Hoshifuru Oukoku no Nina Episode 3 Discussion

What did you think of this episode?

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Oct 21, 6:58 AM

IzanaSolos

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Dec 2021

2872

Welp, ofc it would all lead to the inevitable of Nina falling for Azure... ofc lmao.

And with the falling for him, she would obviously go seek out some help to protect him from the Queen and all she's trying to do, but ofc it would lead to her being caught a fraud... sigh.

Oct 21, 8:10 AM

Magicmist

Offline

May 2015

2082

Nina has such an endearing personality; it got her out of an assassination attempt without her even being aware! Even the former king wasn't expecting her to be such a character, and he's the one who ingrained said harsh mindset into Az!

Also a third episode kiss is a nice surprise!

Oct 21, 8:19 AM

phantomfandom

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Sep 2015

6589

It's just a matter of time until the anime reveals that the whole royal family are imposters.

Oct 21, 10:29 AM

Vanytas

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Feb 2022

131

I like the anime…I in general love series like this…it’s a bit predictable tho and boring at times I think if u don’t like the topic in general then there is better stuff out there…it has a nice vibe to it and the animation is pretty colorful too so I’ll be watching it until the end…hoping for some twists tho lol

Oct 21, 10:49 AM

Marinate1016

Online

Feb 2019

9387

WAIT THE THIRD EPISODE AND WE GOT A KISS? OH MY GOD. PEAK JOSEI.

Whereas it’s been Azure defending Nina in the first two eps, today it was all about Nina trying to keep Azure safe from the plots against his life. It was hard to watch Azure be so indoctrinated into this belief that the stars determine your fate and that he should just let himself be killed, fuck that. You dragged Nina out of those slums and had her take on this role, now you gotta stay here and be with her lol.

Meeting the old king was cool, he picked the wrong person to throw in prison tho. Nina from the slums she ain’t worried about no royal prison lmao. His health condition is interesting tho, I wonder if the poison was an attempt on his life or if that’s a euphemism for an actual disease like cancer.

If the queen doesn’t know that Azure was replaced it makes her hating him that much more weird. I could see if she didn’t trust him because he wasn’t the king’s blood, but what’s the excuse now? Just wanting her son on the throne?

“My life was empty I wanted nothing..” AHHHHH the ending is so damn good. Did not expect things to move this quickly with them and I love it. That was no dream 😂 can’t wait for next ep.

Marinate1016Oct 21, 11:24 AM

Oct 21, 10:50 AM

Aristeros

Offline

Jul 2015

Reply to Magicmist

Magicmist said:
Also a third episode kiss is a nice surprise!

What are you talking about, that was clearly a dream!

Oct 21, 11:05 AM

LordCrueltyV

Offline

Jul 2024

343

Kisu!!!

Well, to complete their romance, they will have to find a way escape imposterdum without being executed. While taking one form of taget off their backs, it will add others.

Lord Cruelty V
"But my Dreams they're not as empty, as my conscience seems to be"

Oct 21, 11:40 AM

KursedArcana

Offline

Nov 2017

379

Were doing chapters 5 and 6 today.

The oppening scene is actually done well! They finally decided to animate some Azure's facial expressions to a degree aee they good representarion of the ones from the manga? No not even close and its perplexing. Whem animating an introvert like Azure facial expressions are important represemtation of the characters thoughts and feelings. I don't know whose idea it was to leave him expressionless for 2 episodes but what a bad call. It completely undermines their dynamic and how they were subtlety growing closer until now. And now that they finally slapped some animation on his face theyre still half assed but better then what we got before. The one where he's blushing and covering her face after saying her name is actially close enough to the manga where I'm satisfied and one of in this scene also is pretty good. please do better. Studio proved they have it in them to at least try to capture his character Azure needs his moments to shine before we meet the second male lead (the fiance) and the plot starts going. Honestly though, at this point I'll be annoyed if the director is just a Sett fan and that's why Azure's getting the short blend of the stick. Either course correct now or be lazy with it for Sett too.

They did however skip a lot of Nina's thoughts and her conclusion on what happened the other day. Which I imagine will lead to some anime onlies not getting her character as well as mamga readers. Which is a problem for Azure as well, but at least they acrually animate ninas expressions consistently. Nothing too important was skipped but it helps explain her logic this episode

I'm assuming it's a dub script issue cause the effort put into this by crunchyroll seems as minimal as possible (they definitely only did this as a same day release because they could get it early and don't care about it, not because they view it as something to put effort into like say rezero) but Azure is suppose to say she has the ears of a bat, not cat
Also too further hammer home how lazy this anime adaptation is. They only showed the back of Azure's head so they didn't have to animate his facial expression

So they skipped Azure laughing at her excitement to go riding but they at least had him smile so ill take it.
Skipped a brief joke about Nina's horse being too small for Dytus. Didn't do a good job of showing his own concern for her when he told her not to make the ladies in waiting worry about her. The series puts a lot of focus on the eyes of our 3 main characters and the anime needs to step up it's game there.

Animation error with Azures hair at the 655ish mark. Have Azure a decent surprise face but completely neglected his matter of fact deadpan face when he replied "then that's the end" over his potential death. Come on, there was literally a delay to his response at getting hacked by the bracelet. And her running a way was done as her running in place without any attempt to make it look like she was covering any ground at all. But I'll give them credit for actually having his eyes look surprised when he realized what he got hit with.

Any dub wise the king still sounds like a robot. I give up. They aren't even trying with him and at this point it's too late anyway to portray his character accurately in the dub. Oh lord. The old king also ihas a spotty performance in dub. Part of that might be the pacing, but his " i knew it, you are not alisha" was so bad it's hurt me despite how this scene is actually being done justice animation and plot wise. The rest of his work is actually good though so i don't know why they went with that take. Have we gone back to the days of the old Sailor moon dub where they just do one take lol?

Now we're on chapter 6 and Alisha is having her snow white moments in the dungeon lol. But they skipped my favorite part of her Disney princess moment. Her conversing with the rats and apologizing that she doesn't have food to share lol

They didnt animate the kings smile at her saying family. Despite its significance to him and his logic with his advice. While not as captivating as his manga expression they actually showed Azure's desperation when he walked into Nina's audience with the former king. 100 points for doing the bare minimum of acceptability finally. And then they go back to not bothering as he tells her to stay silent. Lord help me, I'm getting whiplash. Just when I think they finally are going to try and do an important scene justice they go back to low effort. Skip his surprise at the kings words and then they give him his smile... DO BETTER like come on, he's actually quite expressive whenever it comes to our girl, do it right.

He's so expressive in this scene and the anime is fumbling hard. I'll share the pages for this and some other moments on my Tumblr later. if someone wants to see it's linked on my profile. They really are at least doing a better job with Azure now but it's still ridiculous how they skip so many of his facial expressions to the point he's less expressive then the manga. There should be more layers to his portrayal in anime form with the presence of animation and voice acting and yet he feels like half the character he's supposed to be. I went into this series thinking set would be my fave but no Azure's character captured my interest right away and I don't see a lot of alien onlies being as drawn in to this series as I was.

Now one of my favorite scenes. Azures confession and kiss.
Amd already disappointed by them not animating his annoyed face but a solid start so far. We have that sweet foreshadowing in the backstory so pay attention folks. And the chains on Azure's heart that Nina has been loosening.
They cut out some of the exposition and dialogue in the flashback that elaborated on how he was raised and viewed by the public and his own thoughts that reflect the chains and pressure put on him but they're still doing a decent job here. That is until they drop the ball at him calling her she was no pawn. His smile and eyes said it as much as the words in the manga. Also failed to really show his full desperation in searching for her since she first disappeared the previous day. But the one face they did show was at least like the manga, even without the broader context.

And then they dropped the ball majorly again. When he tells her she's special and that he can't loose her it was suppose to also give a close up shot of her bracelt tied to his sword hilt. Azure knows what it means and accepted it and treasured it. Also please let whoever keeps screwing up his hair learn to place the braid in the back center. A royal prince would never allow something so sloppy.

They may put no effort into the smaller romantic moments but I can at least be satisfied by them doing a decent job with the reveal and kiss and his own shock at his actions lol. I'm happy. This adaptation has A LOT of problems but they nearly nailed this pivotal moment. And I can coast on cloud nine from it for now lol

But if I was animating this i would have made sure not to cut anything from that confession and kiss and instead started playing the ed over the romance lol. Really give us a long passionate kiss lmao. I do love how the scenes in Nina's story book during the ed get colored in as they happen in the anime though. It's a nice touch, even if at least one said scene was cut from the anime despite being in it (Nina patting Muhulum's tummy)

Oct 21, 1:49 PM

FCDA

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Oct 2018

Why do I feel this thing speeded up a lot?

Oct 21, 2:56 PM

#10

elkensteyin

elk sensei

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Oct 2013

8570

Best episode of the week

Oct 21, 3:22 PM

#11

Sheol01

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Jul 2024

1269

Damn! This Romantic Fantasy is being Speed Runned! Not sure if that is good or bad. Love Nina, though.

Oct 21, 6:32 PM

#12

leonardobarba

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May 2017

1768

Excellent episode!

Nina found Alisha's raison d'être.

Mene, mene, tekel, parsin

Oct 21, 8:52 PM

#13

bom-

Offline

Feb 2023

this was so good😭😭😭😭 he technically confessed his feelings by doing that now I want to see how he takes responsibility for his actions 😂 I feel he'll pretend like nothing happened but she never listens to him anyway so sjfbdkdkn

Oct 22, 1:15 AM

#14

AnimeForever196

Offline

Nov 2014

This series so far has been fairly middle of the road. Nothing is really doing anything to make it stand out but at least it's not doing anything too negative either. I personally like Azure a decent amount and Nina is okay. The main thing I noticed (especially this episode) is that the anime seems like it's going lighting fast. Seems like some of the events of this episode would have served better about halfway through the series after some more build up. Well hopefully that means they can spend more time expending their relationship from there.

Oct 22, 2:14 AM

#15

Sigmar-Unberogen

Offline

Nov 2013

6704

Oh wow, so not only was the name fake but Azure is fake entirely as well.
It makes total sense why some people would want Azure dead, since he's an imposter like Nina.

More reason why those two should be together eventually. Not to mention they're both messed up in a good way lol. Like, one not caring if he has to die for the nation, another not minding to die to save people who were kind to her.

Then there's the whole issue with looming war. Will Azure let Alisha be married to an enemy? What can Alisha do though? Former king says she can save everyone somehow.

Oct 22, 2:58 AM

#16

Tomo-chan-aizawa

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Aug 2024

loved the kissing scene🌺

Oct 22, 5:04 AM

#17

gophercg

Offline

Mar 2012

4110

They horse riding fun. lol Alisha's silly derp faces.
That's an unusual gramps, explains a lot of Azure.
wow that's beautiful.

Oct 22, 1:57 PM

#18

Werexa

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Aug 2016

OMG - some really, normal romance I love IT.

Oct 23, 8:47 PM

#19

h_rayz

Offline

Apr 2019

I love that everyone is just talking about the budding romance, and the surprise kiss.
Not whining about the age difference. They are both mature through hard upbringing and a tough world.
They deserve happiness!

Oct 23, 9:34 PM

#20

PaintedlUniverse

Offline

Apr 2019

Reply to LordCrueltyV

Kisu!!!

Well, to complete their romance, they will have to find a way escape imposterdum without being executed. While taking one form of taget off their backs, it will add others.

@LordCrueltyV this is exactly why I fear I am going to cry a lot for this anime lmao

Oct 25, 3:19 PM

#21

Hearts4MyLover

Offline

Mar 2024

235

I feel like the manga is going to be way better than anime, I haven’t read the manga so far. But I might consider dropping the anime just to pick up the manga itself, the story itself has a lot of potential but the pacing of things sometimes feels a little off

Oct 25, 4:12 PM

#22

Kyonman

Offline

Jun 2023

251

This pacing seemed a little fast this episode so I'm curious to how the manga reads.

Oct 28, 10:30 AM

#23

Azope

Offline

Oct 2019

Reply to AnimeForever196

@AnimeForever196 It because the story is at the prologue the true start is episode 5 ( probaly) the 3 first episode is a speedrun of a shojo romance and the 4 is *** and after the true start is episode 5
The dowside it that a lot will likely stop beford the true intersting part of the story start

Oct 28, 10:32 AM

#24

Azope

Offline

Oct 2019

Reply to Hearts4MyLover

@Hearts4MyLover maybe , 4 episode and only 8 chapter ( to be fair it montly chapter ) that is 2 chapter by episode so far

Nov 3, 1:17 PM

#25

_hermit_

Offline

Jul 2016

I just watched the episode, And WHAT WAS THAT? Isn't she a child? Did he do it without thinking? Like, it's okay that the pace seems kind of fast and rushed, but it still surprised me to go for that, but it's very cute how the two combine the backstory and get along well

Nov 9, 5:25 PM

#26

Scootboi

Offline

Feb 2011

1510

That kiss made me fangirl so hard

Nov 11, 9:40 AM

#27

LilyVarbik

Offline

Jan 2016

1312

She really shook them, 100 floggings is AWFUL but it's not beheading.

They are totally in love confirmed now, however... how does this work?

Nov 23, 9:51 PM

#28

MuhammadSban

Offline

Aug 2020

Phenomenal fun time, I was initially scared this show would be gimmicky and a certain moment near the episode's end legitimately shocked me.

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