Reviewing
Qualia the Purple for
Anime News Network, Christopher Farris generally praised the plot, characters, and science fiction elements of the story, and opined that the novel would work best if one went into the story knowing as little as possible about its plot twists. Farris described the early chapters of the story as "fun in an inoffensive way," and characterized it as deliberately light in tone in order to make readers more comfortable prior to its more serious plot developments. While Farris said that he greatly enjoyed the story overall, he felt that the "dense" descriptions of theoretical
quantum physics topics (which he said could necessitate frequent rereading for some), and some darker turns later in the narrative, could alienate certain readers. Regarding the
yuri components of the story, he said that they were not introduced in a manner that readers would anticipate (another factor he perceived as potentially alienating) but nonetheless said that this element of the story was effective and felt that it included "one of the most heartwarming, romantic applications of quantum physics you've yet seen." Farris also praised the English version and its prose, which he said "reads very well." David Heath of
Game Rant included
Qualia in a list of "best" science fiction light novels that did not yet have an anime adaptation. Discussing the manga, Tito W. James of
Comicon commended the ability of the narrative to "ground high concept quantum mechanics and philosophy in grounded, believable human emotion" and said that
Qualia deserved an anime adaptation. == References ==