[2][3] Casey Brienza at Anime News Network commends Fumi Yoshinaga's use of her "minimalist style and occasionally awkward character designs to their best advantage.

[7] Library Journal's Krista Hutley commends the manga on its realistic design of the characters with their "long, skinny bodies, large hands, and detailed faces".

[8] Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime described it as a "more mature yaoi romance", noting that the story is not "about seduction".

[9] Ginger Mayerson of Sequential Tart was disappointed that the first volume did not share the "wackiness" of Antique Bakery or Flower of Life, describing Ichigenme as "deadly serious".

[11] In Jason Thompson's online appendix to Manga: The Complete Guide, he describes Yoshinaga as revelling in "the psychological and social associations of homosexuality—and repressed homosexuality".