A long series with a confusing viewing order is the single biggest turnoff for anime watchers. Like those animes where you could be confused about the order to watch the episodes is the Fate series. It is simply too lovely to ignore, though!
To ensure that you can watch the Fate series without wandering, we have put up the ultimate guide. As a result, continue reading to know the perfect order to enjoy the Fate anime.
Sequence to View the Fate Anime Series
This anime series may appear like a horror show to newcomers trying to enter the Fate universe because of its multiple storylines and complicated sequencing, but this is precisely what made it so popular and entertaining in its own right. Since its release, there have been so many adaptations that only the most committed anime viewer could become confused and miss the main plot. As a result, it only makes sense to ask about the best order to watch it.
The collection of Fate anime series is provided below in numerical order:
- Fate/Zero (2011)
- Fate/Stay Night (2006)
- Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (2010)
- Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel (2017)
- Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA (2013)
- Fate/Grand Order (anime movie) (2020)
- Fate Apocrypha (2017)
- Fate/Extra Last Encore (2018)
- Fate/Grand Order: Zettai Majuu Sensen Babylonia (2019)
Now that you really can see your Fate anime watch order quickly, I’ll go into more detail in the next paragraphs on why this is the best way of watching Fate anime. Let’s get started!
1. Fate/Zero (2011)
The 4th Holy Grail War is a private magical competition held in Fuyuki City, Japan, 10 years well before the events of Fate/stay night. Seven magicians are known as Masters call upon Servants, the reincarnations of great heroes and life force, to compete in a dangerous battle royale again for Holy Grail, a mystical legendary chalice cast in gold. Along with the parents, and relatives, including younger versions of said characters from Fate/stay the night, it also includes several original characters.
Brutal mage killer Kiritsugu Emiya, the main character of Fate/Zero as well as the foster father of Shirou Emiya, the main character of Fate/stay the night, enters the competition in favor of his wife’s family, the Einzberns. Seven magicians summon seven Heroic Spirits to battle for the “Holy Grail” in this competition, which is looking for the “Holy Grail’s” amazing abilities.
The combat that has already been delayed three times is where the fourth clash starts. A man who seemed to be by himself and was unable to understand the meaning of his living has been one of the magicians. His birth name was Kirei Kotomine. Kirei was puzzled by fate’s plan and had frequently wondered why someone of his calibre was given the Command Seals. But Kirei ran into an enemy. The person in question is Kiritsugu Emiya. In favor of his wife’s family, the Einzberns, he was a ruthless wizard murderer and hired killer who desired the Holy Grail miracle.
This Fourth Holy Grail War, which took place ten years earlier and is only briefly addressed in Fate/stay night, seems to be in one question. The younger Kirei Kotomine’s foster father, Rin’s father, and their relationship are all revealed to be lies.
2. Fate/Stay Night (2006)
The Holy Grail is the subject of a conflict between owners and slaves. The goal of just one servant that each master can summon is to destroy the other servants, either by combat with them or master assassination. When there is only one master or servant left, that person is handed the Holy Grail, which enables them to wish for anything they desire. Shirou Emiya, a faithful and noble young man, is the hero of the story.
He unwillingly enters a life-or-death competition known as the Fifth Holy Grail War in which competitors engage in combat with magical and historical heroes to grant their wishes. After becoming an orphan and the sole survivor of a devastating fire in Fuyuki City, Shirou was fostered as a child. He was brought up by a deceased elderly magician named Kiritsugu Emiya. He had a strong desire for truth and justice as a result of his duty to the departed and his salvation through his father.
He works hard to improve his physique and minimal magic skills to someday considerably help others, even though at this level his charity is frequently abused. He is attacked after witnessing two terrifyingly powerful creatures duel with curved swords at his school one evening since those who witness the Holy Grail War are typically intended to be murdered. When Shirou is saved by Saber, he is about to be killed. The warrior Lancer pursues him to his home while flourishing a spear, and he only just manages to avoid his attacks. To aid soldiers in the War, Saber was created as a reincarnation of a well-known historical figure (Arturia Pendragon in her case). Shirou’s allegedly accidental summoning and the appearance of the symbols on his palm confirm his entry into the Holy Grail War as a Master.
3. Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (2010)
On the 10th anniversary of the catastrophic fire that destroyed Fuyuki City, Rin Tohsaka performs the summoning ceremony and calls Archer. Lancer and Archer instantly engage in combat, but Shirou Emiya witnesses the conflict and flees before being captured and killed by Lancer. Shirou is brought back to life by Rin using her necklace, but after being attacked by Lancer, he summons Saber, who drives Lancer away. Shirou is told about just the Holy Grail War by Kirei Kotomine in a chapel, and Shirou decides to participate in the battle.
Shirou tries to talk Rin into allying, but Illyasviel von Einzbern and Berserker stop him. With a massive explosion, Archer puts an end to the conflict. Shirou passes away from his injuries as Illya withdraws. The following day, Shirou visits the school and experiences an odd feeling. He goes with Rin to investigate. They encounter Rider and Shinji Matou, who emerges to be Rider’s master.
Rin saves Shirou as Shinji makes his getaway within the school. Shinji is hiding in a classroom corner with a fallen Rider who disappears when Shirou summons Saber, and the two of them observe this together. Shinji claims that perhaps the crime was done by someone else and makes off again. Later, Kotomine suggests hiring a new servant for Shinji. That evening, Shirou sleep-walks to Ryuudou Temple, where Caster attempted to steal his commanding spells. Shirou is saved by Archer, who then battles and kills Caster to save Shirou’s life.
Saber chases but is captured by Assassin. Shirou and Archer argue, and Archer counsels Shirou to accept that he cannot save everyone. Until Saber intervenes to save him, Archer rejects him and turned on Shirou. Caster tries to attack Rin, Shirou, and Saber as they make their way home, wounding Saber using Rule Breaker, a weapon that annuls service contracts.
When Caster tells Saber to kill Rin and Shirou, Saber refuses, and Caster and Saber both disappear. Rin and Archer soon confront Caster & her master Souichirou Kuzuki when Caster kills Kotomine and seizes possession of the church, but Archer turns against Rin. Before Archer can ask Caster for protection, Shirou steps in. Being outclassed, the two end up asking Illya for assistance.
4. Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel (2017)
Young magician Shirou Emiya is a student at Homurahara Academy in Fuyuki City. After sweeping the archery range at his school, he sees a fight between two superhuman creatures and joins the Holy Grail War, a ritual wherein the magicians identified as Masters participate in combat along with their Servants to capture the Holy Grail. Shirou joins the struggle to stop a villain from getting the Grail and to defend the people, but then everything goes wrong when a strange “Shadow” begins randomly killing people in Fuyuki.
The Fifth Holy Grail War, a deathmatch involving seven mages as well as their Servants, familiars who are well-known historical personalities, has lured Shirou Emiya, a beginner magician, into it. With the aid of his Servant, Saber, and classmate Rin Tohsaka, Shirou is eager to triumph in the Holy Grail Battle to rescue and become a hero of righteousness while simultaneously defending his friend Sakura Matou from either the conflict and Shinji Matou’s violent brother. All through the struggle, strange things start to happen, and Sakura is sick with an unidentified disease.
Shirou seems unable to refrain from taking part in the Holy Grail War, especially after losing the war and Saber. As Sakura finally succumbed to her unusual illness and the enigmatic shadow continued to kill people, Shirou and Rin have been determined to put a stop to the Holy Grail War. Shirou confronts his now-corrupted Servant Saber while stopping the polluted Holy Grail to save Sakura, sacrificing his entire body and mind in the process.
Before the tainted Grail ends the world, Shirou and Rin team up with the wandering priest Kirei Kotomine, rival Illyasviel von Einzbern, and Sakura’s exiled Servant Rider in some kind of a race against time that would save Sakura from insanity but also put a halt to the Holy Grail War once and for all.
5. Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya (2013)
The Japanese schoolgirl Illyasviel von Einzbern fits the stereotype. Her family is absent most of the time, so she resides with her exceeding expectations older brother Shirou Emiya as well as her two maids. She has imaginative ideas about using magic to fulfill her desire to fall in love with Shirou. Zelretch the Wizard Marshall, Lord of Parallel Worlds, sent Rin Tohsaka and Luviagelita Edelfelt, two Magi, to Japan to gather the enigmatic Class Cards and tidy up their mess. They are fierce rivals. One Kaleidostick, Magical Ruby, notices Illya’s fleeting fantasy of magic after becoming exhausted from their constant fighting and gives up Rin for her, tricking her into believing she is a magical girl. Rin is currently pressuring Illya to get the dangerous Class Cards in her place.
While Rin and Luvia remained in Japan per Zelretch’s orders, Illya and Miyu amassed all of the Cards and grew close. Their lives are abruptly made more difficult when Kuro, a woman with a dark complexion and an eerie resemblance to Illya, tries to murder Illya. Illya’s mother, Irisviel, enters the scene and breaks up their argument by explaining that Kuro was initially intended to become the Holy Grail in the Holy Grail Battle, but was imprisoned when the war was avoided to allow Illya to lead a normal life.
Kuro is welcomed into the Einzbern family and given the mana she decided to take her physical form intact by Illya. Soon later, the gang is attacked by Bazett Fraga McRemitz, who was formerly in charge of obtaining the Class Cards. A cease-fire is enacted when Rin reveals the presence of an 8th Class Card. The eighth Class Card, Gilgamesh, confronts the group and explains that Miyu would be from a parallel dimension where she was born a Holy Grail without first being absorbed. Illya creates Kaleido Liner Zwei by fusing the Kaleidosticks Ruby and Sapphire, giving her the power to take on Gilgamesh and save Miyu.
6. Fate/Grand Order (Anime Movie) (2020)
2015 is the final era in which magicians ruled supreme. An organization called Caldea was established to keep an eye mostly on the enchanted and scientific spheres as well as to stop the final devastation of humanity. Humanity will certainly survive for at least another 100 years, or until Caldea’s future empire vanishes into thin air. According to events in the Japanese city of Fuyuki in 2004, Caldea is now persuaded that humanity would end after 2017. The organization issues a Grand Order for a “Holy Grail Expedition” intending to locate, identify, and potentially destroy the peculiarity that is causing humanity to go extinct.
Since the Singularity crisis, Chaldea has attracted great attention from several organizations, including that of the United Nations and the Mages Association, due to their role in rayshifting at various points in time. The gang had a sneaking suspicion that there was a brand-new singularity that was distinct from the others. Ritsuka is once more given responsibility for overseeing Singularity Subspecies and discovering the most profound mysteries underlying their existence.
Goredolf Musik would then take over the management of Chaldea. Goredolf was found to have been used as a victim in a takeover attempt by an unidentified group that collaborated with a mysterious being known as the Foreign God to obliterate Chaldea and modern human history and usher in the Age of Gods. The autonomous ship Shadow Border was used by Ritsuka, Mash, as well as the other Chaldea members to avoid capture.
The group now travels to parallel historical periods known as “Lostbelts,” which are distinct again from the main human chronology and then were “trimmed back away” from either the current timeline after being deemed a dead end, to save mankind. In competition with the Chaldean survivors for the ultimate fate of human history, each of the seven Lostbelts is personified by a Crypter, former human masters, and their slaves. Ritsuka Fujimaru will either become a savior. or a destroyer—depending on the difficult decisions and compromises they make.
7. Fate Apocrypha (2017)
In an alternate dimension of Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Apocrypha is set. During the Third Holy Grail War, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia transports the Greater Grail to Romania. The Yggdmillennia clan wages war on the Mage’s Association sixty years later, sparking the Greater Grail War and pitting two groups of Servants against each other. The Black and Red factions are Yggdmillennia’s and the Mage’s Association’s respective squads. The Saber-class Mordred is called forth by necromancer Kairi Shishigou, who was hired by the Clock Tower.
The Red group is led by Shirou Kotomine, but Shishigou refuses to follow him since he disbelieves in him. By using their command spell, which gives them power over their Servants Karna, Atalanta, Achilles, William Shakespeare, and Spartacus, Shirou and his Servant Semiramis destroy the other masters of Red. Among some of the Servants of the Black faction are Vlad III, Siegfried, Chiron, Astolfo, Avicebron, and Frankenstein’s monster. Their seventh dissident member, Jack the Ripper, murders her supposed master in favor of the prostitute Rika Rikudou.
Jeanne d’Arc is referred to as the conflict mediating Ruler-class in the mind of Laeticia, a French student. After having visions of Shirou, Jeanne tries to get in touch with the Red faction, but they travel to Yggdmillennia’s domain in Trifas via Semiramis’ Hanging Gardens of Babylon. After trying to invade their country, Yggdmillennia captured Spartacus. Homunculi provide Yggdmillennia with the mana it needs to keep the Servants alive. A male homunculus is helped to escape by Astolfo.
Siegfried offers the infant his lovely heart after the homunculus suffers a fatal wound during the attempt to flee. Sieg is taken into Jeanne’s custody and given to a hermit. During the struggle to set the homunculi free, Sieg decides to go back to Trifas. When the Black and Red factions are at odds, the Greater Grail is brought into the Hanging Gardens. In the conflict with Mordred, Spartacus and Frankenstein’s monster die. When Sieg discovers he can transform into Siegfried for a moment, he defends Astolfo from Mordred. Mordred beheads Astolfo’s former leader Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia, and Sieg takes his place.
8. Fate/Extra Last Encore (2018)
In a parallel universe, the 50-year-old Holy Grail theft ignites a new conflict between both the Mages Association and the disobedient Ygdillemna Family. With the activation of the Greater Grail, 15 Servants are called forth for an epic battle royale in a brand-new Holy Grail War. The future Holy Grail War will take place against the backdrop of the artificial high school known as Tsukimihara Academy. Earth-projected souls who even have the slightest chance of becoming “Masters” are present in the school that the Moon Cell computer built. Out of these 256 people, 188 will be chosen for the actual tournament as well as given a Servant. After choosing every Master, the Academy starts a purge that kills off all remaining life.
When Hakuno Kishinami awakens in a sea of his blood, he rejects death. He decides to fight for his life, propelled by unidentified hate-related feelings. When he digs out a red blade from the ground while trying to escape a relentless pursuer, Hakuno summons his Servant, Saber, who promptly dispatches the pursuer in a showering of rose petals. Hakuno must therefore use his newly gained skills to continue his journey to Moon Cell’s core, the Angelica Cage. There, he will learn the beginnings of this created universe as well as the sinister secrets of his bloody past.
9. Fate/Grand Order: Zettai Majuu Sensen Babylonia (2019)
After winning the Camelot Singularity, Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mash Kyrielight are transported to the final singularity. They set out on a mission in Ancient Mesopotamia, B.C. 2655, to assure the survival of humanity. During their arrival, they learn about the three Goddesses that endanger Uruk, the Babylonian capital city ruled by King Gilgamesh. The three Goddesses’ union must now be broken for Ritsuka and Mash to defeat the ferocious creatures who are ruining humanity’s future. The foundations of humanity have been destroyed by the mage King Solomon. Chaldea, a secret organization of magicians committed to preserving humanity’s future, foresaw humanity’s doom in 2015.
Thus began Effort Grand Order, a project to recover the historical singularities that Holy Grails dispersed throughout time and space had caused. With the use of the Rayshift time travel technology, Ritsuka Fujimaru, Chaldea’s final master, as well as his demi-servant Mash Kyrielight have traveled to and resolved six Singularities. They are ready to go there on their most dangerous expedition yet: to a Mesopotamian society from the Age of the Gods, B.C. 2655.
Demonic Beasts wander the wilderness preying on people and villages, as Ritsuka and Mash rapidly discover. Uruk, a stronghold city that acts at the forefront in the conflict even against monsters, is where humanity makes it’s final stand up in the midst and terror. King Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, who recruited the aid of Heroic Spirits and adopted the position of a magician to protect his city, is in charge of the field of battle.