Upon its release, the graphic novel received high praise, but was also met with criticism and calls for censorship."TIME" magazine included "Persepolis" in its "Best Comics of 2003" list. Andrew Arnold of "TIME" described "Persepolis" as "sometimes funny and sometimes sad but always sincere and revealing." Kristin Anderson of "The Oxonian Review of Books" of Balliol College, University of Oxford said, "While "Persepolis"’ feistiness and creativity pay tribute as much to Satrapi herself as to contemporary Iran, if her aim is to humanise her homeland, this amiable, sardonic and very candid memoir couldn't do a better job." "Persepolis" has won numerous awards, including one for its text at the Angoulême International Comics Festival Prize for Scenario in Angoulême, France, and another for its criticism of authoritarianism in Vitoria, Spain. Marie Ostby points out that “Satrapi’s work marks a watershed movement in the global history of the graphic novel,” exemplified by the recent increase in use of the graphic novel as a “cross-cultural form of representation for the twenty-first century Middle East."