Nina the Starry Bride

Nina the Starry Bride (星降る王国のニナ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rikachi. The series began serialization in Be Love in October 2019. As of April 2024, the series has been collected into thirteen tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by Signal.MD is set to premiere in October 2024.

In 2022, Nina the Starry Bride won the 46th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōjo category.

Premise
Nina is an orphan living in the fantasy land of Fortuna. Discovered by Prince Azure, her unusual blue eyes bears a similarity to the deceased Princess Alisha, who was due to be married off to a powerful neighboring country. Thus, Prince Azure hatches a plot to have Nina take Princess Alisha's place, but the two become drawn to each other.

Characters

 * Nina (ニナ)


 * Azure (アズール)


 * Sett (セト)

Manga
Written and illustrated by Rikachi, the series began serialization in Be Love on October 1, 2019. As of April 2024, the series' individual chapters have been collected into thirteen tankōbon volumes.

In February 2021, Kodansha USA announced that they licensed the series for English publication. During their panel at Anime NYC 2022, Kodansha USA announced a print release for Fall 2023.

Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on November 30, 2023. It will be produced by Signal.MD and directed by Kenichiro Komaya, with scripts written by Yuka Yamada, character designed by Kyoko Taketani, and music composed by Natsumi Tabuchi. The series is set to premiere in October 2024. Crunchyroll licensed the series.

Reception
Nina the Starry Bride won the 46th Kodansha Manga Award in the shōjo category in 2022. Yuka Shiraishi from Real Sound (website) listed the series as the sixth Best Manga in 2021.

Brianna Fox-Priest from Otaku USA praised character designs and story, and stated "There are more thrilling romance manga out, but this one has room to grow. Judging by the covers of future installments, Nina The Starry Bride has more story to unfold". As part of Anime News Network's spring 2021 manga guide, Rebecca Silverman and Lynzee Loveridge reviewed the series for the website. Silverman praised the main protagonist, artwork, story, and stated "It is worth reading. The art is clean and shows some beautiful use of detail especially in the clothes, there is just enough intrigue to keep things moving". Loveridge had similar opinions about the series.