The whole Fate series is pretty complex. Some are in the same universe, others are parallel-universe style, some are completely disconnected spinoffs. With no easy method to distinguish each subseries, it’s very easy to get confused on what to start with. In my opinion there are two ways to try out the series: either watching anime only or go finding and playing the original Visual Novels (VNs).
What you must watch, and everything else
In my opinion, there are 3 series that must be watched to really get an understanding of the series: Unlimited Blade Works (UBW), Heaven’s Feel (HF), and Fate Zero. Now why is this?
The simplest explanation is that originally, the Fate series started as a set of 3 VNs describing branching routes for one overarching story. Back in 2004, the Fate/Stay Night (F/SN) VN came out. The 3 routes were called: Fate, UBW, and HF (so these would be formally called F/SN: Fate, F/SN: UBW, and F/SN: HF). Each follows the same protagonist and set of characters but has very distinct events and endings, think of them as diverging paths from one starting event. This ’trilogy’ of VNs is what kickstarted everything and you must watch parts of it if trying to get into the series.
Fate Zero is a prequel to the events of F/SN, and every other Fate media that you can find (Apocrypha, Last Encore, Grand Order, Prisma Illya, Carnival Phantasm, etc.) is a spinoff that can be watched in any order once you finish the main series. I’ll explain the routes now before things become any more confusing.
Anime-only route
Here’s the order you should follow:
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Why isn’t the Fate route here?
The Fate route has an adaptation, but it’s much older and animation quality is noticeably worse compared to UBW and HF. If you want to know how big of a difference there is, there are lots of video clips out there to explain it. Since all three F/SN routes are independent, it’s ok to not watch one of them. You can always read a summary of the Fate route events if curious.
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Why is Fate Zero the last one to watch if it’s a prequel?
Fate Zero is a prequel, but it was designed as a sequel-prequel; the source material for Fate Zero was written years after the original F/SN VNs came out. There are important plot elements that refer to the original F/SN series and in my opinion it is best to watch Fate Zero after F/SN for better immersion. You can watch the series in chronological order and many people online will tell you to, but I highly discourage that here.
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I found a movie adaptation of UBW, should I watch it?
Don’t. It’s not good, I’ve seen it. The animation quality of the 25 episode UBW anime is somehow better than this single 2 hour and terribly paced movie. If your first experience with UBW was this disappointment, my condolences. On the other hand, the HF route was only adapted into a trilogy of movies with great animation.
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What are the advantages of this route?
It’s faster and streamlined. Since you skip the VNs and the Fate route, the amount of content to get through is slimmer. It’s also an easier route to follow, since you don’t have to find the ancient VNs and play them, which can take a while depending on your reading speed. For me, it took about 40-50 hours per VN. With the anime, you just start watching UBW, move to HF, then finish with Zero before watching anything else.
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What are the downsides to this route?
Obviously the biggest weakness is skipping the VNs and the Fate route altogether. The VNs may be old but they are still great sources to start from, and to me there was some value in playing all 3 VNs first then watching the anime adaptations. As the VNs are designed to be played in series; Fate → UBW → HF, they provide a fuller package.
Additionally, the animes are pretty lean in content compared to the VNs. The VNs had a lot of extra comedic/slife-of-life scenes that were cut from the anime, as they would likely not fit in with the overall serious atmosphere of the series. It’s not a bad thing. The anime is still packed with all the action and main story points; I don’t think you’ll miss anything important by not reading the VNs, but there is some extra fluff there that is exclusive to them.
One more big thing you would miss out on is decision making. Because F/SN is a VN, you have to make decisions. These actions will impact the ending you see and bad choices get you a game over. If you want this type of interaction, you’ll want to try the VN route.
VN route
The order is identical to the anime-only one, just with the VNs first.
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Why watch the anime after the VN?
If you like the VNs, then the adaptations provide a fantastic complimentary experience. You get to see the combat in detailed 1080p animations instead of a literal 4:3 slideshow. You’ll also hear some VN BGM tracks remastered for the anime. The anime just adds more depth to what the VN is limited to showing.
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What are the advantages of this route?
You get the full experience; nothing is missing. Extra slife-of-life scenes, lots of internal monologue from the protagonist, a great collection of BGM, and more detail in every scene. You also get to experience the Fate route properly, which you can only get from the anime route if you watch the very mediocre adaptation.
Then there’s the hentai. The F/SN VNs were originally sold with hentai scenes because sex sells and I guess the devs thought that it would make the game sell better. In reality, the hentai scenes suck; they have no voice acting (I can’t imagine the VAs having to act that stuff out), they’re cringey and obviously forced in for the sake of having them. The VN without the hentai is honestly just better. I tried seeing them because I was curious and disabled them 3 minutes into the first one. You can treat these scenes as a negative, but if you’re feeling degenerate and want to see some early 2000s style junk, feel free to.
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What are the disadvantages of this route?
It’s longer by quite a bit. You can blitz throught the VNs if you want to, but that defeats the whole point of reading them since it’s supposed to be more thorough. If you decide to watch the UBW and HF adaptations after, that’s another several days of material to cover.
Besides the extra time, the VNs aren’t exactly a stellar experience. Remember, they came out in 2004 so there’s going to be a lot of legacy junk in them. It’s not too hard to find them and set up, but if you’re unwilling to do some manual work I discourage you from choosing this route. I doubt there’s ever going to be a modern port or remaster of the VNs, so don’t hope for that.
Conclusion
No matter what route you choose, you’ll still get a solid experience. The VN route gives you the full experience but is slower and needs some work to set up, and the anime-only route is faster and streamlined but misses on smaller details and one whole route. Watch whatever you want after the 3 core series, and you’ll be one more person who can describe how to properly start watching this incredibly convoluted series of shows with no numbering or serialization. Just remember, word, don’t watch Fate Zero first.