I feel kind of stupid for not catching the naming theme earlier:

Gaius, now Octavia (a most excellent new waifu for Arawn ) --> Roman Empire

Riannon, Arthur, Morgan, Epona, now Llyr ---> Gaelic names (hence Gael tribe) of the British Isles.

The whole story is a play on the Roman Empire's attempt to conquer Britain.


I liked the contrast between the introductions of the completely airheaded Llyr and the more collected Octavia. It was nice to breeze through Llyr's more shallow introduction (her stolen clothes and not being able to return home is related to the myths about Merrow), so they could get at more of the depth in Octavia's backstory. It looks like they might spend quite a few episodes on her, all the better. Still though, against the crabs, Llyr proved she is a very competent fighter with her trident, if nothing else. I can't deny her description about falling asleep and being washed away again made me smile. One thing though, apparently there is an 's' at the beginning of Llyr's name. What is the opposite of a silent letter that doesn't exist? An audible non-existent?

I did find it a little sad that leaf (game's developer) ended up making a Touka character like Octavia (cast with Rie Tanaka no less), and they even do the damn rope bridge setup again! There was a little variation to it, but it was still way too familiar.

Now that we've gotten another combat scene, there's no question. Arthur is annoying as hell, but he's a damn good fighter. We saw it in the first episode, and he effortlessly slices through crowds of Empire troops here as well. Arawn is still better, and even Morgan's short range is pretty good. Octavia packs quite the punch herself, swatting down arrows while occupied with other matters. I'm also liking the way that they are handling action scenes. The animation goes into a stylistic switch, where action is a little simpler drawn, almost brush strokes, but it makes up for it by being fast and incredibly fluid.

Can't wait for more Octavia. She has not disappointed in any way.