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Nina the Starry Bride
Episode 11

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 11 of
Nina the Starry Bride ?
Community score: 4.1

nina-11

I'll be honest with you: I'm not sure how this series is going to pull off anything remotely resembling an ending next week. Not that there have been any really good stopping points in the source material before now, but if this ends where I suspect it's going to, we're in for a very unsatisfactory conclusion. There are ways around that, of course, and I hope we get one of them because otherwise, this is going to be a “read the manga, kids!” finale. While it is available in English, so much has been glossed over that anime viewers will need to start with volume one rather than picking up at volume seven or eight, where this adaptation seems likely to leave off.

But that's really a frustration for next week. This episode sets the stage for the battle between Fortna and Galgada to be carried out in miniature, with Azure representing Fortna, Noa as Galgada, and Nina in between them. I say “Noa” rather than “Sett” because when Nina flat-out asks him not to start a war with her homeland, he agrees. Along with being a wonderful illustration of how much he's changed since we first met him – he now feels he has options rather than just blindly following orders – it also positions him not as Galgada, but as Galgada's Sword. Noa plans to use Sett to win the war, and Sett refusing to fight for her could be the biggest stumbling block she encounters. Not that it would last for long; Noa seems quite resourceful. But it might be enough to give Fortna a head start.

Then again, Noa has some pretty significant blind spots. Last week, she dismissed Bidoh as essentially too frivolous to be king, and this week, made it look like she'd fallen for his scheme. Bidoh may enjoy the company of ladies, and he may look like he doesn't have a care in the world, but he's the only one who really notices the relationship between Nina and Azure. Az's disguise blinded everyone else, but Bidoh immediately realized that there was something more between them, and his setting the two up to go for a walk in town together may have been his way to stymie Noa's plans for an invasion or at least not to allow the king to use Princess Alisha as her pawn. Bidoh seems to be someone who pays attention to the small details, like the look that briefly crossed Azure's face when he heard Sett address Alisha as “Nina.” If anyone else saw it, they clearly didn't think much of it; Bidoh knew exactly what it must mean.

It's interesting because Nina herself seems to have worked hard to believe that marrying Sett is the only answer to the problems before her. Wanting her decisions to be respected is certainly important, and Azure is making a lot of assumptions when they talk. (Plus, Nina clearly does still love him.) But he's ignoring the complications that may have arisen during her time in Galgada, complications mostly named “Sett.” Nina, I believe, sees Sett in the same light as Neena and Meva, but that doesn't make it any easier to abandon him, even if she's starting to realize that Noa has zero plans of keeping her armies away from Fortna. She's conflicted in her heart, and it would take something drastic to make her face things in a different light.

Does that mean we should thank Toat and Hikami for their actions at the end of the episode? I doubt it; Toat plainly meant to poison Nina, not Sett, and Hikami is just taking advantage of that poison. Either way, it looks like King Noa was right about at least one thing: Toat is absolutely incapable of being Galgada's ruler.

Rating:

Nina the Starry Bride is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.


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