>>104894 (OP)
>appeal
Shirou cool. Swords! SWORDS!
God, he's so GAR
Tohsaka a cute. Illyasviel a cute. Irisviel cute. Saber a cute. Sakura a cutie.
>comprehend the enormous popularity of this franchise
that was your mistake. The franchise sucks. There's very little actually good about really anything in fate/. The only thing that it's got going for it is the occasional cool moment (usually involving Shirou. God he's so GAR.) and cute girls. Its all surface level appeal whose discussion is fueled by the influx of newfags and gacha-tards. The mistake I had when getting into the franchise was assuming any of the stories actually mattered to each other or even themselves.
>>104902
>catharsis
Only time I felt that in the entire series is in fate/stay night. Shirou versus Gilgamesh works very well, if you can ignore some shit.