Finally got around to watching the latest episodes. They were good, lots of action to cover. Somehow, I'm still rooting for Arthur to prove his competence against a good opponent.
Finally got around to watching the latest episodes. They were good, lots of action to cover. Somehow, I'm still rooting for Arthur to prove his competence against a good opponent.
I am training in the shadows.
Currently playing: All of your games, probably.
Arawn describes Arthur the same way nearly every fight. Spunky, or enthusiastic, etc. Arthur is a incredibly skilled fighter, he can fights hordes of generic guys far better than all of his tribe, as definitely defeats them faster than any of the Gael's new companions. He even tends to take out more generic guys in a period of time than Arawn does. But he fails against a single style.Originally Posted by Kraco
Arthur wastes a ton of energy. Arawn ends up the strongest fighter because he uses the least. They showed it quite well in the fighting sequence surrounded by flames. Arthur charges in and slashes three or four guys down in an instant, a couple of spins, blocks and bounces off one sword with a follow-up kill to another guy, spin back and they're done. Arawn uses minimum movement. He dodges blades by mere centimeters, twists his body just enough to move out of the way. He tends to advance more slowly too, and kills with completely utilitarian slashes and thrusts.
Octavia is somewhere in between. She dodges as little as possible too, but she uses flourishes and graceful thrusts. She is elegance to Arthur's fury. She'll expend less energy than Arthur will in a fight. So far, his endurance has kept him out of harm's way, but against a skilled opponent, he will wear himself out.
I really want to see Gaius fight more so we get a proper look at his skills, he seems to be totally badass.
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"Always be yourself... unless you suck."
Harsh lessons by Octavia-sensei:
Episode 10 - Solstice
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Edit: This episode wasn't quite as good as I had hyped myself to believe. I guess it contained too much mellow integration of Octavia into the Avalon people and too little swordplay. She didn't even beat Arthur like I was hoping, even though I'll still keep thinking she could have had it been a real fight. Hoping for a rematch between her and Arawn is totally futile now, of course.
Still, it's not like I wouldn't have enjoyed the ep.
Last edited by Kraco; Sun, 06-14-2009 at 08:04 AM.
I could not help but marvel at how pretty Octavia looks when she is in her basic stance.
Anyhow, I was expecting more of the mellow integration and less swordplay, so I enjoyed this episode a lot. I thought the side plot with Morgan was a little rushed, but that might not be over with just yet judging by the preview. The only thing that disappointed me was that Arawn didn't gain a new wife. He's got three already, so I figured they were going for full harem in this series, but I guess that won't be the case with Octavia.
Yeah. Octavia didn't interact at all with Arawn during this episode. Can't get new wives that way, naturally. Although to be honest he doesn't need any new ones since all the current ones are going unused already. Arthur would still need one so that he would cease to try to be one of Arawn's. I wouldn't be too happy if Octavia was wasted on somebody like Arthur, though, so it would need to be someone not yet introduced, probably.
Hmm, I liked this episode, since the main focus was on Octavia. At least, Arthur got to spar with her for a bit, even if it wasn't a real fight.
I am training in the shadows.
Currently playing: All of your games, probably.
As straight as a sword:
Episode 11 - Solstice
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I felt the plot of this episode was a bit rotten. In a way that suggested they wanted to conclude the Lidia-Octavia matter promptly and with style but everything else was thrown in haphazardly just to serve that end. First of all: Why didn't Octavia tell she met the soldiers and what it was all about? And secondly what exactly changed in this battle compared to the previous one to make the Gael victorious? Although we didn't actually see the battle this time, but I reckon it's safe to assume Arawn's side won.
Well, at least, looking at the mushrooms, it's easy to guess why they have such a name. No doubt you will see many phantoms after eating them - if you avoid the fate of becoming one yourself.
Lidia and Octavia's past and present were nice enough, though, I admit that. Much more interesting than I'd have imagined.
One possible reason why Octavia didn't say anything because of her pride. If not obvious from this episode, Octavia has a lot of it. Making excuses (even if they are true) clearly isn't her nature, especially since she is so quiet. That is also the case with Lydia. Instead of telling her way before that it was her that held back in the duel, Octavia simply opted to shut her mouth.
Another possible reason would be she didn't think anyone would believe her, since she is a former enemy. Meeting with enemy soldiers at night is hardly the best way to earn trust, so she probably simply accepted that she lost that trust the moment Morgan etc. found out. Sometimes, it is harder to explain yourself in fear that they still won't believe you after you do, which usually hurts more. This is supported by the apparent joy/relief on Octavia's face when Morgan told her that she will trust her to the end.
The main difference in the battle this episode was that Arthur took command. When they charged, they focused on him giving orders (however simple they may be) to the army. That is a big difference compared to a mad charge without anyone organizing, which is much easier to confuse, scatter, and pick off one by one.
Peace.
Yeah, it looked really organized this time... I think somebody already talked about it earlier in speculation, but this was the worst way of turning the tables. Basically the only thing changed is that Arthur anymore didn't foolishly believe they can beat any enemy with a berserk charge. Yet still they charged, now only with a few commands given during it but nothing else much changed. What happened to the overpowering skills of the imperial soldiers? In the earlier battle Arthur's troops could hardly do anything against them.
I still don't see how telling early on and truthfully how things stand would have damaged Octavia more than lying. I don't even see how pride would have prevented that. How does being suspected, for a good reason, by everybody around you enhance your pride? I think on the contrary if she had immediately told Arawn about it and then let them judge her intentions, it would have given her a reason to remain proud; no matter what happened, she would have known she did the right thing and hid nothing.
They could have even captured a couple of imperial scouts if the others had known. It's possible she met them the first time by accident but then she met them a second time purposefully to give the negative answer.
I agree with you that it is unfortunate how it was not shown. But it is hardly impossible for them to win if they are more organized this time. It just means they executed some brilliant tactic that we weren't privy to, probably because the author got lazy. Oh, and let's add that the enemy leader left their ranks and got killed.
It was never about enhancing her pride. What I am trying to discuss is how a prideful person reacts to certain circumstances. Such reactions are not necessarily (or even usually) positive, as illustrated by Lydia and Octavia's story.
Octavia probably didn't tell on the soldiers because she was previously their ally. She is technically the one who betrayed her country in this case. Saying that she should rat out her previous allies who are proposing what they did will damage her pride. Octavia probably considers slyly capturing them now to get trust points from her new comrades quite cowardly. That is why she simply declined the proposal, and told them about her defection.
Octavia didn't know that someone saw her contacting those soldiers. She probably thought that she could simply reject their offer and that would be the end of it, partly out of respect for their former alliance. When she found out that Morgan knew, she either didn't want to make excuses for her careless (easy to misunderstand) actions, or she didn't want to explain then still not be believed. Both of these possibilities are speculation, but they are hardly unlikely considering her character and current circumstances.
Last edited by shinta|hikari; Thu, 06-18-2009 at 05:57 AM.
Peace.
I still won't agree with you. First of all, she wasn't the one betraying but the one betrayed. She was clubbed in the head in a dark storage room, closed into a box, and worst of all had to suffer through Lidia's speech gagged, unable to offer a single opposing argument (that's torture already). If she had told those imperial soldiers when they met for the first time (for whatever reason) that she wouldn't guarantee their safety the second time through, it would have been alright to "betray" them. That's what she should have done in order to remain a prideful, honourable swordsman.
You can't serve both masters of two parties in a war.
Whether she knew or not that she was seen has got nothing to do with honour or righteous pride. Well, in the end with Arawn as the leader everything's possible. The dude is too relaxed to overly worry about the past or the present or the future. Which remind me of the fact that there's still very little Octavia-Arawn interaction. I wonder if Octavia can't handle a man like that due to her upbringing and all the time in the military.
Hey, it is speculation so you don't have to agree with me at all. All I am saying is we should use some imagination in such cases.
About the betrayal thing, again you speak from a detached point of view. Have you forgotten how Octavia acted when she fought Arawn for the first time? She was already "betrayed" then, yet she still wanted to sacrifice her life just to kill as many of the "enemy" (including Arawn, who practically saved her life twice and she knew it) as possible. She did eventually decide to side with Arawn, but that doesn't mean that she has completely cut off all ties with her previous allies. That is just the type of character she is, extremely loyal, mainly stemming from her pride as a warrior. Is it correct? Maybe not, but that is not the issue.
I agree with you that it would have been perfectly alright to betray those soldiers if we are talking about what is "just", but we are talking about why Octavia did what she did. Acting out of pride is not equivalent to acting just. Heck, Octavia and Lydia tried to kill each other because of their pride, and one of them died because of that same pride. I would hardly call their actions righteous (especially Lydia's). I mentioned this from my first post, so you can't say that you mistook my saying pride as only righteous pride.
EDIT: By not killing those soldiers the first time they met (probably by accident), and agreeing to meet them again, there is already an unwritten agreement that she cannot betray. Meeting them again with an ambush party would have soiled her warrior's pride forever, that is unless they don't keep up their end of the bargain as well (which they didn't by trying to coerce Octavia by kidnapping the kid). Octavia would never do what you suggested (ask them to meet again then capturing them with a group). It just doesn't fit her character at all. If she wanted to capture an enemy soldier, she would have done it the moment they first met, killing most of them and keeping one for interrogation.
Her decision to not report the enemy soldiers and meet them again is not equivalent to serving two masters. She did that to completely cut off her ties with her previous master. She was probably trying to sort out her feelings after they made the proposal, and knowing that it is her decision to stay with Arawn's side that brought upon such a situation, she was just trying to take responsibility.
Anyway, that is enough from me on this matter. I just wanted to show why I like Octavia as a character so much. She isn't "pure" or one-sided. She hated Lydia for going easy on her, enough to do the same to her and insult her pride in the worse way possible. She doesn't always make the best decisions (contrary to what one would expect from her character type). Yet despite all this, she still has a kind, caring and undeniably mentally strong side.
Last edited by shinta|hikari; Thu, 06-18-2009 at 06:23 AM.
Peace.
Might be enough from you, but I still feel like I need to point out a strange assumption in your theory: That Octavia actually wanted to meet those bullies for a second time. I think it's more like they came to hang around the castle and Octavia sensed them and went to ask what they want again (though she obviously knew what they wanted, but I don't think it was really an arranged meeting as such). Who knows, but if someone tries to extort you, isn't it harder on the pride not to do anything about it?
Well, I do get your point partially. It wasn't probably that easy for her to let go of her background, even if these secret police dudes aren't exactly her former comrades.
I can totally understand why Octavia didn't speak up. I'm sort of that type as well. While not always the smartest thing to do, I don't always feel like explaining myself for the simple reason that it can look bad. Sometimes if you're overexplaining, it's like you're begging someone to accept your reasons and believe you. You might also further extrapolate that to mean you did something that required you to explain yourself, almost like you did something "wrong".
Later on, the truth comes out without your active "explaining", and they find out it was their own fault/ovethinking that screwed shit up.
Of course, "later on" doesn't always happen, nor are you "fault free" for not dispelling the suspcion, hence it's not exactly smart. But proud? Yes.
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Not that the other wives are clinging to Arawn much save for Rhiannon, but Octavia never clung to her at all to begin with. From what I know, that's slightly different from the source material. It's a good thing though. For now at least, I can't see Octavia being submissive to anyone else.
Her pairing with Arthur would just be plain weird. There's no match at all. I've read some people speculating a pairing here due to their previous duel, but that was more a "warriors-accepting-each-other" thing to me.
Regarding that fight, though it was a little disappointing Octavia didn't win, it boosted Aurthor's reputation as a swordsman. Octavia found it very difficult to win outright against Aurthur despite her theoretically superior style because of one thing - Author's got an absurd amount of stamina and strength. It's like telling Naruto rasengans aren't energy efficient - that's not an issue.
Still, learning from Octavia can only do him good.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
I'm not even counting Octavia as one of Arawn's wives, and by the looks of it she might never become one. So, I'm not actually talking about any romantic interaction. After her fight with Arthur I'm not even wishing for another bout between her and Arawn either, because it wouldn't anymore mean anything seeing how she's barely better than Arthur.
However, since it is like that, Octavia showing no interest in entering Arawn's bedchamber, I think their interaction could be even better occasionally. She would see Arawn for what he actually is, not as a hubby.
I wasn't sure in the context, did Octavia imply she was in love with Lidia romantically, or as very close friends?
To be totally honest, I got lesbian vibes from that scene, which is also one reason why I judged she won't become one of Arawn's wives in the anime. On the other hand, Lidia is now dead, so any manner of development could happen. I'm also sure that if there really was (romantic) love there, it was all platonic and nothing concrete ever happened.
Gimme some Octavia & Morgan lesbian action, w00 w00 ;p
______________________________________
"Always be yourself... unless you suck."
I thought it was, which is why I'm glad Octavia's the the sword Master. Without any potential romantic interests, at least we'll see the affectionate side of her when she's handing the kids. (worded kind of strangely there, but whatever.)
Octavia action? Certainly, though if I got to pick, I'll take any elf other than Morgan.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
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