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EP. REVIEW: Nina the Starry Bride


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zfunk



Joined: 05 Nov 2016
Posts: 306
PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2024 4:57 pm Reply with quote
So I haven't read ahead in the manga or anything, so I don't know what happens. But I am pretty sure the real princess Alicia is alive. We don't see a corpse, so I assume she is alive.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 13825
PostPosted: Mon Oct 14, 2024 7:44 pm Reply with quote
I've been really enjoying the manga so I'm glad the anime is so far pretty solid. The animation isn't stellar, but serviceable enough and I like the colors.

The voice cast is also on-point even if Yuichiro Umehara voicing a dark-haired pretty boy in a Shojo fantasy show (or just plain Shojo) is super expected.

Nina is such an endearing Heroine. A tomboy who speaks her mind but just wants to be needed and appreciated, and is caring and fun all the while dealing with her personal emotional baggage.

They had Nao Toyama do the ED and Muhulum so I wonder if Maaya Sakamoto spoiler[will voice the Galgada king?]

Also I love how spoiler[the ED basically spoils the plot of the entire season as the "Story of Nina."]
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ab2143



Joined: 09 Jan 2021
Posts: 756
PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2024 5:28 am Reply with quote
The Review wrote:
The manga's beautiful art may not have made the transition to anime as smoothly as I hoped

Yeah, I think Az looks better in the manga... At least Nina looks great!

Pacing is quite fast. I don't think we'll be seeing spoiler[Sol] in this season? They weren't shown in the opening? Unless I missed it
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BlueFoot



Joined: 18 Jan 2024
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2024 10:13 am Reply with quote
zfunk wrote:
So I haven't read ahead in the manga or anything, so I don't know what happens. But I am pretty sure the real princess Alicia is alive. We don't see a corpse, so I assume she is alive.

The thing that bugs me is how nobody in the know seems to be affected at all by her death. I get that they're trying to hide it, but they're all like "Oops, I dropped the cake I was baking for the party on the floor, I guess I'll have to buy one at the store and pretend I made it." At this point, I can't tell if there's a plot reason for this or if it's a weakness in the storytelling and/or adaptation.
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q_3



Joined: 02 Sep 2015
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Tue Oct 15, 2024 1:24 pm Reply with quote
BlueFoot wrote:
The thing that bugs me is how nobody in the know seems to be affected at all by her death. I get that they're trying to hide it, but they're all like "Oops, I dropped the cake I was baking for the party on the floor, I guess I'll have to buy one at the store and pretend I made it." At this point, I can't tell if there's a plot reason for this or if it's a weakness in the storytelling and/or adaptation.


The only people in the know (from what we've seen) are Azure and various attendants, all of whom are just trying to survive in a dangerous environment, and none of whom seem to have had any reason to be emotionally attached to Alisha. It's also a society that places much lower value on life, whether by not caring when peasants die or by treating a princess as little more than a diplomatic bargaining chip.
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Saeryen



Joined: 26 Aug 2020
Posts: 988
PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 10:42 am Reply with quote
zfunk wrote:
So I haven't read ahead in the manga or anything, so I don't know what happens. But I am pretty sure the real princess Alicia is alive. We don't see a corpse, so I assume she is alive.

As someone who has yet to read the manga I also suspect this (but don't spoil it, please). Either that or Nina is somehow the real princess, which I thought of when it was revealed in Episode 2 that spoiler[Azure isn't the real second prince].

I'm loving this so far. So pretty and emotional, and I love Nina and Azure's relationship already.
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Thesarum
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Joined: 25 Mar 2022
Posts: 523
PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 11:41 am Reply with quote
Saeryen wrote:
zfunk wrote:
So I haven't read ahead in the manga or anything, so I don't know what happens. But I am pretty sure the real princess Alicia is alive. We don't see a corpse, so I assume she is alive.

As someone who has yet to read the manga I also suspect this (but don't spoil it, please). Either that or Nina is somehow the real princess, which I thought of when it was revealed in Episode 2 that spoiler[Azure isn't the real second prince].

I'm loving this so far. So pretty and emotional, and I love Nina and Azure's relationship already.


Adoption seems to be freely practiced and poorly regulated, so I'll place a bet on her being Alicia's sibling. Possibly smuggled out of the palace for reasons as a baby. I'm not sure the timelines work for them to be the same... It's implied at least that Nina has been living in the slums for a while, and Alicia's carriage accident is very recent.
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Saeryen



Joined: 26 Aug 2020
Posts: 988
PostPosted: Wed Oct 16, 2024 12:12 pm Reply with quote
Thesarum wrote:
Adoption seems to be freely practiced and poorly regulated, so I'll place a bet on her being Alicia's sibling. Possibly smuggled out of the palace for reasons as a baby. I'm not sure the timelines work for them to be the same... It's implied at least that Nina has been living in the slums for a while, and Alicia's carriage accident is very recent.

I meant that the princess who died(?) in the carriage accident wasn't the real one, and Nina was swapped out for her. Though it's likely she's a sibling too.
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ab2143



Joined: 09 Jan 2021
Posts: 756
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2024 10:10 am Reply with quote
Manga already has a fast pace but the anime’s pacing feels even faster? Think they’ve been adapting two chapters per episode.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 13825
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2024 11:52 am Reply with quote
Two orphans adopted and posing as royalty, both fated to live an die in the service of a nation, and consigned to never having a reason to truly live...well, at least in Azure's case, but Nina has enough motivation for them to keep living for the both of them. Maybe it was fate they would find each other and fall in love.

The former king really seems to see Azure as a true son, and appreciate what Nina brings out of him.

Nina has got be the most relaxed and chipper I've ever seen a girl stuck in a dungeon (well, when she wasn't looking for an excuse to sleep). She even spruced the place up!

I was always surprised how quickly we got to Nina and Azure falling for each other/kissing even in the manga but the kiss in animation and Nina on cloud 9 over it is just as great.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2654
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2024 12:55 pm Reply with quote
ab2143 wrote:
Manga already has a fast pace but the anime’s pacing feels even faster? Think they’ve been adapting two chapters per episode.


I have to check, but I think you're right. My theory is that they're trying to get to spoiler[Galgada so they can play up the love triangle] as quickly as possible.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11595
PostPosted: Wed Oct 23, 2024 4:01 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
they've been playing the substitution game with their offspring for some time now ... did they start with Az, or is Nina just the latest in a long line of false royals?

How funny would it be if they'd been doing this for so long that nobody in the royal house has any relation to the original bloodline anymore? Laughing

I thought her cleaning her cell was just an indication that it was no worse a place than what she'd been living in before, so no reason to be depressed about it. Why not make it livable for however long she'd be there. It at least gave her something to do while waiting.
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minamikaze



Joined: 20 Jan 2008
Posts: 253
PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2024 3:13 pm Reply with quote
reviewer wrote:
Neither she nor Azure wants for her to go off and marry another man – and if that fellow who just murdered one of the three women he was in bed with is the prince she's meant to be marrying, that goes double

The dead woman seemed to be holding a dagger in her hand, so his killing her would seem to be self defense instead of murder (although whether or not he actually needed to shoot to kill to defend himself was unclear).
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q_3



Joined: 02 Sep 2015
Posts: 166
PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2024 3:34 pm Reply with quote
The reversals with both the king and queen were interesting. The queen in particular went from being a hackneyed cliche to an intriguingly ambiguous character - I'd be down for learning more of her story, past or future.

As a non-source-reader I do feel the series speeding through things, but it does seem to slow down enough for the big moments to work.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 13825
PostPosted: Mon Oct 28, 2024 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Nina and Azure being so adorably in love is precious. If only they weren't caught up in a drama.

I remember reading the manga and being so shaken up by how terrible the king is. Guy casually kills his own son (even if he didn't intend to do it, he still did it), gets a replacement for optics, and then proceeds to try to kill said replacement son just for being competent. He's an awful father and king.

But here's where we really see Nina's resolve and how much she's grown on full display as she plays "Alisha" the best she's ever played it and manages to out-maneuver the king.

Nina's heart belongs to Azure, but for his sake she'll lie to the Gods and sweat it to another to protect him and Fortna. But at least she got one day where they got to be lovers.

Sett's introduction is as effective as it was in the manga! And what an intro it is. I hope Nina survives the experience!
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