Where's a good place to start w/ the 'Fate' series?

[Guest Sympl&Klyn]

See a lot of this on Netflix but I don't wanna jump into the deep end w/ no floaters. 

[stilgar]

 

[Guest Sympl&Klyn]

Guess I'll just try out Castlevania then.

[HardcoreHunter]

Most basic way to watch is to start with Garden of Avalon. It takes place before everything.  Fate Grand/Order will cover the events of the First Holy Grail War. Then no series has gone over the events of the 2nd Holy Grail war. The 3rd Holy Grail War is covered in Fate Apocrypha. Now Fate/Zero is the 4th Holy Grail War. After that you get 3 main routes to choose from being Stay/Night, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heavens Feel. They're same universe different routes kinda deal, and the main focus will be each of the main girls that the MC will white knight for. Now there are two divergent timeline series at this point. Fate/Extra takes place 1000 years into the future where mana was depleted in the world prior to the events of stay/night meaning it can just make shit up for it's own story and not be tied to any single route. Fate Grand/Order follows more of a 4th route of the Fate series but mostly keeps in line with the Stay/Night route. This also covers the events of the 1st holy grail war like I said above so time loop. So despite Grand Order taking place in the 1st holy grail war it expects that you have watched Fate Stay/Night. 

Avalon, Apocrypha, Zero, Stay/Night, Grand/Order are the main one's I'd suggest for story. 

[Chapinator_X]

Either read the Fate/Stay Night visual novel or watch the prequel Fate/Zero.

The former is the very beginning of the series and the closest they’ve gotten to a good adaptation is with the newer Unlimited Blade Works anime that adapts the second route of Stay Night. Not too ideal, but the first route of Stay Night isn’t exactly Shakespeare so you might even be able to start with the Deen one if reading the LPArchive screenshots doesn’t feel right. Or better yet, read the first arc on LPArchive and then watch ufotable’s UBW and Heavens Feel adaptations.

People get pissy about starting with Zero because it explains plot twists in Stay Night, but it was the gateway anime for a large portion of fans, and arguably has a better cohesive story. The choice between Zero and Stay Night all hinges on if you want to watch a story about angsty adults or horny teens. 

The rest of the Fates are weird spinoffs and you can watch any of those at any time as long as you know about the whole “summon seven varieties of warriors from across history/fiction and command them to fight to the death in a war for the holy grail” premise.

Only Hollow Ataraxia and El Melloi Case Files tie directly into any of the mainline Fates, so if you only wanted to see Astolfo or Kuro, you can jump into their respective spinoffs without too much supplementary material.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Chapinator-800

[Distinct Lunatic]

To make it simple,

Fate/Zero cause it's probably the best way to get introduced to the series (and is one of my favorite anime series) it not bogged down by all fucking cancer fan service that the rest of the series is built around, especially in the aftermath of that shitty mobile gacha game.

After F/Z could then move on to Unlimited Blade Works, and then after all 3 movies are done and released could watch the Heaven's Feel movies.

After that, unless you're into fan service for the sake of fan service I'd just stop there. Apocrypha is the only thing after that I think is tolerable, and even that one has a lot of stupid shit for the sake of appealing to the otaku plague of Japan.

[HardcoreHunter]

8 hours ago, Chapinator-800 said:

read the Fate/Stay Night visual novel

It's probably the best way for things to sink in. However I really couldn't recommend that for anyone. If you aren't speed reading it's going to take like 90hrs to 100%. The word count is literally longer than the Bible. 

Bible - 783,137 words

All Lord of the Rings 473,000 

All Harry Potter 1,084,170

Fate 820,595

[Distinct Lunatic]

1 hour ago, HardcoreHunter said:

It's probably the best way for things to sink in. However I really couldn't recommend that for anyone. If you aren't speed reading it's going to take like 90hrs to 100%. The word count is literally longer than the Bible. 

Bible - 783,137 words

All Lord of the Rings 473,000 

All Harry Potter 1,084,170

Fate 820,595

I wish I could do visual novels, but that's impossible for me. Like, if I'm essentially gonna be reading everything that happens I'd rather it just be in book format, in comparison to spending 90-100 hours reading it on my pc instead of doing other things on my pc, like looking up po- I mean cat videos.

In a book format I'd have the benefit of being able to take it with me to work for example where I could read it in my down time, and not using up time outside of work where I'd rather be doing other things. The Steins;gate 1 and 0 VNs are the only VNs I'd definitely say can't be experienced the same way since there's more parts that require your input.

[Daos]

I didn't realize Gigguk was a gap toothed mofo.

23 hours ago, Sympl&Klyn said:

Guess I'll just try out Castlevania then.

What a horrible night to have a curse.

[Guest Sympl&Klyn]

I still need to finish season 3.

Dracula kinda went out like a bitch.

And Hector is a literal bitch. 

And that desert dude (Issac?) made him some bitches in the desert. 

And Trever got him a side bitch.

And Alucard cried like a bitch. 

And Carmilla is a bitch.

[HardcoreHunter]

4 hours ago, Distinct Lunatic said:

I wish I could do visual novels, but that's impossible for me. Like, if I'm essentially gonna be reading everything that happens I'd rather it just be in book format, in comparison to spending 90-100 hours reading it on my pc instead of doing other things on my pc, like looking up po- I mean cat videos.

In a book format I'd have the benefit of being able to take it with me to work for example where I could read it in my down time, and not using up time outside of work where I'd rather be doing other things. The Steins;gate 1 and 0 VNs are the only VNs I'd definitely say can't be experienced the same way since there's more parts that require your input.

They did make a vita version in Japan though I don't think it ever got brought over, and it removed all of the H scenes. 
As for reading, I watch subs often so reading a VN isn't really all that much different. Though I agree that VN are difficult to get into for me. I really have to be in the right mindset for it. 

[Daos]

 

[MasqueradeOverture]

Don't

[naraku360]

On 4/19/2020 at 7:03 AM, Distinct Lunatic said:

To make it simple,

Fate/Zero

After that, I'd just stop there. 

 

[Distinct Lunatic]

7 hours ago, naraku360 said:

 

I'd still recommend watching UBW and the Heaven's Feel movies,

but the rest of the series feels like trash. that one lolicons wet dream series Fate/Kaleid based on Illya, and then pretty much everything else made for the sake of showing hot anime girls, turning historical figures into cute anime girls.

[naraku360]

18 minutes ago, Distinct Lunatic said:

I'd still recommend watching UBW and the Heaven's Feel movies,

but the rest of the series feels like trash. that one lolicons wet dream series Fate/Kaleid based on Illya, and then pretty much everything else made for the sake of showing hot anime girls, turning historical figures into cute anime girls.

I can't recommend UBW since the story is so incomprehensible and Shiro is the lamest protagonist.

Major UBW spoilers:

Spoiler

I truly hate how the Grail War is a 7-way free-for-all with the participants having prepared for minimally several years, if not decades, only for Shiro to accidentally join and beat all but 1 of his opponents. So it's not even a free-for-all when 5 out of 6 opponents lose to Shiro through plot armor and Shiro didn't know the Grail War was a thing until days before. Like, it'll establish a world rule and Shiro just wins by outright ignoring it.

The writing is honestly abysmal in UBW. 

The first heaven's feel movie was actually pretty enjoyable, but demands UBW for context and unfortunately the context, like mo- uh, all of non-Zero Fate, is complete gibberish.

[Naraku4656]

saber is best girl and anyone who says otherwise is a liar

[Top Gun]

All I want or need to know about Fate is that everyone's GAR for Archer.

[Chapinator_X]

4 hours ago, Naraku4656 said:

saber is best girl and anyone who says otherwise is a liar

Koha Ace’s Sakura Saber is my choice for best girl followed by Medusa. 

[Distinct Lunatic]

4 hours ago, Naraku4656 said:

saber is best girl and anyone who says otherwise is a liar

Lies, we all know who the real best girl is

[Daos]

Best girl is obvious

[PokeNirvash]

All praises to Astolfo! And to a lesser extent Minamoto no Raikou.

Also, while we're on the topic of Fate, Bright Burning Shout (from Fate/Extra Last Encore) is best OP out of the entire animated franchise, fight me.

[Chapinator_X]

Mama Raikou is a treasure

[DragonSinger]

On 4/23/2020 at 10:41 AM, naraku360 said:

I can't recommend UBW since the story is so incomprehensible and Shiro is the lamest protagonist.

Major UBW spoilers:

  Hide contents

I truly hate how the Grail War is a 7-way free-for-all with the participants having prepared for minimally several years, if not decades, only for Shiro to accidentally join and beat all but 1 of his opponents. So it's not even a free-for-all when 5 out of 6 opponents lose to Shiro through plot armor and Shiro didn't know the Grail War was a thing until days before. Like, it'll establish a world rule and Shiro just wins by outright ignoring it.

The writing is honestly abysmal in UBW. 

The first heaven's feel movie was actually pretty enjoyable, but demands UBW for context and unfortunately the context, like mo- uh, all of non-Zero Fate, is complete gibberish.

Spoiler

You can get away with a Shiro if he's written well, but yeah, he was nothing but a useless fucking dumbass. The Fate series pisses me off so much because the tropes surrounding Archer wanting to kill Shiro are my fucking fave, but everything is mishandled in every fucking way possible and why did you guys start a Fate thread to get me all riled up? And fuck Aniplex!

 

[Ric]

[OwlChemist81]

I dug the hell out of Zero, but I wonder if Apocrypha would be a better potential starting place for Toonami, since Grand Order is apparently stuck in pandemic hell.

After all, Toonami needs new-ish shows to get through 2020, and Apocrypha, from 2018 (I believe) would definitely fit the bill.

Even if it does have its share of Otaku-pandering stupidity, hell, we got SAO, and that's just full of it!

[Chapinator_X]

17 hours ago, OwlChemist81 said:

I dug the hell out of Zero, but I wonder if Apocrypha would be a better potential starting place for Toonami, since Grand Order is apparently stuck in pandemic hell.

After all, Toonami needs new-ish shows to get through 2020, and Apocrypha, from 2018 (I believe) would definitely fit the bill.

Even if it does have its share of Otaku-pandering stupidity, hell, we got SAO, and that's just full of it!

Apocrypha would have to be the most newbie-friendly Fate because it’s isolated from much of the heavy lore and friendly to those who like contemporary action/shounen. It’s mediocre, but the safest bet to recommend Apoc if someone wanted the most inoffensive Fate anime to begin with and don’t want to go in knowing anything about Fate beforehand. Zero would be ideal, but that one would be unlikely to carry the attention of the MHA/SAO crowd. 

I wouldn’t recommend any of the Grand Order adaptations because those require time with the phone game to not scratch your head and asking why so-and-so is in such-and-such singularity. The prequel and Chapter 1 adaptations are OVAs, and Babylonia is several chapters into the story so you’ll likely be lost without prior knowledge of what happens during the game. 

[HardcoreHunter]

On 4/23/2020 at 10:23 PM, Daos said:

Best girl is obvious

fixed

[OwlChemist81]

On 4/28/2020 at 4:38 PM, Chapinator-800 said:

Apocrypha would have to be the most newbie-friendly Fate because it’s isolated from much of the heavy lore and friendly to those who like contemporary action/shounen. It’s mediocre, but the safest bet to recommend Apoc if someone wanted the most inoffensive Fate anime to begin with and don’t want to go in knowing anything about Fate beforehand. Zero would be ideal, but that one would be unlikely to carry the attention of the MHA/SAO crowd. 

I wouldn’t recommend any of the Grand Order adaptations because those require time with the phone game to not scratch your head and asking why so-and-so is in such-and-such singularity. The prequel and Chapter 1 adaptations are OVAs, and Babylonia is several chapters into the story so you’ll likely be lost without prior knowledge of what happens during the game. 

So I guess this means we have a consensus that Fate/Apocrypha would probably be the most accessible show for Toonami to use to "test the waters" for the Fate franchise?