The same arc is animated twice, and only one of the two versions is the one the later series continues from.
The question here is not what order, it is which version. The Golden Age arc has been animated twice, in 1997 and again as a film trilogy in 2012 and 2013, and the 2016 series continues from the films. Start with the trilogy and you have one unbroken run. Start with the 1997 series and you reach its final episode with nowhere to go.
Seen some of these already? Tap the circles to tick them off. The full list below fills in as you go.
The beginning of the Golden Age arc, and the beginning of the only animated thread that leads anywhere. Nothing before it is required.
The middle film, and the one that does the work of making you care about the Band of the Hawk before the last film takes it apart.
Finishes the arc and then keeps going past the point the 1997 series stopped at, which is exactly the material the 2016 series assumes you have seen.
Twelve episodes of the Conviction arc, picking up from where the third film left Guts. This is the first genuinely new story in the franchise since 1998.
Twelve more episodes carrying on into the Falcon of the Millennium Empire arc. It stops partway through that arc and no further season was made.
Then what? The animation ends there, unfinished, so the manga is the only way past it. Once you have finished the 2017 season you can pick the manga up from the point that season stops and keep reading. After that, go back and watch the 1997 series for its own sake: it covers ground you already know, but its direction, its music and its pacing are why it still gets recommended twenty-five years on. The Memorial Edition is the film trilogy cut into thirteen television episodes and is a rewatch rather than a first watch.
A suggested way in, not an official one. The full list is below: tick anything off in either place.
Your progress is saved on this device automatically. The code below takes a copy out and puts it back. Moving a whole list onto a device that has nothing on it yet is part of the subscription.
The code holds only this franchise. The link opens the tracker with your progress already filled in, good for showing someone where you're at. The image is a picture you can keep anywhere: scan the code on it with a phone, or drag the file back in below.
Every franchise you have touched, in one code.
Scan it with another device's camera, or paste the code in below. It never leaves your browser.
This reads the progress stored inside the picture, so nothing has to be retyped. If the image has been through a messaging app it may have been re-encoded and lost that: scan the code on it instead, or copy the code printed along the bottom.
Takes either kind of code. A single franchise code replaces that franchise, on any device. An everything code merges by default, so nothing you have ticked on this device is lost. Putting a whole list onto a device that has nothing on it yet is the part an account pays for.
Read only. This never changes what you have saved, and nothing leaves your browser. The code has to be their code for this same franchise: codes do not carry a name, so one from somewhere else may not be recognised as wrong.
Your email is confirmed and your account is ready. Everything you tick is saved on this device, as it always was.
Part of the subscription.
Your SagaList account.
Nothing else happens until you follow the link. If it has not arrived in a few minutes, look in your spam folder and search for SagaList. It is sent from a no-reply address on our own domain, so there is nothing to reply to.
Both addresses get an email: the new one to confirm it, and the old one so that nobody can move your account without you knowing. Nothing changes until you follow the link.
Signing out leaves everything you have ticked on this device exactly where it is. It only stops it syncing.
This removes your account, your email address, and the progress stored on our side. It cannot be undone and we cannot get it back for you.
This stops your subscription too. It is cancelled at Stripe in the same step, so nothing more is charged. The rest of this month is not refunded and you will not be able to use it, so cancel from Manage or cancel and delete later if you would rather keep it.