Wata no Kunihoshi won the 3rd Kodansha Manga Award in the shōjo category in 1979. The same year, it was voted the most popular series running in LaLa magazine. According to German manga scholar Jaqueline Berndt, the depiction of cats as young girls spread to other manga series from Wata no Kunihoshi. It is described by Masanao Amano as not just a simple animal fable but a story in which psychological and mental states are highly differentiated.
