Fate/Zero 2nd Season

This is the order that I find to be the best way to experience the main Fate plot (Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero).

Other than reading the visual novel first, no anime-only order is ideal and there is always going to be a sacrifice made somewhere. This order attempts to minimize as many forward references (spoilers) as possible and acknowledges the original order that the source material was released.

The major downside of this order is skipping the adaptation of the 1st route from the visual novel, the Fate route. There is an adaptation for this done by Studio Deen, however it attempted to bring in many elements from the other two routes, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel. This means that by watching it, some major twists in those later routes are completely ruined. It is my subjective opinion that the losses from skipping the Fate route are less than the losses from learning about events in Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel.

A comprehensive watch order of the Fate series, which includes every entry of the Fate franchise and the Nasuverse. Courtesy of AEGC (Fate Guide): https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1866055

Since interest stacks only allow a maximum of 50 items, I'll do this one (1-50) and make another stack (part 2) which will include the remaining items that need watching (51-73)

Part 2: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/226

AEGC Interest Stack index: https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=2017008

minimum requirement for FATE series

Despite the Fate franchise sprawling tons of new spin-offs, reimaginings, and much more interpretations than the unacquainted person can grasp or handle, this media giant had a humble start - the original Fate/Stay Night visual novel.

I do believe this topic has been discussed and overanalyzed in the fandom far too much to say with absolute certainty if there is a correct answer. However, what I would like to present is the way I got into it. What I enjoyed about it and what I feel might be interesting for newcomers of the franchise.

I'd like to specifically cover the "main" shows which covered the three routes of the visual novel; The Saber route, named Stay Night, the route with Rin, Unlimited Blade Works, and the Sakura route, Heaven's Feel.

There's a lot of other media in the Fate franchise, but I personally believe that if you feel like you want to experience what this franchise is about at it's core, these shows presented are where you should begin.

(Written by Tyrrael, redacted by SophTheCommander)

Anime that is adapted from a video game.

who am i kidding fate fans will never agree to anything.

Anime that contain mature themes and elements, complemented by fantastical elements. Typically action-packed and contains a deep plot

*Addition: CASTLEVANIA (available on Netflix). Not an anime but it's one of the best dark fantasy cartoons)*

This is the watch order I used the main anime of the Fate franchise. As Fate is highly infamous for having many different watch orders, I do not claim this order to be the only one possible, however from my experience this order is optimal in the sense of minimizing spoilers. As Fate is originally a visual novel, I recommend watching the first three routes in order and save the prequel for last. The list does not include spinoffs, which are obviously only meant to be watched after you have completed the main series.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is basically a list of all my favorite anime. Anything I give a 9 automatically gets on this list, but only the entry from each franchise I liked the most. Feel free to try and watch every single anime on this list.

A numbering of the core Fate/Stay Night titles in the order you should watch them. Should be seen in the format where you can see the notes I made.

Alternatively, just play the visual novel and then go on to Fate/Zero. Sadly, Fate/Stay Night's sequel, Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, is not here due to having no anime adaptation.

Anything not here can be watched in any order after you have, in some form, finished Fate/Stay Night+Fate/Zero, with the obvious exception of not watching Kaleid Season 2 before Season 1, and Carnival Phantasm, which is a crossover with Tsukihime and so requires you to have read through that.

I researched a lot about fate watch order before watching it and this is what i think is the best watch order if you don't want to get confused from the beginning.

Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: this one is skip able because it's story revolve around a character from fate zero but i personally suggest it because this series has lots of characters that you are going to see in another spinoffs.

And as for spinoffs you can start with any one you want!

If you liked unlimited and zero then go on.

Shows that have exceedingly great animation, visuals, etc. Do not expect any of these to even have the slightest plot, though some may have a good storyline. It's all about good animation.

Welcome to the Fate Universe, an introduction from the main story line and every spinoff you can imagine.

It's recommended to watch the main storyline first, then branch out to the spinoffs.

The stack is made as an easy watch order for beginners. Fate/Zero is a good introduction to the Holy Grail War, it takes it's time, it has incredible fights, character development and a brilliant ending. It spoils some details about the Fate/Stay Night characters, but not massive enough that you can't enjoy the routes of F/SN. Then you can continue with Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, which adapts the second route of the Visual Novel which is just as well made as F/Z. Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel Trilogy will end the main storyline, adapting the 3rd route of the Visual Novel, which is pretty different from UBW, but is at least as enjoyable, being praised as some of the best anime movies in the last years. There is also the original anime series Fate/Stay Night from 2006, that adapts the Fate Route (1st Route of the VN), but it isn't a good adaptation, it brought some original content and overall it's much weaker in quality than the adaptations from ufotable (F/Z, F/SN UBW, F/SN HF). I don't recommend it, especially for beginners.

For the people that want to experience Fate Series at its best story wise, they can read from the Visual Novel Fate/Stay Night the Fate Route, which is about 15-20h and introduces you into the Fate Series with more detail, it has some extra content and bad endings. Then continue with the anime serie F/SN UBW, the movie trilogy F/SN HF and end with F/Z. For a Visual Novel reader, this is the original way to experience the storyline. Knowing the ending of F/Z can bring extra weight to the character's actions and their fates, being a Greek tragedy. You can also read the rest of the F/SN Visual Novel and the Light Novel of F/Z, they are worth your time.

Web version of the Visual Novel Fate/Stay Night: https://fatestaynight.vnovel.org/

As for spinoffs, there isn't an order to watch them, you can start with anyone you like.

For each spinoff, I've put their seasons and specials in release order. They come from Carnival Phantasm, Today's Menu for the Emiya Family, Lord El-Melloi II, Fate/Apocrypha, Fate/Extra, Fate/Grand Order, Fate/Grand Carnival to Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya.

Yes, there is something of a MAL equivalent in Japan.

Anikore summary:
"あにこれβはおすすめアニメ動画を成分タグ・ランキング・レビュー感想や放送時期でさがせるアニメ評価サイト。参加するとアニメ動画をコレクションできるアニメ棚がもらえるぞ。あにこれβで今すぐアニメを棚で管理！おすすめアニメ動画をみんなで教えあおう！"
(More: https://www.anikore.jp/what/)

There's a lot I'd love to know about the site (and share with you) but I cannot understand everything on there and the site doesn't seem to have a Wikipedia page which is wild.

Anyway, here is Anikore's top 50 anime based on score ranking. If you would like to see a stack for 50-100, do ask.

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Notes:
- All top 50 have very high scores (like all of them are 9X.X/100), whether they are as good as the score indicates is another story.
- This stack is in the same order as Anikore's order.
- "Hyouka" is in joint 49th place with "Sword Art Online" and "K-On" but landed on page 3.

Links:
https://www.anikore.jp/pop_ranking/
https://www.anikore.jp/pop_ranking/page:2 - requires account

If you are reading this and are new to the Fate series, the biggest advice I can give you is to just pick the one that sounds interesting to you and start it.

I think the thing most people seem to forget is that you don't need to know every single intricate detail of the lore to be able to enjoy this franchise. Just treat each one as its own story set within this expansive world and you can experience them in any order you want.

Yes, one of the most satisfying parts of being a fan is to figure out how they all connect to one another. But that's not really something someone new to the series really needs to worry about, so just pick one, any one, and start. The only thing you will need to do is to watch entries with the same sub title together in order to get the most out of their respective stories, eg Fate/Stay Night (Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks etc), Fate/Grand Order (Fate/Grand Order: Babylonia etc),

With that said, the following is my personal suggested order. The one last important thing to note is that Fate is only one of franchises that's set within this fictional world, it's just the most popular and most expanded upon. This shared universe is named the "Nasuverse" after it's creator, Kinoko Nasu. I have included as much of the other series in the Nasuverse in this list as well, as they really help expand upon the world building beyond what we see in just Fates Holy Grail Wars. If you are only interested in Fate itself, then feel free to skip over them, but you'd be missing out on some great stories in their own right.

The only things I haven't included are some of the shorts, specials or recaps as I don't think they are absolutely essential, and this has a limit of 50 entries, so it is what it is.

the watch order. if ur super interested in the franchise, u can watch studio deen adaptation from 2006 but its supposedly really bad yeah, like personally i didnt watch it so yeah.