Quote from ManthaHistorical complaints are sort of valid but I don't see how being a dude is a big part of King Arthur. It's pretty dumb to claim that his penis is so important to you.
Maybe important was the wrong word to use, but there's value in historical accuracy in a story that centers itself around the idea of "what if these people interacted with each other." I mean I'm not trying to sound sexist or anything, but I personally feel it takes away from the integrity of the premise if they change their gender for the obvious reason of appealing to a certain audience. The fact the matter is that men and women aren't the same no matter how you twist it, and I didn't feel like it really did much for the story, so at the point I felt like it was an unnecessary design choice made to appeal to male viewers. And I guess female audiences depending on how you look at it. It's not horrible though, and it certainly wasn't enough to make me dislike Fate/Zero, but I thought I should point it out.
Making him female added a lot of depth imo, because you have all of this torment of hiding Saber's gender and even her own humanity.
I personally didn't think gender as a theme was that prevalent in Zero. Sure it was mentioned here and there, but comparing her role as King to that of Rider's was a much more major theme. I suppose you can argue that there's a bit of subtlety behind both Rider and Archer's comments that relate to her gender though, so I will give you that. Plus I haven't done too much with the VN yet, so maybe there's more I haven't seen.
Honestly, if Saber's identity bothers you so much then maybe you shouldn't get into Fate at all since there are far worse violations of actual historical figures out there, including 'Jack the Ripper' who was summoned as a little girl with a huge ass and a thong that's hanging on to her for dear life. If you want historical accuracy then you might as well go watch a documentary or something, because the Fate series are in the end the same as other anime and manga series, they're just taking inspiration from history.
I mean it doesn't bother me to the point where I'll stop watching it since I've seen some anime that take it way over the top (and the anime is just way too solid for that one element to ruin it entirely). I just felt it was a weird juxtaposition when you compare Saber with someone like Rider, who seems a lot more faithful to his historical background. I mean Saber also isn't the only character I have a problem with, I also have an issue with Berserker since his identity and state seemed more like a plot device for Saber's character than anything else. I also realize there's a line between being historically accurate and just being anal about it, which is why I don't think it's a massive issue (ex. As someone who's read the Epic of Gilgamesh, I doubt Gilgamesh was like how he was in Fate/Zero, but his personality and role in the story meshed so well together that I preferred it that way). But I usually did greatly enjoy the characters who were more faithful to their historical backgrounds than ones who weren't, even when I played the original VN.
But that Jack the Ripper description sounds really dumb though to be honest lol
FSN anime is awful and you'll regret wasting your time on it. The animation is infamously bad so you might as well dedicate yourself to the VN. The route itself is poorly written but the main heroine is Saber and she gets a fair closure for what she suffered in Zero.
UBW anime series was made to be a continuation of Zero so you won't lose much if you want to see it, unless you don't want to be spoiled for the time when you'll read the VN.
Alright, many thanks!
