DJ Octavio is the leader of the Octarians and the main antagonist and final boss of both Splatoon and Splatoon 2's single-player modes, also appearing as the first boss of Splatoon 3'ssingle-player mode. In Splatoon 2, he appears alongside Callie in the final boss, whom he has brainwashed. In both Splatoon and Splatoon 2, he is trapped in a snow globe near Cap'n Cuttlefish or Marie after being defeated for the first time.
Unlike most Octarians, which appear to be severed tentacles of octopuses, DJ Octavio is an octopus in his entirety. He is a dull red-violet with darker areas around his eyes and tentacles and appears to be perpetually angry. When he is angry, his eyes slant down even more, resembling furious eyes. He wears a large gold helmet in the style of kabuto with an octopus-shaped emblem on the front, and one of the two tentacles that are always crossed in front of him bears a large, green, X-shaped scar identical to the ones seen on other bosses. He sits inside of a flying machine, the Octobot King, equipped with a pool of purple ink and a turntable, which he plays using stalks of wasabi. The turntable also has four cannons on the front, two extendable fists and a set of thrusters allowing it to fly. Surrounding the machine is a large, magenta-colored force field, which neither Agent 3, Agent 4, nor their ink can pass through. It is only visible when close to the machine, as a warning to the player that they need to push it back to a comfortable distance.
During the first part of Enter the Octobot King!, he fights the player normally, but when the Calamari Inkantation starts to play, he abandons his turntable to dance. At several points in the song, he strikes a series of poses and laughs. However, he still attempts to fight the player.
In the Japanese version of Splatoon, DJ Octavio speaks entirely in katakana, indicating he is speaking in a different in-game language. Unlike Jelonzo, however, he uses correct grammar.
In Splatoon 2, he is once again the final boss, fought in the level Tide Goes Out. His flying machine has received an upgrade, now having a second level on which a brainwashed Callie stands and sings. Below her is the main control. In front of the turntable and wasabi stalks is a tray of circular tentacle balls, which go flying as the player attacks the DJ. On the back of the machine are some exhaust pipes, which Octavio uses for his dash punch attack. The two giant fists are now gold and sparkly and have brass knuckles on them, which reads something in the Octarian language. There are four holes on the front of the machine, in which bombs and the ink shower attack are deployed from. Octavio's appearance has also changed: his kabuto helmet is black with golden accents and he wears a pair of shutter shades.
In Splatoon 3, DJ Octavio appears again, wearing a hard hat with a camera strapped on the front and a pair of safety goggles. He appears in a modified Octobot King (now dubbed Octobot King L3.Gs). The front speakers now double up as vents and an Ink Vac, with the most prominent feature being its ability to transform between bipedal and flying forms.
His humanoid form, found in a Sunken Scroll, wears the same kabuto hat alongside what appears to be an outfit with sleeves resembling those on kimonos. The rest of his outfit below the waist is unknown. In the Great Turf War, he likely turned into his humanoid form for the battles he was in, as a picture shared in Marina's chat room shows him as such. In this form his tentacles hang from under his kabuto, resembling his cephalopod form's tentacles and the Tentacurl hairstyle of playable Octolings. The kabuto also creates a shadow that obscures his eyes, though this may be stylistic, as the rest of the characters' eyes in the photos taken from the era of the Great Turf War are obscured in the same way.
DJ Octavio has been the leader of the Octarians for an extremely long time, as far back as when they and the Inklings were allies. However, rapidly rising sea levels forced the two species to fight over land, and Octavio held his position as the leader of the Octarian army during the resulting Great Turf War. This even led him to battle his previous ally Cap'n Cuttlefish "during the bitter siege of Arowana Castle", which the Octarians lost.
Despite some early victories for the Octarians, a combination of good luck, superior tactics, and a higher number of limbs resulted in the Inklings being victorious, forcing Octavio and the rest of the Octarians underground into domes later called Octo Valley and Octo Canyon.
Splatoon
Around 100 years later, during the events of Splatoon, dwindling energy reserves underground led the Octarians, still led by Octavio, to steal the Great Zapfish and a series of regular Zapfish that the Inklings used for power. To counteract this before the problem got too severe, Cap'n Cuttlefish secretly recruited a young Inkling he nicknamed Agent 3 to join his New Squidbeak Splatoon, intending to recover the Zapfish and defeat the Octarians again.
However, after Agent 3 defeated the Octowhirl, Octavio kidnapped Cuttlefish himself, forcing Cuttlefish's granddaughters, Agents 1 and 2, to guide Agent 3 to Octavio's base. Finally, in Enter the Octobot King!, the group was reunited as Octavio battled the New Squidbeak Splatoon. During the battle, the two agents revealed their true identities as the Squid Sisters and overrode Octavio's music, freeing Cuttlefish and spurring Agent 3 to finally defeat him, rescuing the Great Zapfish and saving Inkopolis in doing so.
After this fight, Octavio is kept imprisoned in a snow globe next to Cuttlefish in Octo Valley. If the final boss battle is repeated, it is explained that Octavio broke out while Cuttlefish was distracted by eating.
Around nine months after the Callie vs. MarieSplatfest, Cuttlefish deserted his shack in Octo Valley, giving Octavio the chance to escape. Marie was the first person to notice, after Callie's disappearance, and shortly afterwards, Octavio stole the Great Zapfish a second time and fled to Octo Canyon. As a result, Marie stationed herself there and recruited a new young Inkling as Agent 4, and the two worked together to rescue Callie and the Great Zapfish.
Eventually, in Tide Goes Out, Octavio was discovered, having kidnapped and brainwashed Callie into working for him. In the ensuing battle, Agent 4 defended their attacks for long enough so Marie could shoot off Callie's hypnoshades, returning her to her normal self. With some help from Sheldon, the group eventually defeated Octavio a second time, imprisoning him in a new snow globe in Octo Canyon. If the battle is repeated, it is explained that Octavio was able to escape thanks to Callie wanting to try on the hypnoshades again.
Splatoon 3
In Splatoon 3, DJ Octavio appears in the single-player mode Return of the Mammalians. In the trailer on 23 September 2021, he is seen falling off of a cliff in a mecha suit. He seems to be wearing a hard hat with a camera attached to it, as well as safety goggles, and he still wields his signature wasabi. DJ Octavio can be seen in the Octobot King L3.Gs.
DJ Octavio is the first encountered boss, fighting against Agent 3 over a misunderstanding on who stole the Great Zapfish. After being defeated, Octavio asserts that he did not take the Great Zapfish in this instance and that he had been investigating the disappearance of his army, before the ground beneath his mech, Agent 3, and Cuttlefish collapses.
When fighting against the final boss, Mr. Grizz, Octavio comes to Agent 3's help in a modified, space-capable version of his mech after Agent 3 is knocked off the rocket. Octavio joins in the fight with his mech, telling off Mr. Grizz from messing with "our turf" and also plays a part in performing Calamari Inkantation, calling it the heavenly melody, signifying how Octavio has put aside his long-standing opposition with the Inklings to join forces. The player can directly control Octavio's mech, guiding it into Mr. Grizz and using the Ink Vac to suck up Fuzzy Ooze. After defeating Mr. Grizz, Agent 3 and Octavio return to Earth.
In the manga series
DJ Octavio's first appearance in the manga is in Volume 3, where he kidnaps Cap'n Cuttlefish. He then battles the New Squidbeak Splatoon, but is ultimately defeated. After his defeat, he explains that he stole the Great Zapfish because Octo Valley didn’t have enough electricity.
In the Hero Mode 2 arc, like in the game, DJ Octavio has once again stolen the Great Zapfish, and has brainwashed Callie. He then battles alongside Callie against the New Squidbeak Splatoon, only to be defeated again. After Goggles asks why he stole the Great Zapfish again, he explains that Octo Valley ran out of electricity again, and that he wanted to make the lives of the Octarians better.
DJ Octavio is one of few Octarians with dialogue that can be understood by the player, though in the Japanese version, his speech is represented entirely in katakana, to convey the feeling of an accent, or foreign language. Other examples are Marina, the SanitizedOctolings in Fake Plastic Station, and the Octolings summoned via amiibo.
In the Japanese versions, Octavio is still occasionally referred to by his English name, such as in the title of his song.
The tentacles that serve as the weak points of all Great Octoweapons and Octobosses have a green scar near-identical to the one on DJ Octavio's scarred tentacle, albeit much larger. Sunken Scroll 24 of Splatoon 2 depicts Octavio’s tentacles being severed from him as a control mechanism; this technology is stated to be "15 years ahead of the rest of the world". By further translating the square text, it is revealed that the tentacles are directly cloned from him.
In Splatoon, DJ Octavio's English dialogue differs drastically between the North American and European/Oceanian versions of the game, as shown below in the gallery. In later games, his dialogue is standardized between the different versions.
Though Octavio cannot be spoken to while in the snow globe, he cowers and glows purple if shot at.
When designing DJ Octavio, the development team of Splatoon first decided on the name "Takowasa" (DJ Octavio's Japanese name). He was then changed from a wasabi maker to a DJ, followed by scratching music being brought in. The music starts with a rhythm that goes like 'don don don don', at which it was decided to match the rhythm with DJ Octavio's wasabi making.[1]
In an interview with the game's developers, composer Toru Minegishi suggested that DJ Octavio and his subordinates use music to control the many Octarians.[2]
DJ Octavio is claimed to be the inventor of the music genre "Octaronica".[Citation needed]
Despite Cap'n Cuttlefish stating that Inklings dry out and lose ink as they age, DJ Octavio doesn't appear to have dried out, despite being in the same age range, which may imply that Octarians do not experience this.
In an old picture depicting Cap'n Cuttlefish in combat with DJ Octavio (found by Pearl and sent to Marina's chat room), DJ Octavio has the same teeth as the playable Octolings, which differ from those of Inklings.
DJ Octavio's name may be derived from octopus, octave (as he is a musician), and the Spanish word octavo, which means eighth, as octopuses have eight tentacles.
DJ Octavio's album art has text that seems to spell "DJ Ocwas", which may be a combination of his English and Japanese names ("DJ Octavio" and "DJ Takowasa").
A poster seen in the Deepsea Metro has a picture of an octopus with Inkling text that resembles the word "octavi", possibly advertising a DJ Octavio album or concert.[Citation needed]
DJ Octavio’s tendency to escape his snowglobe while others are distracted is possibly a reference to real-life octopuses, which are notoriously hard to contain, as they learn to open their tanks by watching their keepers and then escape when left unwatched.
Etymology
DJ Octavio may be derived from octave and the Spanish given name Octavio.
