Sea Princess Azuri

English manga series

Sea Princess Azuri is an original English manga distributed by Tokyopop and created by Erica Reis (now married and publishing under the name Erica Leigh Currey). It is the story of Azuri, an Orcan (human/orca hybrid) bethrothed to Prince Unagi, the leader of Eels, as part of a peace offering. Things complicate, however, when she falls in love with Thalo, her Orcan guard and childhood best friend.

Azuri is to marry Unagi, and despite Thalo's efforts to remain indifferent, Thalo isn't happy. He does, however, "stand by" while the Eel Prince courts the Orcan Princess, all the while he and Azuri try to convince themselves that they are not actually in love. At the ball to celebrate Unagi's arrival to the kingdom of Orca, Azuri performs an ancient Orcan Bridal Ritual. With her Breath Blast Attack, she shatters the ceremonial ice platform on which she danced with a single note. In Volume 2, things heat up as Prince Unagi notices the sweet nothings that Princess Azuri and Thalo are unable to hide. He sets in motion a plan to drive Thalo out of the kingdom, by setting him up to take the fall for crimes the young Orcan didn't commit. His servant Scample sabotages the Great Ballroom to collapse in on itself while Thalo and Azuri are on top of it, so that Thalo will take the blame. In Volume 3 (never published), Unagi's real reasons for setting up the marriage between himself and Princess Azuri become clear. He intends to marry the princess and murder the queen, thereby assuming rule of both kingdoms. Azuri finds out and runs away before they can be married, stalling his plan. She seeks out Thalo, who was turned into a human and banished from the kingdom to live on land—a cruel joke to any mer person.