Assassin & Cinderella Gets More Serious in Volume 3

One of Assassin & Cinderella’s flaws in early volumes is that the manga is very much filled with josei fanservice. It can feel like the epitome of “what if we wrote a Spy x Family style series that prioritizes romance?” It ends up feeling very cute for sure, but also quite idealized and with little conflict. Fortunately, the third volume of the series changes that, and it adds an extra edge and hint of actual conflicts that could make ensuing installments feel much more satisfying.

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Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers up through volume 3 of the Assassin & Cinderella manga below. 

As a quick refresher, Assassin & Cinderella follows Omi (the assassin) and Neneko (the spy and “Cinderella”). Her organization tasks her with following and spying on him, going undercover as his girlfriend to get close to him and keep tabs on the deadly phenom known for his precision and coldness. This is despite her having a reputation for being inexperienced and not good at her job. So much so that the first volume begins with Omi calling out “Mi” for being an agent from an enemy faction watching him. However, he actually does love her, and she’s both fond of and attracted to him too. So, in order to help her “do her job,” he proposes a marriage of convenience. 

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Now that we’re all caught up, the first two volumes of the Assassin & Cinderella manga ended up being a relatively low-stakes josei story that focused on showing romantic and sexy moments. There wasn’t much major character development beyond showing the two leads being cute together. Omi utterly adores her and goes above and beyond. Neneko is taken with him and gets pulled along by his enthusiasm while working out her own feelings. It was fun, but it didn’t do as much to touch on the intrigue elements. Yes, there are references to them being an assassin and spy, but it wasn’t at the forefront.

What’s great about Assassin & Cinderella 3 is that this volume of the manga majorly gets into that. There’s a bit more of the idea of them being cute together on vacation. That leads to Omi suggesting the two run away together and live life as a real couple with a genuine marriage. However, Neneko brings up the organization again and how they were a family to an orphan like her, even though they probably don’t feel the same. And it’s from that point that I loved the direction of this entry, as we’re finally getting back to plot points that help establish why Omi is dedicated to her, wants to get her to safety, and how genuinely sinister the organization is. 

Especially since the lead-up to it is handled well. While the previous volumes were more romantic in nature, it did introduce Setsu. He’s an individual with a past with Omi who also works with him. He returns here, and it’s because of his influence that we learn more about Omi’s past with him, then Omi’s past with Neneko and her handler/boss/adoptive father Himuro. We learn that Omi was an orphan as well, and he was the type of person always willing to do what was necessary to ensure people who mattered to him could be safe and have a chance at happiness. In the case of Setsu, that meant running away so he could get a home. With Neneko, it’s the opposite and is more like running toward her to stay at her side. 

I won’t get into all the revelations, due to the major spoilers. But it establishes how Omi knew Neneko years ago. The two meeting when she was assigned to infiltrate his life was a second encounter. And that’s important due to how it’s affected the organization and both their lives. Moreover, it leads to a cliffhanger that suggests even more spying is being done on the two of them, and the group she works for and Himuro are willing to do whatever it takes to ruin Omi’s life (and hers by extension). It adds this thrilling element that really puts the espionage element on equal footing with the ongoing and growing love affair.

Up until the third volume of Assassin & Cinderella, the series felt all sweet and perhaps even overly affectionate, but now it feels like the manga course corrects. The reveal of critical background information regarding Omi and Neneko’s pasts help better establish who they are and what the organization she works for is really like. It also sets up a conflict that will make things more exciting and help drive the plot forward in a way that gives the reader reasons to root for the two of them escaping to find their own happiness and perhaps an ending that does result in them getting to be together.

Volumes 1-3 of Assassin & Cinderella are available now, and Square Enix will release volume 4 of the josei manga on October 6, 2026. 

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