 In a "Salon.com" article, Douglas Wolk describes Misa as being drawn in a "Japanese comics' tradition of cute, tiny, airhead girls with big eyes" and being a "lot cannier than she pretends to be".Wolk added that the reader could "watch her measuring how much quasi-innocent charm to pour on in every situation".Tom S. Pepirium, an editor of "IGN" website, describes Misa in a review of the "Death Note" anime episode "Performance" as being the "show's weakest and most annoying character".