The Fate anime Series: What order do I need to watch this in?
What is going on Gym n Japan Fam! Welcome to another Sunday blog post. Today I want to explain how you should be watching the Fate anime series. In my opinion this is one of the best shows out there. It has some of the best quality production, the attention to detail and character development is next level and the fight scenes are...well they’re just spectacular. The original Fate series started with a visual novel and then adapted in multiple anime, manga, light novels and will continue to expand!
Fate is an absolute gold mine for the creators because it can honestly be expanded to incorporate new timelines and make it even more confusing for those who haven’t watched them yet! This will also make them some big $$ with the latest Heaven's Feel movie making around $20 Million USD in the middle of the pandemic last year so the numbers are still good! We will start to see a trend with more anime being released in the cinemas for that extra $$ with Demon Slayer being the catalyst for this change raking in a massive $500million+ USD!
So first you need to know, the fate series has a number of different timelines, alternate storylines, etc. So I am going to give you the rundown on the main series: Fate/Stay and how to watch that.
What is the Fate series about to start with? This is honestly super confusing for a new watcher. To put it simply 8 mages (people who can use magic) summon old/future heroes (people like Gilgamesh, Arthur from the knights of the round table, etc.) to fight for something known as the holy grail. They are summoned to the world with god-like powers to fight each other until there is one left standing. The Masters (mages) supply the heroes with magic to stay in the world of the living and are connected via a pact or seal which is displayed on the master's hand. From there, they strategise and fight. NOW that is a super simple way of putting it, more is detailed in the show itself.
So, what’s the order?
First, we have Fate/Zero. This is the first one to watch, it provides a background of characters and sets up the story for the future of the series. This one is one of the more action packed shows where there is a lot of master and hero fighting. Let's leave it at that as we don’t want to spoil anything.
Second, you have the following 3 which can be watched in any order. These are all the same characters and branch off from Fate/Zero, but head in slightly different directions.
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks
Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel (3 part movie series)
Fate/Stay Night (Original 2006) Probably only watch if you just want more content.
Fate/Grand Order etc
Personally, we have not watched the original Fate/ Stay Night (2006). This is the original one which is apparently a bit patchy by trying to incorporate multiple timelines in the one series so skips important details. This was also made by studio Deen who didn’t really deliver so we believe it's not really worth watching.. Once it got into the hands of Ufotable it really shined with Fate/ Zero then the remake of Fate/ Stay Night called Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks. Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks is a masterpiece. It perfectly branches off from Fate/Zero and continues with the action packed fighting and chaos. So in our personal opinion, after watching Fate/Zero, we would watch it in the order we have listed above from 1 to 3.
From here, there are a number of other branches to the story. They do not relate to the aforementioned anime series, but the concepts are still the same where they are fighting for the holy grail to grant them any wish they want. The other series include:
Fate/Grand order
Fate/Kaleid
Fate/Apocrypha
All of which are super good and full of action.
Next release is Fate/Grand Order: final singularity and you guessed it… it's in a movie! To make that sweet $$$. Although this is unrelated to Fate/ Stay Night it is definitely worth the watch with great animation and a good plot line. Basically the main characters travel to different singularities in the timeline where the holy grail is involved. We would recommend watching Fate/ Stay Night first so you have an idea of the world, characters and why people want the holy grail so badly.
In order to watch this you will need to watch:
Fate/Grand Order: Babylonia Episode 0 (1 Episode)
↓↓
Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front (21 Episodes)
↓↓
Fate/Grand Order final singularity.
Expect a lot more from the Fate franchise in the near future!
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