The album was nominated as one of the finalists for the CD Shop Awards, and was lauded by critics for its cohesive sound and literary lyrics.

Most of the final recording stages were spent on the song "Me ga Aku Aiiro", a seven-minute rock opera used as a promotional single during its release.

[1] Their first album produced in Tokyo, Shin-shiro (2009), saw a new approach for the band, where vocalist Ichiro Yamaguchi asked the other members of Sakanaction to arrange songs individually, instead of together.

[8] On October 10, Sakanaction performed their first overseas concert, the Gentra X Ssamzie Sound Festival in Paju, South Korea.

[19] The writing process took longer than expected and the band had to postpone the album four times from their intended finishing date, mostly due to the complexities of recording the seven minute long song "Me ga Aku Aiiro".

[15] Yamaguchi felt that it was important to not release a second similar song immediately after "Aruku Around", as he saw that music consumers in the 2010s were acting as critics on their own Mixi or Twitter accounts.

This led to the members expressing themselves more, such as drummer Keiichi Ejima, who showcased his taste in rock music strongly in the sound he created for the album.

An example of this was the band wanted to add a chorus, they collected together all the people who happened to be in the studio at the time, including their musical director.

[31] Similarly, it related to the idea of how Sakanaction as a band mixed rock, club and folk music, but were able to blend different tastes to find an equilibrium that a wide range of people would like.

Yamaguchi decided to place it as the first song on the album, as he felt it was similar to the material found on Shin-shiro, as a way to show off what sort of band Sakanaction were up until the release of "Aruku Around".

[38] On March 10, the song "Me ga Aku Aiiro" was released as a digital download to cellphones in Japan, as well as ringtones of all of the tracks on the standard edition of the album.

[39] The song was the lead promotional track on the album, and received enough radio airplay to reach number 92 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart.

[41] The band held a listening party at Liquid Loft in Shibuya, Tokyo on March 13, which was simulcast on the video streaming website Ustream.

[4] The album was well received by Japanese music critics, and was chosen as one of the eleven finalists for the 2011 CD Shop Awards.

[54] Yuji Tanaka of CDJournal felt the album was more cohesive than their previous works, praising the band's skill progression and Yamaguchi's lyrics, which he described as "literary-style" and "cynical".

[55] He was struck by the "heroic march" after the album's introduction in the song "Ushio", which made him feel "suddenly intoxicated ... like being in the ocean".

[56] Koji Dejima of Bounce felt that the album was ingenious in the way that it created a feeling of being out of place due to its arrangements, melodies and lyrics.

[58] Kaori Komatsu of Rockin' On Japan felt that Yamaguchi's lyrics created an "interesting feeling of unease" and had a "deep flavor".

[59] She noted that Yamaguchi's lyrics often described everyday life and his mental space, layered on top of each other in impressionist scenes.

[59] She felt that the band's sound had become more ambitious in their genre crossovers, especially the inclusions of ambient music and dub elements, and that the songs had a "sense of city", much stronger since they had moved to Tokyo.

[59] Tanaka of CDJournal noted similar qualities in the songs "Yes No" and "Ashita kara", which to him expressed the loneliness of city life.

CDJournal reviewers gave the single its star of recommendation, calling it a "killer tune" where the "pleasure of living in the moment" and "prudence" is balanced.

felt that the song had a "gentle electronica feel", praising the 1980s-style synths, aggressive sound and "unique poetic sentiment" of Yamaguchi's.

[14] Tomoki Takahashi of Rockin' On Japan felt the greatest strength of the song was how its lyrical content jarred with its "high-spirited words" and "explosive hybrid beat".

[61] He noted that instead of talking about the pleasures of the dance floor, Yamaguchi's lyrics were introspective, discussing loneliness, pain and longing.

Takahashi praised the brave fanfare-like synth based leading melody, and the "tight" and "earth-shaking" four on the floor beat.