I think there's also the fact that there's an element of active participation here on Shirō's end, and the fact that they're both still roughly alive, help. People like the pair of them, so both of them doing something seemingly impossible works; moreover, taking the pair of them, there's that active element - in contrast to the travails Shirō is seems to go through, Sakura essentially sits and waits, which has very little effort implied (I'm happy to admit that I don't think there's an massive difference between Saber and Sakura in this scenario). Also, on a basic level, no matter how much we're told "It requires a miracle", the reunion of two living people seems basically more likely than a person who burned out his mind and body and buried under a collapsing cavern with the stillborn remains of All The World's Evil actually turning up on the doorstep for Sakura. That's a fairly final death without an avatar of the Third Magic there to save you.
Exactly. The pursuit of the 'impossible' also speaks to that part of you that can admire Shirō despite the madness of his ideal and which so much of F/SN draws on, its conceit fundamentally being that of a mythological mega-crossover fanfic. For some people (judging by the apparent popularity, most, but I wouldn't care to definitively say that given all the other factors), that continuation of the theme* works better than Sakura being so attached to Shirō that she pines for him - and, it's hinted, does very little else - for her entire life. I mean, HF Normal's my favourite end, and I can certainly see where they're coming from.
*swear I didn't realise what I'd done there until I typed it
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Depends on who you talk to honestly. And even then, she seemed to live her life, but she was attached to the house.For some people (judging by the apparent popularity, most, but I wouldn't care to definitively say that given all the other factors), that continuation of the theme* works better than Sakura being so attached to Shirō that she pines for him - and, it's hinted, does very little else - for her entire life. I mean, HF Normal's my favourite end, and I can certainly see where they're coming from.
Plus, she did keep in touch with Rin, and even taught her grandchild. Even then though, honestly, it'd take more than just Rin being there for her issues to be sorted out. Her life is the kinda stuff you'd definitely need to seek help from a professional to help sort out. But unfortunately, magi don't seem to have those.
To quantify it as just "teenage girl pines for her boyfriend" is pretty much missing the point.
"Fate/stay night: not really an eroge, and not really a cooking sim, but actually an RPG wherein everyone’s primary stat is “self-loathing” and the goal is to level it up beyond all the other characters."