Nina the Starry Bride – Episode 1

Content Warning: Slavery, Nudity

What’s it about? Nina never imagined that she’d be at the center of royal drama given her life as an orphan. Yet when Prince Azure notices that her eyes bear a striking resemblance to the late Princess, he gives a royal degree that changes her life forever…

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Nina the Starry Bride is one of our josei offerings this season, and it’s a cute one at that. It’s also a series that I’m not really familiar with outside of seeing beautiful Twitter screenshots of the manga, which are always enticing.

This is also one of my favorite types of stories: regular people getting involved with the nobility unexpectedly. As someone who glutted themself on a diet of red-haired female knights; girls who could talk to animals; quintets of magical, pixie winged humans having to navigate interdimensional politics and also the elements; and fairies with sass who are all princess, I’m always hungry for stories that plunge fish out of water leads into the lives of the rich and the elite while also finding them incredibly different, and at times, outright strange.

Thus begins my watch of Nina the Starry Bride, a show that takes a girl from literal rags to complicated riches. Is it worth watching this season? You already know what I’m gonna say: read on and let’s get into it!

Episode 1, “The Origin of Sin,” begins with the titular Nina bound and captured. Is this the end of her story or the start? It seems we’ll be left to find out once the dreamy theme song finishes.

Post-opening, we see Nina as she exists outside the royal gaze involved in this story: she’s a thief and an orphan clad in rags. It’s a “gotta steal to eat, gotta eat to live” kind of world where plague has decimated the lower ranks of society, leaving Nina and her friends to steal to find a way to avoid the slavers. While her days aren’t great, there’s still laughter: that is, until things take a turn and the brutality of poverty takes Nina’s friend Colin from her. Traumatized and at wit’s end, Nina takes to the streets again, only to be beaten and left to crawl around the muck and the mire.

What Nina doesn’t know is that elsewhere, the Princess of the kingdom has died not long before her marriage to a foreign prince. It’s decided her death will remain secret, and a stand-in will be found to keep the nation calmed. And Nina, in her old life, won’t be missed.

For Nina, life changes quite quickly once she dies and is revived as Princess Alisha. It’s a risky life, given the subterfuge, but Nina has little choice: she must set her mind to learning how to be a prim and proper princess ahead of a royal marriage to secure the prosperity of the nation of Fortna’s future.

Once more we have a Day 1 dub, which is fantastic and adds to the atmosphere of this josei fantasy, though I’ll admit that some of the dub direction is a bit stiff (I’m looking at you, King). Nina is charming, if not a bit shrill in her voice acting, as is Princess Azure, her teacher in manners and all things noble. Their dynamic isn’t necessarily anything new, but it’s enjoyable in a way similar to Maomao and Jinshi of The Apothecary Diaries. Nina is also incredibly realistic: she’s a girl thrust from poverty to would-be slavery to living the life of a Princess. 

Of course, it’s all underpinned by the fact that if anyone finds out she’s not the real princess, she’ll most definitely die, but…that doesn’t necessarily feel like the biggest deal as the story is weighted. What feels bigger is Nina developing as a person, as someone who craves connection and love. Already, I see the foundation for her to grow to be someone who is necessary as more than a duplicate princess.

In fact, I like the overall foundation being established: Nina’s secret is limited to a sparse group of people, most of whom would lose their heads if the truth of the late Princess’s very untimely demise came out. I like the clothing and the visible texture of the world as well. I like that this isn’t just straight up outright fantasy Europe, but a melange of different clothing styles that give Nina’s world its own flavor. I’m not thrilled that that flavor includes slavery, but it seems that’s a very minor part of the overall story, thank goodness. Glad to know we can move on to a more robust narrative that hopefully will have more humanity in it.

I sense, in many ways, that this will be the series that tides me over while I await more My Happy Marriage. It’s got all the trappings of a heartfelt fantasy, inclusive of its cruel, rags to riches start. There’s something solid here, even though Nina’s story is just unfolding. As a fan of writers like Kristin Cashore and Tamora Pierce and young women who are coming into their own skills and abilities (Shout-out to girls like Kasta, Kel, Fire, and Sandry!) I’m always going to be deeply invested in a story about a young woman thrust into importance. They’re just so often really satisfying stories to me.

That said, for as much praise as I have, don’t anticipate starry animation: it’s purely just okay, and feels rushed. No clue if that’s because this dub and series debuted earlier than anticipated or what (the “or what” might also be down to production house Signal.MD). My hope is that this will get remedied with a more steady schedule. Still, this did the trick and even got me interested in the manga as well. Good thing it’s got an official translation for me to gobble up!

I’ll definitely be continuing with this series with hopes that the dub and some of the animation issues smooth out. And ultimately, I’m really happy with what I watched, flaws included. Overall, I’m eager to see more of Nina the Starry Bride. I think this is going to be a fantastic story.

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