reviews for "akron" were mixed. rick powell, writing a review for the letterboxd website, stated in part, "it's hard to be too critical about such a guileless and sincere effort, especially since its assumption of the normality of gay male love without any social conflict whatsoever feels so refreshing." he added, "for a film which deals with the lasting impacts of a death in the family, it really didn't feel like there was much at stake." writing for indiewire, vikram murthi stated, "the new film “akron” is a gay coming-of-age love story, but with a refreshing twist: none of its characters are in search of acceptance as they've all accepted themselves and have been accepted by their personal communities."