Just Why Is Saber So Popular?

I'll admit, for one reason or another I have not seen Fate/Stay Night. I'm trying to correct that as I recently added it in the queue as my wife and I watch anime together in the evenings. And that really only because of the Saber Alter Santa coming up. Can someone(s) give me a crash course on Saber and F/S N please? I'll admit I've fallen for the Saber Alter DD, mainly thanks to Flickr user bottlefairy and their photos of their pair made up as hime nekomimi ( ). Anywho, I'm so on the fence about getting Santa Saber, but I'm hoping some Saber knowledge will help me decide. Plus, looking at past Sabers, why so many with different skin colors and bust sizes? If it's the same character, wouldn't the color and size be the same? Please educate me!

*cracks knuckles* oooh I got this!

 

Ok, Saber the original blue is genderswapped King of Knights aka King Arthur

Saber Alter comes in the final route of Fate/Stay Night - Sakura's route Heaven's Feel. Saber is consumed by the darkness Sakura releases (literal hate of the Grail) so just think of Alter as everything that made Saber "herself" has been rotted away into oblivion. Alter is like a zombie, hence the colors drain. You only get like.. 2 scenes with her in this form, so not too much personality (and then you kill her in either a sorta bad end, or depressing scene which then leads onwards to Heaven's Feel ending in general)

 

Saber Lily hasn't any story, she's just Princess Knight that was in a fighting game. Pretty dress, another excuse to make figures. Is now also in Grand Order game which gives her a retconned story that this is still Arturia after pulling out sword but BEFORE becoming the serious business King

 

Saber Nero aka Saber EXTRA is Nero Claudius Caesar, also genderswapped. Her costume is based on orig blue Saber's silhouette because this is before Apocrypha/GrandOrder/ZERO/whatever other TypeMoon spinoffs and actual classes having much more unique designs

Nero is busty because she is a whole different person who just happens to be Saber Class Summon, and her skirt is transparent because she's "letting us see"

She is a possible Servant in the PSP/Vita game

 

there are also aaaaaaaall sorts of other "Saber-class" characters, who thankfully have unique designs now. These hail from Grand Order mobile games and Apocrypha light novels (this gets really confusing as that AU War has TWO teams so there's Saber of Red and Saber of Black...)

such as "Saber of Red" in Fate/Apocrypha (confusing title is hella confusing) who is Mordred. Her design has a ponytail instead of a bun, and short shorts with a red jacket (there are figures, so I'm bringing her up)

"Sakura Saber" who is gender-bent Okita Souji of Shinsengumi fame (why is she wearing taisho-era clothes in the figure?!? Okita was already long dead of consumption by then)

 

___________

ANYWAY, if u have a whole lotta time - u can watch the anime (Fate Zero, Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works)

they'll give you the prequel and Rin's route. The original (decade old by now?) Fate/Stay Night anime was terrible as it tried to collapse all 3 of the game's route into one big mess.

Unlimited Blade Works movie from couple years back is just pretty pictures that make a lovely companion to the game, but don't give good story on it's own

 

Fate/Stay Night has a cheesy manga adaptation (see, so many ways to get that story!) Originally in English by TokyoPop but can now be acquired digitally thru VIZ

 

and of course, there's the original visual novel! It's in japanese (PC cd-rom. Also available on Vita as that system is region-free) but there's a fantastic fanmade translation patch (PC only, sorry!). The game has 3 distinct story routes: Saber, Rin & Sakura ...

Edited November 16, 2016 by Guest

I'm sorry if this is scattered! I tried. ><; Edit: Oh whoops, I repeat stuff, so maybe just read the first part. I didn't see that they had posted >.>;;

 

There's a lot to it. It has to do partly with the major property owner/creator itself: Type-Moon. They are a game company that to say the least generally hits the mark for people. Most of their series are loved in one way or another. The Fate/ series in Japan is way big. Though not that old of a series wise (first game was released in 2004) it has kept its fire since then. Between the animes, manga, visual novels, fighting games, and everything else in between it has just been a series that has been accessible to people in all sorts of form thus allows it to be widely spread. On top of that the two first visual novels (Fate/Stay Night, and Fate/hollow ataraxia) have been republished in multiple forms multiple times.

Saber herself is I would say at the same height as Hatsune Miku when it comes to being recognized and popularity in Japan.

 

As a note most of the servants (I.e. Saber, Caster, Rider or Archer) are based on a historical character very loosely.

 

I'mma crash course on the versions that we have in DD form. I won't go into plot related things because if you wanna watch it then I'll let ya do that (Or read in the case of some of these).

Saber has a few forms, and all of them bring their own difference:

Saber (blue saber / Fate/Stay Night / Fate/Zero / ETC - Most common and is "King of Kings" or King Arthur)

Saber Alter (Alternative / Fate/hollow ataraxia / Fate/Stay Night - She's a form of Saber after being consumed by "plot."

Saber Lily is another alternative ver. of Blue Saber. They literally call her the "adorable saber" (White Saber / Fate/Unlimited codes ).

Saber Nero (Red Saber / Fate/Extra / Fate/Extra CCC - She's her own thing, actually. She's literally Nero - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero )

 

Though, if I'm not incorrect, only Saber Extra (Which is Saber Nero) has a different bust (L) because she's an entirely different character. Other then having the same Servant class (Saber) she's technically unrelated.

 

Random notes to make: Not all their games are visual novels. Example, Fate/Extra is a turn-base JRPG. Actually really fun if you have a PSP. They did release it in the USA. Another example is Fate/Extella which is Musou style game (like Samurai/Dynasty Warriors). That one is out for the PS4 in Jan. *is super excited*

 

I would recommend throwing on Fate/Zero because it is, personally, the superior out of all the anime. Also the visual novel is pretty darn good if you have the time, and like to read. I'm not actually a fan of the other anime series so much (UBW is fine), but the original is a bit of a train wreck.

 

TL;DR is literally that Japan just loves Saber a lot. They just really, really do. The merits of being the main servant in the first game.

I might be a slightly different perspective. I'm not a fan of the games or anime. I tried to watch one of the anime shows on Netflix and simply didn't like it. I tried playing Fate/Extra and didn't enjoy it either. I did enjoy Fate/Unlimited Codes, but largely I'm just a fan of the art and figures.

 

To me, Saber Lily is the best design. She comes across as feminine, yet not overtly sexual, elegant, and strong. She is the knight/princess which is an archetype I enjoy.

 

From my point of view, Saber is probably one of the most blessed characters when it comes to merchandise. Even when figures of her aren't to my taste, they still almost always look nice. She is very much a chameleon with all her different looks, but there is a consistency to the look and design portrayal which isn't present with her big merchandise competitor Miku.

 

In terms of DDs, Saber has what I feel is one of the prettiest limited heads among her different variants. Saber Lily has a pleasant expression which seems fairly versatile. Also, Saber Lily has what I consider some of the nicest and most extravagant default accessories of all (second only to KOS-MOS). It's just a lovely doll.

Funny note here

 

The last release isn't actually Saber, since its Santa Alter and it is a Rider class not a Saber class in the mobile game Fate/Grand order

 

(Still, same face, same all xD)

 

And here I'm still waiting for Jane to be made :_D

Thanks all for taking the time to educate me. I'll probably watch all the animes as that's just the way I am. I'll have to look for the PSP game now too.

 

Saber herself is I would say at the same height as Hatsune Miku when it comes to being recognized and popularity in Japan.

 

Now this pretty much tells me what I needed to know in a great summary (Being a big Miku fan myself.). So I'll just need to wait until the details of the Volks USA lottery are out to make my choice.

Thanks all for taking the time to educate me. I'll probably watch all the animes as that's just the way I am. I'll have to look for the PSP game now too.

 

The game was only 5 bucks for digital-download on the Vita

I'm gonna warn you - it's a terrible game. ... like, can see how the developer may have wanted to copy certain elements frm more successful games, but only did it half-assed

Having Archer or Nero scold me was kinda fun tho (Rin is an unbelievable bitch, even for a tsundere... the ending is wall of words that make zero sense when combined)

 

Now this pretty much tells me what I needed to know in a great summary (Being a big Miku fan myself.). So I'll just need to wait until the details of the Volks USA lottery are out to make my choice.

 

Volks USA - Dec 1 thru 10th are the dates to enter

They'll also be rereleasing her gym set & swimsuit. Those were originally part of Alter II pre-order couple years back

Thanks all for taking the time to educate me. I'll probably watch all the animes as that's just the way I am. I'll have to look for the PSP game now too.

 

If you want to watch all the anime ( there's 3 series ), watch them in this order:

 

Original Fate/Stay night

Fate Zero ( basically the prequel to the above )

Unlimited Blade Works TV series

 

The reason I say to watch them like this is because this is how they originally came out and they kind of make more sense overall like this. Basically, the first series jumbles quite a few of the game storylines together and can be a bit of a mish-mash overall. The second series is the series of events leading up to the first series. And UBW is basically a much better retelling of the original series. There's an UBW movie as well and I'd watch that too just because it's beautiful but it's not needed if you're going to watch the UBW tv series. Being the fan I am, I'd say watch them all including the movie, just watch the movie after Zero.

 

One other thing I see no one else mentioned is the popularity of the Saber DD and her crazy pricing. Of course, since she's the first version ( blue Saber ) she's very collectible and popular just because of that. But the other large reason she got super popular about 6-7 years ago is due to Danny Choo getting one and carrying her everywhere with him. He used her as his model for Mirai clothing before there were Smartdolls and she was also his ambassador of sorts.... everywhere he went, so did Saber. So of course, once his fanboys got sight of her, she got very hard to find and her aftermarket prices went thru the roof. At one time she was averaging around $2500 or so. She's recently cooled off in price a little but still commands between $1800-$2000 regularly due to Saber being Saber.

 

 

Billy

I mean, it also depends on your preferences. I'm one of those heathens who think one should watch /Zero first, but that's because I had absolutely zero interest in the franchise until I did that. I didn't have any trouble following things and it actually improved my opinion of /stay night (however I still don't particularly like /stay night or anything that Nasu writes very much whereas /Zero is hands down my favourite anime.

 

/Zero is technically a prequel series but it's very different as it's written by Gen Urobuchi, the same guy who did Madoka Magica (actually, he's said that Homura was inspired a little by his characterization of Kiritsugu). It has a very different feel to the other Fates, and although technically Kiritsugu is the main character the others all get a chance to shine. (Waver Velvet, who is the best Type Moon character of all time and I will fight anyone who disagrees, actually for so many chances to shine that they had to curtail them in case people started thinking he was the real main character. He is to me lol.) to be brutally honest most of the characters in /stay night I can't stand except for Saber and Rin (who should have been the main character because like I said in another thread you could not pay me to care about Shirou)

 

The mere idea of watching /zero first, for some reason, sends a lot of diehard Type moon fans into a frothing rage which is as funny as it is ridiculous (it does spoil things about the Fates you're meant to watch first but honestly IMO these things were pretty weak things anyway and entirely not worth crucifying someone's opinion over) so I guess the best way to go about it is to watch as much of the 2006 anime as you can stand (it's honestly that awful but if you do like it hey that works in your flavour), then the Unlimited Blade works tv series (not the movie), then Zero. (The 'recommended' start is the original VN but not everyone has the means or time to sit through a 100+ hour game) But if you can't get into the former two at least give Zero a try (it has a pretty bad first episode as it's basically 40 minutes of exposition but its all uphill from there), after all it was the only version of the franchise that made me give the others a second chance.

 

I'm also in the small minority of people that...actually kinda likes the /Extra PSP game. The characters are fun and I think the female protagonist is adorable, she's actually one of my fave masters in the franchise. (I actually don't know much about Nero Saber because I haven't played it with her yet, you pick a servant at the start from 3, like a Pokemon lol) It mainly gets hate for it's ridiculous Rock Paper Scissors gameplay and how obviously it seems to be aping Persona4, but I still like it a lot and honestly, heathen opinion 2 time, enjoy the story more than /stay nigh.. Plus Caster is super cute - I'm surprised she doesn't have a DD yet. If the game is seriously that cheap I think it's at least worth a look - it's an alternate universe so it doesn't really require any prior knowledge of the franchise.

People have a lot to say about this topic (･･')

 

In regards to watching the anime, I'd skip the original. Unfortunatley it contains stuff not retold in later versions, but what it does tell it also kind of screws up & butchers. The Fate/stay night game is three routes; (1) Fate (Saber route), (2) Unlimited Blade Works (Rin route), and (3) Heaven's Feel (Sakura route). In the first anime, aside from being a poor production they did this weird thing where they tried to blend all the routes.

 

I'd watch it in this order,

 

1. Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, the anime from last year.

2. Fate/Zero

3. Carnival Phantasm

4. Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya

5. DO NOT WATCH THE TSUKIHIME ANIME

 

The new anime was made for new viewers as much as old (they don't really expect new viewers to have seen the 2006 anime, they're more likely to have seen the much more recent Fate/Zero anime). It's really rich with content and incredibly faithful to the source material, while standing on its own as a wonderful telling of the Fate story. It does miss out on not having the Fate route, which is kind of weird. Unfortunately I don't think the first anime really fills in any worthwhile gaps, other than giving away some of the ending.

 

Fate/Zero is the prequel to Fate, and is expected to be told after you've experience the three Fate/stay night routes. It has various answers to how things got so messed up in Fate/stay night. You could watch it first, but TBH it's kind of morbid and depressing (well the novel was worse).

 

So you could watch Fate/Zero then Fate UBW because that's how they aired, but I think it's more interesting the other way. And better. It's kind of like, Fate/Zero starts with things starting off 'right' and then everything turns into turd, then Fate/stay night goes from the turd and into win with Saber/Rin/Sakura. A bit more motivation to watch the progression to turd if you have something to anticipate (like, what the heck happened?).

 

The first anime I pretty much hated. There was a lot to like but overall it was pretty terrible. Which was ok for the time really, all things considered, but it was low budget and not what F/SN deserved. I really did not get what made Saber special, she's was as interesting as cardboard.

 

 

When I read the Fate/stay night VN though, that really brought out her charm, and they retained it in the Unlimited Blade Works series. Saber actually smiles when you meet her.

 

 

 

For the original question about why Saber's popular, my take on it is 

 

1. Fate/stay night was the first release by Type-Moon now that they were a Real Company and not just a doujin circle at Comiket (their prior works, including Tsukihime, were HUGE)

2. Saber was the main heroine

3. It's easy to love Saber from the original VN (she's your own personal legendary hero, and such a lovely hero!) 

4. they made a ton of spinoffs with Saber and Saber-lookalike characters because Saber sells. My favourite spinoff is Saber Lion. She just keeps on giving.

 

Edit: quadruple negatives makes reading hard

Edited November 22, 2016 by Guest

I'm also in the small minority of people that...actually kinda likes the /Extra PSP game. The characters are fun and I think the female protagonist is adorable, she's actually one of my fave masters in the franchise. (I actually don't know much about Nero Saber because I haven't played it with her yet, you pick a servant at the start from 3, like a Pokemon lol) It mainly gets hate for it's ridiculous Rock Paper Scissors gameplay and how obviously it seems to be aping Persona4, but I still like it a lot and honestly, heathen opinion 2 time, enjoy the story more than /stay nigh.. Plus Caster is super cute - I'm surprised she doesn't have a DD yet. If the game is seriously that cheap I think it's at least worth a look - it's an alternate universe so it doesn't really require any prior knowledge of the franchise.

 

I'm not alone TT^TT

 

For me the game is the only thing I like of the franchise (I haven't seen /zero yet, maybe I should since you say is so good x3)

For the sake of argument, I'd like to put a competing opinion out there. If you want to see Saber for yourself, I think you should watch the original 2006 /StayNight anime because it's actually pretty good, and if Saber or Rin intrigue you, then play all the routes of the original VN.

 

Other posters might give off the impression that Fate/Zero is universally liked. It would be a mistake to give that impression. It definitely has its fans and that's great, but it also has its detractors who dislike the ufotable character designs and were bored by the story focusing on uninteresting characters (e.g. Zero/Caster). So, think twice about going in for /Zero at all, but if you do choose to go for it, try to go in with an open mind. In other words, don't get carried away on the hype train, and judge for yourself.

 

As for Saber's popularity, she hits enough of the right buttons with enough different people that she works. Some like her appearance, others her swordsmanship, others her bravery, others her place in the Fate/ story as your personal epic hero(ine). She's pretty badass all around, which makes her easy to like for a variety of different people.

5. DO NOT WATCH THE TSUKIHIME ANIME

 

 

 

B-but it has good soundtrack?

Then just buy the soundtrack (~_~#)

I think the type moon angle has been already mentioned a few times...

 

But amusingly I got my groucho before even seeing (or reading for that matter) any of the source material...

 

What drew me in was the gender bender King Arthur lore which was quite obvious even without much investigation into the subject. I just like this idea... unfortunately I find the character in the main anime's a bit... boring (except maybe for that time when Irisviel was scaring the pants of her in the gullwing Benz.)

 

Illya was the only character I actually wanted based on the first anime on the subject, which already has been mentioned isnt exactly perfect.

 

How...ever... Carnival phantasm is the magic powder that makes many a character much, much more likable within this concept.. Alter coming home drunk as a skunk had me rewinding the scene many a dozen times, just for the sound effect of the ahoge popping up... not to meantion tearing Gil a new one for wasting the cake..

 

hell, I had issues with Rin in the main series, but with prisma illya Rin seems like a much more appealing aquisition even though the series is now-a-standard Nanoha/Madoka fare overall.

 

If it is original blue groucho's cost that boggles the mind, it has to be remembered that Blue Arthur had a retail of 95000 yen + tax, which at the time was the most expensive dollfie dream ever produced, even rivaling some of the SD's of the period, only to be tied with Lily later, and only surpassed by Kosmos due to heavy accessory ammounts.

 

What I find personally interesting is that generally Lily seems to be the more sought after doll in the general doll community, yet there are more lily owners on MFC than blue arthur owners... and would I trade my original Arttuuria for a Lily? No.

 

The choo angle was also mentioned, but considering the subject Im willing to bet that his influence on this models popularity/price gain is less than the Type moon fanboyism... Even if choo dressed his saber up as his own mascot in the beginning, This is still the poster girl for FS/N. If I recall correct, choo's second doll at the time was a first edition standard Aoi, but people dont seem to be going too banana's over that one... so there goes that theory.

 

Generally speaking though.. Sabers head is still a simple yet handsome sculpt in default faceup form... Nero's faceup is a bit more girlish, and confident with the eyebrows being more pointy, but even a stock Nero has some of presence in effect. So in that sense it is also Misaki Serika's more better efforts.

This may be a dumb question, but where is everyone watching all of the anime? I've watched UBW, Zero, and Fate Kaleid, but haven't been able to find anything else on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hulu. :/

This may be a dumb question, but where is everyone watching all of the anime? I've watched UBW, Zero, and Fate Kaleid, but haven't been able to find anything else on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hulu. :/

 

ok, so ... now that Hulu is a pay service, their free stuff has been moved to Yahoo View

Fate/Stay Night orig anime is up for streaming there

 

aaaaaaand as a last ditch effort, there's also Libraries!! Like, i am not kidding, seriously. Go to the library (or look it up in whatever your local library website is) and see what they have for YA dvds... Thats where there's quite a surprising amount of good anime can be easily borrowed from

Thanks Chise! I never would've thought of a library. Our local library just got a major upgrade, so I wouldn't be too surprised if they did have some anime. That's an awesome recommendation!

 

I will definitely check out Yahoo View as well, I had no idea about that.

Thanks Chise! I never would've thought of a library. Our local library just got a major upgrade, so I wouldn't be too surprised if they did have some anime. That's an awesome recommendation!

 

oh oh, then here's a major bonus pro-tip! Many libraries now have digital borrowing deals via Overdrive & HooplaDigital as well!

You sign in with your library card and depending on what their deal is with your particular branch - can either "borrow" (stream) stuff or borrow all sorts of comics (some manga included)

Yes, this stuff is popping up in all kinds of places now. Even my son's middle school (aka jr high for us older folks) has a healthy selection of manga.

 

As for Saber, I did it and went and entered the lottery. Here's hoping that since the outfit is offered separate, less enter for the doll so I can have a shot at getting her.

As for Saber, I did it and went and entered the lottery. Here's hoping that since the outfit is offered separate, less enter for the doll so I can have a shot at getting her.

 

Good luck! I personally really love the Saber molds, and think Alter is a cutie! :>

I wanna enter myself, but I'm being good cause the holidays always break my account.

I'm also in the small minority of people that...actually kinda likes the /Extra PSP game. The characters are fun and I think the female protagonist is adorable, she's actually one of my fave masters in the franchise. (I actually don't know much about Nero Saber because I haven't played it with her yet, you pick a servant at the start from 3, like a Pokemon lol) It mainly gets hate for it's ridiculous Rock Paper Scissors gameplay...

 

I found the game to be very interesting in how meta it is... like the war is taking place in a video game, and how the true identity of main character (master) is so ambiguous for most of the story, and the world acknowledges that it runs on game logic and data.

 

I hear the battle system called "Rock Paper Scissors" a lot, but it's not? It's pattern recognition; the enemy turn command sets are NOT random. I found it kind of fun to figure out the enemy patterns and counteract them. After a few battles with the same enemies you "learn" the patterns and it's displayed during combat so all you have to do is pick the right counter-action and breeze through random battles like a boss. Easiest level-grinding I have ever encountered in a JRPG.

 

Saber Nero is a delusional egomaniac like the real emperor, but it's comically watered down and put into a cute package so she's more of an "adorable lil' tyrant" than "the original neckbeard and literally a motherf**ker who beat his wife to death then forced a boy to assume her identity and be his replacement wife."

I did not play the game, I watched the anime. Saber is Saber ) Saber is interesting, strong character (I'm a fan "Fate")))