F/SN UBW TV - Spoiler-Free Q & A

[Kairin]

This thread is for those of you with questions about the Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works TV anime. There are many questions that don't need a whole thread to discuss them. A simple practical answer straight from the anime without any speculation can solve these connundrums. If someone has such a question about which can be solved by answering with facts from the anime (no spoilers!), then please ask that question here.

Please don't post in this thread unless you are asking a question or answering one. Please remember that it only takes 1 person to answer a question. And don't speculate! You can only reply with cold, hard, merciliessly unforgivable facts. If you have to speculate, then please just tell the querrant that no answer is known, but here are some facts that might help him make up his own mind.

No spoiler questions or answers are allowed in this thread, which means that some questions may not be able to be answered here.

[quigonkenny]

This seems to be the best place to put this...

One of the most common questions I've seen from those who haven't seen any of the Fate material is whether to watch this series first, or to watch Fate/Zero first (as it occurs first chronologically), then this. Frankly, I think both have their benefits, which I will not go into for obvious reasons. But what I would recommend, which has come to me as I am rewatching Fate/Zero, is that they not be watched concurrently. Each spoils the other, to some extent, but watching, say, the first few episodes of FSN, then deciding to marathon FZ, would, I believe, irreparably harm one's viewing of FSN once they come back to it. Several major twists in the storyline of FSN are quite blithely spoiled by FZ (and quite early on, at that), since they aren't twists in that story. If one were to watch FZ first, it's not as bad, since it's more "knew going in" than "was spoiled", and I think most everyone would prefer the former to the latter. Better to never have the questions in one's head at all, than to have them spoiled...

But if the option is available to you, I do recommend watching FSN first. Yes, FZ happened first chronologically, and many of its events are mentioned outright in FSN, and, as is true with any prequel, you lose some suspense, knowing someone isn't going to die if they show up in the sequel, but there is less inherent mystery to FZ, and most of what there is is self-contained, so there is less to spoil.

[Rev Okkin]

That is a real good explanation and recommendation about FSN and FZ.
Though, not only plot and character elements have to be thought of, the production quality as well (though secondary). If UBW and HF remain to be consistent and at times, have better animation and sound quality than FZ, then UBW and HF first then FZ. If UBW and HF end up having vastly superior animation and sound quality than FZ, then watching FZ after might come off a bit dull to newcommers to the franchise. Though I highly doubt that will be the case. Even then, the animation and sound quality of FZ is really good so in the end, it would still be enjoyable and up to par with the "ufotable quality."

I'm just adding more to what you said and I agree with everything with what you said.

[chaos_alfa]

I would recommend watching Fate/Zero last. Fate/Zero has been written with the assumption that the reader has read F/SN. Knowing how the 4th Grail Holy War ends is important to being able to watch Fate/Zero through the intended lens. I can't go in more depth about why this is because of spoilers. That is why I will refer to an earlier post from me and a spoilery video which explains it best.

Spoiler for Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works Episode 0 and Conversation About Why it is Better to Watch Fate/Zero Last:

Originally Posted by chaos_alfa

My point was never that Unlimited Blade Works didn't cater to Fate/Zero viewers. It does this unintentionally through the visual novel material and intentionally by the changes Ufotable makes to the series.

Spoiler for Fate/Zero:

The point was trying to make is that watching Fate/Zero before having read F/SN isn't the optional way to experience both works.

Fate/Zero was written with the intent of being read/watched as a Greek tragedy, it was about how the participants are going to lose and not about who was going to win. For this to work F/SN knowledge is needed.

It also spoils some big twist from Fate/Stay Night, like for example Gilgamesh being alive, what is going on with Sakura and that Shirou and Ilya are brother and sister.

The last thing which it doesn't do very well is explain how the magic system works and what the servants limits are. I read some people complain about this.

What I mean becomes more clear when you watch the Heaven's Feel movie(s) and watch this video.

[Dengar]

I really don't buy into the whole "F/Z was written with the assumption that the reader has read F/SN", I think that's a fallacious statement made by those who actually DID do just that, and thus were able to catch the references.

However, you do not need to be able to catch the references to understand the story. The worst it can do is make someone curious about the rest of the verse's mythos.


That said, if you have not watch either, I do sorta recommend you start with F/SN. But really either direction works. No matter which one you watch, the other will be partially spoiled.

[monster]

I would, in general, go with production order, especially within a common medium and timeline.

So in terms of just the anime, the order would probably be old F/SN -> F/SN movie -> F/Z -> current F/SN. (I don't know where kaleid fits into this having never watched it.)

[Dengar]

Illya is a different continuity altogether, so it really does not matter.

[Amarantine]

Originally Posted by monster

I would, in general, go with production order, especially within a common medium and timeline.

So in terms of just the anime, the order would probably be old F/SN -> F/SN movie -> F/Z -> current F/SN. (I don't know where kaleid fits into this having never watched it.)

Old F/SN anime might still be worth a watch because ufotable seemingly aren't going to animate the Fate route (that and for the OST), but with the UBW TV series now, I would say the DEEN movie has become completely obsolete and I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Amarantine

Old F/SN anime might still be worth a watch because ufotable seemingly aren't going to animate the Fate route (that and for the OST), but with the UBW TV series now, I would say the DEEN movie has become completely obsolete and I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone.

It's not needed, but I don't see any particular harm in seeing it anyway, especially after watching the old series.

[chaos_alfa]

Originally Posted by monster

It's not needed, but I don't see any particular harm in seeing it anyway, especially after watching the old series.

The movie would spoil the plot of Ufotable adaption of Unlimited Blade work. This isn't a problem with Deen's F/SN series because it is based on the Fate route instead of the UBW route like the movie is.

[Amarantine]

Originally Posted by monster

It's not needed, but I don't see any particular harm in seeing it anyway, especially after watching the old series.

Because it spoils basically all of the plot points of UBW's story only without any of the emotional weight they carry. It's a very bare-bones version of the story, and new viewers (who haven't read the Visual Novel) would be much better off just watching the current anime, which actually bothers with things like proper characterization and pacing.

[monster]

Yes, it may spoil, so it's up to the person to decide.

[ukulelembo]

If I should recommend some order of watching. It would definitely:
Zero -> UBW TV -> HF movies -> anything other
Why? Because Ufotable's animes are most solid adaptation of original stories and is obvious that current anime is created with the intention that you either watched Zero first or nothing before. I personally call that highlighted even "Ufotable's route".

When it comes to old anime, only reason why is TV series worth of watching is anime presentation of Fate route. However, the series itself is so big mess that should definitely not be watched before Ufotable's animes and is good just as after-bonus
for those who want to see Saber's route. The UBW movie then thanks to the current anime literally lost all meaning of its existence so it's good just for most curious watchers who want to see everything. And Prisma Illya is stand alone spin-off series so watching after the main series is matter of course.

[Gaulek]

For your own good, don't watch the ubw movie by Deen!
The bad Deenanime include some UBW scene don't watch it.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by Dengar

I really don't buy into the whole "F/Z was written with the assumption that the reader has read F/SN", I think that's a fallacious statement made by those who actually DID do just that, and thus were able to catch the references.

However, you do not need to be able to catch the references to understand the story. The worst it can do is make someone curious about the rest of the verse's mythos.

Someone who actually played the VN said that the first episode of F/Z just casually gave away what was a major plot-twist in the Heaven's Feel route though. And I think I know what that twist was...

Anyway, I would say starting with UBW is a better choice for another reason: UBW's first episode (by which I mean episode 0) is just a plain better introduction than Zero's 45-minute info-dump. Zero in general just had that issue for me that it took way too long for it to build up any real momentum, which actually caused me to just completely stop watching it for the longest time. By comparison, I was already eager to see more by the time I'd finished watching UBW episode 0.

[Dengar]

Originally Posted by Vegard Aune

Someone who actually played the VN said that the first episode of F/Z just casually gave away what was a major plot-twist in the Heaven's Feel route though. And I think I know what that twist was...

I think it has been pointed out that either show spoils the other. Which one you start with really doesn't matter in that regard.

[superiorsuperboy]

OK, so I am confused. Is this the series that pairs archer and Tohsaka or Tohsaka and Shirou???

[chaos_alfa]

Originally Posted by superiorsuperboy

OK, so I am confused. Is this the series that pairs archer and Tohsaka or Tohsaka and Shirou???

Spoiler for Unlimited Blade Works - Romance Pairing:

It is Tohsaka and Shirou. The visual novel has no route where Archer and Tohsaka are paired up in a romantic way.

[superiorsuperboy]

Haha. Thanks. By the way is this a 2cour series or?

[chaos_alfa]

Originally Posted by superiorsuperboy

Haha. Thanks. By the way is this a 2cour series or?

It is a two 2 cour series, but like Fate/Zero there will be a season long break between the first and the second cour.