Characters / Luca

Character page for Luca.

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The Underdogs

As a whole

Top: Giulia. Left to right: Luca and Alberto

The main protagonists; two sea monster boys and a human girl who train for the Portorosso Cup, a yearly triathlon for children. Winning the race would mean the defeat of Ercole, the local town bully who's ready to do everything to keep his champion title.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: The three are Ercole's main targets in the movie, due to Alberto and Luca being "vagrant" out-of-towners and his past rivalry with Giulia.
• Badass Driver: A bicycle variant, but still present:
  • By the time of the Portorosso Cup, Luca is a good enough biker that he can deftly swerve around his parents on a narrow street and catch up and pass Ercole on the uphill portion of the race even though Ercole is on a ten-speed and is unable to catch up with Luca. On the downhill portion, he doesn't lose control even after a detour through a person's home. He only stops when he decides to stop.
  • Giulia is no slouch on a bike either, as she's the one who taught Luca how to properly ride a bike in the first place. She gets a particularly awesome moment where she uses her bike to crash into Ercole's own, in order to stop him from killing her friends with a harpoon.
  • Ciao Alberto showcases that Alberto can drive the delivering cart just as fast as Giulia (though his actual delivery needs work).
• Brother–Sister Team: As Alberto ends up being adopted by Massimo after the Ciao Alberto short, he and Giulia count as one among the Underdogs.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Blue and Green for Luca, Purple and Yellow for Alberto, and Blue and Red for Giulia.
• Endearingly Dorky: The three of them are adorable, socially awkward pre-teens and have their shared moments of dorkiness.
• Fish out of Water: Quite literally, in Luca and Alberto's case, but Giulia also feels this way whenever she visits Portorosso during the summer.
• Freudian Trio: Alberto (Id), Giulia (Superego) and Luca (Ego).
• Friendless Background: Commonly shared among the Underdogs: Luca is (implied to be) the only sea monster child in the community where he lives, Alberto was isolated on an island where he was abandoned by his father, and Giulia, is considered a "weird kid who doesn't belong" when she comes to Portorosso. Though it's downplayed in Giulia's case since she's shown to have friends at school in Genova during the credits.
• Muggle Best Friend: Giulia. She's a human whose best friends are two sea monsters, though she isn't aware of it at first. When Luca and Alberto get exposed as sea monsters in front of the village, Giulia is quick to protect them from the Ax-Crazy Ercole.
• One of the Boys: Giulia; her only friends are two boys, and considering she's an outcast tomboy, she fits right in.
• Putting the Band Back Together: The group splits up after Alberto reveals himself to Giulia and Luca betrays him by pretending to be a scared human. They get better towards the end of the movie, however, when Luca rescues Alberto and Giulia saves them from Ercole, where they are later declared the winners of the race.
• The Smurfette Principle: Giulia is the sole girl of the group.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A one-sided example on Alberto's side; he only wants to win the race so he can buy a Vespa and get out of town with Luca. However, he cannot stand seeing Giulia and Luca grow closer, causing him to be cold and distant towards Giulia as a result. He thankfully gets better.
• Token Trio: Luca is the light-skinned lead, Alberto is the tanned sidekick and Giulia is the only girl, the only human and the tritagonist.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Luca, Alberto and Giulia, respectively.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Literally, in that case. Their team name is The Underdogs, and they end up winning the Portorosso Cup, beating Ercole and welcoming sea monsters in town in the process.
• With a Friend and a Stranger: Luca and Alberto meet each other and become friends in the movie's first arc before they head to Portorosso where they meet Giulia next. While they initially want her on their team to compete in the Portorosso Cup, Luca and Giulia end up growing closer as friends.
• Youthful Freckles: A trait they all share in common. It seems to symbolize their wide-eyed innocence and Friendless Background.

Luca Paguro

^{Click here to see his sea monster form}

Voiced by: Jacob Tremblay (English), Alberto Vannini (Italian)^note Other languages: Sebastián Albavera (Latin American Spanish), Canon Abe (Japanese)

The titular protagonist of the movie; a young curious sea monster who dreams of exploring the surface and learn more about humans and their culture.

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• Affectionate Nickname: When Luca returns to his underwater home for lunch, his grandmother calls him "Bubble". Some of his early character sketches showed that he had a fascination with bubbles. We even see him absent-mindedly blowing a few when watching over his "flock" at the beginning of the movie.
• All-Loving Hero: Luca is a genuinely good kid with love for everyone... except Ercole.
• The Atoner: In the climax of the movie, Luca attempts to make it up to Alberto following their fallout by winning the race in order to get their Vespa.
• Author Avatar: Director Enrico Casarosa based Luca's character to how he was as a child; a Shrinking Violet who got out of his shell thanks to his best friend's Alberto's influence.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Luca is the youngest of the Underdogs at age 12, and both Alberto and Giulia are protective of him.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Downplayed; a meek and kindhearted boy he may be, but there are exceptions:
  • One scene shows Luca to be quite good at Trash Talk when he refers to Ercole as looking like a catfish because he's a bottom feeder with "two sad little whiskers".
  • Although terrified as he did so, Luca also isn’t above pointing a harpoon at Ercole when the latter escalates his bullying to physical harm against Alberto.
  • When Alberto intentionally reveals his true self to Giulia to try and prove a point to Luca, Luca pretends to be just as scared as Giulia, protecting his own secret while distancing himself from Alberto.
• Big Anime Eyes: His character design features the largest eyes of any character in the cast. This is to emphasize his wide-eyed wonder at the world and his curiosity about learning how it works.
• Borrowed Catchphrase:
  • He gets the phrase "Silenzio Bruno!" from Alberto whenever he wants to face his fears.
  • When he reaches the downhill with Giulia's bicycle, he borrows "Santa Mozzarella!" from her. It indicates how much he and Giulia bonded over the days.
• Blue Is Heroic: His sea monster form is mostly green with blue shades and has blue fins overall. When in human form, he sports a white and blue plaid shirt with matching blue shorts.
• Brainy Brunette: Male example. As a human, Luca's head scales turn into chocolate brown hair, and he's shown to be a fast learner: he manages to make blueprints of a Vespa that he ends up building with Alberto (despite barely grasping the concept of a human scooter), and adheres faster to human culture than Alberto does (knowing "stupido" isn't a friendly greeting, but an insult).
• Butt-Monkey: Let's see: Luca has his ear pinched by a crab, gets pranked by Alberto during their first meeting, is dragged on land where he trips multiple times by foot and by bicycle, and gets attacked twice by Machiavelli. He slowly grows out of it the more he gets accustomed to the surface.
• Character Development: He gradually becomes bolder and more outgoing as the movie progresses.
• Character Tics: He brings his fists to his face whenever he's shy, scared or excited.
• Cheerful Child: In spite of his shyness, Luca is your average curious child who dreams of going on adventures. Meeting Alberto helps him come out of his shell.
• Childish Villain, Mature Hero: The Mature Hero to Ercole's Childish Villain. He's a sweet and polite Adorably Precocious Child, while Ercole is a bratty and cruel Psychopathic Manchild.
• Children Are Innocent: He and Alberto hear the phrase "What's wrong with you, stupido?" and he sees Alberto get away with using it as a acceptable greeting. However, when he first uses it on the Aragosta sisters it earns him a purse smack on the head. (At that point he seems to get it as he later prevents Alberto from saying it to Massimo).
• Commonality Connection: He connects with Giulia over a shared love of learning.
• Constantly Curious: From the beginning of the film he is shown to be curious about the world around him and desires to learn everything he can about it. It especially shows when Giulia teaches him about astronomy.
• Curtains Match the Window: His human form has brown hair and eyes to match.
• Cute Monster Boy: He's definitely adorable in and out of monster form.
• The Cutie: A very sweet, polite boy who is timid but well-meaning, constantly curious about the world outside of the ocean, a very vivid and imaginative dreamer, and is somewhat clumsy for good measure.
• Ear Ache: One of his father's pet crabs pinches his ear fin at the beginning of the movie.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Seems to genuinely want to be friends with everyone, but hates Ercole for being a jerk bully.
• Fingore: A downplayed example; Alberto bites his fingers during their argument at the beach, but not hard enough to draw blood (it is still a Pixar movie, after all).
• First Friend: Luca and Alberto are this to each other. As Alberto begins to bond with Massimo while fishing, Luca has no problem with this growth as he is bonding with Giulia over their love of learning.
• The Kirk: He's sensitive and empathetic while simultaneously being intelligent and down-to-earth.
• Living Emotional Crutch: To Alberto, although it isn't initially obvious. Alberto's relationship with Luca is how Alberto begins to work through his trauma at being abandoned by his father, resulting in Alberto depending on Luca's attention and admiration to feel valued and important—to the extent that Luca making other friends almost ruins his and Alberto's friendship. By the end of the film Alberto and Luca have grown out of this dynamic, with Alberto encouraging Luca to take the space he needs to grow by going to school in Genova, and Alberto himself transferring his dependency on feeling "needed" to Massimo, an adult and willing Parental Substitute much better equipped to be Alberto's primary support as he recovers.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Luca is a Shrinking Violet to Giulia's Fiery Redhead.
• Meaningful Name: His last name, Paguro, means "hermit crab" in Italian, which highlights his connection to the ocean as a sea monster and his shy nature.
• Mr. Imagination: He's prone to daydreaming and frequently has Imagine Spots throughout the film, whether they're about running on the rings of Saturn or riding through a field of sentient Vespas.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He immediately regrets throwing Alberto under the bus when he reveals himself as a sea monster to Giulia, when Ercole and his cronies catch up to them and almost kill Alberto by throwing their harpoons at him.
• Nice Guy: There's hardly a mean bone in his little body. His Establishing Character Moment is him politely greeting his neighbors when he tries to round up his family's school of goatfish. He even calls Alberto "sir" in their first meeting despite being roughly the same age.
• Only Sane Man: He is this to his friends Giulia and Alberto, both being over-the-top Large Hams.
• Positive Friend Influence: He gets Alberto to open up socially to others around him. Although it isn't initially obvious, by simply getting Alberto to leave his island, Luca gives Alberto the opportunity to let go of his unrealistic hope that his father would return someday and allows Alberto to start moving on with his own life. Luca's diverging dreams also enable Alberto to confront his abandonment issues. Through his relationship with Luca, Alberto learns how to let go of people and still be okay.
• Protectorate: To both Alberto and Giulia, though he grows out of it. Being his first friend and first company since his father abandoned him, Alberto grows protective of him and is often seen shielding him with his arm, or delivering a bunch of death glares to Ercole, whenever he tries to mess with him. Similarly, Giulia becomes invested in showing him more of the world and defends him from dangers both real and perceived. Luca takes his cues on how to interact with new experiences and dangers from both of them, sometimes to a fault. At the end of the film Luca even flips the script by taking charge of facing his own dangers using the skills his two friends have taught him and even saving Alberto from Ercole.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: A rare averted example. Luca has red eyes in his sea monster form, however he's a sweet, polite Shrinking Violet who wouldn't hurt a fly.
• The Runaway: He runs (or rather, swims) away from home when his parents (mostly his mother) plan on sending him to the deep to live with his uncle to stop him from going to the surface again.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The timid and cautious Sensitive Guy to Alberto's Manly Man.
• Shrinking Violet: In contrast to the more outgoing Alberto and Giulia, Luca is timid and hesitant no matter how much he wants to try new things. He gradually overcomes this during the film.
• Significant Birth Date: Enrico Casarosa stated on Twitter that Luca's birthday is November 20th; his own birthday (Luca is Enrico's childhood Author Avatar).
• The Smart Guy: He was sheltered by human standards, but once exposed to the surface world he's a fast learner who is very good at adapting and coming up with creative solutions quickly which is helped by his constant curiosity and willingness to ask questions. Despite Alberto having a longer exposure with humans, Luca is quicker at figuring out their social morays and how their technology works. For example:
  • When the boys draw "blueprints" for their handmade vehicles, Alberto's are just doodles of cool features he'd like while Luca's feature actual structural planning.
  • Luca picks up that "What's wrong with you, stupido?" is not an acceptable greeting after the negative reaction from the Aragosta sisters and quickly intervenes when Alberto begins to use it to address Massimo.
  • Luca gets the idea to complete the swimming portion of the race using the human outfit he'd briefly seen Alberto wearing when they first met, which he realizes is a dive suit.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Above or below water Luca's features strongly favor his mother, sharing her large eyes, hair, Blush Stickers, and general coloring, however his sea form is a tad greener than hers in certain lighting, which is something he probably gets from his father. The three major visual differences between Luca and his parents are his face shape and nose, which are rounder and smaller respectively, and his frame, which is far thinner than the rest of his family. He may get his face shape from his grandmother, who also lacks the large muzzle possessed by the rest of the family and who has a very similar nose to Luca in human form.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Luca starts the story as a shy, meek boy who is afraid to even stick his head out of the water for fear of being seen by "land monsters." By the climax, Luca willingly reveals himself as a sea monster in full view of everyone in Portorosso in order to save his friend.
  • At the beginning of the second act, Luca bikes so slowly that old men beat him up hills on foot, and he's incapable of biking on the downhill without crashing. By the race five days later, Luca not only outpaces Ercole on the uphill in spite of riding a far worse bike, but masterfully navigates the downhill portion at high speeds while dodging other racers and Ercole's harpoons.
• The Unmasking: During the Portorosso Cup, Luca reveals himself as a sea monster in front of the entire town in order to save Alberto from Ercole.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He calls out Alberto during the climax of the movie for crashing Giulia's bike into the sea, being a Know-Nothing Know-It-All and gaslighting him by calling him crazy when Luca sees his parents in town.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Alberto sadly says his father and Luca are better without him and he's just a "kid who ruins everything", Luca tells him it's just a voice in his head and starts comforting him in spite of Alberto telling him to leave.
• Youthful Freckles: In both forms. On land they're brown and quite small but numerous; in the sea they're blue and are fewer but larger.

Alberto Scorfano

^{Click here to see his sea monster form}

Voiced by: Jack Dylan Grazer (English), Luca Tesei (Italian)^note Other languages: Iván Bastidas (Latin American Spanish), Yuto Ikeda (Japanese)

A young sea monster who has some experience being on the surface.

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• Anime Hair: He has a very poofy mass of curly hair. When in monster form, they turn into a large bundle of purple scales, but the Beehive Hairdo shape is still prominent.
• Artful Dodger: At least that's how he started at the beginning of the movie. He was able to take care of himself for quite a while without parents. Bonus points for the snarky comments and overconfident attitude. At the same time, he is not as street smart as he claims to be. Over the course of the film, however, his true feelings show, and is more insecure than one might think.
• Beneath the Mask: He's cocky, mischievous, and sarcastic, however, he hides a deeply insecure side under his mask of confidence since his father abandoned him for unknown reasons.
• Beehive Hairdo: His head fins has that shape when he's a sea monster.
• Big Brother Instinct: Alberto is willing to protect Luca from anyone who try to hurt him, especially Ercole. Even if that involves publicly revealing that he is a sea monster.
• Big Eater: He identifies himself as this, taking on the pasta-eating portion of the Portorossa Cup for his team as a result. It's Played for Drama once you realize Alberto has been left to survive on his own as a 12-ish year old, and had to eat what he could put his hands on which explains his skinny stature.
• Blade Enthusiast: Played for Laughs when he excitedly asks Massimo which of his many knives he gets to have on their first fishing trip. Massimo flatly answers he doesn't. In the end credits, he offers Alberto his first fishing knife for his birthday.
• Buffy Speak: Due to not knowing everything about the human world (but claiming otherwise), Alberto has a funny way of referring to things, from calling a record player "the magic singing lady machine" to saying Luca "un-broke it" when he fixes said record player.
  Alberto: [realizes it rained during the night] Ah! The sky's been leaking!
• Bully Hunter: Downplayed. He gets more sassy than violent towards Ercole, but it usually ends up bringing him into trouble.
• Catchphrase:
  • Screams "Andiamo!" (Italian for "let's go!") whenever excited or determined about something.
  • He teaches Luca about the phrase "Silenzio Bruno!", a sentence he tells whenever he's scared to do something (or to defy his voice of reason most of the time).
• Character Development: When he and Luca first meet Giulia, Alberto is very distrustful at first and grows jealous when Luca and her become closer friends. He goes as far as brushing off the idea of Luca attending school with Giulia because he wants Luca for himself. Towards the end of the movie, however, Alberto actually becomes the one who convinced Luca's parents to let him go to attend school to Genova because he knew how much it meant to Luca.
• Character Tics:
  • He tends to bite his lip, mostly when stunned or excited about something.
  • He will also run his hands across his face whenever exasperated or impatient.
• Children Are Innocent: He and Luca hear the phrase "What's wrong with you, stupido?" and he thinks it is an acceptable greeting. When he first uses it on two Portorosso fishermen, he is lucky enough to get away with it as they are just puzzled at what he said.
• Collector of the Strange: He loves collecting human-made objects from the surface, even if he has no idea how most of them work (despite acting otherwise).
• Cute Monster Boy: Just like Luca, his monster form is just as adorable as his human form.
• A Day in the Limelight: Alberto is the sole protagonist of the Ciao Alberto short film, which is about his life in Portorosso after Luca and Giulia attend school in Genova.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He's barely 14 years old, and he has been fending for himself since he was abandoned by his own father.
• Deadpan Snarker: Contrary to the more soft-spoken Luca, Alberto has no qualms speaking his mind and doesn't consider mincing his words. See his reaction when he sees Luca go back in forth when he hesitates to go to the surface:
  Alberto: [incredibly deadpan] Wow. That was hard to watch.
• Death Glare: Masters these throughout the movie, mainly aimed at Ercole and Giulia (due to his growing jealousy of her friendship with Luca).
• Defrosting Ice King: He's initially snarky and sometimes downright rude to Giulia due to his jealousy over Luca's attention, but grows fond of her towards the end of the movie.
• Deuteragonist: He's the main focus of the movie after Luca.
• Didn't See That Coming: Did not expect Luca turning against him, and his sea monster identity as a result, when Alberto reveals himself to Giulia at the beach.
• Dramatic Irony: Alberto's abandonment issues cause him to fear losing Luca, so when he reveals his sea monster form to Giulia, he does so with the motivation of convincing Luca that he can't go to school because of humanity's fear of sea monsters. Instead, Luca pretends to be a scared human to preserve Giulia's image of him, something which Alberto never could have predicted, and, rather than bring Luca closer to him as intended, this only served to damage their relationship even further and lead to their Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure. Thankfully, things get better.
• Dreary Half-Lidded Eyes: He has a mellow and confident nothing-to-lose attitude, and just about always has his eyes half closed to match.
• Driven to Suicide: Implied in the climax during his Heroic BSoD; when Ercole and his lackeys throw harpoons at him, Alberto is so shocked by Luca's betrayal that he doesn't even move to dodge them. Thankfully, he gets better thanks to Luca afterwards.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • He's the first sea monster seen in the prologue, to show how the fishermen (and most villagers of Portorosso) are scared of myths about sea monsters, which are revealed to be more than simple stories. He can also be seen stealing objects from their boat, hinting at his fascination of the human world.
  • His first speaking scene is when he pranks Luca during their first meeting by putting on a diving suit, indicating his prankster and fun nature.
• Elemental Motifs: Alberto appears to be associated with fire, while ironically being from the ocean, which fits with his Hot-Blooded tendencies. He bonds with Luca around a campfire at his tower, and it's around the same, weakening fire that Alberto sadly explains how his own dad abandoned him. It's made more prominent in Ciao Alberto when Alberto's insecurities in disappointing Massimo results in the latter's boat catching fire when he accidentally breaks a lantern while trying to catch more fish for him.
• Entitled to Have You: A friendship variant. When Luca and Giulia grow closer as friends, Alberto starts growing incredibly possessive of Luca while becoming incredibly rude to Giulia. He's so desperate to keep his friend due to the fear of being abandoned again, that he attempts to gaslight Luca into dismissing Giulia's claims and follow his lead. It eventually result in an enormous fight where Luca calls him out on being a Know-Nothing Know-It-All and Alberto revealing himself to Giulia to prove humans won't accept them. It results in Luca turning against him and a serious blow in their relationship.
• Fatal Flaw: Envy. His insecurities caused by his father's abandonment ends up almost costing his friendship with Luca when he grows incredibly jealous of his friendship with Giulia to the point of risking his life when revealing his sea monster status to her. Sure enough, he didn't expect Luca siding against him to protect his own identity and is almost killed by Ercole and his minions as a result.
• First Friend: Luca and Alberto are this to each other. As Luca begins to bond with Giulia, this triggers New Friend Envy in Alberto due to his abandonment issues.
• Free-Range Children: He says that his father isn't around a lot so he has the freedom to do whatever he wants. It's actually revealed he abandoned him and Alberto was left to fend for himself.
• Friendless Background: Not surprising, given that Alberto was living completely alone on his island for at least a year until he met Luca.
• Friend to All Children:
  • The end credits of Luca, show several moments of Alberto playing with and hanging out with children in Portorosso who appear much younger than him.
  • The Ciao Alberto short shows Alberto giving rides to young kids on Giulia's delivery bike and playing soccer with them.
• Freudian Excuse: His cold treatment of Giulia due to his jealousy over Luca's attention is explained by his father leaving him to fend for himself on an island. Alberto is simply terrified of ending up alone, but he lets his fears get the better of his judgement.
• Gaslighting: Tells Luca that his parents aren't coming to town to get him, right after Luca saw them in town. It happens not once, but twice. He outright says that being in town is making Luca crazy the second time, and pairs it with invalidating Luca's other concerns and objections as "just Bruno talking." He doesn't seem to realize this toxic trait of his, when you remember that his father never came back for him and expected Luca's parents to be similar.
• Get Out!: Screams this multiple times to Luca after their fallout when Luca has followed him to his island.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Along with having literal green eyes, Alberto grows envious of Giulia and Luca's growing friendship to the point where he deliberately outs himself as a sea monster to prove that Giulia will not accept them.
• Happily Adopted: Alberto is officially taken in by Massimo not only as an employee, but as his adoptive son in the credits of CiaoAlberto, which shows Alberto referring to Massimo as his "dad" on a picture of them.
• Hates Being Alone: His father abandoned him and Alberto had to survive on his own for a YEAR at the least until Luca showed up. When Luca and Giulia connect over their shared love of learning, Alberto is clearly jealous out of insecurity Luca is gonna leave him and he'll be left friendless again.
• Heroic BSoD: After Luca turns on him at the beach to hide his identity from Giulia, Alberto is so shocked and heartbroken that he doesn't even flinch or try to dodge the harpoons Ercole is throwing at him. He later calls himself a "kid who ruins everything" and even states he and Luca shouldn't have become friends in the first place. Thankfully, he grows out of it.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: After Alberto explains his father left him, he murmurs in a broken tone that his father and even Luca are better without him, and that he's just "the kid who ruins everything". Luca is quick to tell him that it's not true.
• Hero-Worshipper: Alberto greatly looks up to Massimo, whom he refers to as "the best fisherman in the world".
• Hypocrite: When Giualia offers Luca advice on how to get down the hill, Alberto butts in to point out how bossy he thinks she's being. Not only was Giulia being nice and NOT remotely close to being bossy, Alberto's claim is then immediately undercut by him taking control of the handles of Luca's bike himself and driving off down the hill despite both Giulia and Luca's complaints.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: He lives in an old tower, and we learn that he was abandoned by his father a long time ago for some reason. When he meets Luca, he's so eager to make and maintain a friendship with him that he doesn't know how to deal with the jealous feelings he has when Luca and Giulia start to bond over their love of learning.
• Informed Attribute: Downplayed. Apart from a few inches' difference in height, Alberto's physique is near-indistinguishable from Luca's, however he's referred to as "the big, strong one" by Massimo. We never see Alberto doing any feats of strength but Massimo specifically picks him to help with the nets so he must have seen something in Alberto when he took him and Luca out fishing the previous day.
• Interspecies Adoption: A juvenile sea monster eventually adopted by Massimo, a human fisherman.
• Ironic Name: His last name can mean "redfish", whereas he's blue and purple in his sea monster form.
• Jerkass to One: Alberto is generally a sweet kid, but he can be mean and cold towards Giulia since he fears she might steal his friend from him. He grows out of it after his Character Development.
• Keet: He's loud, cheerful, and reckless, in contrast to the shyer and meeker Luca.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Alberto's first scene is in the movie's prologue where he discretely steals objects from the boat of two fishermen to add them to his collection.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: He claims to know a lot about human culture and life on the surface, but as shown throughout the movie, said knowledge ends up being somewhat limited and naive. His challenge is that when confronting a situation that exhausts his knowledge, he'll make something up rather than admit he doesn't know. Luca actually calls him out on this later on. Part of his character growth is learning to be more honest about this.
• Large Ham: To a degree, but all of his loud one-liners qualify.
• Leave Me Alone!: Doesn't say this verbatim, but he urges Luca to go away when the latter tries to apologize for his ultimate betrayal.
• Limited Wardrobe: While this is justifiable, Alberto only wears his signature yellow outfit in almost every scene, even in Ciao Alberto.
• Literal-Minded: Showcases he doesn't know as much as he claims about the human world:
  Giulia: We underdogs have to look out for each other.
  Alberto: What's under the dogs?
• Made of Iron: Alberto regularly jumps off the tower he lives in and goes careening down the hill in homemade contraptions, never suffering any apparent injuries when he hits the ground.
• Man Bites Man: Or rather, monster bites monster. During their argument at the beach, Alberto bites Luca's fingers.
• Mask of Confidence: He's way more outgoing than Luca and acts like he knows everything, however he hides his pain of his father abandoning him and shows himself to be just a kid who's terrified of ending up alone.
• The McCoy: Alberto is the impulsive and emotional type compared to Luca and Giulia.
• Meaningful Name: His last name, Scorfano, is Italian for "redfish" or "scorpion fish" following the trend that the sea monsters have the last name of a sea creature.
• Minor Living Alone: When Alberto brings Luca to his hideout on the island, he mentions his father isn't around much and he does whatever he wants there. Later in the film, it's actually revealed that his father straight up abandoned him for no apparent reason.
• Mirror Character: With Daniela, though it isn't obvious at first. Both are strong, dominant personalities that mean well for Luca, but put their own fears over supporting him when his dreams differ from their plans for him. They even both attempt to use exposure as a means to return him to them. Both instigate conflicts for Luca in his character arc of becoming more assertive and determining his own life. Meaningfully, once Alberto overcomes his own fears, he's the one to convince Daniela to let Luca go attend school in Genova alongside Giulia.
• Missing Mom: We never hear anything about Alberto's mother (or any other relatives, for that matter).
• Mouthy Kid: His main mean of defense against local bully Ercole is his snark, which earns him a punch in the stomach.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In the short film, Alberto immediately panics when he realizes he broke a lantern and set fire to Massimo's boat. He can't even speak a proper apology to Massimo and walks away in shame.
• New Friend Envy: As Luca starts to bond with Giulia over their shared love of learning, Alberto doesn't know how to deal with his feelings of jealousy and grows possessive of Luca.
• No, You: During their argument, Alberto says sea monsters can't go to school, to which Luca retorts that he's just afraid he can't do it.
  Alberto: [offended scoff] I'm not afraid. You're the one that's afraid! [shoves Luca]
• Parental Abandonment: We have no idea of his mother's whereabouts, and his father for reasons that will always remain a mystery, was revealed to have abandoned him a long time ago.
• Positive Friend Influence: Alberto exposes Luca to the many wonders of the surface world and encourages Luca not to let fear rule his life choices. Alberto teaches Luca to shout "Silencio Bruno" whenever fearful thoughts begin to paralyze his decision making.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: He gives a frightened, big-eyed silent plea to Massimo after he and Luca get exposed as sea monsters in front of the entire town (fearing his reaction since he is a sea monster hunter). It causes Massimo to take their side and declare him and Luca the winners of the race.
  • He even shows these when Luca betrays him on the beach.
• The Runaway:
  • Invokes this to Giulia when she asks where he and Luca are from. While he's right about Luca being a runaway, it's eventually revealed Alberto lied and was abandoned by his father a long time ago.
  • Played straight in Ciao Alberto when Alberto attempts to run away from Massimo's home after his many mistakes lead to the boat catching fire. Massimo thankfully catches up to him and talks him out of it.
• Sad Clown: Acts carefree and boisterous when he first meets Luca, but it's later revealed he's just a lonely kid who was abandoned by his dad and yearns for a friend.
• Scars Are Forever: He has a small scar on his left arm. The director confirmed it came from Giacomo's harpoon in the movie's prologue.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The adventurous and reckless Manly Man to Luca's Sensitive Guy.
• Stepford Smiler: For a kid that was abandoned by his father for a year and a half at the least, he seems pretty cheerful when he meets Luca. Towards the climax of the movie, we learn it's only a mask.
• Stepford Snarker: When Luca meets Alberto, he shows himself as a no-nonsense, overly confident kid with witty one-liners. However, Alberto has huge abandonment issues after his father left him, and hides behind a Mask of Confidence in front of others to hide his pain.
• Tantrum Throwing: An offscreen example, but after Luca betrays him at the beach, a heartbroken Alberto goes back to his tower and trashes his entire human object collection, even tearing he picture he drew of him and Luca on their Vespa. Luca gazes upon the destruction in shock after he follows Alberto to his island.
• Third Wheel: An interesting self-imposed version. Neither Luca nor Giulia consider themselves a couple but feel that all three of them are training to win the Portorosso cup together. As Luca and Giulia bond over their shared interest in learning, Alberto doesn't know how to deal with his jealous feelings and becomes more sulking than participating.
• Thrill Seeker: Not only is he bold enough to approach human boats despite the dangers of being harpooned to steal their stuff, he loves the adrenaline he gets from rolling down the hill with his makeshift bicycles with Luca, even if he badly falls a couple times, he laughs it out at the fun part of it.
• Troubled Teen: He's a troublemaker kid with abandonment issues, but he's got a good heart.
• The Unmasking: He reveals himself as a sea monster to Giulia as an attempt to keep Luca to himself. However, it leads to Luca siding against him and throwing him under the bus.
• Visual Pun: He's a sea monster with green eyes and jealousy as his Fatal Flaw: he's a Green-Eyed Monster.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Alberto's goal throughout Ciao Alberto, as he has been taken in by Massimo as an "employee", is to make him proud. However, the climax of the short reveals that when Alberto says "employee", he actually means "son", as he considers Massimo a father figure.
  Alberto: I'm gonna be the perfect employee! And I'll make Massimo proud!
• Whole Costume Reference: Enrico Casarosa has said he grew up watching the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Alberto's signature outfit appears to have been inspired by that of Conan from Future Boy Conan.
• Yellow/Purple Contrast: He's purple in his sea monster form, which juxtaposes with his yellow clothing.
• Youthful Freckles: He's an energetic, loud, and goofy kid, and his freckles emphasize his youth and recklessness.

Giulia Marcovaldo

Voiced by: Emma Berman (English), Sara Ciocca (Italian)^note Other languages: Gigi Jaquim (Latin American Spanish), Koko Fukushima (Japanese), Beatriz Singer (Brazilian Portuguese)

A young girl who befriends Luca and Alberto. She lives with her father in Portorosso during the summer, and with her mother in Genova during the rest of the year.

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• Academic Athlete: She puts a lot of training into the triathlon, but also has a keen interest in astronomy. One scene also shows her reading a book on zoology alongside Luca.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: At one point, she ruffles Alberto's hair. Alberto doesn't appreciate the gesture, due to his growing jealousy over Giulia and Luca's friendship.
• Affectionate Nickname: Her father sometimes calls her "Giulietta" (Italian for "Juliette").
• Agent Scully: Giulia is probably the only child in the village as a whole who doesn't believe in sea monsters (or at least doesn't pretend to, as she puts it). When a photo of Alberto (as a sea monster) diving is seen in the local newspaper, she is quick to call it a fake to her father.
• All the Other Reindeer: She tells Luca that she only comes to Portorosso for the summer and everyone thinks she's "just the weird kid who doesn't belong". She admits that she'd love to win the Cup so she can stand up in front of everyone and say "Told you I'd win!".
• Anger Born of Worry: When she learns that Luca is also a sea monster, she's frustrated that Luca and Alberto would come to Portorosso, a city that hunts sea monsters just for a Vespa. When she learns why they came here from Luca, she calms down but still urges Luca to leave for his safety.
• Badass Adorable: She is cute as a button but when it comes to taking Ercole down once and for all for tormenting her all these years, she holds nothing back and risks her life by ramming her bike into Ercole to prevent him from killing her friends.
• Badass Bookworm: She is passionate about learning, as seen by the many books she owns, and she also has no qualms ramming her bike into Ercole's to protect her friends.
• Beware the Silly Ones: She's proven to be protective of her friends and defensive despite her wacky nature.
• Big Sister Instinct: To Luca. When Alberto exposes himself as a sea monster, Giulia almost immediately moves to protect Luca with a stick, despite her own terror. And in the climax, she rams into a spear-wielding Ercole with her bike to keep him from attacking Luca and Alberto.
• Blue Is Heroic: Her iconic hat is blue, and she frequently wears blue jeans when running around town. Her outfit in her final scene is a blue shirt and matching skirt.
• Bully Hunter: Downplayed. She doesn't get physically violent over it, but she hates Ercole for being a jerkass bully, and always mouths him off whenever he insults her or her friends. Her Establishing Character Moment is pulling a Big Damn Heroes to stop Ercole from putting Luca's head in the fountain. Although when he goes as far as trying to kill Alberto and Luca, she slams her bike into his to stop him, putting her own safety at risk to make sure her friends are safe.
• Commonality Connection: She connects with Luca over a shared love of learning, especially astronomy.
• Compressed Hair: Is able to fit her abundance of red curls under a bathing cap for the swimming portion of the Cup.
• Cute Bookworm: She has many books in her room and has a love of learning that she shares with Luca.
• The Cutie: Very bubbly and cheerful, noble and brave, an avid reader with desire to learn, and is ecstatic when she finally makes friends in Portorosso.
• Daddy's Girl: Even if Giulia only lives with her father during the summer, she and Massimo have a close bond and she hates upsetting him. She is also very enthusiastic about helping his business by doing the delivery.
• Determinator: Even with an upset stomach after eating too much pasta, she tries to persevere through the bike run even if she is falling behind from Ercole.
• The Dog Bites Back: She finally gets back at Ercole's years of bullying by crashing their bikes together to save Luca and Alberto, which also costs him his sixth victory at the race.
• Embarrassing Nickname: During the previous year's race, she threw up so badly she was forced to quit the race. Ercole makes sure to torment her with the nickname "Spewlia" from then on.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Giulia absolutely despises local bully Ercole, whom she considers her Arch-Enemy and yearns for his downfall. Other than that, she's sweet and friendly towards anyone else.
• Fiery Redhead: Outspoken, outgoing, and a head full of red hair (which she gets from her mom).
• Friendless Background: Downplayed. Because she stands against Ercole's bullying of the local children, no one wants to befriend her for fear of attracting Ercole's unwanted attention. Although she is shown having friends at school back in Genova, it's also clear that while at Portorosso for the summer, she is lonely and spends most of her time helping her father and training for the Portorosso Cup. That is, until she meets Luca and Alberto.
• Genki Girl: She's quite enthusiastic and eccentric.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Non-lethal example. She gives up her chance to win the race when she rams her bike into Ercole to prevent him from killing Luca and Alberto.
  • It ends up paying however as technically speaking, the Underdogs were still registred for the race together and since Luca and Alberto crossed the finish line, Giulia won alongside them and they finally broke Ercole's "evil empire of injustice" once and for all.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: One of the reasons she wants to win the Portorosso Cup against Ercole so bad; she has difficulty making friends and is one of Ercole's favorite targets, and since she's the only one who doesn't let him push her around, no one dares to befriend her out of fear of Ercole. In her eyes, winning the cup would mean the end of Ercole's reign of terror.
• I Work Alone: When Alberto tells Giulia he and Luca are joining her team, she states that she races alone... right before the wheel of her cart gets stuck in a crook of the roadway and she requires help from them both to get it free.
• Large Ham: If all her speeches to take down Ercole's "evil empire of injustice" doesn't fit the bill, her over-the-top Italian rants while practicing for the race will.
• Little Miss Badass: In the climax, Giulia selflessly crashes her bike into Ercole's to stop him from killing her friends, which could've gotten her killed considering the downhill speed she was traveling and is thrown violently from her bike.
• Little Miss Snarker: Whenever Ercole is mouthing off, Giulia snaps back.
• Loners Are Freaks: She doesn't have a single friend in Portorosso and is considered the "weird kid who doesn't belong". Since she's the only one who stands up to Ercole, it's likely the other kids don't even consider befriending her because they're too scared of him.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase: Her version of "holy cow" is that she exclaims "santa..." (ie "holy/sacred") followed by a type of Italian cheese, such as "santa mozzarella!" or "santa ricotta!".
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A platonic version. Sharing her passion of astronomy with Luca pushes him to want to go to school.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Giulia is a Fiery Redhead to Luca's Shrinking Violet.
• Meaningful Name: Her last name, Marcovaldo, means "one who is strong in defending the border or its land". She is the only child in Portorosso who not only stands up to Ercole, but vows to take him down and stop his reign of terror over the children.
• Mood-Swinger: She can go from doing an angry rant about Ercole being a jerk to kindly saying underdogs have to look out for each other.
• Never Bareheaded: She's always got her head covered. Usually it's her blue beanie but she also wears a bathing cap while swimming.
• Nice Girl: She may have a bit of a fiery temper, but she doesn't have a single mean bone in her body. She immediately bonds with Luca, and protects her friends when they are outed as sea monsters to the village.
• No-Respect Guy: A distaff example. She doesn't have friends in Portorosso. Because she's the only kid that doesn't let Ercole walk over her, it's very likely Ercole pressures the other kids to treat her as an outcast.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: She threw up midway through the cycling event in the previous year's Portorosso Cup, and everyone still remembers it. Ercole calls her "Spewlia" because of it and the local priest even prepares for a repeat performance, which almost happened but it was thankfully averted.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: She hates Ercole with a passion, and she declares herself the only one allowed to take him down when Luca and Alberto talk about getting registered in the Portorosso Cup.
• Passionate Sports Girl: She's determined to win the Portorosso Cup, which is a triathletic yearly event, and constantly trains for it all summer.
• Redheads Are Uncool: Downplayed. She's the only redheaded child in Portorosso, but is generally considered "uncool" because Ercole is the town bully and to befriend Giulia would draw his unwanted attention.
• Soapbox Sadie: She's very smart for her age due to her love of knowledge and considers Ercole a dictator to take down, and is the only one bold enough to not let him walk over her.
• Strong Family Resemblance: We see in the credits that Giulia is basically a mini version of her mom in terms of their looks.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She's a feisty and passionate young girl who excels at cycling and swimming, but she also wear dresses and owns plushed toys.
• Token Human: She's the only human in her friend group of sea monsters.
• Tritagonist: The third focus of the movie, with her desire of winning the race against Ercole and her developing friendship with Luca and Alberto.
• True Blue Femininity: In the ending, she trades her pants and striped shirt for a blue shirt and skirt.
• Tsundere: Type B. Giulia is a sweet and polite young girl, but she has a fiery and Hot-Blooded side and is easily provoked.
• Whole Costume Reference: Enrico Casarosa has said he grew up watching the works of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Giulia's red-striped shirt and rolled up jeans seems to be an homage to Tombo from Kiki's Delivery Service.
• Women Are Wiser: Due to being a human girl raised on land, she knows way more about the surface than Alberto. She's also down-to-earth, in more ways than one, and is far less impulsive than Alberto. It causes Luca to turn to her for facts about the surface rather than Alberto, which sparks his jealousy over their friendship.
• Unknown Rival: She doesn't seem to realize Alberto is growing jealous of her for bonding with Luca, and clearly considers him her friend. When she ruffles his hair and Alberto snarls at her, she gives him a puzzled look.
• Youthful Freckles: Has a face full of them which is understandable given that she's a red-haired child fully exposed to the summer sun of the Italian Riviera.

Portorosso Habitants

Ercole Visconti

Voiced by: Saverio Raimondo (English and Italian)^note Other languages: Moisés Iván Mora (Latin American Spanish), Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese)

A teenage snob who bullies Luca, Alberto, and Giulia.

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• '60s Hair: His hair is styled into a modest pompadour popularized by artists like Elvis Presley, hinting at the possible decade the movie takes place in.
• The Ace: Played with. He's won the Portorosso Cup for five years in a row, and while he may have been a dedicated athlete in those earlier races, we see that he has others do the swimming and eating challenges while he focuses on being the biker. Even then he's bigger and older than the other kids plus he's riding a 10-speed bike while the other children ride normal ones. However, he is unable to catch up with Luca when he passes him on the uphill portion of the race, so it's questionable how much of an Ace he still is.
• Agent Peacock: He's an effeminate narcissist who's obsessed with his appearance and his favorite pink sweater, but he's also a vicious bully who's not afraid of using violence to get to his ends. He's also perfectly able to stand up on a moving bicycle without looking where he's going without losing balance.
• All There in the Manual: The novelization reveals Ercole doesn't know how to swim, which puts another light on scenes where he recklessly tries to ram his boat into Luca and Alberto's, and when Ciccio and Guido throw him in the fountain.
• Alpha Bitch: A male example. All the kids in Portorosso are afraid of him, and he constantly bullies everyone to boost his own ego.
• Ambiguously Gay: Ercole wears pink, Screams Like a Little Girl and is very much effeminate. Whether he's Camp Gay or Camp Straight is yet to be defined since he shows interest in no one but himself.
• Animal Motif: The catfish. Not only because visually he has two sad little whiskers trying hard to be a mustache, but Ercole is also "catfishing" in the sense of being a legal adult taking part in a race for children in order to keep his unbroken string of being the Portorosso Cup Champion.
• Attention Whore: When Ercole first enters the town plaza, he is quite vocal about it, practically expecting a parade everywhere he goes. When Luca is doing his bike training and gets encouraged by local kids, Ercole yells at them for cheering Luca instead of him.
• Ax-Crazy: Ercole is not shy to use violence, but it goes to an extreme level in the climax where he attempts to murder Luca and Alberto with a harpoon because he sees them as nothing more than sea monsters.
• Badass Biker: He rides a Vespa, and is a good biker, showcasing not only speed during the Portorosso Cup but also is able to stand on his bike without falling (until Giulia crash their bicycles together).
• Bad Boss: He's not very nice to Ciccio and Guido. If he's not smacking them around for making a mistake, he'll make one of them slap the other.
• Barbaric Bully: Ercole is always shown as The Bully to the children of the town with his taunts, condescending nature, and slapping around his unfortunate lackeys. But his cruel side is revealed when tries to force Luca's face into the fountain, tries to ram his motorboat into Giulia's, and when he has his lackeys pin Alberto so he can punch him in the stomach.
• Bitch Alert: A male example. The sound of his incredibly noisy Vespa signals the townspeople of his presence, much to their annoyance. Of course, Ercole only sees the attention it attracts him, regardless of what they actually think of him.
• Can't Take Criticism: As a narcissistic Jerkass, he blows off Giulia's rants against him as boring and repetitive. However, when Luca zings him with the catfish comparison which insults his "two sad little whiskers" in front of a crowd, Ercole takes Luca aside and promises that "I'll make it my mission to destroy you". Which, sadly he does as this leads to the boat ramming incident, the nighttime attack at the Vespa shop, and the race itself.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Amusingly, Ercole's attempts to cheat during the Portorosso Cup never really give him an advantage. When he covers Ciccio in olive oil so he can swim faster, it causes fish to bite him and slows him down. When he force feeds Guido during the eating portion, Guilia has already left the table, and Luca finishes just seconds after Ercole. Despite being the only contestant having a 10-speed bike, Ercole still can't keep up with Luca who has been vigorously training.
• Child Hater: A legal adult over 18, and a ruthless bully to children much younger than he is.
• Childish Tooth Gap: It's easy to miss, but Ercole has a slight gap in the left side of his buck teeth to emphasize his immaturity and Psychopathic Manchild tendencies.
• Childish Villain, Mature Hero: The Childish Villain to Luca's Mature Hero. He's a bratty and cruel Psychopathic Manchild, while Luca is a sweet and polite Adorably Precocious Child.
• Companion Cube: Ercole is also very materialistic, treating his Vespa with more respect than his own minions. After it is knocked over by a soccer ball, he calls it his "piccolina" as he checks it over for damage.
• Cool Shades: His first appearance has him wearing sunglasses as he enters the town on his Vespa.
• Dastardly Whiplash: Downplayed. He has the lanky build and large nose, but he only wishes he had a big mustache. Instead, he still has a pubescent peach fuzz which resembles "two sad little whiskers" of a catfish, according to Luca.
• Deadpan Snarker: Definitely not a good-natured variety. Every word that comes out of his mouth is filled with sarcastic disdain.
  Ercole: There's something fishy about you two, I mean besides the smell.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the Jerk Jock, making it a rather refreshing subversion of the trope. Typically in fiction, the Jerk Jock is fawned over for his physical skills and sports victories, his unpleasant personality and bullying ways be damned. Ercole, however, is held in contempt by virtually everyone in Portorosso for his ego, vanity, bullying, pettiness, spitefulness, and disruptive ways, as well as the fact that all his victories are in a competition for kids far younger than him. The kids hate and fear him for his bullying and the adults are annoyed by his constant flaunting of his ego and loudly riding his Vespa through the town. The only 'friends' he has are Ciccio and Guido, who are less friends and more cronies who themselves aren't immune to his bullying, and even they can only take so much abuse before they finally snap and turn on him.
• Dope Slap: He's fond of giving these to his underlings, Ciccio and Guido, by making them slap each other.
• Drama Queen: His prime characterization, being over-the-top, making everything about him and not taking criticism well. His answer to being thrown in a few inches of water in the novelization is to screech that he can't swim.
• The Dreaded: Among the Portorosso children, due to Ercole being a ruthless bully. Only Giulia stands up to him, and no one dares to befriend her out of fear of Ercole.
• Drives Like Crazy: A boat variant. He's the infamous "stupido" that flew by the fisherman's boat at full speed, and later he deliberately tries to crash his boat into Luca and Alberto's.
• Establishing Character Moment: Has two:
  • His Early-Bird Cameo has Ercole use his motorboat recklessly, which prompts a fisherman to call him "stupido". It showcases Ercole Drives Like Crazy on a boat.
  • His proper introduction happens when he enters the town on his shiny, red Vespa, and boasting his arrival to the town, who all react with annoyance and contempt.
• Effeminate Voice: Possesses a high-pitched, shrill No Indoor Voice.
• Evil Is Hammy: When he undergoes his Villainous Breakdown at the end, Ercole goes ham all the way, standing on his bicycle with a harpoon in hand with Dramatic Thunder for emphasis.
  Ercole: I gotta kill SOME SEA MONSTERS! HAHAHAHA!
• Evil Laugh: He briefly engages in one while trying to kill Alberto and Luca, right before Giulia saves them by clashing with his bike and makes them fall off their bikes.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Competes in a contest against children several years younger in order to remain the reigning champion. During the finale, he kicks a fellow contestant's bike for no reason but opportunity.
  • Following Luca insulting him by comparing him to a catfish, Ercole announces that he's going to make it his mission to destroy Luca in the contest.
• Fashionable Evil: He's dressed in then-trendy 60s summer wear, styles his hair in a pompadour, and is the main antagonist.
• Faux Affably Evil: When Luca accidentally knocks his Vespa, he seemingly welcomes Alberto and Luca to Portorosso... before insulting them and trying to dunk Luca's head in the fountain.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Ercole thinks highly of himself as the five-time champion of the Portorosso Cup, but don't mistake his camp behavior for foolishness: he's also an aggressive bully who Would Hurt a Child.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: The "Pencil Thin Mustache" variety, a.k.a "The Douche", very benefitting of Ercole's character.
• Hated by All: He appears to have all of the younger kids scared of him and reminds everyone of his past Portorosso Cup wins. He also garners several negative reactions from adults when he arrives in the plaza, including a policewoman and the local priest. Even Ciccio and Guido turn against him due to his constant abuse of them.
• Historical Character's Fictional Relative: Implied to be a descendant of the Visconti of Milan, a noble Italian family who ruled Milan during the Middle Ages. It would explain his entitlement to Portorosso, which he refers as "his" town, and being a spoiled Rich Bastard.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: He's a very good example of this; where the townsfolk are legitimately afraid of sea monsters and later befriend them when they turn out to be Not Evil, Just Misunderstood, Ercole wants their heads because of the bounty placed on them, and unlike the others, refuses to acknowledge them and still insists on killing Alberto and Luca.
• Humiliation Conga: His eventual defeat: the Underdogs win the race, breaking his consecutive amount of wins on the sixth year, and his own lackeys throw him in the fountain in front of the entire town once they have enough of his jackassery.
• Hypocrite:
  • When Giulia shakes his boat and makes his sweater fall in the water, he calls her crazy (in Italian)... as if he didn't just stupidly try to ram his boat into Alberto and Luca's a few moments prior, risking serious injuries to anyone involved.
  • Despite indulging in cheating during the first two rounds of the Cup, he reacts to Luca actually outpacing him in the bike race by accusing him of cheating.
• I Call It "Vera": He addresses his beloved Vespa as Piccolina and his sweater as "Piccolino", Italian terms for "little one".
• Improbable Sports Skills: Perfectly able to stand both feet on the seat of a moving bicycle! He keep his balance without problem until it's Giulia that makes him fall by crashing their bikes together.^note This is technically possible in real-life as many videos of bike tricks can attest.
• Ironic Name: "Ercole" is the Italian form of Hercules, but Ercole is a bully even to his underlings, the only reason he's strong is because he competes against kids half his age, and has pathetic facial hair to boot.
• It's All About Me: During Luca's Training Montage, he shows outrage at a bunch of kids cheering Luca on, implying he wants to be the center of attention.
• It's Personal: Exaggerated. He makes it his objective to "destroy" Luca during the race after he refers to his mustache as "two sad little whiskers" of a catfish. Considering how he's The Dreaded among the town kids, the fact a meek boy like Luca had the guts to say that to his face left a bruise on his ego.
• Jerk Jock: He's a jerk and a bully, but also an accomplished cyclist, having won the Portorosso Cup five years in a row. Other characters mention that he's getting too old to take part in the Cup, but it's clear that he keeps entering so he can continue to lord his victories over the younger kids.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: For years, Ercole got away with his bullying of the town kids, cheating his wins at the Portorosso Cup and competeting in said race when he was definitely too old for it. It comes to an end after the Underdogs win the race, and Guido and Ciccio turn on him by throwing him in the fountain in front of the whole town as payback for his constant abuse.
• Laughably Evil: He may be an annoying brat who is an athletic prick, but this is also what makes him entertaining.
• Lean and Mean: Tall, thin and a catty, obnoxious brat.
• Madness Makeover: His hair is all messy and he's covered in dirt after Giulia crashes into his bike, making him look far more insane when he points a harpoon at Luca and Alberto.
• Malicious Misnaming: He calls Giulia "Spewlia", as a constant reminder of how she threw up midway through the cycling event in the previous year's Portorosso Cup.
• Meaningful Name: The Visconti surname is borne by a famous noble family in Italy, who ruled Milan during the Middle Ages and were stated to be ruthless dictators, which Ercole is among the children in Portorosso. The Visconti's family logo is also represented by a man being swallowed by a sea serpent, tying to the movie's theme of sea monsters and Ercole's eventual defeat at the end of the movie.
• Narcissist: He has a high opinion of himself, thinks he's superior to everyone and doesn't take criticism well.
• The Nicknamer: He doesn't call the Underdogs (except for Giulia for one instance) by their names, instead having specific terms for each of them: "Spewlia" for Giulia, "''piccoletto'" for Luca, and calls him and Alberto "Number One and Number Two" or simply refers to them as "vagrants".
• No Indoor Voice: He spends most of his time yelling on screen, most of the time at his underlings. When he isn't, he sounds far more menacing, as seen in the scene where he threatens Alberto and Luca in front of the Vespa shop.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Has by far the most voluminous lips in the movie.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: At first, he seems like just a pompous blowhard who's more talk than action, but his Establishing Character Moment when he tries to dunk Luca in a fountain shows otherwise. By the climax, he shows a much more dangerous side.
• Older Than He Looks: Ercole claims to be sixteen, which Signora Marsigliese doubts because "[he] said that last year", and he barely looks it. The director himself has stated on Twitter◊ that he's probably 18-19, making him a young adult.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Shows great prejudice towards sea monsters, not even considering them as people and seeing them as nothing but beasts to slaughter.
• Primp of Contempt: He tends to look at his manicure and run his hands through his coiffed pompadour during the movie, to show how obsessed he is with his appearance and condescending in general.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Quite literally in this case. He claims to be 16 years old (although the director stated on Twitter◊ he imagines him as 18-19 years old). Legally, that makes Ercole an adult—but he's never seen in the company of people his own age. He takes malicious glee in bullying children and has a very creepy obsession in being the champion of a kids' race. He's a villain because he literally refuses to grow up. The novelization reveals that he can't swim which showcases his impulsive attempt to ram Luca's and Alberto's rowboat with his speedboat as the psychopathic, self-absorbed mindset that his plan will work out perfectly and has no chance of causing damage or injury to himself.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Owns a dark pink wool sweater that he is very attached towards, and freaks out if it gets wet.
• Red Is Violent: A Barbaric Bully who sports a red shirt whenever he bikes.
• Rich Bastard: Implied. There are lot of elements that show Ercole might come from a rich family, notably the real life Visconti Family, which explains his entitlement to Portosso (calling it "his town"), how he uses his social status to keep competing in a kids' race and wears different clothes from the rest of the village kids (such as leather shoes).
• The Rival: To Giulia each summer due to competing for the Portorosso Cup, though it also extends to Luca and Alberto.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Shows he's Not So Above It All; he lets out high pitched squeals a few times throughout the movie, mostly when Luca almost knocks over his Vespa.
• Security Blanket: His pink sweater is this to him, as Ercole is shown hugging it the way a child would after his goons throw him in the fountain.
• Seen It All: Or rather, heard it all. He knows Giulia's speeches of his "evil empire of injustice" by heart and calls them repetitive.
• Sinister Schnoz: He's an arrogant Jerkass with a nose the size of his ego.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: To Giulia each summer. However he becomes a full blown Arch-Enemy to the Underdogs when he goes through his Villainous Breakdown and attempts to deliberately murder Luca and Alberto when they are revealed as sea monsters.
• The Sociopath: He cares for no one but himself and, as seen in the climax, he is willing to even kill Alberto and Luca for something as petty as winning a race, their sea monster status being nothing to him but an excuse (that and the fact he wants the prize and recognition that comes with it).
• Stupid Evil: He tries to crash his motorboat into Giulia's rowboat when Luca and Alberto are still inside, not considering he could not only hurt Ciccio and Guido, but also himself by doing something so reckless. It goes to another level when the novelization of the movie reveals he can't swim.
• Teens Are Monsters: He allegedly claims to be 16 years old (though no one believes him since he's been saying it for a while) and is a smug, condescending, narcissistic Jerkass who bullies the other town children. He even makes it his mission to destroy Luca in the race when he insults his "two sad little whiskers".
• Tempting Fate: Snarls at Ciccio and Guido to do something useful "for once in their pathetic lives". They throw him in the town fountain for good measure.
• Terms of Endangerment: He calls Luca "piccoletto" (Italian for "little fella") as a way to scare and threaten him.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Literally, in his case. Twice he is shown about to take a bite of a big sandwich only to be distracted by other matters, like his Vespa getting hit with a ball and Guido laughing at an insult directed towards him, causing Ercole to hit him with it. He's presented with another big sandwich courtesy of Ciccio, but he just kicks that away, much to Guido's chagrin.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sandwiches. Throughout the movie, his two flunkies are carrying a huge sandwich for him most of the time. It is even used as a weapon at one point.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Shows no gratitude toward Ciccio after he performs a Diving Save to keep his precious Vespa from falling over. He instead demands that he get out of the way so he can inspect his beloved scooter.
• Vague Age: Ercole's age is hard to determine as he lies when he signs up for Portorosso Cup to keep competing in a children's contest for an easy victory, but it's strongly implied that he's older than sixteen despite his claims. It's clear that he's the oldest participant in the race and is even challenged by Signora Marsigliese for being too old. The director stated on Twitter◊ that he imagines him as 18-19 years old.
• Vehicle-Based Characterization: Prior to his formal introduction, Ercole's character is established (briefly) by his personal speedboat, which he drives incredibly recklessly, to the aggravation of everyone near him. When he is formally introduced, his Establishing Character Moment heavily features his shiny, pristine vespa, which he babies and treats more respectfully than any person in his vicinity, highlighting his role as rival and his awful personality.
• Villainous Breakdown: He loses his cool when he tries to harpoon Luca and Alberto near the movie's end, complete with stomping on the ground repeatedly like a Manchild.
  Ercole: NOOO! CICCIO!!!
• Would Hit a Girl: During the race, he cheats by kicking a young girl's bike and makes her crash.
• Would Hurt a Child: According to the film's creators, Ercole's around 18-years-old (legally making an adult)—he's also a Barbaric Bully who punches and slaps kids, even his own lackeys. During the downhill portion of the race, when pursuing Alberto and Luca, he kicks a young girl's bike so she crashes just because she was in his way.

Massimo Marcovaldo

Voiced by: Marco Barricelli (English), Massimo Corvo (Italian)^note Other languages: Santos Alberto (Latin American Spanish), Kenji Nomura (Japanese)

Giulia's large but good-hearted fisherman father who has only one arm. Giulia lives with him during the summer, and with her mother during the school year.

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• Alliterative Name: Massimo Marcovaldo.
• Ambiguous Situation: His marital status, or if he's even married in the first place: Giulia's mother lives in a different town, and seems to have custody of Giulia over the school year while she only sees her father during the summer vacations. It's made even more ambiguous when you remember divorce has been made legal in Italy in 1974, and the story takes place around 1969 (the credits show Luca and Giulia watching the first moon landing on television).
• An Arm and a Leg: Subverted; at first he claims that a sea monster ate his missing arm, but then he reveals he was kidding and that he was actually born without it.
• The Big Guy: Invoked by Alberto. He's more than capable of doing the physical job of a fisherman without one of his limbs.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Big enough to cover his eyes, though not as big as his mustache.
• Character Development: He starts as an intimidating and gruff fisherman who believes sea monsters are real and is focused on defending Portorosso from them. He's also quite reserved about Luca and Alberto at first, but as time passes he gets used to their presence and warms up considerably to them, and even starts bonding with Alberto. At the end of the race, when Luca and Alberto have revealed their true identities, Massimo is able to see Alberto and Luca at the finish line not sea monsters and he stands by them and affirms them as the winners of the race.
  • In Ciao Alberto, he also learns to use his words and be more communicative with Alberto.
• The Comically Serious: He's large, with bushy brows that hide his eyes and has a quiet, stoic demeanor. Yet, he's still able to bring a few laughs whenever he shares the screen with Alberto, who is his polar opposite in terms of personality (being goofy, reckless and sassy).
• Creepy Good: He starts off as intimidating and scary from Luca and Alberto's perspectives due to his role as a hunter of sea monsters, but he warms up to their presence and reveals himself to be a kind and protective father figure towards them, especially Alberto who he takes into his home at the end of the movie. At the end of the race, he also accepts Alberto and Luca for who they are in spite of them being sea monsters.
• A Day in the Limelight: He becomes the Deuteragonist of the Ciao Alberto short film.
• Defrosting Ice King: Initially stoic and grumpy towards the boys, he slowly warms up to them the more they hang around, to the point where he becomes a father figure to them and is the first villager to accept them for the sea monsters they are.
• Death Glare: Offers an effective one to fishermen who still had their nets and weapons pointed at Luca and Alberto. Quickly, they back off.
• Face of a Thug: He's rather large in girth and looks intimidating, but he's a good father to Giulia and warms up quickly to Luca and Alberto.
• Foil: To Daniela in regards of parenting his child as while Daniela is more strict and worrisome, Massimo is more gentle and trusting.
• Gentle Giant: Might look like a gruff harpoon-crazy fisherman at first, he's actually a big softie when it comes to his daughter and her friends.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: Has a thick full mustache, and while it contributes to his Face of a Thug, Massimo is quickly revealed to be a good father to Giulia and a Nice Guy underneath his gruff exterior.
• Good Parents: He's protective, allows Luca and Alberto the chance to earn their entry tickets for the Portorosso Cup (despite literally being kids he just met), and actively supports Giulia in her pursuit of winning the Cup. Even when he tries to talk her out of joining this year's Cup, it's done out of concern since he knows how upset she tends to get when she loses. He's still more than willing to let her try if she and her new friends can help him catch more fish.
• Handicapped Badass: He was born with only one arm, but still managed to become an accomplished fisherman.
• Hidden Depths: He is introduced singing traditional Italian opera, which is not something you'd expect from a huge musclar man at first glance.
• Interspecies Adoption: He ends up adopting Alberto, who is a sea monster.
• Irony: Starts as a fisherman fascinated at the idea of hunting a sea monster, only to adopt a young, sapient sea monster by the end of the story.
• I Was Just Joking: When he catches sight of Alberto staring at his missing arm (take in mind he had no idea Alberto is actually a sea monster):
  Massimo: [grinning and shows his stump] A sea monster ate it!
  Alberto: Uh... what?
  Massimo: [smiling] Ma, no. This is how I came to the world.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: He has a pet cat named Machiavelli and Massimo is quickly revealed to be a good person.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: He has a very square jaw, and is also a fair and reasonable man.
• Love Redeems: Downplayed. Massimo was far from being a malevolent individual at first, but his soft spot for Alberto, whom he came to see as a son, is what causes him to change his view about sea monsters and see them as people.
• Like a Son to Me: Massimo bonds with Alberto during the course of their fishing trips. After hearing that Alberto has run off and doesn't want to be found, he heads out to look for him without a moment's pause. In the credits, Massimo is shown to have taken Alberto into his home and given him a life in Portorosso.
• Manly Facial Hair: Has a thick mustache with eyebrows to match, complete with a visible carpet of hair on his chest.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Massimo comes from the Latin name Maximus, which means "the greatest", alluding to his large stature and being an accomplished fisherman.
  • Marcovaldo means "one who is strong in defending the border or its land". In his case, he is indeed strong in build and focused on "defending" Portorosso from sea monsters. Towards the end, he defends Luca and Alberto from the other fishermen aiming their nets and harpoons at them.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In Ciao Alberto, when Massimo realizes his lack of communication is driving Alberto away, he is clearly seen with a look of guilt on his face and runs after him.
• Mysterious Past: In Ciao Alberto, Massimo tells Alberto that in his childhood he upset his father so bad that the latter punched a whole in a brick wall. It's not made clear whether he had an abusive father or just a flawed, but nevertheless well-meaning parent.
• Nice Guy: A little intimidating, but he doesn't do it on purpose, and he truly does have the kids' best interests in mind.
• Not So Above It All: In one scene, he toys with the idea of eating his pasta by hand like Luca and Alberto initially did (which Machiavelli takes notice of).
• Open-Minded Parent: Does not consider Alberto being a sea monster an issue, all he sees is an insecure young boy needing guidance and welcomes him in his home with open... well, arm.
• Papa Wolf: He's very protective of his daughter, and later to Luca and Alberto, as seen when he learns Alberto left and without a moment's pause he goes out to look for him, despite Luca saying Alberto doesn't want to be found. Later in the climax, he stands up for Alberto and Luca when their secret is exposed and stares down the other villagers that haven't yet put away their nets and harpoons.
• Parental Substitute: Alberto bonds with him, just as Luca bonds with Giulia. Massimo takes in Alberto at the end when the others head off to Genova, and accepts his role as a father figure to Alberto in Ciao Alberto.
• The Quiet One: Massimo is not the chattiest person. It can be justified by the fact he was either alone or with the company of adults while Giulia was in Genova in the past years. Now that Alberto lives with him by the time of the short film, the latter aims to break the silence between them by trying to make him proud... Hilarity Ensues.
• Real Men Cook: Not only is he an accomplished fisherman, he is also a single father who knows how to cook a meal for himself, his daughter and her friends.
• Reused Character Design: He is obviously inspired by the design of the father from La Luna, a 2011 Pixar short also directed by the film's director, Enrico Casarosa. However that character actually has an even bigger mustache than Massimo's.
• The Stoic: Spends most of his time with a serious composure, with his brows and mustache hiding his eyes and mouth respectively for extra measure. However, he is shown to be Not So Stoic depending on the situation, mostly in Ciao Alberto whenever Alberto messes up.
• Tranquil Fury: In Ciao Alberto, Massimo remains calm in spite of Alberto's various mistakes when he attempts to help him. Even when Alberto accidentally sets fire to his boat, all Massimo does is give an angry glare at him, but still keeps it contained. It gets deconstructed however as his absence of words cause Alberto to expect the worst, which leads to him attempting to run away.
• Team Chef: He's a good cook and opens his house to Alberto and Luca. He gives the kids meals while they stay there training for the competition.
• Team Dad: Being Giulia's actual dad, it's a given. He even ends up adopting Alberto in the end!

Machiavelli

Massimo's pet cat, who's hostile to Luca and Alberto due to them being sea monsters.

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• Babies Ever After: The end credits reveal Machiavelli had eight kittens with a female cat.
• Butt-Monkey: He's sometimes a victim of slapstick, mainly when Luca accidentally throws him overboard or in Ciao Alberto, where he gets wet again when Alberto accidentally sets the boat on fire and they have to escape.
• Cats Are Mean: Subverted. Machiavelli is only aggressive to Luca and Alberto since they are Fish People, and being a cat and considering his owner is a sea monster hunting fisherman, it's justified as why he is wary of them. However, he eventually comes around to tolerate them and bonds with Alberto after Massimo takes him in.
• Cats Are Snarkers: When he's not attacking sea monsters, he pushes teacups off a table with a complete look of indifference on his face.
• Cats Hate Water: When he gets accidentally thrown overboard by Luca, he is next seen looking completely wet and traumatized.
• Defrosting Ice King: He's very aggressive towards Luca and Alberto at first, going as far as to attack them, but once they start coming over more (and feeding him), he eventually warms up to them. So much that he doesn't hesitate to jump on Massimo's shoulder when he goes to look for Alberto in the night. Sure enough, in Ciao Alberto, he's usually always seen lying down next to Alberto whenever he writes his letter to Luca.
• Evil-Detecting Cat: Subverted. Luca and Alberto are not evil, but Machiavelli is the first who discovers they are sea monsters, and remains hostile towards them even when they are in their human form (which can be justified since he is a cat and they are part-fish).
• Food as Bribe: The more fish Luca and Alberto feed him with, the tamer he gets.
• Named After Somebody Famous: He's named after famous Italian writer, Niccolò Machiavelli.
• Parrot Pet Position: Machiavelli often climbs onto Massimo's shoulders.
• Perpetual Frowner: When he's not frowning and growling at the boys, he's usually seen with a deadpan look on his face.
• Silent Snarker: By moments, usually as part of a Funny Background Event.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Cat pun aside, he looks very similar to Massimo, with his large girth and brown mouth resembling his owner's mustache. One of his front legs is even completely brown to mirror Massimo's missing arm.
• Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: His eyes are yellow, and he (initially) keeps attacking Luca and Alberto for being sea monsters (and the fact he really loves fish). Otherwise, he's quite a sweet cat.

Ciccio and Guido

Guido (left); Ciccio (right)

Voiced by: Peter Sohn (Ciccio, English) and Lorenzo Crisci (Guido, English and Italian); Ezzedine Ben Nekissa (Ciccio, Italian)^note Other languages: Miguel Ángel Ruiz (Ciccio, Latin American Spanish) and José Luis Piedra (Guido, Latin American Spanish); Fukushi Ochiai (Ciccio, Japanese) and Hiroto Yamada (Japanese)

Ercole's gang of fellow bullies, but even they are not safe from being belittled and pushed around by their leader.

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• Acrofatic: Ciccio may be pudgy, but he's surprisingly nimble and athletic. When Ercole's Vespa starts to topple, Ciccio quickly dives under it to cushion its fall. He is also a fast swimmer that Ercole trusts enough to handle the swimming portion of the Portorosso Cup.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Guido chuckles when Luca compares Ercole to a catfish. He gets hit in the face via a sandwich for it.
• Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: When the Underdogs win the race, Ciccio and Guido have enough of Ercole treating them like trash, and throw him in the town fountain in front of the entire village as payback.
• Being Evil Sucks: They are part of Ercole's Gang of Bullies, but it does not protect them from Ercole's verbal and physical violence, and during the race Ercole's attempts at cheating serves as a Heel Realization for them when they realize Ercole doesn't care if they get hurt if it advantages him. Sure enough, after Ciccio get bitten by fish and Guido passes out via Ercole Force Feeding him, they turn against him when they have enough of being treated like crap.
• Beta Bitch: Are both male examples to Ercole, though Ciccio is more eager to serve Ercole compared to Guido.
• Big Eater: Guido, as he is the one doing the pasta-eating task at the Portorosso cup. Subverted as Ercole shoves his last pasta portion in his mouth when he was too full to keep eating.
• Blowing a Raspberry: Guido does this to Ercole after he and Ciccio throw him in the fountain.
• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: Played with. They're not really bumbling, but Ercole treats them as though they were idiots in comparison to himself. Noticeably, their seemingly bumbling mishaps during the competition were all the result of Ercole's machinations backfiring.
• The Brute: Ciccio is this, being the bulkiest of the duo and Ercole's main muscle compared to the likes of Guido.
• The Chew Toy: They're constantly bossed and (literally) smacked around by Ercole, and they, mostly Ciccio, are often on the receiving end of a lot of slapstick.
• Co-Dragons: To Ercole, at least until they have enough of his abusive behavior.
• The Dog Bites Back: Fed up with Ercole's constant abuse and insults, they throw him in the fountain with Guido blowing a raspberry for good measure.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Not matter what they do, it's never enough for Ercole, who bosses them around and treats them more like slaves than actual friends. It culmulates for the movie's entirety until both have enough and throw Ercole in the fountain as payback.
• Everyone Has Standards: Zig-zagged. When Ercole threatened to ram right into Giulia's boat at full speed, Guido turns the boat at the last moment. However, it's not clear if this was a moral line he would not cross, or if he realized Ercole's action was so reckless everyone was at risk of being seriously hurt, thus acted to save his own skin (as well as Ciccio and Ercole).
• Fat and Skinny: Ciccio and Guido, respectively.
• Fat Bastard: Ciccio, who bullies Alberto and Luca along Ercole (though it is implied to be out of peer pressure).
• Fat Comic Relief: Ciccio, who starts getting bitten by fish during the swimming race (after Ercole tried to cheat by putting olive oil on him to swim faster).
• Force Feeding: When Guido starts to feel full during the pasta eating wing during the race, Ercole hurries him up by shoving handfulls of pasta in his mouth. After his plate his emptied, Guido passes out face first in it.
• Gag Nose: Guido has a pointy triangular nose. In profile, it's somehow longer than Ercole's!
• Gang of Bullies: With Ercole. Until they get sick of his abuse and toss him into the town plaza fountain.
• Green and Mean: Ciccio wears a green shirt and is Ercole's most boorish lackey who doesn't hesitate to retort to violence, in contrast to the more hesitant Guido.
• Heel–Face Turn: Turn on Ercole for his constant abuse of them, throwing him in the fountain in front of the entire town as payback.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: In Freeze-Frame Bonus fashion, Guido may follow Ercole in his bullying but doesn't directly act on it compared to Ercole and Ciccio (who steals money from Giulia at one point). Although he pins Alberto on the wall with Ciccio when Ercole punches him, he seems to regret it when Luca and Alberto flee the scene. Sure enough, Guido does not hesitate to turn against Ercole after the Underdogs beat him at the race.
• Meaningful Name: "Ciccio" is slang for "chubby", which Ciccio is.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Ercole treats them like garbage throughout the entire film and they both turn on him for his constant mistreatment.
• Morality Pet: They're both this to each other; they follow Ercole in his bullying, but they are always seen side by side and hesitate to slap each other on Ercole's orders.
• My God, What Have I Done?: A nonverbal example; after Ercole punches Alberto in the stomach and him and Luca flee the scene, Guido can be seen looking guilty for the role he partook while Ercole yells at them.
• Older Than They Look: Enrico Casarosa views Ciccio between 17 and 18, and Guido between 16 and 17, making them teenagers. However they are rather short compared to Ercole or other adult characters, and are barely taller than Luca and Alberto (who are around 12-14 years of age).
• Peer-Pressured Bully: They are part of Ercole's gang, but they suffer the same mistreatment as the rest of the kids in Portorosso, which causes them to finally draw the line and turn against Ercole for his constant abuse.
• Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Implied with Guido, who seems far less enthusiastic than Ciccio to use violence.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: They both follow Ercole around like puppies, but Ciccio takes the cake by gawking when Ercole hands him his wool sweater.
• The Quiet One: Between the two, Guido is the less chatty and only talks during crucial moments.
• Traitor Shot: Counts as a Freeze-Frame Bonus and Foreshadowing; after Luca and Alberto crash into the sea, we see Ercole and his gang out looking for sea monsters. When Ercole kicks a sandwich from Ciccio's hands, Guido can be seen delivering him a Death Glare.
• Those Two Guys: They are usually always seen together, following Ercole wherever he goes.
• Villainous Friendship: They see eachother as genuine friends, in spite of their loyalty to a bully like Ercole. Both seem hesitant to hit eachother when Ercole orders them to, and Guido at some point delivers an angry glare at Ercole when he kicks a sandwich from Ciccio's hands.
• What You Are in the Dark: When Ercole recklessly tries to collide his boat with Giulia's (which has Luca and Alberto inside), Guido visibly panics and swerves in time before anyone involved can get hurt.
• Yes-Man: Both of them, but especially Ciccio. At least until they have enough of Ercole bossing them around.

Concetta and Pinuccia Aragosta

Concetta (left); Pinuccia (right)

Voiced by: Elisa Gabrielli (Concetta, English); Mimi Maynard (Pinuccia, English); Orietta Berti (Concetta, Italian and Latin American Spanish); Luciana Littizzetto (Pinuccia, Italian and Latin American Spanish)

A pair of elderly sisters living in Portorosso.

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• All There in the Script: They are officially stated to be sisters, but nothing of the sort is confirmed in the movie itself.
• Fat and Skinny: Pinuccia is short and stout, while Concetta is tall and thin.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • Blink and you'll miss it, but when Ercole enters the town and says "Ciao Belle!" to the sisters, Concetta pulls out her tongue at him and retches in disgust.
  • When Luca practices riding a bike, he crashes near the sisters' house, where they are seen to be owning many cats.
• Handbag of Hurt: Concetta hits Luca on top of the head with her purse when Luca accidentally insults the ladies.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: A Freeze-Frame Bonus in front of their house reveals that they own five cats.
• Parasol of Pain: Pinuccia whacks Alberto on the head with her umbrella after Luca accidentially insults them.
• Perpetual Frowner: They're always seen scowling, even when eating ice cream. They start smiling once they finally reveal themselves as sea monsters in the ending.
• Meaningful Name: Their last name means "lobster". Fits into the Animal Theme Naming of Luca, Alberto and their families, since the sisters are revealed to be sea monsters as well.
• Never Mess with Granny: They're your average old ladies, but if you mess with them, you'll earn a handbag and/or umbrella strike to the head.
• Never Bareheaded: They're never seen without their head scarves, not even as sea monsters.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. In the beginning of the film, Luca says good morning to a Mrs. Aragosta, a female sea monster, while doing his chores. Since the sisters turn out to be sea monsters as well, it's left ambiguous as to whether they're related to that female sea monster or they just share the same last name.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: They always look in a bad mood and their reaction to being called "stupid" by a couple of kids is to wack their heads with their purse and umbrella respectively.
• Seen It All: They don't even move their heads and get out of the way when Giulia goes down a hill with her delivery bike, even greeting her along the way.
• Sweet Tooth: They seem quite fond of gelato (ice cream), as shown by their introductory scene.
• Those Two Girls: They are never seen without the other in each of their scenes.
• When Elders Attack: Their attack on Alberto and Luca are entirely Played for Laughs.
• When She Smiles: They start smiling genuinely when they let the rain reveal their monster forms at the Portorosso Cup.
• Would Hurt a Child: Played for Laughs when Luca insults them without meaning to, where they deliver an umbrella and purse attack on the boys.

Signora Marsigliese

Voiced by: Marina Massironi (English and Italian)

A woman who acts as the organizer of the Portorosso Cup.

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• '60s Hair: She has a perfectly coiffed bob cut, to remind you the setting in which the movie takes place.
• Adults Are Useless: Downplayed. She knows Ercole is getting too old to race and mentions it when he applies, but as no one protests, she allows it. Subverted in the climax where she states the Underdogs effectively won the race and declares them the winners.
• The Cameo: She reappears in Ciao Alberto as a unpleased customer of Massimo (who had her fish thrown at her face by Alberto).
• Early-Bird Cameo: Her first appearance is her buying fish from Giulia before she is revealed to be the organizer of the Portorosso Cup.
• Hidden Depths: As deadpan and stoic she may be, she seems to have a blast when dressing up as Giorgio Giorgioni and explaining the rules of the race to the children.
• Jerkass Ball: On two occasions, she asks Giulia if she races alone again. The second time around when Luca asks to race on his own, she seems almost condescending, to which Giulia answers with a Death Glare.
• Large Ham: Her personification of Giorgio Giorgioni counts, as part of her job to explain the triathlon to the kids.
• No Name Given: No clue of her first name.
• Pet the Dog: She declares the Underdogs the winners of the race in spite of Luca and Alberto being sea monsters.
• The Stoic: She's a very serious woman with a deadpan tone of voice.
  • Not So Stoic: However, she gan go ham for her job as she impersonates Giorgio Giorgioni before taking the entries for the race.

Giacomo and Tommaso

Voiced by: Giacomo Gianniotti (Giacomo, English and Italian) and Gino La Monica (Tommaso, English and Italian)

Giacomo (left); Tommaso (right)

Two local fishermen who had a close encounter with a sea monster. Giacomo is the younger and Tommaso is the elder.

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• Agent Mulder: Giacomo thinks there are sea monsters near the island and tells Tommaso they shouldn't be there. He's correct.
• Agent Scully: Tommaso doesn't believe in sea monsters, and brushes them off as tall tales to scare fishermen off the island. It doesn't last...
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Downplayed. Tommaso dismisses the existence of sea monsters, but it takes a few minutes to debunk his claim when one actually shows up.
• Never Bareheaded: Never seen without their brown caps, even at night.
• Skeptic No Longer: Tommaso after he, along with Giacomo, witnesses the sea monster (later revealed to be Alberto) breach the surface, and he becomes just as anxious and frightened as Giacomo.
• Tempting Fate: Tommaso tells Giacomo sea monsters aren't real, simply old stories meant to frighten fishermen. It takes a few minutes before he sees one (Alberto) steal content from his boat.
• Those Two Guys: They are seen together in the prologue. Downplayed in that they are only seen individually after that.

Don Eugenio

Voiced by: Jonathan Nichols (English US version), Gino D'Acampo (English UK version), Fabio Fazio (Italian)

Portorosso's local priest.

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• Faint in Shock: His reaction towards the Aragosta sisters showing their sea monster forms.
• Flat Character: He's the town priest, and that's all we know of him.
• Good Shepherd: From what little we see of him, he seems to be a kindly man.
• Not So Above It All: He's one of the people who remembers Giulia throwing up during last year's race, and so has a broom and bucket in handy in the event it happens again.
• Prayer Pose: He often clasps his palms together, like when he begs "no more revving" as he hears Ercole's Vespa riding into town. He is a priest after all.

Giorgio Giorgioni

Slayer of sea monsters and beloved purveyor of pasta, according to Signora Marsigliese.

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• All There in the Manual: The junior novelization explains through Luca putting two-and-two together that the man in the pasta box is the same man who is seen killing sea monsters in the town's art and the statue in the fountain. The novel does not make it clear if Giorgioni actually founded the pasta company or if his name and image was simply co-opted by the company for its branding.
• Alliterative Name: Giorgio Giorgioni.
• Manly Facial Hair: In art, he is drawn with a large stylized mustache in addition to being a legendary slayer of sea monsters. If the statue of him in the town square is to be believed, he's also apparently big and strong.
• Posthumous Character: Presumably long dead if the old memorials of him throughout town is any indication.
• Repetitive Name: Again, Giorgio Giorgioni.

Sea Monsters

Daniela Paguro

Voiced by: Maya Rudolph (English), Ilaria Stagni (Italian)^note Other languages: Gabriela Guzmán (Latin American Spanish), Urara Takano (Japanese)

Luca's overprotective mother and wife to Lorenzo.

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• All for Nothing: For most of her time on the surface, she and Lorenzo try to find Luca by splashing water on random kids in hopes of "unmasking" their son. This ultimately proves to be a pointless endeavour when Daniela recognizes Luca in human form on sight.
• Beehive Hairdo: Coiffed with a short, plump bundle of fins in her sea monster form.
• Character Development: She softens her beliefs about the "land monsters" as the film progresses and is willing to let her son attend school with Giulia.
• Curiosity Is a Crapshoot: A firm believer of this:
  Luca: I was just curious...
  Daniela: Yeah well, the curious fish gets caught!
• Curtains Match the Windows: Like her son and her husband, her human appearance has brown eyes and hair.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father/Luca's grandfather isn't seen nor mentioned throughout the movie.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Luca only went to the surface to visit a fellow sea monster on an otherwise uninhabited island, but Daniela's so paranoid over the danger of "land monsters" that learning Luca went to the water's surface at all prompts her to send for her brother-in-law Ugo to take Luca away to the Deep for months. Considering The Deep is described as a lightless soundless empty void filled with floating bits of rotting carcass with nothing for anyone to do in it but hear their own thoughts, it's unsurprising that Luca runs away.
• Establishing Character Moment: We first see Daniela reprimanding Luca for being only two minutes late. Then she asks Luca several “Land Monster” questions which he already knows what to answer with. Which is a display of her overprotective but paranoid nature.
• Fantasy-Forbidding Mother: She does not want Luca going to the surface out of fear of him getting slaughtered by humans.
• Foil: To Massimo in regards of parenting her child as while Massimo is more gentle and trusting, Daniela is more strict and worriesome.
• Happily Married: To Lorenzo.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Maternal variant. Realizing how much he's grown while separated from her and how unhappy he would be if forced to return home, Daniela allows Luca to live and attent school with Giulia in Genova, though she extracts a promise that he will write to them every day.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Considering that Portorosso is a town that puts out bounties for sea monsters and the citizens tend to shoot harpoons at them on sight, Daniela's fears about humans has some justification. Unfortunately, her solution for protecting Luca from them goes to an irrational extreme.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's severe and rather insensitive about her son's feelings at time, but she still loves him nonetheless and only aims to protect him from harm.
• Mama Bear: After Luca runs away, she and her husband brave the surface world and its "land monsters" in order to bring their son back home safe.
• Mirror Character: With Alberto, though it isn't obvious at first. Both are strong, dominant personalities that mean well for Luca but put soothing their own fears over supporting him when his dreams differ from their plans for him. They even both attempt to use exposure as a means to return him to them. Both instigate conflicts for Luca in his character arc of becoming more assertive and determining his own life. Meaningfully, once Alberto overcomes his own fears, he's the one to convince Daniela to let Luca go.
• Mood-Swinger: Daniela seems to have this habit rapidly switching between emotions.
• My Beloved Smother: Basically her prime character trait. Not without cause though, she's worried how humans would react to sea monsters like her family and her overprotectiveness is what drives Luca to run away.
• Parents as People: She clearly loves Luca and wants to keep him safe—but until the end, Daniela is so convinced that she knows what's best for her son that she's unwilling to take any of his thoughts and opinions into consideration.
• Parents Know Their Children: Double subverted. When first coming ashore, she insists she'll be able to identify her son on sight despite his changed form, then sees just how many children there are in the plaza and clearly begins to doubt this. She and Lorenzo spend the rest of the second act dousing random children in water to check if they're Luca, and after a while Daniela begins to express the fear that she doesn't know her son, revealing more insecurities over her parenting decisions than she's previously let on. However, immediately after this the Underdogs cycle past her on Giulia's bicycle and Daniela instantly recognizes the human-looking bicyclist as her son.
• Something Only They Would Say: Luca realizes his parents may be in town when he hears Daniela's dolphin noise, which she made as a victory chant against the local kids she threw in the fountain.
• Stronger Than They Look: When she mistakes her husband for a human and attacks him, Lorenzo remarks that she is surprisingly strong.
• True Blue Femininity: Her scales are blue, and she wears a blue floral dress when human.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She thinks sending Luca to the deep with his Uncle Ugo is for his safety... as if going in a dark place without oxygen is any more safer than the surface.

Lorenzo Paguro

Voiced by: Jim Gaffigan (English), Luca Argentero (Italian)^note Other languages: José Luis Orozco (Latin American Spanish), Tsutomu Isobe (Japanese)

Luca's pushover father and Daniela's husband.

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• Animal Facial Hair: Some of his fins form a mustache on his face in his sea monster form. Not surprisingly it turns into a real mustache when he takes a human form.
• Bumbling Dad: He means well and does try to be a good father to Luca, but can make mistakes. Like assuming the very first human child they run into is his son and shoving him into the water.
• Epic Fail: Assumes the first kid he sees is his son, and throws him in the water. Not only is that not Luca, the human kid starts crying at his now ruined gelato.
• Extreme Doormat: When it comes to Daniela, Lorenzo doesn't seem to mind her decisions, no matter how extreme they might appear.
• Happily Married: To Daniela.
• Henpecked Husband: He generally just goes along with what Daniela wants, including sending Luca away to live with his brother Ugo. Despite having his own doubts on the subject, he does not dare contradict his wife.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He is devoted to raising his hermit crabs, which are the sea monster equivalent of show dogs.
• Nice Guy: While a pushover, he's quite goofy and doesn't have any mean intentions.
• Papa Wolf: Like Daniela, when Luca runs away from home, he is ready to go on the surface despite its dangers to bring him back safe.
• Satellite Character: Overlaps with his Henpecked Husband status. He lampshades this when he mentions he should've been more present for Luca.
• Seen It All: His reaction to his brother Ugo suddenly going paralyzed (due to the higher levels of oxygen), is to tell the very disturbed Luca to punch his heart; showing that this was a normal occurance he had to deal with.
• Took the Wife's Name: Since Grandma Paguro is actually Daniela's mother and not his, it's safe to say the Paguro name comes from his wife's side of the family.

Grandma Libera Paguro

Voiced by: Sandy Martin (English), Ludovica Modugno (Italian)^note Other languages: Andrea Coto (Latin American Spanish), Kazuyo Aoki (Japanese)

Daniela's mother and Luca's maternal grandmother.

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• Brutal Honesty: To Daniela's horror, Libera answers Luca's questions about the surface rather tactlessly.
• Cool Old Lady: She's more encouraging toward Luca's curiosity to the surface world than his parents are, and says she had even ventured up to the "land monster" town. When Luca comes home late after a day of adventuring, she provides him an excuse by claiming he was running an errand for her.
• Curtains Match the Window: When she's in her sea monster form, her scales and eyes are both pink.
• Like Mother, Unlike Daughter: She's way more open-minded and wise than her neurotic and overprotective daughter when it comes to Luca.
• Meaningful Name: Enrico Casarosa, the director of the movie, revealed that he named her after his own grandmother, Libera. Libera is an Italian name meaning "freedom", which fits Luca's grandmother encouraging him to explore the surface, and having done so herself in the past.
• Never Bareheaded: She wears a bandana of seaweed as a sea monster, and a cloth on her head as a human.
• Nice Girl: Luca's laidback, sympathetic and reasonable grandmother.
• Older and Wiser: Than her daughter.
• Open-Minded Parent: Or grandparent. Contrary to her daughter, she encourages Luca to open up and she covers for him when she knows for a fact he's being going to the surface. The ending even reveals she's been visiting the city for quite some time before her grandson did it!
• Pink Is Feminine: Her scales are light pink in sea monster form.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Unlike her daughter, she's much more accepting of her grandson's interest of the surface.
• The Reveal: The ending showcases that Libera goes to town every weekend, way before Luca did so himself!
• Secret-Keeper: She is well aware that Luca explores the surface, and helps him hide it from Daniela. When Luca runs away from home, Libera is seen to be awake and laughs to herself as her grandson persues his freedom.
• Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: Somewhat justified since she is part-fish, though Luca doesn't realize until he hears her snore.
• The Stoic: In most of her scenes, she carries herself with a calm, detached manner.
• Sweet Tooth: The credits shows her enjoying a gelato cone with Alberto and the Aragosta sisters.

Uncle Ugo

Voiced by: Sacha Baron Cohen (English), Paolo Marchese (Italian)^note Other languages: Omar Chaparro (Latin American Spanish), Koji Ochiai (Japanese)

Luca's distant uncle from the deep sea and Lorenzo's brother.

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• Advertised Extra: Downplayed. He appeared in at least one promotional video but is only in the movie for a minute.
• Animal Gender-Bender: While it can be excused by him being a fictitious sea monster, the male Uncle Ugo is clearly modeled after a female anglerfish.
• Body Horror: Downplayed. His skin is translucent, like many fish that live in the deep ocean. However, seeing his internal organs clearly visible can be creepy.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Judging by the airheaded nonsense he spurts, spending that much time in the deep where there's no oxygen took a toll on him.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Ugo has adapted to living at the bottom of the sea, where it's dark, under intense pressure, and has little oxygen. It's made him creepy and weird, but he isn't actually evil or antagonistic at all.
• Fish Eyes: He's already a sea monster, but his eyes are especially fish-like since they're constantly pointing in different directions.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Based on how he says that in the deep, you're alone with your thoughts, and his rather eccentric demeanor, it's likely this happened to him, though his appearance in The Stinger shows that he believes otherwise.
• Hidden Depths: According to Enrico Casarosa, the reason Ugo lives in the deep is because in his youth he had a curiosity about the surface (not unlike his nephew), but after an incident where he almost got killed while going there, started seeing it as an "addiction" and chose to keep himself as far away from it as possible.
• Percussive Maintenance: Luca has to punch his heart when he suddenly freezes from too much oxygen.
• Non-Standard Character Design: He has see-through skin, prominent Fish Eyes and an anglerfish-like lure on his forehead, traits that make him stand out from every other sea monster in the movie.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: His accent sounds more Romanian than Italian.^note This is especially jarring since his actor, Sacha Baron Cohen, did a spot on Italian accent in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Other characters

Giulia's Mother

Giulia's mother and Massimo's (presumed) ex-wife who lives in Genova. Giulia lives with her during the school year, and spends the summer separated from her daughter while Giulia is with her father in Portorosso.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Her marital status, or if she's even married in the first place: she lives in a different town from her husband, and seems to have custody of Giulia over the school year while the latter only sees her father during summer vacations. It's made even more ambiguous when you remember divorce has been made legal in Italy in 1974, and the story takes place around 1969 (the credits show Luca and Giulia watching the first moon landing on television).
• Artists Are Attractive: She's a very beautiful woman and a painter who caught Massimo's eye, whom she married and had a daughter with.
• Flat Character: Due to only appearing in the non-animated credits, little is known about Giulia's mother other than the fact she's an artist and welcomed Luca into her home in spite of his sea monster status.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Owns a dog called Nerone.
• Nice Girl: Giulia only speaks well of her, and sure enough she instantly accepted Luca for who he is, even using him as a live model for her paintings.
• No Name Given: Having been married to Massimo during the 50's-60's, one could assume she bears his last name. Her actual name (as well as her maiden surname) is unknown.
• Open-Minded Parent: She has no problem with Luca being a sea monster and accepts to have him in her home alongside Giulia so he can attend school.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Giulia clearly got her red hair and nose from her mother.
• The Voiceless: She's only seen during the end credits after Giulia and Luca live with her in Genova via pictures, thus has no dialogue.
• Women Prefer Strong Men: One could assume so, due to Massimo's build.

Alberto's Dad (UNMARKED SPOILERS)

Alberto's father who supposedly travels a lot. It's later revealed that, for reasons unknown, he willingly abandoned his son and left him alone on Isola del Mare for 383 days.

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• Abusive Parents:
  • While no physical abuse is ever mentioned, his abandonment of Alberto clearly gave the poor kid attachment issues. This is even more jarring in contrast to Luca's family, as, while they are flawed, they ultimately care for Luca and would never abandon him, making Alberto's case even more strange and tragic.
  • It's dwelved even deeper in Ciao Alberto, where Alberto desperately tries to prove his worth to Massimo in fear of being rejected yet again by a father figure. It gives hints that Alberto's father was fed up with his son's constant mistakes, thus creating a paralyzing fear in Alberto to dissapoint Massimo the same way.
• Ambiguous Situation: What his personality is like, how his relationship with his son was like and what led to the abandonment in the first place is never specified beyond Alberto saying that he thought he was old enough to live on his own, which doesn't paint him in the best light. Whether he was a well-meaning but flawed parent, an outright Abusive Parent, or plain old neglectful is fully up to audience interpretation. It's not even known if he's actually alive.
• Disappeared Dad: He's revealed to have abandoned Alberto around a year before the movie begins (at the most). Whether or not he died before events of the film is left as an exercise for the audience.
• The Ghost: We never see him onscreen due to having left a long time ago, but his departure greatly scarred his son and plagued him with an intense fear of being abandoned again.
• Hate Sink: Not at the same level as Ercole, but abandoning his prepubescent son with the excuse he was old enough to take care of himself is a selfish move (and would be considered a criminal act in the present day). It worsens his case when you remember that his departure is what caused Alberto to be terrified and insecure of being left by the people he loves, and to feel like he's just a "kid who ruins everything".
• I Have No Son!: For reasons that will probably never be known, he abandoned his own son on an island, with only excuse that Alberto was "old enough to be on his own".
• Invisible Parents: Alberto initially portrays him as this, as he apparently travels a lot and leaves Alberto on the island alone for long periods of time. In reality, he isn't returning at all and has abandoned his kid altogether for some unexplained reason.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He never even makes an onscreen appearance, but his actions serves as a reason to a lot of Alberto's motivations.

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