Fate/Help

Age : 29 Posts : 1585

Alright, so I haven't read or watched anything from the long list of Fate/Something franchises.

As a casual anime fan I was about to start watching Fate/Zero, then I got dragged into an argument about what is supposed to be the watching order. After doing some research on outdated forum discussions, I understand there's a visual novel that follows three different routes.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, it's Stay Night, Zero and Heaven's Feel.

Everyone seems to be fighting over the order one should follow, and I'm here reading with confusion, laughing at people defending the production companies. According to many posts/comments, Deen's Fate/Stay Night, released in 2006, was a bad adaptation of the novel and the animation quality isn't that great. An opinion which then leads the discussions to the point where people recommend watching the most recent Stay Night animated series by UfoTable, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and ignoring as a whole Deen's series. But then they start fighting over watching Unlimited Blade Works before or after watching Fate/Zero.

Which brings me to this question: Would it be reasonable to watch Fate/Zero first and then watch Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works since they are both produced by the same company, or would I be missing out on a lot of content and plot by ignoring Deen's Fate/Stay Night? Note that I'm aware of the chronological order in which they have been released, and of the fact that Stay Night is released before and set after Zero.

Now let's hope somebody actually reads this and replies.

Age : 34 Posts : 718

I tried watching Stay Night when it first came out and to be blunt, I thought it was boring and hardly worth my time after about 5 episodes in. That's just my personal opinion of course.

When Unlimited Blade Works was released, I decided to go back and check out Zero. Zero. Is. Epic. I watched the whole series over the course of three days and neglected a lot of things to do so because I found it to be so darn entertaining.

I'm currently following Unlimited Blade Works and am looking forward to the next season which starts this spring if I remember correctly. I find it to be enjoyable, if a bit slow in the beginning, but Zero is still my favorite by far.

That being said, I'd recommend Zero first. It's nice to start with that one since it's more or less a prologue to the other two series. If you try out Stay Night and can stomach it, then all the power to you. But I'd honestly just suggest you skip it, watch Unlimited Blade Works, and then when it's over, go back and check out the wiki or read the VN to gather what you missed from Stay Night.

You don't really need to watch Stay Night to understand the story of the show though. At least not the gist of it. There is some deeper multi-timeline stuff going on which is why there are the branching stories, but each of these branches is more or less good as a stand alone story.

Age : 29 Posts : 1585

Thanks for devoting time into reading my post and replying, Mugen!

I'll probably go for Zero first and then watch UBW. I usually drop anime series solely because I can't stand their animation design, and if people are saying it's that boring that it's not worth watching, then I probably might as well won't.

Fate/Zero has been the one that got me interested in the first place, anyway. I watched a random short AMV on youtube and the sample of fighting scenes intrigued me to watch it.

Age : 34 Posts : 718

No problem. Feel free to ask about any anime. I spend way too much time watching all kinds of series so chances are...I know about them and can give a decent enough opinion on whether or not they are worth watching. I'm well known among my IRL friends for making good anime recommendations.

Age : 29 Posts : 1585

Would you be interested in chatting on skype, then? If so, PM me your username.

Age : 34 Posts : 718

I posted it publicly in the skype thread already, I'm open about handing my skype out to forum people.

Username: Skyeduquin
Displayname: Duquin Delequa

Posts : 1216

Read the VN. That is the most important thing to ever do. I read the VN long before Zero was even announced as an anime. The Fate/Stay Night anime is trash. The Ufotable zero and UBW is beautiful however.

Read VN

Watch Zero

Watch UBW