say go ahead and watch it.

What about all the other Fate/asdfghjkl stuff?

In this section, I've mentioned the major Fate/ works that people often have questions about; if you have any other questions, leave a comment and I'll update.

Fate/hollow ataraxia

Fate/hollow ataraxia is the sequel visual novel to F/sn (released in 2005). You can read this at any time after finishing the F/sn visual novel. It will probably be rather confusing if you've only watched the Ufotable versions of UBW and Heaven's Feel, since they do omit a fair bit of detail that is important to getting the jokes in Fate/hollow ataraxia.

If you can't read Japanese, this may be an unpleasant experience. The English translation patch is... not great.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya is a spinoff manga (parts one, two, three) that shares characters and universe concepts with F/sn and F/Z but is otherwise rather dissimilar. A 10-episode anime season aired in summer 2013 and another 10-episode season ("2wei") aired in summer 2014. A third season ("2wei Herz") is scheduled for summer 2015.

You can watch or read this at any time after finishing the F/sn visual novel or F/Z in any form. You will get more of the jokes if you've finished both and also gone through Fate/hollow ataraxia.

Other Fate/gibberish

There are also a lot of spinoffs. To name a few, Fate/apocrypha, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/strange fake, Fate/Extra, Fate/Extra CCC, Fate/Unlimited Codes, Fate/tiger colosseum, and Fate/Prototype. You can probably read/play any of these after reading the Fate/stay night visual novel or watching the 2006 DEEN anime or Ufotable UBW or Ufotable Heaven's Feel. None of them are particularly "important", but you may find them fun.

The rest of the Nasuverse

The Fate/ series shares a universe with a number of other works by Nasu Kinoko (the author of F/sn), including Tsukihime, Kara no Kyoukai, and Mahoutsukai no Yoru. Some of these are dependent on one another, but they're all essentially wholly decoupled from the Fate/ series. Read them if you like, or don't. Whichever.

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senshin
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  • The manga has Fate's ending, but the story doesn't stick to the Fate route. From what I heard, it has elements from UBW route during the progression of the story. – nhahtdh Jul 14 '14 at 08:18
  • Thanks, good answer. I watched the 2006 anime again recently and was struck by how bad the fight scenes looked--almost DBZ levels of badness. My memory had somehow made them much cooler. There were some weird plot holes and threads that never went anywhere, too. – Torisuda Jul 15 '14 at 18:18
  • I'll probably follow your advice, watch Fate/Zero, catch the new anime when it comes out, and maybe try to get the visual novel sometime in the future. I'll wait a little while to see if anyone else wants to chime in, and probably accept this answer. – Torisuda Jul 15 '14 at 18:20
  • Sorry, but I can't vote this answer up. You state that Studio Deen adaptation is medicore (which I agree with) but advise to watch Ufotable's, which we know nothing about until it comes out. Ufotable has a history of both successful adaptations (Fate/Zero) and not so (Gyo comes to mind here). – Red Aug 11 '14 at 16:45
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    We now know that Ufotable's adaptation follows Unlimited Blade Works. [This preview guide](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/preview-guide/2014/fall/fate-stay-night/.79554) based on the first episode says it's so-so as an entry point for new viewers, but still equal to Fate/Zero in terms of general quality. Now that I've watched (half of) Fate/Zero, I can say that Fate/Zero does pretty well introducing Rin, even giving her an episode of her own, so for people coming in cold who don't want to read the VN, I'd probably say start with Fate/Zero. – Torisuda Oct 05 '14 at 21:44
  • So, im super confused, should i watch the 2014 anime first? or watch stay night, then zero, then this new anime? – Pochi Oct 08 '14 at 02:03
  • @Chiquis Everyone seems to agree you should read the VN first if possible. I watched the 2006 anime, then Fate/Zero. If you can't play the visual novel, I would say do the 2006 anime or Fate/Zero first; I wouldn't advise starting with the 2014 anime. If you have no exposure at all to the franchise, the 2006 anime is tolerable, and it might be good to start there so it's not as disappointing after Fate/Zero, which has much better production values and a story that gets going faster. You could also start with Fate/Zero without missing too much. – Torisuda Oct 23 '14 at 17:09
  • Not sure if the comment section is right for asking...but your advice so far was very good, so i hope you'll indulge my asking. i've read the VN fate route and ubw route and while i had a lot fun and all (thanks btw. i wouldn't have read the VN without your answer here), i really don't feel like hearing approximately the same story a third time. Do you think it is bearable to watch F/Z before reading/watching heavens feel? Since they spoil each other anyway, the order shouldn't count? Also, i read your spoiler section (damn me) so i already have a feeling of what's going to be spoiled. – Matthaeus Feb 27 '15 at 22:05
  • @Matthaeus Well, here's the thing - since you've already read the Fate route, you already know most of the big "spoilers" for Fate/Zero (how the fourth war ends, who the Saber and Archer of the fourth war were, etc.). There's almost nothing in Heavens Feel that spoils Fate/Zero that isn't also in Fate. So in your situation, I would strongly recommend doing HF before F/Z. – senshin Feb 27 '15 at 22:17
  • I totally understand where you're coming from when you say you don't want to read the same story a third time - so let me just tell you that Heavens Feel diverges **hugely** from the other two routes, very early on. I'd suggest playing Heavens Feel to about day 4 or 5. If you're still bored, then sure, go ahead and drop it and watch Fate/Zero. – senshin Feb 27 '15 at 22:18
  • @senshin ok thanks! I'll try to stay away from fate zero for now (which is gonna be hard...). – Matthaeus Feb 27 '15 at 22:22
  • For what it's worth, it looks like Kirtsugu's affiliations are disclosed (albeit not gone into detail) in the second UBW cour. – Maroon Jun 11 '15 at 10:46
  • @senshin, Is there even a "Heaven's Feel" anime? – Pacerier Oct 19 '15 at 14:51
  • @Pacerier No, but ufotable has announced that there will be one, at some unspecified time in the future. – senshin Oct 19 '15 at 17:14
  • [This diagram](http://anidb.net/pics/graph/a-3348.png) may give you some insight about the relationship of the different artworks about the `Fate/` series. – Atcold Jan 15 '17 at 21:21
  • @Atcold that diagram has a lot of inaccuracies which most stem from one incorrect point. Fate/Stay Night TV 2006 should ***NOT*** be the focal point because of the points i mention in my answer – Memor-X Jan 16 '17 at 21:38
  • I think that the diagram has been created with a chronological order in mind (hence the stemming from the 2006 version). I think that a graphical representation may help understand the relationship between all the stories. – Atcold Jan 16 '17 at 22:30
  • For those who haven't watched the DEEN F/sn anime (the TV series) yet, don't take @senshin's answer into account because you'll miss master pieces by Kawai Kenji :D – Bob Dust Aug 03 '17 at 06:01
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In my opinion (as senshin said, 5 people, 6 answer), if you are looking at the series from production release order, I'd do the following.

1) Fate/Stay Night Visual Novel

All works on Fate/Stay Night are adapted from this as

  • The anime mainly follows the Fate Route
    • Caster's Antagonist Role later in the anime is adapted from Unlimited Blade Works. (In Fate, she appears but is shortly killed. Her goal to prematurely summon the Grail was one of the main plots of Unlimited Blade Works).
    • Sakura's attacks on Rin in their battle during Caster's Arc is adapted from Heaven's Feel.
  • The Unlimited Blade Works Movie adapts the Route of the same name in the Visual Novel. However, it is more faithful to the adaptation than the original anime (I say faithful in a loose sense - you can't be faithful to a few hour long game in a movie).
  • The Unlimited Blade Works Anime series by Ufotable adapts the Route of the same name in the Visual Novel. is a more faithful then the movie because it doesn't try to compress everything into one movie. it also expands on the fates of a couple of characters who simply disappeared inadapts the Route of the same name the route
  • The Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel movie trilogy is suspected to adapt the Route of the same name (however currently only the first movie has been realsed)

In terms of which Visual Novel, Fate/Stay Night Realta Nua PC is your best bet as Realta Nua uses the same updated engine as what Fate/Hollow Ataraxia uses. Realta Nua PC is for all ages and in Japanese. There is an English Patch for it and it does add an option to view both the original H Scenes from the original Visual Novel and their Realta Nua Replacements (Shiro and Saber's Bed Scene, Rin's Contract with Shiro, Rider stealing Prana from Shiro).

2) Fate/Zero

Fate/Zero is a prequel to Fate/Stay Night. At the start of the Fate/Stay Night anime, you see Saber and Gilgamesh fight it out - this is sort of what happens in Fate/Zero (in the anime they don't fight but it may have been described in the Novel). Mainly, a lot of Fate/Zero is already revealed in Heaven's Feel like the state of the Grail, the Matou Family, and the true purpose of the wars.

Regardless of the route in Fate/Stay Night, they all start from the aftermath of Fate/Zero.

3) Any other anime

From this point, you will be well-versed on the events. As such, the anime titles will be an abridged version of what you've seen, but with more stylized fights (e.g. Archer vs. Lancer), which looks better animated in my opinion.

If you are looking at the series from chronological order, I'd do the following:

  1. Fate/Zero
  2. Fate/Stay Night (anime, if you really have to)
  3. Unlimited Blade Works (I'd watch Ufotable's series over Studio Deen's movie)
  4. Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel movie trilogy

While you say you don't intend to read the Visual Novel, you would miss out a lot. The Visual Novel isn't constricted to screening times, as such you can get quite detailed explanations of Nasuverse terminology such as True Magic, Magecraft, The Throne of Heroes, and how it's used with the Holy Grail. A lot of these are explained in the Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel Route, The latter has has only just been released partially as a movie with more films to be released.

Also finally in Realta Nua, after seeing all 5 endings, there is -Last Episode- which is in 2 parts: the first is a review of the Fate Route, while the second part is the true conclusion to the Fate Route where 2 people fulfill the conditions to perform a Miracle. You can also see it as a conclusion to the Fate/Stay Night anime since both the anime and the Fate Route have the same ending, as such, -Last Episode- would continue on from both. The original visual novel did not have this and a separate patch to Mirror Moon's patch was required to add it in.

Outside of anime there are:

  • Fate/Hollow Ataraxia (Visual Novel) - This follows the Fate Route. However, it does expect that you've played all the routes in Fate/Stay Night as it has elements that transpired in Heaven's Feel.

    The state of the Matou Family's as Zouken and Shinji are terrified by Sakura now that she is the head of the family and Alter-Saber being Saber's second personality

  • Fate/Extra (PSP Game) - This is set outside Fate/Stay Night. in the 1970's a certain event has drained Prana from the world. There are cameo's from Fate/Stay Night like Kotomine, Taiga, Rin's Lancer and Sakura, but their roles are different and not related to the original. Also, the Rin in this title, while looking like Rin from Fate/Stay Night, is not the same Rin but a descendant of Fate/Stay Night's Rin by at least 2 generations (implied to be either mother or grandmother).

  • Fate/Extra CCC (PSP Game) - A split from Fate/Extra like Heaven's Feel is to Fate/Stay Night. Sakura has a much larger role which also adds Gilgamesh into the mix. However, he's not so much as an ass as he is in Fate/Stay Night (though proudly showing off his naked body in front of Elizabeth as a weapon does show he's still got that ego).

  • Fate/Apocrypha (Novel) - If you've watched Fate/Zero or Played the Visual Novel then you know of the 3rd Holy Grail War. Fate/Apocrypha splits from the 3rd war where the Grail was stolen from Fuyuki. In this story, there are 2 teams of Servants and a new class, Ruler, which acts as mediator over the war. Also Mordred is summoned as Saber, keeping an established tradition in Fate series: the main Saber is related to Fate/Stay Night's Saber.

  • Fate/Prototype - This was what Fate/Stay Night could have been feature a Male King Arthur with a Female Master. the Holy Grail War also different with a different purpose.

  • Lord El-Melloi II Case Files - a side series following Lord El-Melloi II, AKA Waver Velvet from Fate/Zero, and Gray, a Descendant of Arturia's Bloodline, as they investigate mysteries in the thaumaturgy world generaly set around Clock Tower in London.

  • Fate/Labyrinth - set in the Seventh Labyrinth of Caubac Alcatraz (a Dead Apostle Ancestor) where someone had installed and activated one of the Subcategory Holy Grails in Caubac' labyrinth. Manaka Sajyou from Fate/Prototype appears but is now an existence connected to Akasha possesses the body of Norma who summons Arturia. this series is also one of the cases Lord El-Melloi II and Gray investigate

There are also other Nasuverse works such as Tsukihime and Witch of the Holy Night. Carnival Phantasm is a crossover of the Nasuverse like the heroes of Fate/Stay Night and Tsukihime trying to date all their heroines at the same time and alternate formats of the Holy Grail War.

Memor-X
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  • @nhahtdh in the last paragraph I did mean like, Shiro and Shiki dating their heroines is like only one short but it is a good note of just crazy things get in the series, otherwise it's just my usual mistakes, you got everything right – Memor-X Jul 14 '14 at 13:23
  • I heard that one of the Casters in Fate/Apocrypha is William Shakespeare. The only thing that could possibly have made the Fate series even better is adding Shakespeare. – Torisuda Jul 15 '14 at 18:15
  • @Torisuda that's correct, Shakespeare is the Caster of the Red Faction in Apocrypha, strange since he seems to have no magical history unlike other Fuyuki Grail Casters like Medea or Solomon, however The Fuyuki Grail may still be in some way damaged as the Assassins in Apocrypha aren't the Hassan either – Memor-X Jul 15 '14 at 22:30
  • Or Shakespeare was a mage in the Apocrypha universe, the same as King Arthur was female. In any case, I accepted senshin's answer since I ended up following the advice to move on to Fate/Zero, but I upvoted yours. In the future I'll probably end up reading the VN after all. – Torisuda Jul 17 '14 at 20:49
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I'll post this to help anyone like myself who can't get their hands on the visual novel. As said in another answers, it's best to start with Fate/stay night. The new version that comes out is based on the Unlimited Blade Works route of the visual novel. As such, I recommend this viewing order.

Fate/stay night (2006)

Fate/Zero

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014)

Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel

This viewing order avoids spoilers ruining the series and lets you see each route to completion before moving onto the next route. Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night (2006) have Saber as the female lead and thus the most connected.

I would like to mention that while the 2006 anime receives negative critiques regarding its animation, when I watched it I enjoyed it. Anyway, I have definitely seen worse anime. Although I am under no illusion that it is better than the visual novel, the source material is usually better than anime adaptations.

Anyway I just thought to post this since the original question was to exclude the visual novels.

nhahtdh
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  • It was reveled that the upcoming animation in october is going to be the UBW route. Heavens Feel is going to become a movie but there is no hint of release date yet – cuningj Aug 10 '14 at 19:10
  • Torisuda thanks for the vote I appreciate it. I have more news. At the moment someone is posting a translated version walkthrough of the fate hollow visual novel onto youtube. The channal is Rothran Agnos. From what I got from the translation it is the sequel to the fate route. The apperance of scenarios from other routes is due to Rin messing up a magical experiment briefly connecting parrell worlds and as Shirou put creating a situation were anything and everything became possible. – cuningj Aug 13 '14 at 22:38
  • One last thing If anyone is looking for the translation for the fate apocrypha novel then it is currently posted on one of the translaters wordpress. canonrap.wordpress.com . If youre having trouble getting onto the page there is a link beside the translators name on the baka tsuki page. I would include the link but I'm not good at this sort of thing. – cuningj Aug 13 '14 at 22:46
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After watching the series myself, I have the perfect answer. Watch Fate/ Zero first as it is incomplete, then watch fate stay/night by Ufotable (The newest version which is still being released in simulcast) I took forever making the decision and I am relieved I chose right. If you watch it the other way around you will have no idea what is really going on. Thus, just go in order with the actual timeline of the story. Fate/Zero, then Fate/Stay Night. Easy Peezy.

anita quipp
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    *"Watch Fate/ Zero first as it is incomplete"* how is Fate/Zero incomplete? and for the record Ufotable's Fate/Stay Night is Unlimited Blade Works – Memor-X Nov 27 '14 at 21:04
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    I think he was trying to say that Fate Zero history doesn't End in the last episode but continues in the Fate Stay night, thus its "incomplete". Also I agree in that spoilers in Stay night are bigger than those in Zero. and watching zero would help you understand better Stay night if you watch zero first. – montelof Mar 13 '17 at 18:00