A former Japanese Salaryman, Rokuro "Rock" Okajima serves as the the Lagoon Company's negotiator and translator, and is the series' primary POV Character. Although the least physically dangerous member of the Company, Rock possesses the ability to negotiate with heavily-armed, insane, hyper-violentindividuals, and not only get out of such negotiations alive, but even convince them to see things his way.
Action Survivor: And how! He's survived being caught in the middle of multiple gunfights, being kidnapped several times, a collapsing building, boat chases, car chases, assaults from various ultra-violent maniacs......and Revy.
All Guys Want Bad Girls: A rare case where a kind, decent guy is after a violent and really dangerous female criminal, though Rock gets fed up with her attitude soon enough to make her think a bit.
Being Good Sucks: At the beginning of "The Wired Red Card", he complains of this because of being shot with a blank at the end of the previous arc after all his efforts to save everyone.
Beware the Nice Ones: Easily the most decent and sympathetic human being in the series Roanapur, and usually very polite and even-keeled... but just as dangerous as his crewmates, albeit in a differentway.
Butt Monkey: In his old job, he got his ass kicked a lot by his bosses. He's shaken this off as he adjusts to his life as a pirate.
Character Development: Growing from his first appearance as a sad sack into one who can survive among some pretty awful people; not necessarily a completely positive change.
The Chessmaster: Shown in full flux during the end of the "Baile de la Muerte" arc.
The Cynic: What he has irrefutably become by the recent chapters. Whereas the old Rock would have been moved by Fabiola's lingering idealism towards a morally-gray-world where justice and decency can exist if you want it to, the double-whammy of failing to save Hansel/Gretel AND Yukio from Balalaika's clutches has knocked that hope clean out of him. The only response he had instead is now a cold, apathetic, Revy-like-snarl.
Distressed Dude: Revy gripes about how Rock gets captured all the time, leading to a funny moment when Yukio abducts him towards the end of the Yakuza arc.
"Great! Now he's been kidnapped by a schoolgirl!"
The Dulcinea Effect: Puts his ass on the line for Yukio, a girl he has only just met, and who proceeds to try and kill him. He probably did it because she reminded him of himself, though.
Even Evil Has Standards: He may have willingly chosen to become a pirate and run with very unsavory people doing very unsavory things, but dammit, he still has morals!
Evil Makeover: Averted. He insists on keeping his typical white-collar suit from his Salaryman days instead of slipping into more comfy, action-oriented clothes. Considering that being in the Lagoon Company is his new job, he intends to treat it as such.
Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: His eyes were shown as fairly wide at the beginning of the series, when he was at his most inexperienced and idealistic, but over time, they have narrowed considerably, as he became more competent/cynical. It should be noted that this style of eye is used to denote such badasses as Revy, Roberta, Ginji, etc.
Guile Hero: Has to relay on his wits and negotiation abilities to survive. The result? He becomes a good guy who has nonetheless managed to successfully make Balalaika and SisterYolanda back down. He's a serious candidate for magnificent bastard, should he become even more embittered.
Heel Realization: Not quite, but the events in Tokyo forced him to realise what kind of life he's chosen.
Fabiola gives him another, more serious one of these by shooting him in the gut with a blank and calling him out.
I Choose To Stay: He could have gone anywhere, could have started another honest life somewhere else, but he chose to stay with the Lagoon Company, having taken a shine to the pirate lifestyle.
Improvised Weapon: Although not usually a physical fighter, he did defend himself from a chainsaw-wielding goth girl using a metal shelf the one time, and then there's the above example where he trips Chaka up using spilled cleaning fluid and knocks the obnoxious prick out with a bowling pin.
It Amused Me: His main reason for helping Garica in the second Roberta arc, this causes Fabiola to give him a What the Hell, Hero?.
Knight in Sour Armor: By the end of Season 2, Rock freely admits that justice is non-existent, and that morality is a sham, yet he still believes in helping people.
The Messiah: Rock is about the closest thing the Black Lagoon universe has to The Messiah, but given the Crapsack World that he lives in, anything heroic or idealistic that he tries to do tends to go badly for him.
As El Baile de la Muerte shows, he CAN save lives, but it almost seemed like the world only let him get away with it because he acted like a prick to do it.
Morality Chain: To Revy. Starts more as a Morality Pet but, as their relationship thickens, he becomes this. Especially when she makes it very clear to him that she would never let anyone else talk to her the way he does or tolerate his naïveté from anybody else.
To the point that when he goes Laughing Mad, gloating to himself over how Chang was wrong about the Gray Fox situation being unsalvagable, she seems to be given pause.
Nice Guy: As of recent chapters, he no longer qualifies for this trope. After having his idealism finally and irrevocably shattered by Yukio's death, he is only nice in the sense that "a drug dealer is nicer than a rapist.""
Papa Wolf: He really doesn't like children being mistreated/put in danger, as seen with Garcia, Gretel, and Yukio. Notably, when Yukio was abducted, he mounted a rescue, and seeing what her captors had done to her brought out his absolute worst language and drove him to actually assault the ringleader. And later, he risks his life by trying to persuade Balalaika to spare her.
Precision F-Strike: He's easily the most polite and well-spoken cast member, so when he does swear, it means he's truly furious, such as when he has it out with Revy, or when he sees how Chaka and his gang have mistreated Yukio.
"Hey! (Hits Chaka over the head with bowling pin) Fuck you!"
During the climax of episode 2: "I FUCKED YOU!" Along with Flipping the Bird.
Psychotic Smirk: Has been using it since chapter 72, which combined with the narrowed eyes has cemented his status as a badass. It was also used in his earlier moments of awesome, with Revy's drinking challenge, and with the takedown of the Extra Order chopper.
Though she made it clear that she was still calling the shots.
Technical Pacifist: Rock absolutely refuses to use firearms, and the furthest he has gone to inflict bodily harm was to assault Chaka with a bowling pin. He's still very dangerous in his own right, as he comes up with plans that almost always succeed at the cost of racking up huge body counts. After all, he's the one who came up with the idea to attach several blocks of Semtex to a speargun, fire it at a container ship blocking their way, and then detonate the explosives to both disable the ship and throw off their pursuers as well.
The Unfavorite: The reason he hasn't contacted his family to let them know he's alive. He claims his distant relationship with his parents was because they preferred his older, more successful brother.
A nihilistic Chinese-American gunwoman and the Lagoon Company's primary muscle. Known as "Two Hand," after her preferred style of shooting.
Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female on Male: Subverted. She does hit and abuse Rock, even almost shoots him at one point, but it is never portrayed as normal or acceptable. Moreover, Rock eventually stands up for himself and succeeds in convincing her that there are other ways to solve her issues than her guns. She feels ashamed after this confrontation and mostly stops abusing him after that.
Ax Crazy: During the events of the Nazi arc, Revy went on a quite psychotic killing spree, and in the manga, she didn't even spare the noncombatants. Dutch called her on this, telling her he didn't remember hiring "Charles fucking Whitman."
Badass: She's the poster girl woman and one of the two primary characters for a series full of 'em.
Berserk Button: Revy has a Hair-Trigger Temper and gets pissed off at pretty much everything but later on, she develops one of these about Rock. Do NOT mess with him around her if you value your life.
Celibate Heroic Sociopath Despite being Ms. Fanservice, so far, she hasn't been shown to have any sex life to speak of. At one point Eda lampshades this by teasing her about it, "When it comes to you and men..." Makes more sense once we find out in the OVA that she was raped by a police officer when she was a teenager. Of course, another more present reason is her growing relationship with Rock. Him aside, the only other men she shows any real interest in are all for non-sexual/non-romantic reasons; usually ones whom she hopes to fight aside/kill with, or ones whom she hopes to fight/kill.
Clingy Jealous Girl/Green-Eyed Monster: Although she'd more than likely deny it, she does not like other women trying to make a move on Rock. For example, she always responds aggressively to Eda's flirting with him, and at the time when Jane taunted her about thinking of ringing Rock into an orgy, Revy threatened her to stay away from Rock, or she would show her just what she got up to with her female partners in prison... who she was so good with that they could never go back to anyone else.
Women Are Wiser: Inverted and justified. Rock is morally superior to her but her lack of morals stems from a horrific and unstable childhood.
Cluster F-Bomb: Revy is the primary contributor to the high volume of F Bombs dropped in the series proper.
I Call It Vera: Variation; she calls her guns "cutlasses" after their moniker, the "Sword Cutlass Special 9mm".
Jerk Ass: Particularly towards Rock at the beginning of the series, until he stood up to her and chewed her out. She's mellowed since then, but it's important to remember she's still not a particularly nice person...
Pet the Dog: She once showed a group of kids what gunplay's really about - using their popguns. We even get a Luminescent Blush after she sees Rock was watching!
Near the end of that story arc, she shows them again...using her guns. Don't worry, she just shoots some cans up. Even she isn't that cruel.
Rape As Backstory: In the El Baile De La Muerte OVA, it's revealed that Revy was raped as well as beaten by a police officer during her days as a teenage street punk.
Satisfied Street Rat: ...Not that it didn't leave her fucked in the head, to put it mildly.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man Even if she hasn't acknowledged in as many words that she's attracted to Rock, the signs are there.
Lady Swears-A-Lot: By far the most potty-mouthed character on the Goddamned fucking show.
Situational Sexuality/Prison Rape: When she was in prison, she apparently was so good that her partners could never go back to anyone else, and she was definitely the aggressor! She even threatened to show off her stuff to Jane.
Superpowered Evil Side: The only way to explain how Revy managed to match Roberta during their fight in Rasta Blasta, in light of what Roberta is capable of during El Baile de la Muerte. Either that, or Roberta was holding back. A lot.
Tattooed Crook: Revy has a quite prominent tribal tattoo on her shoulder.
Tranquil Fury: Revy's "Whitman Fever," which is more a relapse of Ax Crazy than actual anger. When Revy starts to look like she's sleep-deprived and stops yelling and swearing, there will be blood and there will be lots of it. Revy's eyelids lower and she occasionally smiles slightly whenever she goes into such states.
Vapor Wear: Partially averted, her panties are visible at all times cause she never zips up her shorts. But her bouncing, and other clues imply she doesn't wear a bra. When we see her room it's shown that she just hangs it on the lamp in her room, thus giving us a literal example of Lampshade Hanging. She definitely wasn't wearing one when she hid those documents for the CIA in her top. One of the agents even complains about them being all sweaty...
When She Smiles: One of the major signs of the effect Rock has had on her. Very rarely is that Revy smiles without it meaning somethingelse, so getting her to smile earnestly is a major accomplishment. Most notable during the Japan arc; when Revy notices Rock watching her play with a group of young kids (in her own unique way), where she not only smiles, she blushes.
Would Hurt a Child: She usually has to be provoked into it, but Revy isn't above hurting or even killing kids. As Dutch says when he's ordering Rock to take over watching Garcia from a pissed-off Revy at the beginning of the first Roberta arc, "not a lot of maternal instinct there."
Yandere: Revy gets preeetty creepy when Jane considers seducing Rock.
Blond Guys Are Evil <-> Hair of Gold: Swings between the two. He is a pirate and has no moral compunctions about it but he is among the least actively malevolent of the lot, seeing that even his girlfriend is more active than him in that matter.
The Cynic: Benny has no illusions whatsoever about the evils he ignores on a daily basis. He hasn't got Revy's materialistic nihilism, but he's about as cynical as Dutch.
"What do you expect to happen to her? Get cured? Go to school, be happy and make friends? It will never happen and that's just how reality is."
Informed Judaism: Only ever mentioned during their encounter with the Neo-Nazis but he drinks alcohol, smokes, delves into cyber-piracy and isn't seen giving much shit about his religion otherwise. Justified in that him being a pirate is either the reason or the consequence of him disregarding the religion's teachings.
Nice Jewish Boy: Completely, utterly subverted. Sure he's brainy and usually nicer than the rest of the cast. But that's it. As noted above, he's just as morally dubious as his buddies and is completely desensitized about death, killing and any other pleasantries Roanapoor has to offer.
A laconic African-American swiftboat veteran; the leader of the Lagoon Company and the captain of the Black Lagoon.
Affably Evil: He's the leader of a group of pirates who'll get the job done no matter what it'll take. He's also one of the most sane people of the cast. See Benevolent Boss and Cool Old Guy.
Badass Driver: At one point he drives the Lagoon at full speed at a wrecked freighter to use it as a ramp in order to get airborne and shoot a torpedo at a helicopter. Christ.
Granted, it was Rock's idea, but Dutch deserves kudos for actually pulling it off.
Mysterious Past: Major Caxton says that Dutch's story about being a Vietnam vet is a lie because he claimed to be part of an offensive while in a unit that didn't take part in it, and he didn't understand basic military lingo that a 'Nam vet would have known. His actual past (or if Caxton was even right) is still unknown.
The Stoic: The only moment he gets pissed is when he comes back to discover his warehouse in flames during the Greenback Jane arc, and even then not so much.
Even when Roberta grabs his arm and - effortlessly - starts to pull him out through the window of a moving car, he doesn't panic.
The Vietnam War: Claims to be a Vietnam veteran. As it turns out, that may not be entirely true, if at all.
A former Soviet special forces commander turned mafia queen; member (along with Mr. Chang and two others) of the four-person commission that regulates crime in Roanapur. Her real name is Sofiya Irininskaya Pavlovena.
Asexuality:Even though she can get flirtatious with guys like Rock or, more seriously, Mr Chang, she finds sex boring and uninteresting. Cue her completely bored-to-death look when she edits porn videos.
Blood Knight: According to Revy she'd rather give up sex than pass up a chance to wage war.
In the light novel, she welcomed an old subordinate who'd found himself on the opposite side refusing the olive branch because it meant that he, like herself, meant to continue fighting to the bitter end.
Break the Cutie: In the anime, we see her as an innocent young girl who wanted to join the Olympic sniping team. Until the Afghan War happened and she got completely trashed.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Fujiama Gangsta Paradise. Full stop. The head of Washimine clan attempted to do this at first because Balalaika was obviously going overboard, providing a very undesirable sort of help.
Cool Big Sis: To Revy, anyway, who even refers to her as "Anego" which means "Sister". Though Revy isn't above calling Balalaika a bitch when she pulls a gun on Rock or has her men shoot Revy and Shenhua in the arms.
Death Seeker: Balalaika confesses to Chang that her driving motivation is to "meet that one fated person in that one fated battle" and die remembering who she once was.
Evil Laugh / Laughing Mad: Her reaction to Rock trying to talk her down near the end of the Yakuza arc. If she ever seemed sane and reasonable before, here you find out the opposite...
In the light novel, she out-eviled Mr. Chang of all people, laughing in his face when he offered to take out her rebellious subordinate so she wouldn't have to kill one of her own.
Depending on how you look at it, she had some with Rock during the Yakuza arc. She seems to like a man who can piss her off, then not only calm her back down, but practically gift wrap a chance for more carnage in the effort.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Balalaika has a large part of one side of her face scarred, a result of the war. She's sometimes called "Fry Face" because of it.
As she still manages to look attractive regardless.
The first time you see her arms in Chapter 64...jesus.
The Mafiya: Unlike most other women pertaining to a Mafia-like organization, she's in charge instead of being just a regular Mafia Princess. As said above, if anything, she's more of a Mafia Queen. She's too experienced and too powerful to be a "princess".
Mama Bear: You hurt her subordinates, you will be dead soon. And. VERY. Messily. Hansel and Gretel didn't pay attention to this, so...
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: A balalaika is a type of stringed instrument, but it's also Russian military slang for a Dragunov sniper rifle (which Balalaika used during the Soviet-Afghan War).
Pet the Dog: Many, mostly concerning her relation with both her henchmen and Lagoon Company.
Particularly, the smile◊ she gives to Rock at the end of the Yakuza arc, which is one of the few times she gives an actual, honest smile instead of Technically a Smile.
The revelation of why she was discharged, mainly, due to an international incident when she was photographed by media somewhere her unit shouldn't have officially been, is a pet the dog moment for her since the reason she got photographed was because she went out of her way to save a child.
Power Hair: Subverted. She is powerful, badass, feared and a decent strategist but she has the long, flowing, slightly wavy tresses usually worn by weak and fragile Distressed Damsels.
Technically a Smile: (Provides the page picture). If Balalaika ever smiles at you, it's recommended that you make sure your last will and testament is up to date.
Tranquil Fury: Even when she's in the depths of teeth-gnashing, blood-boiling rage, Balalaika tends to speak like a patient mother scolding her children. She raises her voice in anger exactly twice. Both times are among the tensest points in the series.
Would Hurt a Child: A rare female example. Has no compuctions about hurting children physically and very violently. Even though she did not do it directly, Hansel and Gretel got no special treatment for being children. No doubt she would have done it herself if given a chance though.
As with Mr. Chang, the fact that these kids killed some of her men in cold blood probably has a great deal to do with it.
In the anime, a flashback to the Afghan War shows her shifting her sniper fire away from a child running towards its mother. So this trope is in effect, but not to a ridiculous degree — presumably she'd have no qualms about killing a Child Soldier.
Balalaika's former platoon sergeant during the Soviet-Afghan war, Boris is utterly loyal and devoted to her and is almost always at his Kapitan's side.
The Dragon: We can safely assume he is this to Balalaika, despite not having seen him do much so far.
Even Evil Has Standards: Admits to Balalaika that taking out Hansel's leg and hand with a sniper rifle and letting him slowly bleed to death gave him the chills. Though he may have been talking about how he was letting one of the only people to kill a member of the Vysotniki in-series within twenty feet of her.
Bad Ass: Revy calls him "sir" which should instantly tell you he's the most baddest guy in a town full of them. (It's obvious that Revy wants to be a cool, rich and powerful Triad boss just like Chang when she grows up.)
Back-to-Back Badasses: He and Revy make an awesome version of this - See the terrorist arc.
Cool Shades: Considering his character design is based on Chow Yun-Fat, this pretty much comes with the territory.
Scarf of Asskicking: Of the untied variety, hanging around the collar of his coat.
Card-Carrying Villain: Apathetically and matter-of-factually talks about his absolute lack of compassion for the sexually-abused Ax Crazy children Hansel and Gretel because he is a black-hearted cynical scumbag and is completely comfortable with that fact, not to mention that they killed some of his men. This is the defining difference from the kind-and-honorable Papa Wolf gangsters played by Chow Yun-Fat that he is based upon.
The Chessmaster: The one who commissioned Rock to see through to ending Roberta's rampage.
Foe Yay: Him and Balalaika. Neither of them take it personally when they are at odds, and have exchanged flirty banter with each other. They're a Fan Preferred Couple in fanfics.
In the omake where Balalaika is Hansel and Gretel's mother, guess who they made the father?
Guns Akimbo: So does this (See Cool Shades). Unlike Chow Yun-Fat's characters, Chang's Weapons Of Choice are two Beretta 76s. He also uses a pair of AMT Hardballer Longslides borrowed from his subordinates.
Identical Stranger: The light novel mentions offhand that when he visited Beijing, he was mistaken for a celebrity. Wonder who that could have been?
Nerves of Steel: Normally cheerful and emotive, this guy is also capable of being completely calm during a massive shootout. The only time he lost his cool was when Eda told him he was an insect compared to the might of the United States.
A Taiwanese assassin in the employ of Mr. Chang. She prefers to use various edged weapons in close combat, in particular a pair of kukri knives linked together with a length of leather rope at the handles, thus using them as modified rope darts. She is also skilled in the use of throwing knives.
Affably Evil: Quite cheery most of the time, whether she's skewering hapless Mooks, or delivering an unfortunate man in a suitcase to be chopped up by a goth with a chainsaw. She and Revy even have a (relatively) friendly conversation whilst trying to kill each other.
I Am Not Left-Handed: Wears long stiletto heels on purpose to keep her edge in an environment where almost nobody knows martial arts. When she gets serious, they come off.
Berserk Button: Anyone who puts a bullet in the church had better damn well be prepared to go to war. She doesn't appreciate apprentice priest Rico calling her "sis," either.
Cool Shades (She always wears them - the few times we see her without them, she's either in disguise or otherwise acting officially as a field officer, versus the normal 'undercover' role.)
Naughty Nuns: Or is it? The ending of the Greenback arc and her role in the El Baile De La Muerte arc indicate that what we see of Eda is mainly a front.
Not So Harmless: You'll see her coming anyway, unless she's really serious.
The Sunglasses Come Off: Any time Eda takes her sunglasses off, she becomes ice-cold and dead serious. And it's scary how much of a change it is.
The Tease: She frequently comes on very heavily to Rock, much to his embarrassment and Revy's annoyance. As if the poor guy didn't have enough stress in his life...
Leader of the Church of Violence. Very likely has a background in intelligence herself, as she is fully aware of Eda's status, and acts as an informant/confidante to her.
Affably Evil: Seems like just a benevolent, soft spoken elderly lady, aside from the eyepatch. And, you know, the weapons dealing and the drug smuggling.
Lady of War: Very cultured and very well versed in the Bible. Mixes this rather well with being able to blow your shit up with a gold plated Desert Eagle.
Never Mess with Granny: Especially not when she's firing a freakin' Desert Eagle one-handed.
A maid who worked for four years at the Lovelace household in Venezuela. Although her domestic skills such as cleaning and cooking were somewhat lacking, she developed a close friendship with the young son of the Lovelace family, Garcia. Roberta was once known as Rosarita Cisneros, a former FARC guerrilla trained as an assassin in Cuba and an internationally wanted criminal. She was taken in by the Lovelaces to clear a debt of honor between Roberta's father and the head of the family, who then became her master.
Anti-Hero: Type IV —> Type V (El Baile De La Muerte)
Anti-Hero Antagonist: In her first appearance,she was trying to retrieve Garcia from his kidnappers, (which were the protagonists)...and is utterly unstoppable in her pursuit
The Atoner: Tried to be a good person by being a loyal servant and a mother/sister of sorts to Garcia... sadly, all that went out the window with the murder of her master/Garcia's dad.
Ax Crazy: During "El Baile De La Muerte", Roberta not only falls into this state, but takes it Up to Eleven.
Badass: The merest mention that "The Maid" is back in town is enough to set everyone on edge, because the only thing it could mean is trouble.
Crazy Prepared: Let's see, she shows up in Roanapur with an umbrella made of Kevlar that has a built in shotgun, a suitcase made of the same with a built in machine gun and rocket launcher, and she hides enough grenades to demolish an entire building in her maid's skirt. And then there's what's inside her suitcase besides all that. If this isn't a prime example of this trope I don't know what is.
Curb-Stomp Battle: She catches one of Shenhua's kukris in her teeth, uses it to block the other kukri (with it still in her teeth), then shatters it right in Shenhua's face (again with her teeth). When Sawyer steps in, Roberta jams the chain and snaps the blade with the trigger guards of her Colts. And when it's Rotton's turn? She gives him the boot.
Dark Action Girl: Fits both the "dark" and the "action" parts with emphasis.
Determinator: To the point where the crew of the Lagoon repeatedly jokes that she could be the T-1000. All jokes stop when she starts climbing up the back of their car with a pair of trench knives. After catching up to them on foot at a dead run. What makes it awesome is that she's even imitating Robert Patrick's "knife hand" sprinter's run.
Take a look at Roberta's Blood Trail under Nigh Invulnerable, just being able to MOVE under that condition guarantees this trope.
Distaff Counterpart: A morally questionable, astonishingly competent assassin disguised as a household servant? Sounds a little like Roberto...
Guns Akimbo: Amongst her weapons are a pair of Sistema Colt Modelo 1927s, which she wields against Revy's Cutlasses. And later, she adds drum clips to them.
Nigh Invulnerable: Made of Iron is a standard power for Black Lagoon characters. Roberta is not so much made of 'Iron' as 'diamondoid, probably poured over a base of Wolfram or some other extremely dense, tear-resistant material'.
The final episode of Roberta's Blood Trail completely subverts this by being different from the manga. In the manga, Roberta came out of the entire ordeal without a scratch. In the OVA, she is severely wounded by the Grey Fox unit to the point of losing her right eye, right leg, and left arm, and if that isn't bad enough, her right hand's index and middle fingers are shot off. The only reason she can still walk in the ending is thanks to a cobbled together prosthetic right leg.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Roberta's master (and Garcia's dad) is killed at the start of El Baile De La Muerte, this is Roberta's response.
Sanity Slippage: During El Baile De La Muerte. Calling it Sanity Freefall would be more accurate. The drug abuse and hallucinations probably didn't help.
She Who Fights Monsters: So very much in El Baile De La Muerte. Only Garcia, Fabiola and Rock's Xanatos Gambit were enough to snap her out of psycho-mode.
Up to Eleven: Roberta lives this trope - the Dojikko maid (she's better with guns than she is with household duties, it's stated) as well as the Ax Crazy and One Woman Army parts.
The young son of Roberta's master Diego, heir to the Lovelace family. When he's kidnapped and later the Lagoon company gets the work of "transporting" him, Roberta goes against our "heroes" to get her Morality Pet back. And that's just the beginning...
May-December Romance: Roberta may return his (romantic) feelings. It's a bit unclear how she feels about that, but she did tell him that she was impressed by how much he had grown in her absence (after he had straddled her, no less).
Impoverished Patrician: To a degree. While he still has quite a bit of money due to plantations, it's still not compared to what the Lovelaces used to have in the past, due to their political beliefs and the harrassment of the Colombian cartel.
Morality Chain: Roberta owes him her new chance at life, and thus she goes batshit when he kicks it.
Another maid in the Lovelace household, and the only one who's trained in hand-to-hand combat and weaponry like her. After Roberta leaves in her Roaring Rampage of Revenge, she becomes Garcia's caretaker.
Awesomeness by Analysis: She learned Capoeira from watching people practice. No formal training involved.
Bare Your Midriff: Late in El Baile de la Muerte, she ditches her maid outfit for bike shorts, a sports bra, and an unzipped hoodie. Averted in the Roberta's Blood Trail OVA when the hoodie remained zipped.
"There is no need for you to be concerned about my breasts. Even if they grew as big as melons I have no intention of anybody fondling them."
Complaining About Rescues They Don't LikeShoots Rock with a blank and cracks his rib at the end of "El Baile De La Muerte", despite his doing everything possible to help her and Garcia, even if he did have to manipulate them and gamble with their lives.
Little Miss Badass: About 14 to 15 years old, one of the shortest characters in the series, and packing enough firepower to shoot out the entire frontage of the Yellow Flag and blow up an SUV in one shot.
The Napoleon: Is picked on because of her lack of height.
Small Girl, Big Gun: Carries a pump-action China Lake grenade launcher during her fight at the Yellow Flag.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: To Revy of all people, who has been insisting that they live in a horrible, vicious world and that Fabiola needs to stop being so idealistic. She finally gets fed up with it and insists the world is neither, and that she can accept that the world is a gray place and the one who really thinks the world is black and white is Revy herself. Neither Revy or Rock were impressed, though.
What the Hell, Hero?: Gives one to Rock at the end of the Roberta arc, because of him using most of the characters involved as pawns and the fact that he did it for fun as well to win the bet with Mr. Chang.
The Washimine Clan
Ginji Matsuzaki
Legendary enforcer for the Washimine clan and protector of Yukio Washimine, his skill with a sword is equal to Revy's gunfighting ability.
Retired Badass: Was contentedly working as a vendor until he was called out of retirement.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Goes through the punks who kidnapped and mistreated Yukio like a hay reaper ("Did you want to see my sword that badly?!"), then goes after the ringleader, chops up his gun, severs then the hands holding it, knocks the guy into a pool, and pushes him under to drown.
Slasher Smile: Witholds it most of the time, but lets it slip for a moment when he takes down Laptev's group, and finally lets' it out during the final battle.
Tattooed Crook: Has a large traditional yakuza-style backpiece.
Worthy Opponent: Revy immediately pegs him as one for her. He slowly stops denying his inner psycho and admits he sees her the same way.
Yukio Washimine
A high school girl and heir to the Washimine Clan, who takes over leadership of the group when it's at war with Balalaika and the old one, Tsugio Bandou, loses his life.
Anti-Villain: One of the few honorable and ethical people in the series. Just happens to be antagonistic to the viewpoint characters. And chooses to become a yakuza boss when Balalaika kills the previous one, since she's next in line.
Big Bad Wannabe: The underworld has a really steep learning curve and Balalaika had a few decades of experience on her.
Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Rock rescues Yukio from capture, humiliation and imminent rape, then begs her to leave the underworld. She thanks him politely and then unleashs a brutal Hannibal Lecture deconstructing his own motives.
Doomed Moral Victor: Pretty much. She lives her life without compromising her principles, which is why she turns to evil despite Rock's advice.
Hannibal Lecture: Completely deconstructs Rock when he tries to convince her that the path she has chosen is wrong.
He is later able to, politely, tell her to shut up, stating that his path is not only a perfectly valid way to live, but also one that allows him to see that she is simply not cut out for the life of a gangster.
Honor Before Reason: The entire reason she took over her Family was because she felt obligated to her subordinates, despite the fact that none of them wanted her to sacrifice her normal life for them and that there was absolutely no chance of victory. Arguably, her refusal to leave Balalaika's forces alone is something of a subversion, on the grounds that she made that decision on the very reasonable grounds that she had no reason to trust Balalaika to keep her word after having broken it to wage war on her Family in the first place.
I Just Want to Be Special: Willingly takes leadership of a Yakuza gang, and laughs at Rock's suggestion that she leave the underworld. It doesn't end well for her.
Improbable Age: Horribly deconstructed. A teenager has no business trying to fight Balalaika and her ex-special forces henchmen, even with the help of Ginji and the rest of the Washimine Clan. And made even worse by the intervention of Chaka and his group.
Nietzsche Wannabe: Not Nietzsche specifically, but Yukio is well read on philosophy, genuinely tries to apply it to her life decisions and has a fatalistic worldview.
Out Gambitted: At almost every turn. Her trick with the van worked nicely, but as for the rest...
See You In Hell: The message that she asks Rock to relay to Balalaika before commiting suicide in the manga.
Too Clever by Half: Her relentless philosophizing is just a front for her uncertainty and desire to be with Ginji, but it lets her delude herself for long enough for her whole life to wind up in ruin.
Yamato Nadeshiko: Thoroughly deconstructed, as the "young Samurai girl who takes up the family business" ends up in Hell because of that.
You Are in Command Now: Becomes head of the Washimine clan after the leader kicks it. She did well with what she had at hand, being able to figure out what was going on a lot faster than her more experienced subordinates, and she made a decent showing against the head of the rival Family. But even her skills at leading couldn't compensate for the fact that she started off with a very small gang (a portion of whom were Ax Crazy traitors) who had been targeted for annihilation by both a much larger gang headed by freakin' Balalalaika. Really, the only factor she had in her favor was the Revy-level Bad Ass enforcer/love interest Ginji, and that's not even close to enough to dig her out of the pit she started in.
Chaka
One of the Washimine family's enforcers who attempted to take control of the family.
Affably Evil: Subverted. When he first appears, he seems like a dimwitted yet likeable mook who harbors an almost childlike enthusiasm for guns and shootouts. However, this facade quickly dissipates after he "snaps" and reveals himself for the murderous psychopath he truly is.
The Gunslinger: Fancies himself one. Revy outright states that he's nothing more than a barely-competent poser with serious delusions of grandeur. He doesn't take her advice.
Humiliation Conga: After seeing his entourage of thugs get wiped out, he makes a run for it while taking Yukio as a hostage. Rock makes him slip with spilled cleaning fluid, bashes him in the head with a bowling pin, and liberates his hostage. Then Revy drop-kicks him in the face and grinds his balls under her heel whilst delivering a Reason You Suck Speech.Then he goes one-on-one using a revolver against Yukio's protector, who can cut bullets in mid-air with a sword. Predictably, he loses badly, gets cut up, and is finally finished off by drowning. From what we've seen of him, he deserved every single thing that came to him.
Jerk Ass/Complete Monster: Oh yeah. Most obnoxious and despicable character in the series from the get-go. You'd be hard-pressed to find any redeeming aspect in his personality. Even the neo-Nazis have more class than this asshole.
Kick the Dog: All the goddamn time. Beats up poor Rock savagely for cutting in on his "conversation" with Revy, hoping to provoke her into a quickdraw duel. Kidnaps Yukio, lets his buddies beat her up and strip her nearly naked, and plans to sell her into sexual slavery to "a real sicko" (and he gleefully describes in detail some of the horrible things she's going to be forced into). Criticises his guys for being "pussies" during the fight in the bowling alley, whilst making his way to the exit using Yukio as a human shield, and later shoots the last surviving gang members just because he's annoyed. He's one hell of a guy.
The Starscream: If Starscream had been a psychopath. Attempted to become the boss of the family by beating up Yukio and then wanted to rape her and sell her out to the Russians. Rock and Ginji were rather demonstrative in response.
Stupid Evil: He acts needlessly sadistic towards Rock, Yukio and his subordinates, and he winds up paying dearly for this later on.
Too Dumb to Live: Seriously overestimates his abilities, as shown by his trying to take on Revy one-on-one even after seeing her and Ginji tear through his entire gang like hay reapers. She drop-kicked his sorry ass rather than waste the bullet, before letting Ginji slice him to pieces and drown him to death.
Would Hit a Girl: And does. As can be gleaned from the above, he's the abusive asshole version of this trope.
Tsugio Bandou
Yukio's immediate predecessor as the leader of the Washimine clan, and a friend of her late father Ryuzou. By the time he took charge, the clan was already in danger of being absorbed by a larger and more powerful rival. He resorts to contacting the Russian mafia for help, leading to the events of the story arc.
Even Evil Has Standards: For him, the final straw came when Balalaika proposed kidnapping the rival clan leader's family members.
Failure Is the Only Option: In the end, he is left with two equally undesirable choices: either continue cooperating with Hotel Moscow and have every other yakuza clan in Japan turn against the Washimine clan, or cut ties with their erstwhile ally and incur the wrath of the mafia.
I Did What I Had to Do: Resorts to increasingly drastic measures in order to keep the clan going, including human trafficking.
Neck Snap: How Balalaika responds to him breaking their deal.
Number Two: What he was to Ryuzou, before the latter died.
No One Could Survive That: He's at ground zero of the Yellow Flag bar being grenaded by Roberta, but is seen alive (albeit beaten and bloody) in the hands of Hotel Moscow in the next episodes. He's seen later, very much alive, which is actually pretty impressive, considering this is Hotel Moscow we're talking about.
Named After Somebody Famous: Despite being Colombian, he is named after the Mexican drug lord Juan Garcia Abrego, one of the founders of the Mexican Gulf Cartel.
Leigharch
An Irish driver who worked with Shenhua at one time. A compulsive coke fiend, he has a distressingly frequent tendency to hallucinate at inopportune times, such as in the middle of a car chase.
"Where're you ladies takin' me? Could it be? Could it? The legendary nude beach?!"
(When the car gets shot up) "Barbarella is holding an anti-war sign in the nude!"
"Playmates! There are exactly one hundred Playmates! Starting from the nineties! It's the attack of the Playmate Army!" *with accompanying hallucination, no less*
"What? My application for the Black Panthers was denied again?!?"
"My mother has killed me... my father is eating me... my brothers and sisters sit under the table, picking up my bones! They will bury them under the cold marble stones..."
A pair of incestuous, prepubescent porn star assassins with shared multiple personality disorders. Creepy as Hell. And just as horribly broken due to their horrendous common backstory.
Affably Evil: They're both bug-fuck insane, but no one ever said that they were impolite.
Badass Long Coat: Hansel wears one as part of his Elegant Gothic Lolita getup. It's also where he hides his axes, so it also serves a practical purpose.
Batman Gambit: They diverted the hired guns out for their bounty by bribing two (one in the anime) local orphans to pose as them.
BFG: Gretel, an 11-year-old child, fires a Browning Automatic Rifle from the hip. Not entirely unrealistic, since Bonnie (of Bonnie and Clyde fame) carried a cut-down one much of the time and she was 90 pounds soaking wet, but still eyebrow raising.
Children Forced To Kill: They started out like this, being forced to kill other children in snuff films just to survive. At some point they began to enjoy it.
Cold-Blooded Torture: What they do to poor Meshov. And in a sense, what Balalaika does to Hansel as punishment.
Creepy Twins: Squared, cubed, and then raised to the power of itself.
Crossdresser: Hansel and Gretel actually switch clothes. It's never explicitly stated what their real genders are, all the audience knows is that the girl carries the machine gun and the boy carries the axe. When they switch clothes they switch weapons too. The anime reveals that they also switch voices.
Cry Cute: Hansel breaks down into tears as he bleeds to death.
Does Not Know How To Say Thanks: Gretel is given genuine compassion, a hug and Tender Tears by Rock. The poor girl is so dumbfounded that she sexually offers herself to him, truly thinking that it's the best way to thank him.
Enfants Terribles: They know full well how cute they are, and they love using it to catch their victims by surprise.
Evil Gloating: Hansel taunts Balalaika with news of how one of her men screamed out for her as he was slowly tortured to death.. This is not a good idea.
Fan Disservice: A bit of Girl on Girl Is Hot is nice... but not when the girl doing the fondling is a pre-teen murderer and batshit insane. Not to mention she gropes the other girl at gunpoint.
There's also an omake scene involving Garcia, but that's morehilarious than fan-servicy or fan-diservicy.
Freudian Excuse: Nothing can excuse their actions, but they have a pretty valid reason as to why they're as damaged as they are. Anyone would be fucked up in the head having survived what they were put through.
Japanese Sibling Terminology: Refer to each other as nii-sama and nee-sama (very formal, respectful and hinting at romantic feelings) in the Japanese version while using "fratele meu" and "sora mea" (the Romanian words for "my brother" and "my sister") in the English dub.
Laughing Mad: They're so beyond broken they almost always have a smile and often laugh. Especially when being violent.
Muscles Are Meaningless: Both twins use weapons that are somewhat big for them. At one point Hansel even drags a grown man around, even though he complains that the man is heavy.
No Sense of Personal Space: Gretel really got in Eda's face when she and Hansel ran into Revy and her. She also groped Eda after catching her alone a bit later, and seemed to enjoy it quite a bit if her change of tone was any indication.
Obliviously Evil: They have no problem killing and torturing people because that's how they believe the world works.
Snuff Film: What these two were forced to do. They survived by becoming ruthless killers.
Split Personality: "Hansel and Gretel" are personalities the twins developed to cope with their traumatic childhood. They can decide themselves who wants to be who at any given time. When Hansel has his hand shot off by Balalaika's men, the pain and stress causes him to randomly switch between Hansel's and Gretel's voice every few seconds.
Toy Ship: It's implied that they developed romantic feelings and maybe more for each other at some point, likey during their time as Snuff Film "Stars". YMMV wether it's more heartwarming or squicky.
An Indian counterfeiter whose goal is to create perfect counterfeit money. After members of the Floridian cartel that hired her lose patience with her due to continued schedule slips and shoot one of her co-workers to death before giving her a 48-hours deadline to finish her job, she flees from the members of the cartel and eventually seeks sanctuary with the Church of Violence, unleasing a mad pursuit.
Naïve Newcomer: Starts like that, but as of the latest chapters, not so much. Though she didn't think about the possible consequences about letting her colleague, who had probably never been to Thailand, come from Bangkok to Roanapur BY HERSELF. Later on it's revealed that she planned from the beginning to betray that colleague anyway, it means she probably just didn't care.
Panty Shot/She's Got Legs/Running Gag: Keeps being subjected to her flowing skirt going up and giving the viewer a nice view of her legs and panties.
Technobabble: Over the finer details of counterfeit money. Revy is not amused.
Underboobs: As of the latest arc, she's taken to wearing a slim tube-top. And just plain skimpier clothes in general.
You Have 48 Hours: What the Floridian cartel tells her. She manages to escape from them.
Rotton the Wizard
A handsome, long-coated adventurer introduced during the Greenback Jane arc, he is one of the few survivors of the band of mercenaries hunting for Jane. He now lives with the other two, Shenhua and Sawyer the Cleaner.
Adult Child: Has watched one Power Rangers episode too many, most likely, to do all those poses in mid battle.
Genre Savvy: Oddly plays this straight in regards to the fact he's smart enough to wear a bulletproof vest and codpiece most of the time. See Wrong Genre Savvy for what he gets wrong.
He also gains the trust of two of the most dangerous people in town. Seriously, no one screws with Shenhua or Sawyer and gets away with it.
Guns Akimbo: With two Broomhandle Mausers, except he didn´t get to use them onscreen yet.
Horrible Judge of Character: Sort of. He saves both Shenhua and Sawyer, but given the Crapsack World setting of this series, both seem pretty nice they then became semi-loyal allies instead of killing him immediately thereafter. Yes, they'll kill anyone in the price is right, but if that's the worst thing about you in Roanapur, you can't be that bad, so he may have actually been on point with this one.
Made of Iron: Played with. Even when he's shot, falling down from a building or being kicked in the balls (by Roberta of all people!), he just rises up again and continues on. Luckily, he's Genre Savvy enough to wear a bulletproof vest and a metal codpiece, though he got kicked so hard that the codpiece dented, and still fell from a rooftop onto solid asphalt. In general he takes far more punishment than most people could handle.
Nice Guy: Now that Rock no longer qualifies for this trope, he is the sole possessor of it in this franchise.
Token Good Teammate: Compared to his fellow bounty hunters, who are either complete psychopaths at worst and a bunch of backstabbing cutthroats at best.
Also of the Power Trio he's formed with Shenhua and Sawyer.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: And judging by how disconnected from the harsh realities of life he is, it's going to take a lot more to break him than it did to break Rock.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Rotton acts like he came from a more idealistic series. Even Rock has become more savvy to the way the world works than he has.
Sawyer the Cleaner
A feared presence in the Roanapur underworld, who helps the various crime organizations dispose of corpses (and soon to be corpses) with her trusty chainsaw. Actually a rather pretty young goth girl.
Cute Mute: A subversion; while she is cute in a goth-punk sort of way and does appear to be missing her vocal cords, she can be quite mouthy when she has electrolarynx device. Without one, not so much.
Dissonant Serenity: She's quite cheerful; at one point when she's explaining that the bad odor in a hotel room results from the ooze from rotted corpses she had to clean up there earlier she smiles happily while all around her, people are losing their lunch, and may in fact be giggling because the others are losing their lunch.
Expecting Someone Taller: Her fellow mercenaries have this reaction during the Greenback Jane arc, as most of them have never seen her in person, and those who have, only saw her swathed in surgical dress which obscured her features.
Samus Is a Girl: Several characters react this way in-universe when they discover that she's female, since most people deal with her when she's covered head to toe in scrubs that obscure her face.
Dissonant Serenity: He wears a contented grin and talks happily in a Texas good 'ol boy accent while trying to kill everyone with his flamethrower.
The Dragon: To Russel. He's the one who follows orders the best, and well as one of the most dangerous of the bounty hunters.
Drink Order: Milk (alcohol is against his religion).
Family Values Villain: A softspoken possible-Mormon who doesn't drink or swear (he and Lotton are probably the only people on the show not to do the latter). He's also an Ax Crazypyromaniac who roasted his own wife.
Fire Breathing Weapon: Uses both a full-on backpack flamethrower and a cigerette-lighter version.
Jet Pack: What happens after Revy shoots the tanks on his flamethrower trough his stomach, causing the exhaust to blast through his gut, before he explodes. "You're a rocket man, baby!"
Head of an Italian mafia operating in Roanapur. He hired Hansel and Gretel to assassinate Balalaika and Chang so that he could take control over Roanapur's underworld, but quickly found that the Creepy Twins didn't enjoy being told to kill.
Maki is a high-school junior who goes to the same school as Yukio. She's very much your average Japanese high school girl and looks up to Yukio as a sempai.
A former Japanese Salaryman, Rokuro "Rock" Okajima serves as the the Lagoon Company's negotiator and translator, and is the series' primary POV Character. Although the least physically dangerous member of the Company, Rock possesses the ability to negotiate with heavily-armed, insane, hyper-violent individuals, and not only get out of such negotiations alive, but even convince them to see things his way.
A nihilistic Chinese-American gunwoman and the Lagoon Company's primary muscle. Known as "Two Hand," after her preferred style of shooting.
An American computer hacker who acts as the Lagoon Company's communications officer and radio operator.
A laconic African-American swiftboat veteran; the leader of the Lagoon Company and the captain of the Black Lagoon.
A former Soviet special forces commander turned mafia queen; member (along with Mr. Chang and two others) of the four-person commission that regulates crime in Roanapur. Her real name is Sofiya Irininskaya Pavlovena.
A former Hong Kong policeman turned Triad leader; currently engaged in an friendly competition with Balalaika over control of the Roanapur underworld.
A Taiwanese assassin in the employ of Mr. Chang. She prefers to use various edged weapons in close combat, in particular a pair of kukri knives linked together with a length of leather rope at the handles, thus using them as modified rope darts. She is also skilled in the use of throwing knives.
An easy-going, sunglasses-wearing nun with the so-called Church Of Violence. Revy's confidante and only friend. Also an undercover agent for the CIA.
Leader of the Church of Violence. Very likely has a background in intelligence herself, as she is fully aware of Eda's status, and acts as an informant/confidante to her.
A maid who worked for four years at the Lovelace household in Venezuela. Although her domestic skills such as cleaning and cooking were somewhat lacking, she developed a close friendship with the young son of the Lovelace family, Garcia. Roberta was once known as Rosarita Cisneros, a former FARC guerrilla trained as an assassin in Cuba and an internationally wanted criminal. She was taken in by the Lovelaces to clear a debt of honor between Roberta's father and the head of the family, who then became her master.
An Irish driver who worked with Shenhua at one time. A compulsive coke fiend, he has a distressingly frequent tendency to hallucinate at inopportune times, such as in the middle of a car chase.
