Release order puts the prequel first, and the prequel spoils the reveals that the main story is built around.
Start with the 2014 ufotable series Unlimited Blade Works, not with Fate/Zero. Zero came out first and is set first, and watching it first hands you the answers to the questions Fate/stay night spends its whole run asking.
Seen some of these already? Tap the circles to tick them off. The full list below fills in as you go.
The cleanest entry point in the franchise. It explains the Holy Grail War from scratch, and its central mystery only lands if you do not already know who Kotomine Kirei is.
Finishes the route. Do not stop after season 1, which ends in the middle of an arc rather than at a resolution.
The prequel, ten years earlier. Now that you know the fifth war, Zero reads as tragedy instead of exposition, and its ending no longer gives anything away.
Then what? Then watch the Heaven's Feel film trilogy in order, presage flower, lost butterfly and spring song. It is the third route and it assumes you have already seen the other two. The 2006 Studio Deen series covers the Fate route and is worth watching if you want the whole visual novel, but it is optional and it is not the version to start with. Everything in the Separate continuities group is a different world and can be watched in any order, or not at all.
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.