Cinderella Closet Vol. 5

Cinderella Closet #5

by Wakana Yanai

CAN WISHES COME TRUE?

Thanks to her “fairy godmother” Hikaru’s magic, Haruka gains the confidence to go out with Kurotaki—only to have that romance end in heartbreak. Hikaru helps her move on, but then Shiu, Hikaru’s friend from beauty school, appears on the scene. Somehow seeing how close they are leaves Haruka in a haze of uncertain emotions. Is it jealousy over her best friend being taken from her, or...?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Slice Of Life, Comics, Queer, Contemporary

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2021

About the author

Associated Names:
柳井若菜

Name (in native language): 柳井わかな

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haruka thinks Hikaru is just such a great friend, utterly oblivious to how much Hikaru likes her. Except Hikaru’s friend Shiu is making some real overtures on him and Haruka can’t figure out why that’s really irritating her…

You would think that your leads finally getting together would be cause for celebration, but this is one of those situations where the destination is thrown off by a decision made along the way that doesn’t quite work for me.

We’ve seen that Haruka might be a little bad at all this, so her not recognizing jealousy for what it is makes a certain amount of sense (at least in a story like this). That Shiu enjoys giving her the worst possible ideas about his relationship with Hikaru doesn’t help her either.

The fireworks festival (you knew there was going to be one) turns into a real mess after Shiu makes his intentions plain, but he might want to have asked Hikaru first, rather than just sending Haruka into a massive doom spiral that Hikaru has to rescue her from.

It’s the subsequent chat between Shiu and Hikaru that just rankles me a bit because it feels like it walks back all the interesting bits of Hikaru to make them more, well, him.

Beyond casually dismissing their potential bisexuality, it also paints Hikaru as somebody who presents as female because they have no confidence when they’re being a male. Which is one hell of an interpretation. I fully admit that my perspective on this is utterly that of an outsider, but it feels… off.

There’s just something I find a bit irritating that the relationship between our leads, which looked like it could be so much more nuanced, is coming down to a young guy and a young woman now that the guy has a reason to have confidence. Maybe it won’t turn out this badly, but this just feels like the worst way forward.

Consequently it’s Haruka who steals this volume away from everybody. Watching her heart bleed out over Hikaru is emotional enough, but it’s followed up with some excellent advice from Mio, who’s always fun to see.

The actual date works because Hikaru is in full-on ‘it’s you, you’re the one’ mode to Haruka about who he actually likes, but her self-esteem keeps getting in the way of all the incredibly obvious signals.

There’s also a nicely satisfying confession that has a real ‘meeting in the middle’ vibe that I appreciated. One thing that’s really welcome to see is that these two are just as good a couple as they were friends. They’re making one another laugh and being silly, but with that nice undercurrent of sexual tension.

The last part of the book has Mio show up to cause yet more trouble, though her heart is in the right place, and we get to see some casual dating between Hikaru and Haruka. And whatever I think about how they got there, they do have fun as a couple, traditional as it might be.

It’s just not really what I wanted, but at the same time, I don’t know what precisely I DID want. This ending was kind of expected, I just wish it had taken a different route to get there in the end. This feels entirely too ‘conform to normal’ than it originally began.

3.5 stars - probably a victim of my own sentiments, and certainly of my own expectations, I do think this has been sliding downwards ever since that really strong first volume. Still okay, just not remarkable.

[mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like communicating to solve miscommunication issues. So much tension and blushiness that even I got my heart beating fast...

I do hope gender play continues during their established relationship, I missed that aspect of the series this volume.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally some progress! Hikaru was adorable in this volume. I wish we got more info on their life outside of Haruka. I was glad to see their school friends, but I wish we got to know more about how they spend their time when they're not with Haruka.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least these dumbbutts have started dating now. Now draw them kissing when Hikaru is in girl mode, coward author, or I’ll have to remove the queer tag from this series. 😂

[Hisgirl85 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Cute

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love these two! Especially when they are being true to themselves. That said, there is so much blushing going on here that they come across more like teens than adults, and the majority of the volume takes the traditional shojo route. Boy likes girl. Boy takes girl to fireworks. Boy who dresses as girl doesn't appear and the pronouns are inconsistent, which I've mentioned before.

Btw, Shiu is an ass and hardly comes across as someone considered a close friend. He also comes across as a character placed so Hikaru can firmly and conveniently declare his sexual orientation to the reader. Everything involving Shui could've been handled better. More tactfully.

But!

The date. I feel like it disintegrates in a very real way with miscommunication that is true to both characters and I was dreading its progression. Which let the rest of the volume give off a palpable feeling of relief.

This story is breaking the shojo recipe and norms. That is awesome. I suppose hiccups are expected. I do hope, however, that this volume isn't a harbinger that we'll see fewer of those "rules" being broken as we progress.

[tatterpunk · Rating 3 out of 5]

the ender art is Hikaru femmed up (my love!), and the author writes next to them: "haven't drawn girly Hikaru in a hot minute"

OH. YOU DON'T SAY. I NEVER WOULD HAVE NOTICED.

............ yeah 85% of this is boy!Hikaru, and Haruka uses he/him pronouns almost constantly.

It's fine! It's fine. I was prepared for this. And even if it's just a transition to more interesting, actual-relationship stuff, it's just....... kind of boring. Hikaru and Haruka, I'm very sorry to say, are not complex enough as characters to make for a compelling romance (imo) when they're both serving and (apparently) 100% comfortable in more traditional gender roles. They're kind of underdeveloped. Sweet, but very bog standard.

It's fine.

It's no so fine that the one dude who uses heavily feminized language to try and scare Haruka off Hikaru is non-Japanese, or that he calls Hikaru "a woman" in the same scene he then turns around and asks "are you not confident in yourself as a man" to go after Haruka.

And are we not getting Kurotaki and Miorin's story??? The hell?

It feels like we lost a lot of the nuance that made the earlier volumes so intriguing. We'll see.

[TP · Rating 5 out of 5]

!!!!!!
THEY KISSED!! I'm so happy.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hope Hikaru doesn't lose his love of girl clothes just because he's with Haruka now... He's been in "boy mode" for several chapters now, and even Haruka expressed how it was like being with a different person.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this would be five stars but Hikaru has started only presenting as male and before it seemed more both. I liked the idea of what dating meant as both presentation of how Hikaru sees themselves but now this volume was very much boy meets girl. Haruka had some real growth in her feelings, expressing herself and acknowledging what she really wants clearly.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars
So cute!!! Also, Haruka is such a paradox :D Does not want her feelings to show and then she just confesses, love her. Also Hikaru is a sweetheart. My favourite of the volumes so far and I hope it only gets better!

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is giving me a headache." Me too. An entire volume of 2 people blushing. This romance is getting boring.

[Lisanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

i hope we get more fem Hikaru in the next couple of volumes

[nza · Rating 4 out of 5]

FINALLY

[Kathryn Catania · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story finally feels more honest. I have liked it alot so far but now im ready to see where it goes

[Iman Qadri · Rating 5 out of 5]

10/10 best volume so far heheheheh

[Maude · Rating 4 out of 5]

finally!! haruka was so oblivious

[Loveleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The confession we’ve all been waiting for!

[Chaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute!! This volume was so cute!!!!!

[siren ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

WE HAVE WON

[Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

They did it! I wonder what else is in store for our newly formed couple.

[Alex Higginbotham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sooooo much second hand embarrassment with this one lol

[Shauna Low]

4.5/5 stars

Gahhhhh!!!! They finally confessed to each other, and now they're formally together, this is all I wanted!!

A very good volume...

[♡ zuly ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slow volume, but I am really enjoying seeing their relationship fall into place.

[Cynfael · Rating 4 out of 5]

i love a couple that communicates

[eesee · Rating 3 out of 5]

— 3.5 stars

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Qué tontos son los protas, los adoro TT

[angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

POR FIN SON NOVIOOOOS

[Julia Denesse]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TANGINA NIYONG LAHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

i went feral so many times during this volume like 1. when the almost-miscommunication trope happened and 2. WHEN HER MOTHER COCKBLOCKED HER WAAAAAAAAAT DA HELLYYYYYY

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este manga es bellísimo, una cuchitura. Este fue mi volumen favorito.