Thoughts after update...

haha i like both semes! hopefully wakatabe gets a spinoff with someone spunky, he needs some fun in his life

Here's to hoping for that spinoff. ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶

Not agreeing with you there because the Fairy Godmother never made sexual advances towards Cinderella and Azuma was pretty mean to Ao so he is the wicked step-mom or one of the wicked step-sisters.

i think he'd be another character: the dark prince. the rest don't make sense lol

Wicked step-mom or sister, because after Cinderella gets with the prince their attitude changes towards her and I could possibly see them trying to get her attention now that she is successful and has changed. Just like how Ao in the past was rejected by Azuma and only after he was kissed by Wakatabe and was shown interest in by him, did Azuma start liking and taking an interest in Ao.

Not the point. If you want to be ultra-technical then Cinderella is a female not male therefore Ao cannot be Cinderella. I am going to further note that the Fairy Godmother character was female too so you saying Wakatabe is her is an unlikely theory too if you are going on that.
Btw. I just wrote in my previous response why everything I have said so far actually makes sense, but if you still think differently then you are entitled to your opinion just as I am to mine.

girlll i don't have a problem with you having your own opinion but that is a hella salty pov lol

Well not entirely true, the prince did originally see her at the ball, but when he visits her house and meets her again she is dressed normally in the ragged clothing her step-mom gives her. Just So just like that, we see Wakatabe sees Ao when he is an actor and also when he is having problems with his relationship with Azuma.

If we go with your theory of Ao being the prince and Azuma being Cinderella? Then where do we see the mistreatment of Azuma? So far Azuma has always been successful and well loved by everyone in the past and also presently by everyone except Ao (when they first meet again) and his brother Wakatabe, who seems a bit jealous yet supportive now.

Not really salty as it's based on the original Cinderella stories

The prince didn't see Cinderella in her ragged clothes, he only saw her AFTER her met her. AFTER she made herself visible by shining.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella

Here is a link to the origins of Cinderella.

In the Disney version which is the most popular one, is what a lot of people I think of when anyone mentions Cinderella. But the versions almost all kind of support my theory.

Yes so true. In the Disney version, he never sees her in rags, just as Wakatabe only met Ao when he became an actor. Whilst Azuma knew Ao in the past and his present actor self.

Not true. It's never explained in a lot of folktales why the step-mom is mean to Cinderella, some even say she is evil because she is evil her true motives are never explicitly stated. I do agree Ao is Cinderella but Azuma is the step-mom or step-sister because according to you that is who Cinderella always wanted. She never met the prince before the ball just as how Ao never met Wakatabe until he became an actor, whilst she knew the step-mom and step-sister before her transformation into a beauty and after. Just as Azuma knew Ao before he became an actor and after.

Azuma was pretty mean to him it's a fact, he insulted him and outright told him his acting sucked, he went as far as to criticize his looks, personality etc. and all that in the first chapter. He rejected Ao's love confession in the past which traumatized Ao, which should tell you that Azuma rejected him harshly enough to emotionally scar him. Azuma only picked Ao for his drama because he was forced to by Ao's agency, he only gave Ao acting lessons/tips because of Wakatabe (and let's face the fact that he only cared about the success of his work not any good deed towards Ao at the beginning). All this does not at all say prince charming but wicked step-mother or step-sister. Cinderella never meets the prince before the ball please get your facts straight, especially in the Disney version.

I agree, I think we can just leave this discussion behind, it's pretty clear who OP likes and dislikes

Yes, he does have the right to reject a love confession, but the manner in which he did says a lot about Azuma as a person. Also, yes to say outright that someone sucks and that you don't care about them but your own career is being mean and it's unprofessional how he handled the situation. Plus for someone, he was forced to put up with he sexually harassed him and afterward acted like Ao was nothing.

He never gives Ao the acting part in his drama out of any good intentions but was forced to give him the part and he says so too, which is quite insulting for any person to tell a popular actor that he sucks and (without bluntly saying it) that he is an outright failure in his career. When someone is purposefully mean it does make them a bad person, like how a lot of readers think Alex from BJ Alex is a bad guy and a jerk yet he also like Azuma was totally honest and blunt with their opinions of their respective partners. It's the same principle.

A mean person who never apologizes and is unrepentant is no prince charming. Ao improved because Wakatabe asked Azuma to teach Ao, not because Azuma wanted to do Ao a favor or even liked him then. We can go over and over this but I feel like i'm repeating myself since you don't understand what i'm trying to convey here.

Not true, Azuma was mean to Ao and unassessable so. The prince in every version of the story always falls for Cinderella at their first meeting, whilst the step-sister would (in some versions) eventually come to like Cinderella when it's revealed she was the one beauty at the ball, which further prooves Azuma is not the prince. If you think telling a person they suck and are horrible at something they probably spent years studying for/towards then that is being mean. Azuma never gives Ao honest feedback just rude criticism, he does not help Ao out of any good intentions, and the end does not at all justify the means.

Yes, the prince does land Cinderella into a good position, the only reason Ao even got this job was because of Wakatabe not Azuma. Azuma never chose Ao as an actor for the job he was forced into hiring him by Ao's agency because he wanted Wakatabe.

Azuma is the step-mom/ step-sister, in another version of Cinderella the step-sisters are just as much victims as Cinderella. Yes, it's not a Disney movie, i'm not blind to not see the yaoi tag. And Azuma was rude to Ao there are a number of instances in the manga where is blatantly ignored and belittled Ao, and you can give creative criticism without being rude. The prince character in a lot of the versions helps and protects Cinderella, Azuma has never protected nor of his own vocation helped Ao to benefit only him nor without being coerced by Wakatabe.

In the latest chapter, it is Azuma making Ao sad and even breaking their relationship without thinking first of what Ao feels, whilst Wakatabe is supportive and kind to Ao. Wakatabe is no villain he could have easily sexually harassed Ao given the situation like so many love-rivals in yaoi but instead opted to show Ao that he has other options at love besides Azuma and he even goes as far as to give advice, tell Ao the truth that Azuma hid about his relationship with the actress and he tries to get Azuma and Ao's relationship back on track. Now that is a prince charming character type, not Azuma who is selfish and self-centered.

False, Azuma shares more similarities with the step-sister character than the prince character. Have you even been reading my replies?! Because if you have you would have already have grasped this concept by now. And no the step-sister in a lot of the version of the tale was just as much or even more of a victim then Cinderella. And I never said Azuma wants more from Ao but is hiding it, seriously are you understanding what I am writing because it does not seem that you are? Yes, rude or cold people are most often the villains in classic literature. I never said he does not have the right to break their relationship, but having the right to do something and having the common courtesy to think about the consequences before you act is another thing. Everyone has the right to do things like people have the right to write whatever they want in the comment section here but should they if it's not relevant to the manga/ webtoon? Is spam ok if it's not against the rules? No, because most people have courtesy and are not rude they word their comments to express their views without trying hurting people.

First of all, don't pick on my grammar you are not exactly Oxford dictionary material yourself and yes I do read your replies that pretty much say the same thing regardless of all the evidence I provide for you.

Secondly, I have never said a thing that I did not provide a basis for so I cant be making up whatever I have said and most of it is facts that you yourself can verify given the links and information I reference. If you say my theory is incorrect then your theory and your replies are mostly based on your opinion and do not have proper facts that you make reference to back them up. So if you are going to pick on my opinions, look at your own first.

Thirdly, it seems you are too close-minded and stuck on your own opinion that you do not want to hear what I have to say and, picking on my opinion saying that it's illogical is just you further proving to me that you don't want to listen to what I have to say, even when it's to illustrate the points of my opinion. You seem only to want to prove that your opinion is right and that I am wrong.

They both look like princes, and just so you know sensei also drew these:

http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/cinderella_plot/mf/m_v-3-chapter-11/pg-2/
http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/cinderella_plot/mf/m_v-3-chapter-11/pg-3/

(they both are princes)

Just so you know in some of the versions of the tale, the prince is not even the one to put the glass slipper on Cinderella, but his aide or Cinderella herself. And in the Disney version and a screenplay, the step-sisters get the aide of the prince to help them try on the slipper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeW_mJ2mk9Y

https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html

Link to the Gimm brothers version which proves that in this version the step-sisters were victims and tried to get into Cinderella's good graces afterward.

And yes cold, rude are some characteristics of a villain, eg; Iago from Othello, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, Hannibal from Silence of the Lambs etc. All of them are cold calculating classic literature villains who are sometimes rude as well.