Nina the Starry Bride

Episode 9

You can love someone without being in love with them. It feels obvious to say that there are many different forms of love – familial, platonic, romantic, etc. – but I don't think it's something that too many people think about on a regular basis. And for someone like Nina, the distinctions are even less likely to have taken up much space in her emotional lexicon. The people she's loved, as far as we know, have been her parents (dead), her adoptive brothers (one dead, the other sold her), Muhulum (much younger), and Azure, with Neena and Meva (pets) possibly rounding things out. The only person on that list who doesn't come with a caveat is Azure, and even then, she thinks she has to demonstrate her love by staying away from him and marrying someone else. This week she's really starting to understand that she has feelings for Sett as well, but I don't think she fully understands how that's different from the love she feels for Azure. Simply put, Nina hasn't ever had to make those distinctions before.

It's fairly obvious to us, however, that there's a significant difference between what she feels for Sett and what she feels for Azure. While Nina is willing to allow Sett physical liberties and does feel fairly comfortable with him, her emotions where Azure are concerned are much more desperate. Upon noticing that he's with the messengers from Fortna, Nina throws caution to the wind, willing to mow down even her own desire to keep Fortna safe by allying with Galgada if it means that she can hear his voice or meet his eyes. She's not stupid; a piece of her knows that the best way she can help Fortna is by avoiding Az and sticking to Sett. But she can't bring herself to follow that advice. Being with Az isn't something she can resist.

She's almost certainly not alone in that desperation. A very nervous little Muhulum back in Fortna recalls that he heard his father tell Azure that he will reign as king for a year before dying, a statement that could indicate that Azure has made a very desperate bargain to return Nina to his side. Would the king have Az killed? Or is he assuming that, with Alisha brought back to Fortna, Galgada would shift into all-out war and that Azure would die on the field of battle? We don't know, and Muhulum may not even have heard the entire conversation. But from where we're sitting right now, it doesn't sound all that good, and that's concerning. Of course, the series opened with Azure (?) telling Nina that she needed to die, so it's possible that “Azure” and “Alisha” would be presumed dead while Nina and Az are free to live their lives. Given that we haven't seen Alisha's body and that Nina survived an eerily similar carriage accident mere episodes ago, I'm holding onto that hope.

But all of this reckons without Sett. Nina may be unsure of her own feelings about the Galgadan prince, but it's fairly clear that he's rapidly developing them for her. Even his very sketchy brothers have noticed his attachment, and given Sett's difficult past, I can't think he'd just allow the woman he's come to care for to leave him – at least, not without retribution. The way he casually, but pointedly, threatens Azure this week indicates that he's unwilling to allow Nina's focus to land on any other man, and with a tournament coming up which Sett is widely assumed to be participating in, there's a less-than-zero chance that he'll find a reason to point his sword at the “mercenary” Nina's too interested in again. To say that things are tense might be an understatement.

With all of that emotional story going on, it's a shame that this week's episode started out looking decidedly off. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something not quite right about Nina's face, and though it does work itself through – parts of the end of the episode are beautiful – it's a bit awkward looking for the first ten-odd minutes. But then, this is the series where we have to be told that Yor's attendants are gorgeous rather than being able to see it for ourselves (honestly, they look just like all the other background guys in the show), so this is one we're meant to be in for the story rather than the visuals. And although that's moving pretty rapidly through the source material, it's still managing to be a good watch every week.

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Nina the Starry Bride is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.