That's it that's the post. I feel like I've basically run out of anime to watch that isn't either slice of life, isekai, or something that will emotionally break me. I watched one series of fate like maybe 15 years ago and can't remember anything about it. I just know there's a lot of it and that's basically it's only appeal to me right now. Something I can watch for a few months.
Is there something else that is long that I should go watch instead or is Fate worth watching.
No, it's bad.
Watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes (110 episodes + 50 OVAs + 2 Movies) so that you can lord the fact that you've watched it over lesser weebs instead.
While I think Legend of the Galactic Heroes is amazing its also a bit of a time commitment. Like seriously It took me probably over 20 episodes till I started to think ...hey this is great. I do think its a good show but its also pretty dry. Cool if you like politics/history and space operas.
Objectively true, but OP did say they were looking for something long.
Unrelated, I had basically the opposite experience with both Fate Zero and UBW, where I thought "huh this could go somewhere" initially and then got bored like halfway through.
Yeah I mean it more as a warning that if you dont "get it" within the first 10 episodes you gotta stick with it for a bit longer. I think there is really big pay-off but its not exactly a fast or high paced show. I think its easy to drop LotGH in those early episodes.
Watch Kara no Kyoukai instead, it's superior Nasuverse material.
If you really really really like it, then maybe watch fate, but the DEEN adaptation is Deen, and the ufotable UBW, etc is cool, but I'm less into them than the VN
Seconding this, I think the Nasuverse is interesting and the things I like about it are the things I like in cultivation fantasy. The things I mostly don't like about the Nasuverse is stuff like "What if magical historical/literary characters but anime were in a deathmatch?" I think the Fate entries I could bring myself to finish were carried by interesting characters (FS/N VN, Fate/Zero, and uhhh Fate Hollow Ataraxia VN).
Personally I'd say no.
You have to consider the highs and lows when deciding to embark on >20 hrs commitment to consume any particular media. I think the absolute high of the series is Carnival Phantasm, which is a joke slice of life OVA. It is legitimately fantastic.
But to enjoy Carnival Phantasm you have to understand Fate stories and Tsukihime. IMO, Fate never recovered from its origin of being a schlocky early 2000s visual novel with obligatory sex scenes. They awkwardly tied a critical in-story magic mechanic to sex, and the sex scenes are hilariously baaad and really out of place, until the 3rd timeline/storyline of Heaven Feel, where the themes are more mature, and even there it is still edgy. You generally have 3 options, 1. Just tank through the awkward and hilarious sex scenes. 2. Read the PG13 version, where they cuddle instead. But the cuddle version makes so much less sense in term or character relationship and growth compared to explicit sex version. 3. Just fast forward through the sex scene once you hear the sleazy porn music. You still suffer through the cons of (2) that you missed out on some genuine character development. And (4) skip the VN entirely, for anime adaptation, which is an adaptation of the PG13 VN, but there you still suffer the same caveats as some development in character relationship made less sense.
I'm not a prude or anything, but they never got around Fate's origin of being sleazy early 2000s VN. There's structural weakness around the storytelling, around the sex mechanic that they never patch up properly, and instead they build upwards onto spinoff games and multi-billion gacha game.
i think the vn is good, shirou is an all time dumb guy protagonist and i think nasu is good at doing all the big fantasy bullshit. but they asked about WATCHING fate and so they are locked in to 4 and don't have to worry about the sex, i guess minus the janky cg dragon during mana transfer rituals in the deen anime
i agree the sex is poorly done (though i'm willing to give the game the benefit of the doubt that at least a little of that is the translation being kinda stiff) and feels like an artifact of older styles of vn. like, i am not anti eroge, but fate is bad at the ero part
the vn is better, but if you watch the ufotable anime you'll probably have a good enough time
BUT in my opinion if you want something long check out mobile suit gundam (1979), which is 43 episodes and has another 45 years of anime that you can get into if you like it. the 1979 original, ibo, turn a, zz, 0080, are all incredible anime, and you can trace the development of scifi anime as it happens from almost the very beginning. some emotional devastation but not more than in fate imo
Thanks, I'm lite into Gundam...I've tried a few of the older ones and can't really get into them. That said I LOVED Witch from Mercury and 00 has a really close spot in my heart too. Not sure why I've not been able to get into the others. Maybe I'll try them again sometime.
have u seen ibo? that's my favorite modern gundam, and it's 50 episodes long. some emotional breaking may occur, but i really love it
turn a is older, but still 1999 so it looks just beautiful so if the age is the problem that shouldn't be an issue. and it's one of the best shows of all time, also 50 episodes, just an incredibly well made show on every level
I knew you would recommend turn a. I really should watch it, I gotta convince my partner though and it looks old enough that they might shy away. Ibo looks cool though I wasn't even aware of it. Thanks for the suggestions of course
does your partner like ghibli movies? because if they like ghibli movies they'll like the way turn a looks. it's 1999, it's a gorgeous show. the only way i could imagine looks being a problem is if you just had an issue with cel animation as an art form
They do, I think it's just more they're used to the modern art style. I think older anime often are paced different too and that doesn't help keep their interest.
I should have asked if there are any good gay or fem characters in any of these, I think most of the anime we watch we watch because of one or both of those.
ibo has several gay characters but they aren't the most foregrounded (though they're important and treated well by the narrative, as well as textually gay on screen which is always nice. the show ends with one couple gay married, like 7 years before gwitch did). it has some real cool ladies but they aren't all treated amazingly, which is a shame. the show is fairly horny and though it does interesting things with it the whole turbines situation is still kinda iffy. the ladies who get to be cool are consistently cool though, and julieta is one of my faves. the dudes are definitely supposed to be the main draw of ibo though
in contrast, the main character of turn a is pretty fem. i mean, most of the time they're not really fem, wearing work clothes from their job at the mine, but they spends a good chunk of the series in fancy ballgowns. loran's gender stuff is really compelling and a big part of why i love turn a so much. there's even a chaser after them! though the show itself presents them as a man it's hard to walk away without thinking they're nonbinary, agender, or a closeted trans woman (i go with the latter, but i could see arguments for other reads)
also most of the major non-loran characters are women (as is loran if you watch the show with love in your heart) and dianna and kihel and sochie and lily are all amazing and i love them so much. the show avoids the pitfall of gender essentialism and misogyny that a lot of old gundam falls into and instead has a lot of really good subtle commentary on the gender roles of the nobility many of the main characters belong to and how class plays into them
(pictures of loran, in casual wear and then fancy outfits)
Show
Show
I have, maybe half of it. Actually last night my partner was like oh we should get back into that. So maybe I should do that huh. Go finish it.
There's almost 400 episodes and the last movie came out a year or two ago so it's as good a time as any, especially if you're looking for something you can binge for a while.
No. (You should read it) [The best starting point, :Stay Night, is visual novel only]
I won't ever do this so. It's really if I watch it or don't consume it at all.
Fate is really solid if you like urban fantasy, just know that with many things regarding visual novel adaptations the anime cuts out a lot of stuff which does change context.
As for watch order: start with stay night (Unlimited Blade Works, then Heavens Feel) and only after should you watch zero as it is written in a way that it expects you to have stay night as context. After zero it's largely just a pick what you want to watch although it's recommended you also watch Deens Fate route adaptation as it covers some stuff of the route you might want to have.
If you want the universe has a couple other stories that are loosely related and also worth a shot, these are Mahoutsukai no Yoru (Witch on the Holy Night), Kara no Kyoukai (The Garden of Sinners), and Tsukihime, all of them have or are getting some sort of anime adaptation which are worth watching (except tsukihime's which should be actively avoided unless you read the entire VN and have copious amounts of alcohol). You can really watch these in any order (even before fate) as they are only loosely related but fate is definitely the most popular of them all.
If you have any further questions feel free to ask me and I'll try my best to explain.
I'm willing to shill for Fate/Zero only, I think Fate/Zero is by far the best and honestly works realy well even as a completely self-contained stand alone anime, you could watch that and get the entire fate "experience".
The newest UBW series and the movies its up to you. If you enjoy Fate/Zero you'll enjoy these too, if not then maybe its not for you. Here is my mini-F/Z review.
Positive points In general personaly I think male characters tend to be more hit/miss and F/Z fortunately got them right. Considering only what we get to see on the screen
-Rider is literaly The Gigachad, if you could describe a character that could have inspired the meme. Also you need to look past the superficial presentation and appreciate the romance unironically.
-Gilgamesh is terribly annoying but it is funny how the world acknowledges his personality flaw as a "weakness" even though he is OP. Also without spoiling, the one time we get to see him fight "seriously" the show delivers it but not in the way you'd expect.
-Kiritsugu vs Kirei is actualy one of the most well done in any anime period. The conflict isn't just moral, but a fundamental ideological outlook at the world. At the same time both are willing to do whatever it takes to "win". Kirei's VA got a huge boost from that role and it is clear why.
Other positives
-Great production value, It still looks amazing for 2011.
-Great OST by Yuki Kajiura one of the goats.
About the female characters:
Minor Saber spoiler
Saber going around in a suit escorting Irisviel is funny and great character design for both.
-Kiritsugu is dishonest and a cheater. There are excuses, but whether you accept those in hindsight its up to you.
-Kiritsugu's backstory is moraly questionable.
Negative points:
spoiler
There are 2 separate plot points bout child violence. One of those is part of the origin story for a future character, the other is one of the villains.
-There is no reason why its divided into two cours, it clearly is just a single 24 season.
-I wont spoil the ending, but it is simultaniously a "tragedy" but also the most reddit bro argument given as a reason. The first one is a major spoiler about the literal reason for the ending and the real purpose of the Holy Grail.
But there is always another "reason" people used to give to justify why the MC was wrong so kind of spoilerish
ending
It is not logical, it is the 14yo's version of a phylosophical "gotcha", I mean literally I remember reading some of the reddit arguments about it way back then. The real reason the ending has to be that way is because this is a prequel that needs to fit a very specific character origin story.
The bright side is this is why you should start with F/Z and it wont affect you at all, except the 4chan/reddit bro logic part I guess.
Overall I still rate it like 9 maybe 9.5/10 adjusting for the fact its 13 years old now and I would recommend before any other Fate season. It is fun and it is good looking, it is broadly SFW. The best comparison would be AoT Season 1-2.
Toss up whether to watch Fate: Zero or Thousand Blade Works, but definitely watch it. It might still emotionally break you a bit, though.
As for what you should watch instead, have you seen Legend of the Galactic Heroes?
It's a Napoleonic drama about a war between Space Prussia and the liberalest republic that ever liberal republiced. I really liked it
They're not going to make one bro people have been begging for one since forever.
Nah, the Fate route is getting rewritten/updated, they're gonna adapt that
Ufotable mainline Fate is great and very enjoyable. Heaven's feel is eye candy and has the best animation in anime.
