Several fans and media publications speculated that the visual references the Sewol Ferry Disaster that took place on April 16, 2014, which left more than 300 students missing or dead. In this regard, RM stated that the video focuses on the visual representation of the song's lyrics and can be interpreted in many ways. Tamar Herman of "Billboard" wrote that the music video "reflects the album's title and transmutes 'Spring Day' from a love song into an ode dedicated to the dead." In his review for Fuse, Benjamin labelled the visual as "gorgeously cinematic and moving." Glasby deemed the visual as a "slow motion, cinematic landscape of memories and wishes." Though she lauded the "external devices" used to "illustrate certain points," Glasby felt that "the most devastatingly evocative moments" in the video are "quietly simple." Emlyn Travis of "PopCrush" opined that the clip "stunningly" captures "the idea of a loss of innocence that changes one's life forever." The music video was awarded Best Music Video at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards and Fuse Video of the Year at the 2018 Annual Soompi Awards. It was an instant success on YouTube, garnering over 10 million views in 24 hours, becoming the fastest K-pop video to do so at the time. A week later, the music video for BTS' follow up single "Not Today" overtook the record with 10 million views in a shorter period of time. The video for "Spring Day" also became the fastest K-pop group music video to reach 20 million views, achieving the feat in less than four days. It was the sixth most viewed K-pop music video of 2017 on YouTube. As of April 2021, the video has over 400 million views on the platform.