Sakura Saber (桜セイバー, Sakura Seibā?, lit. Cherry-Blossom Saber) is the Saber-class Servant of Kohaku in the Strange Tales of the Imperial Holy Grail of Fate/KOHA-ACE. She is one of the Servants of the Protagonist of the Grand Order conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.
Profile
Identity
Sakura Saber's True Name is Souji OkitaWP (沖田総司WP, Okita Sōji?), the captain of the first unit of the ShinsengumiWP, a public order organization that was mostly active in the Kyoto of the Edo periodWP's closing days. Even among the Shinsengumi, which was feared as a band of master swordsmen, the one admired as the strongest genius swordsman was Okita.[2]
Appearance
Unlike the historic version, Okita Souji is a female and she looks similar to King Arthur. She is a lovely girl in her mid-teens, who wraps her body in fashionable Japanese clothing.[2] She wears a Taisho style Kimono consisting a HakamaWP and long leather boots. In order to conceal her original costume, which is simply too conspicuous, she normally uses this outfit.[2]
Personality
She has both the facet of a cool-headed man-slayer, as well as a cheerful side that is fond of children.[2]
Her wish to the Holy Grail is "to fight to the bitter end". Her dearest wish from while alive, which ended not being achieved no matter how much she wanted to. Even now, after having turned into a Heroic Spirit, she is regretting not having fought together with her comrades and has a wrong impression of herself as a failure of Shinsengumi's soldier.[2]
Role
Koha-Ace
Sakura Saber appears as a joke in Koha-Ace. She becomes a regular character afterwards, and her identity is revealed in a later issue. Mordred calls Saber father and Sakura Saber mother due to their similar appearance.
Other appearances
Sakura Saber and Demon Archer are the regular host for Fate/GUDAGUDA Order.
Abilities
Although she is a Saber-class Servant, both of her class skills are very poor. Her Magic Resistance (対魔力, Tai-Maryoku?) is very low due to her existing in the BakumatsuWP era where magic is an uncommon practice when the mystery is thin. Her Riding (騎乗, Kijō?) skill is limited due to the Shinsengumi have only rode on horses.[1]
Saber has been cursed by Weak Constitution (病弱, Byōjaku?) skill, it is a weakness struck by the nature of frail health. In Saber case, it is the result of tuberculosisWP illness in her lifetime. The skill nature is similar to Innocent Monster curse where the people of future generations perspective effects the existence of Heroic Spirit. She is accompanied by the risk of sudden status drop at anytime of every action. The probability of risk is not high but when it is invoked in combat, it is immense.[1]
Combat
Reduced EarthWP (縮地, Shukuchi?) is a technique to cut down the distance between opponents instantly. Many martial arts masters have pursue the extremity of Step Movements (歩法, Hohō?) in martial arts. Rather than a simple quickness, there are numerous phenomena that are connected with each other and are completed with walking, body movement, Breathing and blind spot. The highest grade beyond A-rank becomes a long dimension leap technique and it would be in the category of Sage Techniques (仙術, Senjutsu?).[1]
Saber's Noble Phantasm is her Shinsengumi uniform Coat of Oaths (誓いの羽織, Chikai no Haori?) and the Shinsengumi flag Flag of Sincerity. Avidya, Three-Stage Thrust, while a skill, is treated as her main offensive Noble Phantasm in Fate/Grand Order.
Development
Creation and Conception
Sakura Saber is first introduced as part of a joke in that Takashi Takeuchi was supposed to introduce a new Servant in Koha-Ace, but instead drew another version of Saber.
References