Kiritsugu is introduced as the recently deceased adoptive father of a teenager named Shirou Emiya whom he met after he saved him from a fire.

While Shirou and the player know more about Kiritsugu in the story, the light novel reveals him to be a fighter from the Fourth Holy Grail War, a conflict between mages from Fate/Zero.

Kiritsugu participates in the Fourth Holy Grail War a decade before Fate/stay night, supporting his spouse Irisviel von Einzbern and his Servant Saber.

Critical reception to Kiritsugu's character has been generally positive because of his mix of a dark and a light personality as evidenced by his actions such as his relationship with his family and his violent methods.

[3] Born in Fuyuki City, Kiritsugu was raised on Alimango Island, where he lived with his father, Norikata, a mage specializing in time magic.

As they continued to eliminate dangerous threats to world peace and stability, Kiritsugu chose to kill Natalia during one such mission, in order to prevent a worst-case scenario.

[14][15] He also appears in the video game Fate/tiger colosseum UPPER,[16] and the manga Today's Menu for the Emiya Family where he tastes Shirou's cooking for the first time.

[17] The video game Fate/Grand Order also features an alternative Kiritsugu who has become the Servant "Assassin" (アサシン, Asashin) who did not separate from Irisvel.

[19][20] Outside the Fate franchise, Kiritsugu appears in the video game Toy Wars as part of a collaboration with GungHo Online Entertainment to promote Fate/Zero.

[21] In the making of the character, Kinoko Nasu stated that Kiritsugu used boku (僕), a first person pronoun most generally used by young boys.

Urobuchi felt that, because Kiritsugu abstains from the flashiness of Heroic Spirits, the best solution was to make him unnoticeable, as a "character who spreads justice should speak with their back".

[22] Nasu believes Kiritsugu avoids facing personal issues in his story in contrast to Shirou Emiya whose characterization and growth is explored more in the visual novel.

His most known is a Thompson/Center Contender which served as one of the main ideas that led to the creation of Fate/Zero which was also inspired by Lance Henriksen's performance in the 1993 film Hard Target.

[30] Urobuchi called the final battle between Kiritsugu and Kirei "the most difficult battle scene in the novel" for him as a writer, due to a strong imbalance of forces, according to the author, between opponents (Kiritsugu possessed firearms, time magic and regeneration from Avalon, while Kotomine was only a master of the martial art bajiquan).

Morgan Lewis from VG Culture HQ called him "one of the most intriguing characters in all of anime and Japanese media", praising "his certain level of hidden depth beneath his cold and lifeless eyes" and his noble goals.

"[36] Kotaku regarded him as the best character from Fate/Zero feeling that despite his questionable actions he "is far from being an emotionless killing machine", which makes him interesting to watch.

[38] Anime News Network praised the tragedy that happens to both Saber and Kiritsugu and found that having each character wishing for solutions to world issues made the series worth watching.

[40] The Fandom Post enjoyed how Kiritsugu's past was shown in the anime feeling it adds more depth to his character, making viewers want to view the series again to see more of him.

[41] Koi-nya felt that despite Kiritsugu's cruel personality, the impression he makes on viewers changes when they see his interactions with Irisviel and Ilyasviel as they provide more joy to him, while his true identity is explored across the story.

The reviewer praised the "gritty" flashback episodes for providing a clear explanation of how Kiritsugu's dark childhood had turned him into a cruel man despite his wish for world peace.

[44] Anime News Network criticized the focus on the relationship between Kiritsugu and Kirei Kotomine saying it comes across as "flat" compared to other characters.

[47] Matthew Mercer was called one of the best actors in the series' English dub,[48][49] while Rikiya Koyama was also praised for his performance in the original version.

[50] In another review, a writer from ANN praised the original net animation (ONA) from Today's Menu for the Emiya Family as it handled the relationship between Kiritsugu with Shirou and Taiga Fujimura, something that Fate/Zero and other series only briefly touched on.

[17] Although Kiritsugu is dead by the events of Unlimited Blade Works, multiple sites praised how Shirou carries on his ideals and matures in the process, accepting them despite the issues they bring him.