User:Cukie Gherkin/Lulu

Lulu's outfit drew particular focus from media outlets, with Todd Hargosh of Game Industry News calling it the strangest outfit he had ever seen and felt the belts made her "look like a dominatrix. Dave Smith of IGN stated that while Nomura had a tendency to "over-accessorize" his character designs, he felt Lulu's design was just right, stating that between her "floor-length skirt, elaborately-pinned hair, and collection of super-cute mascot dolls", the character was one of the "coolest" he had seen in the Final Fantasy franchise at that point. He additionally praise as matching her style, giving her a "beautifully menacing presence". Despite the complexity of Lulu's design, she has been cited as a frequent subject of cosplay.

In 2009, GamesRadar+ called her one of the sexiest video game characters of the last decade, attributing her appeal to her large breasts and outfit, the latter of which they described as a "goth-mage-hooker" aesthetic and added that the "whole thing looks like it could fall right off at any second". They acknowledged that her personality was also a significant factor of her appeal, voicing approval of her protective nature, and strength as a mage. Gus Turner of Complex shared these sentiments, but also praised the character's voice, describing it as "smoky" and "sensual", and gave further praise of how she was a voice of reason in the game's central plot. However, Gamasutra editor Kurt Kalata criticized her appearance as "outlandish", calling "goth girl" Lulu more akin to a "fetish object" than an inhabitant of Final Fantasy X's world.

Damien Mecheri in the book The Legend of Final Fantasy X stated that a good team in a roleplaying game is incomplete with a character who is "a bit cold, dark, and taciturn", and felt Lulu filled this role well. He compared her character design to Edea Kramer of Final Fantasy VIII in how both were built around "bizarre features from the imagination of Tetsuya Nomura". Mecheri stated that while here character was not particularly complex, he enjoyed the "odd couple" aspect she had with Wakka, and how her personality as a mature woman despite her young age brought a "bit of wisdom to the cast of characters."

Matt Sainsbury of DigitallyDownloaded.net meanwhile felt the design helped flesh out her role as a character, particularly as a Black Mage. He pointed out that in previous entries in the Final Fantasy series such characters were often portrayed as "mysterious, dark characters" able to weild destructive magic liberally, "but not really sufficient for the kind of characterisation needed in modern JRPG storytelling". While Lulu's design initially appeared to fit that mold by invoking imagery of sadomasochism in his view, her characterization was a severe but motherly figure to the group. He enjoyed how this subverted expectations while still allowing her character design to make sense, something he felt was a particular good trait of the Final Fantasy games as a whole, and added that her maternal role made her a particularly nuanced character in them.