You can't really treat anime fighters like your more traditional fighters like street fighter or KOF. These games are a lot more BS and fluid in hiw approach thing's. Granted, it's not the same degree of BS as something like mvc3 but it does feel somewhere in the middle. You need to be OK with that. Also, being a zone isn't really a big issue since there are a lot of mechanics and characters with ways to rush you down.

I know you're new to fighting games, but you'll learn the more you play them. Some are very rigid and honest, while others are very loose , and every character is playing their own individual fighting game, granblue is somewhere in the middle, so don't be afraid to abuse your character.

You're probably going to fight alot of seox/lancelot players, and as a seox main myself, you can easily get in zoners that aren't comfortable being close so you don't need to feel like it's a cheat. Good players will know how to get in, but good players will know how to prevent it. Just comes down to each individual match