Andrew Sarris of "Observer" wrote that the film was "tediously manipulative despite its Herculean energy". Somewhat tediously, it was more successful than anything else we'd done up to that point. This might be characterised by a short start-up time, but a tediously slow editing process. The presentation of the northern isles was vivid, or it was tediously minute. Takahiro goes through each day tediously until the time of the annual competition draws near. Oldbuck was also generally admired, though "The European Magazine" considered him tediously minute. According to "Time Out" magazine, it turns out to be "just tediously violent". Neil Genzlinger of "The New York Times" called the premise "tediously obvious".