Nina the Starry Bride

Episode 5

If shoujo anime of the last few years has taught us anything, it might be not to trust men named Sett. It's no coincidence that that's the case – in Ancient Egyptian mythology, the god Set (or Seth) is responsible for killing his brother Osiris, among other things. While we don't yet know how this Sett treats his family members, we do know that he's not one for second chances; that woman he killed at the end of episode four was a princess from one of Galgada's vassal nations, and he murdered her before she could do the same to him. While “blame” is perhaps an odd word to throw around here (because, after all, Princess Eliza was intent on killing Sett), it still speaks of him as someone who shoots first and asks questions later.

The fact that she was in bed with him (and two other princesses from vassal states) also doesn't say anything good about Sett. As we saw this week, he's more than willing to see how far he can get with a bride-to-be, as he demonstrated when he threw Nina on the bed. He didn't actually do anything sexual to her because she fought back, but she's also substantially less terrified of Sett than the other princesses. It's not a large leap to think that none of those women wanted to have sex with Sett, and even if he didn't coerce them overtly, they still saw a threat as implicit in his actions: sleep with him or die. Eliza's act was one of pure desperation, an attempt to free herself and the other women in a moment when she hoped Sett would be uniquely vulnerable.

All of that makes Azure look like the better choice, although it may be worth remembering that he bought Nina and is still, to a degree, trying to run her life. It's hard not to understand why – seriously, who would want to send someone they love to be married to an enemy? But right now Nina also looks like she's easily worth ten of either of them. Just look at how she's taken charge of her own future across the past two episodes. To save Az from his horrible sort-of father, she took the initiative to move up the timeline of her trip to Galgada, and she's fully willing to go through with the marriage to a man she knows is at least half-garbage to save both Azure and Fortna. She then stood her ground in the face of Sett's attacks, one of which drew blood, and still had the presence of mind to use his own barely-considered words against him. The mark of her bloody handprint over his heart may well be symbolic of the indelible impression she's determined to make on him to fulfill her goals.

This also makes Nina look a whole lot more politically savvy than Sett. We still don't know much about his situation in Galgada other than that he's got a violent reputation and is presumably the crown prince, but his actions still seem at least a little bit foolish. Again, Eliza was the princess of another country; killing her is bound to have repercussions, and in some cases could be enough to spark a rebellion. Nina is, as far as Sett knows, Alisha, the Princess-Priestess of a nation Galgada is not yet at war with. Defiling or killing her would seem to be an astoundingly poor plan, even if the two countries don't share a religion. While all of this could just be a sign of him not caring, it still ought to make us wonder what's going on with Galgada in general and Sett in particular. Only one thing's for sure – the prickly prince may have just met his match in Nina.

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Nina the Starry Bride is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.