The Bebop Crew | The Red Dragon Crime Syndicate | Others
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The Red Dragon Syndicate
In General
The Red Dragon Syndicate
The Mars-based crime syndicate to which Spike was once a part of. Spike faked his death to escape the group, knowing that if they ever discovered that he was still alive, he'd be a target for them to hunt down. And for Vicious, the most dangerous man in the Syndicate, it would be much, much, more personal.
- Ax-Crazy: Even without taking Vicious into account, the Red Dragon wipes out anyone that dares threaten them or stand in their way in the blink of an eye, and have both full military weaponry and entire squadrons of fighter ships just to pursue those who cross them in Mars space. They even tried to kill every single person Vicious has ever associated with when he attempted to overthrow them, both out of tradition and spite. Even people like Mao and Shin firmly believe that the faction have been Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, and firmly place all the blame on Vicious causing this to spread.
- Deconstructed big time since this aspect becomes the main aspect doing them in as they go at each other's throats and Vicious beginning his takeover. By the end of the series, Vicious' actions and the reactions toward that have decimated the crime syndicate's leadership and pretty much leaves it doomed.
- The Dreaded: They have made quite a reputation. Bob of the ISSP tells Jet how they are bad news.Bob: Just run, Jet, the police can't stop these guys; leave Mars and do it fast.
- Fantastic Drug: The Red Eye drug they deal is a stimulant taken through the user's eyes, and can temporarily speed up one's reaction time to the point that users can dodge bullets.
- Space Pirates: Although they try to model themselves on comparatively ancient Earth-based groups like the Triads and Yakuza, the rank-and-file travel through space to keep the criminal enterprises going. Their trafficking in Red Eye effectively makes them the sci-fi equivalent of rum runners.
- Tiger Versus Dragon: One rival of the Red Dragon is the White Tiger syndicate. Mao tries to broker peace between the groups, only for Vicious to butt in, kill him, and blow up a ship with a high-ranking member of the White Tiger on board.
- The Triads and the Tongs: Implied to have semi-legitimized themselves on Mars in the manner of Al Capone in 1930s Chicago. Spike and Vicious were both raised as loyal killers for this organization.
Vicious
Vicious
Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (JPN), Skip Stellrecht (ENG), Marcos Patiño (SPN-LA), Tasio Alonso (SPN-EU)
"I told you before, Spike, that I'm the only one who can kill you."
A skilled and remorseless assassin working for the Red Dragon Syndicate who dresses entirely in black, seems to have little emotion and to care about nothing, and who will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets in his way. In short, Vicious is seriously bad news for anyone who happens to be within a mile of him.
- Ambition Is Evil: Vicious seeks power above all else. He is willing to commit atrocities for the Red Dragon syndicate, including killing the man who mentored him, just so he can get close enough to kill the leaders and take over.
- Animal Motifs:
- Vicious' pet bird is a cormorant, a bird that is known to have a short temper and leave acidic droppings. Is it really surprising that someone like Vicious would want to keep something like that as a pet?
- The Elders openly compare Vicious to a snake, often done to remind him of his place in the organization. He seems to take the comparison to heart, and twists it back around.Vicious: Don't forget. A serpent's venom poisons slowly after the bite.
- Arch-Enemy: To Spike.
- Ax-Crazy: Don't let his subdued demeanor fool you. He's every bit as bloodthirsty and megalomaniacal as someone who'd kill his way to the top of an organised crime outfit would have to be.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: He wears a dark one. Along with the brutal assassinations he carries out, it lends him the aura of an ominous mob enforcer. Shows the badass trait by being one of the few characters in the show able to go toe-to-toe with Spike, and he does so with a katana while the latter is armed with guns, no less.
- Badass Longcoat: Used to conceal his katana and emphasizes his prowess while he cuts down foes. Accordingly, he is the most dangerous opponent Spike faces and taking him down may have even cost Spike his life.
- Bad Boss: He has little regard for the lives of his fellow members and will do anything to get power, much to the detriment of the syndicate itself.
- Batman Gambit: Lures out Faye knowing her personality to in turn force Spike to face him, knowing his enemy won't be able to leave her to die.
- Big Bad: Although he only appears in a total of five episodes, he's heavily involved in Spike's past, which affects the main character greatly and facing him is the subject of the final arc.
- Blood Knight: While he wasn't always Ax-Crazy, he was always a killer.
- Broken Pedestal: Everyone who was ever close to Vicious eventually winds up learning painfully what a bastard he really is. Of particular note is Gren, who considered Vicious his comrade in war. Vicious betrayed him and had him branded as a spy just because he could.
- The Chessmaster: Effortlessly takes control of the Red Dragon Syndicate by tricking the elders into attending his execution, where he breaks free and kills them all.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: There's almost no comrade that Vicious hasn't backstabbed. There's almost no comrade who hasn't tried to get back at him for it. The number of those comrades who survive their attempts at revenge is tragically small.
- Close-Range Combatant: Fights up close with a katana.
- Cold Ham: Vicious rarely raises his voice, but it doesn't stop him from chewing the scenery.
- Combat Pragmatist: When they do directly clash, Vicious never takes Spike on in a straight-up fight. Instead, he packs the area full of his mooks, or sends someone in his place he knows Spike would not kill. The one time Vicious fights Spike truly one-on-one is only after Spike has already been wounded. Given that he's Spike's former best friend and knows how dangerous he is, it's a case of being a No-Nonsense Nemesis.
- Crazy-Prepared: Vicious does not scamp on laying the groundwork for his plans. In his first episode he kills and frames Mao, knowing through extensive research that Spike travels with Faye, who will be unable to resist the large bounty, letting Vicious capture the latter and use her as bait to force out Spike.
- Creepy Monotone: Vicious almost seems drained of emotion. His icy tone gives a haunting quality to all his lines promising to kill Spike.
- Dark Is Evil: Dresses in black and definitely lives up to his name.
- Dodge the Bullet: Has this ability.
- Dragon-in-Chief: Vicious is the forefront of the Red Dragon Syndicate, being their most ruthlessly efficient enforcer and keeping them at the top of the criminal food chain, despite not technically ruling them. Of course, in addition to being competent, Vicious is very ambitious and hatches a successful plan to kill them and take control himself.
- The Dreaded:
- Probably best personified when he's brought before the Syndicate leaders. When Vicious is being restrained and makes the "get your hands off me" motion, all the armed guards look like they're about to crap their pants.
- In Ballad of Fallen Angels, Faye demands to know who he is when brought before him, only to go wide eyed and get very scared when Vicious reveals his identity. The fear of Vicious sticks with her so much that in Jupiter Jazz she freaks out just from hearing his voice on a phone.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It's left ambiguous much like many details surrounding him, but there is a reasonable possibility that he used to care about Spike and Julia, as he's shown genuinely and happily smiling with them in one piece of official art (something he never did in the anime proper), and it's vaguely suggested that their affair behind his back hurt him on some level. However, by the time we first see him in the anime, that possible care is long gone, and the only positive feeling he has left for Spike is some respect.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Vicious initially believes that Spike survived his departure from the Red Dragons due to his ravenous nature and "blood of a beast", only for Spike retort that he's bled all that blood away. For Vicious, a Straw Nihilist who believes that the strong stand above the weak and that strength can only come through bloodshed, the idea that Spike is no longer a cold-blooded assassin yet continues to survive is incomprehensible. This leads to the only time in the series that Vicious loses his composure:Vicious: THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!
- Evil Counterpart:
- A more subtly done counterpart to Spike than Vincent. He and Spike had the same background and loved the same woman, and he has Spike's general indifference and cynicism respectively twisted into outright sociopathy and nihilism.
- He's also one to Jet. Both are Spike's partners in crimenote who are far more traditional and nostalgic than he is, but where Jet enjoys old-school morality and calls Spike out on his fatalism and other attitudes he sees as problematic, Vicious wants to go back to the old days when the Syndicate was ruthless and killed everyone instead of making peace with rival gangs and is disappointed Spike is no longer as bloodthirsty as he used to be.
- Evil Former Friend: He and Spike were once close in the Syndicate, seen smiling on missions together and are implied to have been raised side by side.
- Evil Plan: Settle his score with Spike and take over the Red Dragon Syndicate.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Along with his voice being very low, it heightens him as a vicious, cold-hearted murderer.
- Fallen Angel: Invokes the imagery of fallen angels when he encounters Spike for the first time since Spike faked his death and fled the Syndicate.Vicious: When angels are forced out of heaven, they become devils. You agree, wouldn't you, Spike?
- Fantastic Drug: Possibly. In one flashback scene a Red Eye injector is on Vicious' nightstand, and him using the drug would explain how he can survive taking on gunmen while using a sword as his primary weapon.
- Faux Affably Evil: Whenever he talks with Spike he'll launch into more dialogue than is typical of him, waxing his nihilistic philosophy and mockingly drawing out the time with his Arch-Enemy.
- Freudian Excuse: How would you feel if you found out your lover was cheating on you with your best friend? Flashbacks shows before he discovered their affair strongly indicates that Vicious was quite happy with Spike and Julia, leaving him only bloodthirsty hatred on the only people he thought he could trust.
- Hammer Hilt: Early in the final battle, Vicious hits Spike with his sword's hilt before drawing it.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Inverted. His preference for swords sets up a contrast between him and the gunslinging Spike.
- Honor Before Reason: Strangely enough, he displays this on a few occasions. Since his default mode is an utterly amoral pragmatist, it can be surprising when it happens.
- While Vicious is on Callisto, Lin (who is acting as Vicious's bodyguard at the time), shoots Spike with a tranquilizer dart. Rather than finish off his helpless enemy, Vicious lets Spike sleep it off and has further face offs with Spike later. Being the sort of social darwinist who seems to believe in needing to fight and overcome others, perhaps Vicious thought it would be beneath him to kill Spike in a state where his arch-rival couldn't fight back and there would be no challenge to it.
- In the final battle. Both Spike and Vicious lose their preferred weapons during their fight, but wind up with each other's weapon—so Spike has Vicious' sword and Vicious has Spike's gun. Rather than use each other's weapons, the two immediately form an unspoken agreement to exchange the weapons.
- Hypocrite: He wants to take down the Van for no longer being able to fight themselves, but he himself doesn't do as much hands-on fighting as he used to and often lets his men do the dirty work. He also hates Spike in part for betraying him over Julia, but Vicious backstabs people left and right, even advising Lin to ditch the Honor Before Reason routine and take up that sort of behavior.
- Iaijutsu Practitioner: Vicious uses an iai slash to kill a mook in the penultimate episode. He tries it again with Spike, who manages to parry with his pistol.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Think he cares about his pet bird deep down? Afraid not. He willingly sacrifices the poor thing to further his own goals.
- Just a Gangster: Vicious has no use for the efforts of Mao to make peace with other Syndicates or the attempts of the elders at Pragmatic Villainy. He just wants to cut loose in a frenzy of killing and fighting their gangland rivals.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Even in the future, and while Vicious himself isn't very hands-on unless he's luring out Spike, he fights superbly with it, dodging his opponent's bullets and fighting him in close combat each time.
- Kick the Dog: Comes along with his Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, such as how he doesn't even care when his loyal men give their lives to save him. He also willingly sacrificed his pet bird.
- Knight of Cerebus: Whenever Vicious makes an appearance, he brings the foremost conflict of the series in with him and his episodes are often the most personal and character-driven for the protagonists. Edward seems to be largely absent from his episodes.
- Lack of Empathy: He cares of nothing but himself. When Lin sacrifices his life to save him, Vicious just criticizes the guy post-mortem.
- Lean and Mean: 6'2, thin and arguably the most sadistic and ruthless character in the entire series.
- Lust: The lust for power variant, which subsumes him and controls all the horrible attacks he plans and carries out.
- Manipulative Bastard: His speciality! Vicious happily uses Mao to rise in the Red Dragon until he decides that Mao has lost his edge and needs to be eliminated. Likewise he charms Gren into trusting him as his comrade while setting him up to take the fall for Vicious' own crimes.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Vicious is an evil man and ruthless killer but always dresses in a suave suit.
- Meaningful Name: Vicious is... vicious on the battlefield.
- Mutual Kill: Depending on whether you believed Spike died or not. Spike was already somewhat injured, but their final attacks traded off at the same time, killing Vicious by one final gunshot and cutting open Spike's torso directly enough that he collapsed shortly thereafter.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It gives an insight on to the inner workings of his mind.
- "Not So Different" Remark: In this exchange with Spike:Vicious: You should see yourself. Do you have any idea what you look like right at this moment, Spike?
Spike: What?
Vicious: A ravenous beast. The same blood runs through both of us. The blood of a beast who wanders, hunting for the blood of others.
Spike: I've bled all that kind of blood away.
Vicious: Then WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?! - Not So Stoic: He appears cold and remote at all times... unless he's really letting his inner Ax-Crazy side out. Then you get a good luck at his crazy, sadistic side complete with Slasher Smile, and it may be the last thing you'll ever see. His Evil Cannot Comprehend Good moment listed above is also a noteworthy example since it's the *only* time in the series that he ever raises his voice to a shout.
- Obviously Evil: The dude's name is Vicious. He's a blank-eyed monotone mob-enforcer psycho named VICIOUS.
- Oh, Crap!:
- One of the only times he becomes Not So Stoic that isn't directly being either in Tranquil Fury, indulging in violence or flipping out at Spike, is when he threw Spike out a church window in Episode 5 — and realizes the latter just dropped a live grenade at his feet as an indirect Taking You with Me attempt. For all of his nihilism, Vicious hardly looks accepting of a potential death here.
- He also briefly loses his composure when he realizes that the music box he had given to Gren was placed back on his ship, as a bomb that goes off once the song finishes. Vicious repeatedly jostles his failing controls from the damage in frustration but is picked up by his forces before he can crash or get attacked further.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His past is mysterious and lacking personal information, so Vicious is all we know him by.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He believes killing Spike is an honor reserved for himself alone.
- Perpetual Frowner: While he used to genuinely smile before Julia betrayed him, he hasn't smiled like that in ages. Which only makes it spookier when he turns around and does a Slasher Smile.
- Pet the Dog:
- Subverted when Vicious does use a (literal) Stab the Scorpion situation to gain a character's trust only to later betray him. Only the other hand, even though it just turns out to be his spy transmitter, when Vicious is playing that sad song on the music box and says that the name of the song is Julia, one has to wonder just how much she meant to him.
- The one time he plays it straight comes in the form of solid advice, warning Shin NOT to follow in his brother's footsteps.
- Another noteworthy subversion; notice how he always has that weird-looking bird on his shoulder? It's his pet, so he must have some level of affection for it, right? WRONG! In the penultimate episode, he blows the poor thing up just for a distraction.
- Pirate Parrot: The bird on his shoulder (a cormorant rather than a parrot), which fits with his Space Pirate image. As the story goes on, the little Feathered Fiend seems to be the only thing Vicious still actually cares about right up until he blows the poor creature to smithereens.
- Psycho Knife Nut: Preference for katanas aside, Vicious throws a knife into Spike's shoulder in their final match. He also uses a combat knife to literally Stab the Scorpion and thus gain Gren's trust. While he's perfectly capable of handling guns, his use of blades in his later years reflects his more openly Ax-Crazy behavior.
- Putting on the Reich: His suit and coat are decidedly military in look, possibly a carryover from his time as a soldier in the war on Titan.
- Rival Turned Evil: A bit of an ambiguous case since he probably always toed the line, but it's hinted that discovering that Spike and Julia carried an affair behind his back pushed him off the edge. In flashbacks before this event, he actually looked happy.
- Sadist: He's refined enough to hide it quite well but Vicious' underlying blood thirst can clearly be seen at times, particularly when he informs Julia she'll be the one to kill Spike on his orders while wearing a wicked grin.
- Slasher Smile: Rarely smiles at all, but there's a thin, grim smile on his face in the moments when he comes the closest to killing Spike.
- The Social Darwinist: His justification as to why he should lead the syndicate is that he is the best at killing. Because the Elders are too old to fight their battles personally, they are therefore unfit to lead.
- The Sociopath: Vicious is a cold, ruthless, bloodthirsty, and ambitious man who prefers solitude. He's Chronic Backstabbing Disorder incarnate, ungrateful to everyone, even if that person gave their life to save his ass. He's also willing to sacrifice anyone to further his own goals, whether it be his men, mentor, or even his loyal pet. The only thing he seems to know really care about is power, revenge, and himself.
- The Starscream: Vicious makes no secret of the fact that he looks down upon the Elders, calling them weak and ruthlessly slaughters them when he decides it's his turn to take over the Red Dragon.
- The Stoic: Vicious is a man of few words and little emotion, the only time it really slips is when he's close to achieving a goal, which, more often than not, involves killing people.
- Straw Nihilist: Sees the world as fundamentally meaningless, violent, and selfish — behaviors he epitomizes. Trying to convince him of anything else seems like a surefire way to put yourself in his crosshairs.Vicious: There is nothing to believe in... There is no need to believe.
- Super-Reflexes: Implied to be a result of the Bloody Eye use.
- Terse Talker: Speaks very little, and is more likely to act, violently, than to say anything at all. Even his longest speeches tend to be made up of more meaningful silence than words.
- True Companions: He had assumed Spike and Julia were his. When he found out he was wrong, something inside him broke.
- The Unfettered: All Vicious wants is to control the Red Dragons and kill Spike. Everything else can burn and he happily ignores the sacrifices of loyal minions and even blows up his own pet, to see his ambitions through.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He's simply indifferent to any good thing a person does for him. In fairness, Spike and Julia betrayed him first, and Vicious was surprisingly upfront with Lin that Lin would have to betray him.
- The Usurper: Seizes control of Red Dragon after eliminating its leaders to become its ruler in time for Spike to seek him out for their final face off after Julia is killed.
- Villainous Underdog: Of his own short side story involving his struggle against the Van. Compared to his smug bosses, Vicious is a skilled warrior constantly put down by the triumvirate until he tricks them into a staged execution by which he can attack and kill them.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Has the white hair and is a cold and ruthless killer.
- Wicked Cultured: Vicious is shown to be pretty philosophical in Session 5, where he gives Spike a lecture on how when angels fall from grace they become devils. Obviously a reference to Spike's decision to leave the syndicate.
- Worthy Opponent: How he views Spike in the present.
- Xanatos Gambit: His takeover of the Syndicate. If his first assassination attempt succeeds, awesome. If not, he has turned some of the men that the Elders think are loyal and will assign to execute him, and they can try again.
- Yakuza: Very much the archetypal Nihilist Yakuza to Spike's Noble Yakuza, serving to undercut, quite literally, any attempt Spike makes to climb out of his old life.
- Younger Than They Look: Even if he is a psychopath with little regard for human life, the absolutely massive amount of warfare and violence he has experienced first-hand has nonetheless taken its toll on him, most likely due to its sheer quantity than anything else. Julia's affair with his blood brother Spike probably didn't help his stress levels either.
Julia
Julia
Voiced by: Gara Takashima (JPN), Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (ENG), Dulce Guerrero (SPN-LA), MarÃa Rosa Guillén (SPN-EU)
"I was supposed to kill you. It was all set up. If I had, I would have been free."
Spike's lost love. Relatively little is known about Julia, and since she has very little screen time (aside from flashbacks, she only appears in sections of two episodes), the exact details on her history, personality and life are sketchy. From the scenes she's in we can see that she knows how to drive a car during a car chase, she can shoot (though not as readily as the main cast) and she's smart: she knows how Vicious planted the transmitter on Gren immediately, for example. She's also loyal to Spike; when presented with the Sadistic Choice, she chose to Take a Third Option and be hunted by Vicious rather than kill Spike.
- Act of True Love: When she's reunited with Spike, she wants nothing more than to leave everything behind and disappear with him forever. When Annie is murdered, she realizes Spike can't truly move on until he's seen her death avenged. She stands right by his side and says she'll be with him until the end. No matter where it takes them.
- Badass Longcoat: Part of an all-black neo-noir ensemble she wears in the present. Complete with a pair of cyberpunk-appropriate badass shades. Fluttering in the wind as she races through the streets. Evading hitmen. Dodging bullets. The entire outfit is really an embodiment of present-day Julia. Totally symbolic of her role as a woman of danger and mystery while giving her an air of mystique (see Significant Wardrobe Shift below for more details) as she spends most of the series fading in and out of the shadows.
- Cool Car: An old-fashioned red Cadillac convertible.
- Damsel out of Distress: She's very low-profile compared to the various major characters, but she's hardly ever portrayed as being helpless. While nothing whatsoever suggests she could hold her own against the likes of Vicious or Spike, she's been on the run from the entire Syndicate for the past 3 years completely alone. When she was confronted by Vicious at gunpoint after he discovered her plans to run away with Spike during a flashback, she is completely unafraid (at least for her own well-being). The lawless zone on Callisto is described as a place no woman can survive alone. Faye is threatened with rape and murder almost moments after arriving. We soon find out that Julia spent an entire month hiding out there - and she was able to slip in and out with almost no one even noticing. When we finally see her on-screen in the present, she's racing through the streets with hitmen shooting at her without breaking a sweat. She's also very comfortable and adept when handling a gun - effortlessly covering Spike and gunning down a Syndicate hitman as the two make their escape. The series never actually goes into Julia's background, but it's not outside the realm of possibility that she might have also led a troubled life in the past same as Spike.
- Devoted to You: The one object of love and devotion to Spike. Seeing her again is the only hope he has to live on.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: She dies in Spike's arms.
- Disturbed Doves: When she dies.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: She nursed an injured Spike back to health, they fell in love, and then bad stuff happened.
- Freudian Trio: It's been speculated that back in the day Spike, Julia and Vicious formed a power trio as the Id, Ego, and Super Ego respectively. Shots in the closing sequence support this.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She shows a kind and nurturing side in doing things like nursing Spike back to health when she found him, and while there are a few minor characters who are blonde, she's probably the only one with truly golden hair, both elaborately colored and detailed to draw attention to it.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: Several scenes show her wearing leather pants and outfits.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Rather than confronting Vicious, she tried to urge Spike to leave everything behind and find somewhere to live a normal life where Vicious and the Red Dragons couldn't get to them.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: On the other end of the trope. She's the one person Spike is truly connected with and treasures, and when she dies in front of him, it leaves him nothing.
- Kill the Cutie: When she dies, so does the last real hope Spike had for his life.
- Knight of Cerebus: A non-villainous example, but the mere utterance of her name tends to invoke Red Dragon Syndicate episodes and the real Knight of Cerebus, Vicious, where the story's tone drastically dives into darker territory, while her genuine reappearance kicks off the final plot arc. And her death foreshadows its conclusion.
- Last Episode, New Character: While Julia was seen briefly in flashbacks, we're not properly introduced to her until the two-part Grand Finale.
- Living Emotional Crutch: The possibility he might see her again is the one thing that keeps Spike going. Once he loses her forever, Spike has nothing left to live for but revenge.
- The Lost Lenore: To Spike after she dies in the finale. Her death prompts Spike to go settle things with Vicious once and for all.
- Present Absence: She only appears in person in two episodes, not counting flashbacks, but her presence is felt throughout the series in relation to Spike and Vicious' story.
- Rule of Symbolism: Julia seems to be more of an ideal than a person, and is almost never described in concrete terms. Mostly only ever referred to as "a real woman", "one hell of a woman", etc.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Her present day all-black ensemble - complete with a genre-appropriate longcoat (see Badass Longcoat above) - compared to her flashback appearances. Like Vicious and Spike, she never used to wear one. Also, we only see each member of the trio (see Freudian Trio above) put one on on-screen when things were/are about to get dangerous. For Vicious, this includes every present-day scene we see him featured in. For Spike, this is whenever he knows he is/was about to go to war with the Syndicate. For Julia, this is only when she's finally reunited with Spike in the present.
- Slow-Motion Fall: After being shot.
- Walking Spoiler: Notice how many of her entries have spoiler tags?
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Appears in person for one full episode and is then killed off almost immediately after in the next episode.
The Van
The Van (Wang Long, Sou Long, and Ping Long)
Voiced by: Takashi Taguchi, Hiroshi Naka, Shinpachi Tsuji (JPN), Paul Carr, Mike Reynolds, Doug Stone (ENG)
A trio of elders who rule the syndicate as the highest authority within the Red Dragon. They dress in the manner of Imperial China, complete with a soothsayer and other such touches of the Imperial Court. They find Vicious useful, but are also wary of him and his ambitions.
- Asshole Victim: Out of all the people Vicious betrayed, they're the least sympathetic. And their violent deaths are well-deserved too, considering the Disproportionate Retribution listed below.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Get reduced to this by the end of "The Real Folk Blues Part I" when they forego their chance to kill Vicious in an attempt to draw out his suffering. While hunting down the people he knew while he's imprisoned, Vicious is able to act out his real scheme, ending the episode by overthrowing and killing the trio.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: An Evil Versus Evil example. They capture Vicious alive after his coup attempt, then decide that he needs to be taught a lesson and have him hung on a wall in a locked room for several days rather than just killing him outright. Unsurprisingly, this bites them in the ass.
- Boom, Headshot!: One of the Elders is killed in this manner when Vicious overthrows them.
- Break the Haughty: When they foil Vicious' assassination attempt against them, they declare that his spirit must be broken before he is killed, and go to hunt down everyone known to be an associate of Vicious. Apparently nobody told them what Vicious is like, or how completely meaningless such a gesture is to him.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Kill the person who tried to mount a coup against you? Sure. Wipe out his entire faction? Pretty extreme, but not entirely unreasonable if you want to be certain that any threat of further insurrection is neutralized. Kill everyone who has ever been associated with them, including ex-friends who have been enemies with the would be coup leader for years? Okay, now we're right in crazy-pants territory.
- Evil Is Petty: When Vicious needs to come to them for permission to make a deal for some Red Eye with Gren, two of them take distinct pleasure in rubbing his face in the fact that he couldn't act without their approval.
- Evil Old Folks: Being old and putting on airs of grandeur doesn't diminish their nastiness at all.
- Eye Scream: The last Elder remaining at the end of the takeover gets his eyes slashed out by Vicious.
- Good Old Ways: They like to dress and carry on as if they were in Imperial China, not the 21st century.
- Greater-Scope Villain: They're the head of an organized crime ring with powerful ties to assassination and illegal drugs, but they never lift a finger themselves, with even Vicious just being one of their subordinates. This gets subverted when Vicious shows he's far more dangerous than they could ever be, despite the difference in ranks, by killing them and taking over.
- Lack of Empathy: While lording their power over Vicious they muse when he claims he'd never betray his superiors that Mao's end was merely bad luck... then get back to reminding him how much more powerful they are than he without a hint of care for their deceased capo.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: They claim that their soothsayer gave them the warning to dodge Vicious' assassination attempt. If so, apparently the soothsayer didn't foresee Vicious' real plan.
- Older Than They Look: Debatably—the creators estimated the triplets' age as around 120.
- Properly Paranoid: They're aware of how untrustworthy Vicious is, and are ready to dodge attempts by him to usurp them. Unfortunately for them, Vicious' influence went much further than they thought and included at least some of the men they thought loyal to them.
- Resignations Not Accepted: The Van hold the policy of executing any deserters, adding some
Fridge Brilliance to why a softer man like Mao would want to reform the Red Dragon from within rather than leave their criminal organization. - Smug Snake: Ironically considering they like to remind Vicious he's a snake who can never overcome them, they absolutely adore lording their power over him and even ignore his advice to just kill them, quickly resulting in their deaths.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Vicious himself asks them after his coup attempt fails and they decide to "break" him rather than just executing him on the spot.
Mao Yenrai
Mao Yenrai
Voiced by: Kazuaki Ito (JPN), Dana Craig (ENG)
A captain within the Red Dragon, shown as A Father to His Men. Seems to see Spike as a Prodigal Son and implied to have once viewed him as a potential heir. Slain viciously in an attempt by Vicious to both prevent Mao from making peace with another crime syndicate and to lure Spike out of hiding and back to Mars.
- Dead Guy on Display: Vicious mockingly brings Mao's body to an opera performance and sits the body in Mao's booth, which not only advertises that Vicious killed Mao, (and that this will be the fate of anyone who opposes Vicious' faction within the Red Dragon) but serves as a lure to try to bring Spike out of hiding.
- The Don: Subverted. His role initially seems to be this, but he's a capo who answers to the Van.
- A Father to His Men: Implied to be something of this, in line with the "noble Yakuza" archetype or romanticized old school gangsters like Vito Corleone.
- Honor Among Thieves: Reminds Vicious that he's violating the rules of the game by killing his former mentor and boss."If Spike were here, you would never have done this."
- Minor Major Character: It's clear that Mao was a figure of considerable power in the Red Dragon, and as the onetime mentor and superior to both Spike and Vicious, he played a considerable role in the lives of both men. His only scene before he is killed off is The Teaser of session 5.
- Parental Substitute: A rather dubious one given his profession, but implied to be this to both Spike and Vicious.
Annie
Anastasia "Annie"
Voiced by: Miyuki Ichijou (JPN), Carol Stanzione (ENG)
An old friend of both Mao and Spike. She and her late husband were members of the syndicate at one time.
- Back for the Dead: After her appearance in episode five, she's next seen in the finale where it turns out Vicious' goons got to her. She dies while talking to Spike.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": She snaps at Spike when he calls her Anastasia.
- Faster Than They Look: She's a heavyset woman who looks to be at least in her mid 40s, more likely her 50s, and thus doesn't look like someone who would be able to move quickly. It turns out that she's fast enough to chase down and catch adolescent delinquents who try to steal from her store.
- Stout Strength: Annie is large woman who can easily wrestle with and hold onto a pair of adolescent thieves who frantically try to escape her grasp.
Lin
Lin
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (JPN), Derek Stephen Prince (ENG)
An enforcer for the Red Dragons who is assigned by the Elders to protect Vicious during the deal with Gren in "Jupiter Jazz". Due to his Blind Obedience, he takes that assignment very seriously.
- Barred from the Afterlife: Spike claims this will be his fate due to dying in the service of Vicious.
- Blind Obedience: To the elders of the Red Dragon. Whatever they tell him to do, he will do, without question.
- The Dragon: For Vicious in the "Jupiter Jazz" two-parter. The Van assign him to accompany Vicious for the deal with Gren.
- Evil Counterpart: To his brother Shin. Although not actually evil, his unquestioning loyalty protects and enables Vicious, a deeply evil man. His brother has the same upbringing and experience, but chooses to make his own moral choices and when to disobey orders.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Subverted into a Senseless Sacrifice. His dutiful sacrifice protects the bad guy, who is completely unmoved by his selfless act, and will later kill the same elders that Lin was loyal to and laid down his life for.
- Honor Among Thieves: He and his brother are the most honorable members of Red Dragon who appear in the show.
- Honor Before Reason: Unfortunately, Lin is honorable to a fault. His honor causes his own death and allows Vicious to survive and carry out further atrocities.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Lin is all about Blind Obedience toward the Syndicate Elders and Honor Before Reason. Shin, by contrast, decides to do the right thing instead of simply following orders, first by warning Julia of the coming purge by the Syndicate Elders, and later he chooses to help Spike fight against Vicious. Lin and Shin also die in reflection of each other, each Taking the Bullet for one of two Arch-Enemies.
- Taking the Bullet: Throws himself in the path of a bullet meant for Vicious and dies as a result.
- We Used to Be Friends: It's implied he was once friends, and probably a subordinate or apprentice to Spike. Spike is absolutely dismayed to see him working for Vicious.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: He puts himself in between Spike and Vicious. Spike hesitates and can't bring himself to kill Lin, while Lin calmly shoots Spike with a tranquilizer gun.
Shin
Shin
Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama (JPN), Bo Williams (ENG), Emmanuel Rivas (SPN-LA)
Lin's brother. A former colleague of Spike and Vicious, and a member of Red Dragon as of the story's end. Teams up with Spike against Vicious after Vicious succeeds in overthrowing the Elders.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: His iconic scene fighting alongside Spike right before Spike's final battle.
- Badass Longcoat: Dons one in the final shootout.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In a reverse of his brother, he dies to save Spike of his own free will, rather than to follow someone else's orders. Furthermore, while Lin's sacrifice did no good besides allowing Vicious to kill more people, Shin's sacrifice allows Spike to end Vicious' reign of terror.
- Honor Among Thieves: He and his brother are the most honorable members of the Red Dragon that appear in the show.
- Last Stand: He and Spike team up to make a last stand against Vicious.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: While Lin acts on Blind Obedience to the Syndicate's Elders, Shin makes his own moral choices and sacrifices himself in entirely inverted circumstances to those surrounding his brother.
- Token Good Teammate: After the assassination of Mao, (and with it the murder of most men loyal to Mao) The Purge by the Syndicate Elders in response to Vicious' coup, and then Vicious succeeding in overthrowing the Elders after all, Shin is one of the few decent members of the Red Dragon left.
