Gunslinger Girl/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Characters from Gunslinger Girl include:

SWA Cyborgs

Henrietta

Voiced by: Yuka Nanri (Gunslinger Girl) Kana Akutsu (Il Teatrino) (JP), Laura Bailey (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Hero: Either Type IV or Type I depending on how you see her (a hitgirl who is very protective of her fratello or a nice girl who was put through a lot).
  • An Arm and a Leg: After the familicide she barely survived. She gets new prosthetics upon joining the SWA.
  • Berserk Button: When a terrorist starts hitting Jose this creates a subconscious reminder of her own trauma -- Henrietta responds by hitting the man in the jaw with her violin case then killing every terrorist in the apartment, despite direct orders from Jose not to act until they'd spotted their target.
    • During the battle at Turin Nuclear Power Plant, Henrietta had memories of her own trauma triggered after facing an enemy wearing a ski mask--after she's already killed the terrorist and Jose is the only one left near her.
  • Body Count Competition: Henrietta in a combination of Creepy Child and Crowning Moment of Funny.

"I know I only killed four people this month...but last month I killed at least ten! That's probably more than Triela's got!"

  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Henrietta has a face like dip whenever her handler Jose pays attention to someone other than herself.
    • A significant representative scene from the first series of the anime: Marco is supervising Henrietta and Angelica on the shooting range. Jose arrives - but does not immediately speak to Henrietta, instead greeting Marco and complimenting Angelica on her improving accuracy. Henrietta watches the conversation - and praise - with a silent scowl, and then starts deliberately throwing off her aim to falsely suggest that her own technique is poor. She thus gets rewarded with private tuition with Jose all afternoon!
  • Cultured Warrior: The violin case she carries sometimes actually does have a violin in it, shockingly enough.
  • Dying as Yourself
  • Emotionless Girl: Inflicted on Henrietta at a later stage when she is reconditioned after her Heroic BSOD following the battle in St. Mark's Campanile. The process 'resets her to factory settings', so to speak, wiping her memories and reducing her to a robotic personality. It also catapults her handler miles beyond the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Go Out with a Smile
  • Heroic BSOD: During the battle in St. Mark's Campanile the presence of balaclavaed GIS troopers brings back memories of her assault. It happens again during the nuclear plant attack with serious consequences for herself and Jose.
  • If I Can't Have You: Implies this as she demonstrates how Elsa killed Lauro and then herself.
  • Indy Hat Roll: Done side-by-side with Rico during the Turin arc.
  • Killed Off for Real
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: cf. Emotionless Girl above. After being reconditioned she can recognise a make of pistol, but not her sister-cyborgs. "Hello, friend, neighbor," indeed.
  • Meaningful Name: Henrietta's name is derived from Enrica, her handler's Dead Little Sister. cf. Replacement Goldfish below.
  • Naive Newcomer
  • Neural Implanting: Alongside the Emotionless Girl above, Henrietta has new skills programmed into her.
  • Precocious Crush: Oh yes.
  • Rape as Drama: After her family was murdered by thugs, Henrietta was repeatedly raped. Though she survived, she still was badly damaged.
  • Replacement Goldfish: For Jean and Jose's dead sister, Enrica. At least, until the events described above.
  • Spanner in the Works: Her devotion to Jose will even lead her to kill him if he personally wills it, as seen when they die in chapter 83. Jean later uses this tactic to bring down Dante.
  • Suicide Pact: A variation: unlike most such pacts, no suicides are actually involved. Both parties involved in this pact kill each other.
  • Taking You with Me: How she dies in the manga, as shown in graphic and tragic detail in chapter 83.
  • Through His Stomach: Henrietta cooks for the others during the Elsa investigation, with the help of Elenora's magical notebook. Hilariously subverted when Fermi says later that like all kids she can't cook worth a damn.
  • Yandere: She adores her handler, and his generous treatment of her. She cannot abide a world where Jose has no affection for her... and would destroy them both rather than endure it. Must be part of why Jose finds it increasingly difficult to placate her affections, at least until he re-conditions her.

Rico

Voiced by: Kanako Mitsuhashi (Gunslinger Girl) Anri Shiono (Il Teatrino) (JP), Luci Christian (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV, bordering on Type I.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Both of each, actually; her limbs were amputated and replaced with prosthetics after her parents signed her to the SWA for her birthday.
  • Badass Longcoat: As seen in the image provided, this is part of her wardrobe; whenever worn, it's over her general sweatshirt/khaki pants attire.
  • Bad Dreams: For all of her bouncy demeanor, Rico has a paralyzing, mortal terror of losing the gift of movement that the Agency has given her, and has nightmares about it, to the point where she checks her mobility regularly, if not daily, as revealed in chapter 2. She willingly tolerates the shit Jean (at first) and the Agency put her through for a reason, after all.
  • Cheerful Child
  • Cute Bruiser: Literally in Rico's case as Jean uses her to beat up suspects for interrogation, presumably for the additional Mind Screw factor of being pummeled by a small girl.
  • Flanderization: In fanfiction, Rico's Plucky Girl characteristics tend to be exaggerated, often making her an outright ditz.
  • Friendly Sniper
  • Gender Blender Name
  • Ill Girl: Before the Agency took custody of her, she was a fairly extreme example. She had spent pretty much her entire life in the hospital, and how her parents pretty much abandoned her in the hands of the Agency didn't help.
  • Indy Hat Roll: Done side-by-side with Henrietta during the Turin arc. And used some She Fu against Dante later on.
  • Meaningful Name: There has been much speculation in fandom (no Word of God yet) whether Jean named Rico after the Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations act (the "nuclear option" in US anti-mafia law, itself named after the title character in the gangster classic Little Caesar). By his background, he'd certainly know about it (military police, son of a lawyer). That it's a male variant of his Dead Little Sister name makes it even more appropriate.
  • Plucky Girl: Apparently guileless, Rico has a bright, sunny, genial and bubbly disposition that nothing can seem to dull. Arguably The Pollyanna given that she has a harsh handler, but unlike the classic Pollyanna the entire universe is not conspiring to make Rico's life a misery, and she enjoys friends and many benefits in her Agency life, too.
    • Yu posted a series of images on his Twitpic account imagining the cyborgs as characters in THE iDOLM@STER; Rico's performance stats were indifferent, but her character bar was off the charts!
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: When she goes to the opera in one chapter.
  • Shorttank: While Rico's personality is well away from that of a tomboy (cf. Plucky Girl above), neither can she be said to be especially feminine. She has a boy's name, a permanent cropped haircut, and a wardrobe consisting entirely of sweatshirts, jerseys and trousers.
    • This is really a reflection of her handler, who treats Rico in a utilitarian way -- partially to not get attached to her since she'll die sooner or later.
  • Slasher Smile: Rico seems to enjoy the prospect of torturing a Padania suspect.
    • Of course, then there's her smile when she's about to shoot Emilio, even though she doesn't want to kill him (but she's being forced to, given that he walked in on her just as she was walking out of the room where she had assassinated her actual target).

Triela

Voiced by: Eri Sendai (Gunslinger Girl) Atsuko Enomoto (Il Teatrino) (JP), Caitlin Glass (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • All Love Is Unrequited: In "Il Teatrino" Triela acknowledges that she's in love with Hilshire, but is mature enough to know that an underage girl having a relationship with a man twice her age is out of the question. In the manga Triela guesses that Hilshire has started seeing Roberta Guellfi -- Hilshire clearly expects a jealous outburst, but a smiling Triela just wishes them well and hopes Roberta will be able to put up with him, only looking crestfallen once Hilshire's back is turned.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Happens to put her out of the fight very early in the nuclear plant incident.
  • Antagonist in Mourning: Although most likely never taught the philosophical and spiritual side of Martial Arts in her training, Triela solemnly and sadly returned Pinocchio's treasured key-ring to him after slaying him in single combat, paying her final respects to a fellow warrior.
  • Anti-Hero: Type III.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Hilshire starts dressing Triela in suits once he starts thinking of her as his police partner. Though she now prefers more feminine clothes, Triela continues to wear a tie and Waistcoat of Style even when geared up to assault terrorist strongholds.
  • Badass Longcoat
  • Bayonet Ya
  • Better To Die Than Be Reconditioned: Expresses to Hilshire that she'd rather die than have him see her like that, in part because she doesn't want him to have any more regrets than he already does about the SWA.
    • Hilshire's reaction, "Is that your will?" (The document, Japanese doesn't have the double meaning). Triela, "Yes it's a will."
  • Blood Knight: Increasingly as she's feeling her death coming close, and to the distress of Hilshire who wants her to live as long as possible.
    • Triela says that the cyborgs were created to fight, but she fights to show she is alive.
  • Bridge Bunny: Is shown acting like one (or an Office Lady) at the opening of chapter 14. This seems kinda demeaning for her, until you realize that she's being allowed to listen in on actual agency meetings, not just told what to do.
  • But Not Too Foreign: Mimi asks Triela if she's part-Japanese, but we get no answer.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Convenient for the Agency anyway, having a girl with no past dropped off by a couple of criminals who can't afford to complain when she's turned into a cyborg killer.
  • Cool Big Sis: Triela is described as a 'mother hen' to the other cyborgs by her English voice actress, Caitlin Glass.
  • Dark-Skinned Blond: And it adds to the mysteriousness of her origins. She is, however, decidedly non-ditzy, breaking type a little.
    • Triela originates from Tunisia, lending greater support to mixed ethnicity.
  • Eye Scream: Gets her right eye punctured with a car key by Pinocchio in the final episode of Il Teatrino. Does it stop her from killing him? Hell no. And she gets better in the same episode.
  • Fallen Princess: Triela, though in her case she's pulled herself up from even further down. Most of the adults at the agency call her "the princess", half in jest half in respect. The title of her image song is "Brown Snow White", which is probably not entirely about her skin, or her first seven bears.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: When Triela was learning hand-to-hand fighting with the GIS, she picked up a nickname. What did the Special Forces call the little killing machine? Lepretto (roughly "bunny") after a child's doll that shares her Twin Tails.
    • Leading to a Crowning Moment of Cuteness when Triela runs into those GIS troopers the following year -- they immediately start rubbing her "bunny ears" for luck. Cue Luminescent Blush.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Interesting because on duty she is always a Badass in a Nice Suit. Likely a reference to her Tsundere nature, as such characters tend to have Twin Tails.
  • Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Triela owns a number of bears, but these are an austere ornamental collection rather than a soft pile of fuzzy teddies to cuddle. The severe names she gives them (after Roman Emperors) is remarked on by other characters.
    • She's shown cuddling and dressing them up, but only after she realized that the bears were in fact signs of Hilshire's affection for her, not just something given to shut her up at Christmas.
  • Hates Being Touched: Triela pulls away from any attempt by Hilshire to comfort her (a noticeable exception is the Cooldown Hug scene after defeating Pinocchio). After the events of "Returning to the Birdcage" Hilshire is surprised that his cyborg is acting a lot more friendly.
  • Heroic BSOD: After losing to Pinocchio in hand-to-hand combat, especially since she was the one who pressured Hilshire into charging in in the first place.
  • Honorary Uncle: She refers to Mario Bossi as "uncle Mario" in later episodes (both to her bear Augustus and internally). Much the same, Rachelle Belleut is "mama", she's never used "papa" even in her mind.
  • Ignored Epiphany: When first hunting for Pinocchio, Triela is told to read the fairy tale story by her handler. Her reaction to reading about a "mechanical" thing wanting to be human and to please his "father"? "What a stupid story!"
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Triela is fully accepting of her role as a cyborg warrior, and resists Hilshire's attempts to expose her to 'normal' life or discuss What Might Have Been.
  • It Is Not Your Time: Triela has a near-death experience after sustaining a head injury during the battle for the nuclear plant. She encounters Rachelle's spirit and is excited to meet her 'mother', but Rachelle shuts a door on Triela and she's pulled back to consciousness. Also notable, Triela was wearing a one-piece sun dress. Turns into a Hope Spot, as the next time we see her, Triela and Hilshire are wounded and both heavily implied to be dead.
  • Killed Off for Real: As seen in chapter 96.
  • The Lancer: Having received minimal conditioning or interaction from Hilshire, Triela is the most independent and outspoken of the girls, and directly disobeys her handler when she lets Mario Bossi go so he can see his daughter. Ironically this causes Hilshire (who secretly witnessed this) to start seeing her as his partner as opposed to a cyborg killer or a little girl -- neither of whom he knows how to relate to.
    • Even better, when she calls the detectives investigating Elsa's death to tell them that Henrietta and Jose have suddenly gone off to Sicily. "Oh, and this phone is probably bugged."
  • Last Stand: Triela is crippled early in the nuclear plant attack. She sends Rico and Henrietta on, and waits for the mopping-up team.
  • Love Epiphany: After discovering Hilshire only joined the Agency to protect her, Triela decides to run away so he'll have a chance for a normal life. She barely makes it out the door before rushing back inside to kiss Hilshire and declare she's going to stay with him till she dies, though Hilshire doesn't hear this because he's unconscious at the time.
  • Meaningful Name: Triela is named after the city of Trier in the German wine-making region of the Mosel Valley, where her handler Hilshire originates from.
  • Mind Game Ship: In-universe - Triela worries constantly over whether her feelings for her handler are real, or merely the result of her conditioning.
  • Rape as Drama: Triela was kidnapped from Tunisia and taken to Amsterdam to be part of a Snuff Film where she was tortured and possibly raped before Hilshire and Rachelle Belleut rescued her.
  • Rapunzel Hair
  • Snuff Film: Poor Triela was tortured and possibly raped for one of these in Amsterdam before being rescued by Hilshire; he brought her to the Agency to save her life... only for them to turn Triela into a brainwashed cyborg instead.
  • Taking the Bullet: Does the literal version for Roberta during vol 7 of the manga. Later she takes a smoke grenade to the head while shielding Beatrice. She survives both, as does Roberta (though still wounded). Beatrice however...
  • Tall, Dark and Snarky: With her fellow cyborgs, it's friendly teasing. With Hilshire it can get pretty cutting. With other (non-handler) adults, it's on a whole other level.
  • Teen Genius: Not as widely read or philosophical as her roommate Claes. She still has learned a LOT of history, writes startlingly good essays, and speaks at least three languages well enough to translate. In addition to lock-picking, combat medicine etc...
  • Together in Death: Marco finds Triela and Hilshire dead with their arms around each other.
  • Tsundere: Her conditioning inhibits the more extreme behaviours of this trope, but her Twin Tails and hot/cold interaction with Hilshire are definitely drawn from it.
  • Waif Fu: In addition to the usual programmed skills, Triela is given extra training in hand-to-hand with the GIS.

Claes (formerly Frieda Claes Johansson)

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Gunslinger Girl) Risa Mizuno (Il Teatrino) (JP), Alese Johnson (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Hero: Type III.
  • Berserk Button: When Claes catches Petra trying on her glasses.
  • Call to Agriculture: She no longer fights (unless strictly necessary, like when she was used as a Trojan Prisoner), so Claes has a lot more free time than the other cyborgs - she likes to spend her time planting vegetables.
  • Cultured Warrior: She inherited a library from her former handler and has a bookish air.
    • Also, her father was an uni professor.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Claes is restricted to the compound, has no handler to lean on, and is used for brutal experiments by the Agency, but she neither tolerates sympathy from the other girls or puts up with them angsting over their own situations.
  • The Glasses Come Off: Literally! Her former handler instructed her to be calm and composed while wearing her glasses, so she has to actually remove her glasses in order to remove the mental block and let her fight.
  • Loners Are Freaks: Averted. Claes can be coldly pragmatic and prefers it when everyone goes off on missions and leaves her alone, but she does care about her friends; she simply prefers to socialise on her own terms.
  • Meganekko: Her glasses are sort of a memento of her handler, who she can't remember.
  • Punch Clock Hero: Prior to the death of her handler, Claes compartmentalized her life thoroughly -- fighting for the Agency and leisure time spent with her handler were hermetically sealed from one another and she would never let the aspects of one intrude in on the other.
  • Technical Pacifist: While on a mission with Petra, Claes finds herself unable to pull the trigger of her firearm as a result of the subconsciously-remembered suggestion from her deceased handler that she be "gentle Claes". This means Claes has to stay at the SWA compound while her fellow cyborgs go to attack the Turin Nuclear Plant.
  • Tested on Humans: After Raballo's death makes her unsuitable for normal combat operations, Claes literally becomes the Technology Department's test bed, outfitted with and testing each new iteration of cybernetics.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Claes goes catatonic after learning of her handler's death and loses memory of him, although it's uncertain whether that is because of her 'systems failure' or if the Agency re-conditioned her to make her operable again.
  • Wise Beyond Their Years: How many twelve year-old girls do you know with an advanced knowledge of Balzac? She also carries herself primly.

Angelica (formerly Angelina)

Voiced by: Hitomi Terakado (Gunslinger Girl) Kana Hanazawa (Il Teatrino) (JP), Monica Rial (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Abusive Parents: Of the Financial Abuse kind. Her father actually ran her down in an attempt to cash in on her hefty life insurance money.
  • Anti-Hero: Type I. She's the only cyborg to never qualify as Type IV despite being a killer.
  • Apologises a Lot
  • Big Friendly Dog: Before being run down by her father and transformed into Angelica, Angelina's only friend was her amiable dog Perro.
  • Dojikko: Trips often enough in missions and in training, likely due to her not adjusting well to her implants or losing control over her enhanced body.
  • Flawed Prototype: Was the first cyborg to be put into action, and also the first to show the symptoms of memory loss. Later cyborgs are able to last longer and have better control over their implants, but Angelica is an unspoken reminder of how all cyborgs who aren't killed in action will end up.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: She is mortally wounded shielding her handler from a bomb blast.
  • Ill Girl: Gets injured in the anime and takes the brunt of a large explosion in the manga, she never fully recovers from either. Much is also made of her steadily decline from conditioning poisoning before these events.
    • They can always put her body back together; thing is, the drugs required are slowly destroying her mind.
  • Loss of Identity: Occurs in the terminal stages of conditioning poisoning.
  • Parental Neglect: Angelica's handler, Marco, is initially very close to his cyborg. However, he grows increasingly distant and resentful as conditioning problems advance and he considers that the little girl he was introduced to has already died. Really not helped by how the poor girl's brainwashing actually destroyed the personality that he was so fond of.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: At least she wasn't around to witness the Hell on Earth the Agency was about to experience...

Petrushka AKA Petra (formerly Elisabeta)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Happens literally -- Alessandro is convinced her declarations of love are simply a result of her conditioning. To prove otherwise Petrushka slaps her handler and insults him, an act that makes her physically ill from the strain of fighting the conditioning that prevents her from harming him.
  • Anti-Hero: Somewhere between Type III and Type V; she's the least moral of the cyborgs, though that's just because Sandro passed quite a few vices on to her.
    • On the other hand, she's the only girl who appears to have doubts about the morality of their methods (torturing prisoners that is, not brainwashing girls like herself)
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Well she did want to be taller...
  • Beautiful Dreamer

Sandro: You looked so cute, all curled up like a cat.

  • Dream Ballet: There is a dream-sequence where Petrushka witnesses her pre-cyborg self (aspiring ballerina Elisabeta) practice her dancing.
  • Driven to Suicide: Having been irradiated during Chernobyl disaster when she was a child, Elisabeta developed cancer in her leg. Then she was sent to Italy for treatment and had said leg amputated, which destroyed her dream of becoming a ballet dancer. She throws herself off a roof, but doesn't die; this however brings her to the Agency's attention.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Elisabeta shows up in a middle episode of Il Teatrino.
  • Master of Disguise: This is Petrushka's specialty, trained in it by her handler.
  • Meaningful Name: Petrushka is the name of a puppet used in Russian theatre - thus reflecting both the character's origins as a Russian ballerina, and her status as an Agency cyborg.
  • Ms. Fanservice: A frequent accusation thrown at her is that, having been converted into a cyborg at a significantly older age than most of the earlier girls, she was intended purely as this. Truth is, we've actually seen more nudity of Triela and underwear shots of the other girls than we ever have of Petrushka. This is something that gets talked up by Petrushka's Hatedom more than anything else.
  • Neural Implanting: When Petra first wakes up at the Agency she can speak Italian and has a detailed knowledge of firearms.
  • Secretly Dying: Leukemia. Inverted in that she's the one that doesn't know, but the staff and her handler do.
  • Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: She does literally have green eyes and red hair! Petrushka also does fulfil the further characteristics of the archetype -- she is much more acquainted with hand-to-hand combat than the other cyborgs, and sometimes loses her temper with her handler (Fiery Redhead) and becomes a Love Interest (Green Eyes).
  • Teacher-Student Romance: Petrushka falls in love with her handler Alessandro, who after initially resisting her increasingly obvious affection (incorrectly believing her to be driven by cyborg conditioning and not wanting to take advantage of her), eventually acknowledges her feelings to be real and genuine and forms a relationship with her. This is not a Mentor Ship because the pairing is not implicit but actually occurs.
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: Due to her conditioning Petrushka throws up every time she tries to insult or challenge her handler.

Beatrice

Voiced by: Mariya Ise (JP), Cherami Leigh (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anyone Can Die: After Angelica's death, we were led to believe that Beatrice was becoming an Ascended Extra to replace her. Beatrice started to make several more appearances where previously she had barely featured... then an anti-material gun pits her like an olive. And she's vaporised by a cruise missile.
  • Emotionless Girl: Beatrice says she's never felt moved enough to smile, and is curious about how the other girls seem to feel happiness or fear so easily.
  • Gimmick: In the sense of a defining trait, before beliefs, personality or appearance Beatrice was distinguished chiefly by her abilities as a bomb-sniffer, being able to literally smell traces of explosive.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: The one time Beatrice raises her voice beyond a flat monotone is her scream at Triela to hit the deck as she, mortally wounded, heaves an imminently-detonating warhead out of a window, and herself along with it.
  • Never Found the Body: They did, it just took a week..
  • Odd Couple: Beatrice is flat and almost monosyllabic, while by contrast her handler is effervescent and talkative.
  • Satellite Character: Given less focus than the girls talked about above, however she has a somewhat larger role in the second season of the anime.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Most of the characters in Gunslinger Girl have fairly conservative hair colour arranged in realistic styles (Triela's body-length pigtails notwithstanding) - but despite being in all other respects an unexpressive character, Beatrice has mauve hair.
    • Mauve is a dull colour, which might suit her lack of personality.
      • Plus it goes with the Boots.

Elsa de Sica and her handler Lauro

A description of the characters goes here.

Tropes exhibited by these characters include:
  • Ascended Extra: In the manga Elsa and Lauro are only shown in a couple of panels, and we never know them as characters. In the anime an episode is devoted to their fratello, plus a flashback scene in a later episode which shows their deaths.
  • Driven To Murder / Spurned Into Suicide.
  • Ice Queen: Elsa has a cold demeanour which only changes when she's reacting to her handler or showing contempt for her fellow cyborgs.
  • The Jerkass & The Woobie: Lauro orders Elsa off her rifle moments before a hit because she's distracted by the warm interaction of the Jose/Henrietta fratello. Lauro ignores her pleas to be allowed to continue the mission, and when he views Elsa's Heroic BSOD afterwards says only, "Useless."
  • Loners Are Freaks: Elsa spurns the friendship of the other girls, living alone in a room where the only extraneous object is a photograph of her handler. The photo is not even a proper portrait, showing only a partial reflection of Lauro in a rearview mirror.
  • Only One Name: Averted as Elsa is the only cyborg with a full name, and not a Gender Blender Name either. Presumably this is because Lauro isn't troubled by the idea of turning little girls into killers as he doesn't think of Elsa as human.
    • This really illustrates Lauro's Parental Neglect - even though Elsa has a fuller name, there's even less behind it. Lauro simply had to call her something and the first thing that came to his head when he stopped to think about it was the name of the park he was walking through at the time. Elsa's name is precious to the poor girl - in addition to being a "gift" from her handler, it's the keystone that maintains her very sense of self and describes her as a person, not a latterday golem, whose struggles have meaning. The realisation that that self is a dismissive and indifferent mere token destroys her, literally.
  • Twin Tailed Braids of Action: Elsa
  • What Measure Is A Cyborg: Lauro despises handlers who show affection to their cyborgs, but even so makes the effort to know Jose better, as he believes everyone has some likeable qualities. As Lauro doesn't regard Elsa as a person however, he simply doesn't bother in her case.
  • Yandere: Due to her heavy conditioning Elsa has become obsessed with Lauro, and her only reason for existing is to serve him.

SWA Handlers

Jose Croce (Henrietta's handler)

Voiced by: Hidenobu Kiuchi (Gunslinger Girl) Kozo Mito (Il Teatrino) (JP), John Burgmeier (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Hero: Type V around most people, and also Henrietta after his crossing of the Despair Event Horizon. Before that Henrietta saw him as nice enough to be Type IV at worst.
  • Despair Event Horizon: After the memory wipe inflicted on Henrietta, leading to Took a Level in Jerkass below.
  • Eyepatch of Power: After the tower incident. Coupled with Sanity Slippage (now he's seeing Enrica too).
  • Eye Scream: Results in the above trope.
  • Mercy Kill: He has Henrietta shoot him after she accidentally fragged him during her rampage at the nuclear plant. As she does so, he puts one in her eye. They both die instantly.
  • Morality Pet: Given the affection Jose showers on Henrietta, it's easy to forget that he too is a ruthless anti-terrorist operative, engaged in a personal Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Lampshaded in a scene where a female politician crippled by a bomb comments on how frightening Jose seems. Henrietta naturally protests that he's "the kindest man in all of Italy!" The politician wisely lets the matter drop.
  • New Roman Legions: Was an officer in the Carabinieri, stationed with the Tuscania Regiment.
  • Sanity Slippage: Following the tower strike, where he lost an eye to the very same guy that had already killed his parents, his sister, and his brother's lover in one fell swoop. As memories of Enrica torment him and the Agency prepares to reset Henrietta to factory settings, he finally jumps over the Despair Event Horizon.
  • Shoot the Dog: Does this to Henrietta as she inflicts a Mercy Kill on him at his own request.
  • Spanner in the Works: He and his brother died exactly the same way: they ordered their own cyborgs to do them in. In the case of Rico and Jean, though, Jean used that order to pull a Thanatos Gambit on Dante.
  • Taking You with Me: Following that shot to the chest, he asks Henrietta to put one through his head right before putting his own gun to her eye. They proceed to put each other out of their misery.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: He along with Henrietta as a result of their Suicide Pact are spared from the Hell on Earth the Agency is about to experience...
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Initially Jose appears to be a model for handlers who treat their cyborgs kindly and compassionately; however, it is later revealed that he finds being nice to his cyborg a draining experience and that keeping her happy and placated is an increasingly troublesome act. Eventually he becomes emotionally exhausted, and can't muster any opposing argument when the Agency wants to "reset" Henrietta, wiping out her memories and personality (essentially destroying all that distinguished the girl he's cared for for years), to reprogram her with new combat skills. Thereafter Jose, no longer keeping up a pretense of being mellow, starts flat-out ignoring her.

Jean Croce (Rico's handler)

Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Gunslinger Girl) Takehito Koyasu (Il Teatrino) (JP), Eric Vale (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Aloof Big Brother
  • Anti-Hero: Seems like Type V at first. He's actually Type IV and only acts like Type V because he doesn't want to get too attached to Rico, knowing that she may die sooner or later. He winds up being the first to die out of the two anyway later on, sacrificing himself so Rico can finally terminate Dante once and for all.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Jean, he starts off by far the coldest handler but by the end of the second anime season finally seems to have warmed up to Rico.
    • Rico is precious to Jean (she's the instrument of his vengeance). Jean is just really crappy at nurturing and softer feelings and stuff like that. This causes problems, recently Jean tries to give a rousing speech to Rico about getting Dante for him, even if it kills her. Rico's reaction is totally uncomprehending; if you haven't taught someone emotions, you really can't appeal to them.
    • While in the Carabinieri Jean was pursued by female subordinate Sophia Durante, who fell in Love At First Sight with the handsome aloof officer despite his warning that he was a cold fish. Her persistance breaks through his reserve and they agree to get married -- her subsequent death in the same terrorist attack that kills Jean's sister no doubt reinforces his belief that it's better to go through life as a ruthless unfeeling bastard.
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Has no qualms about using it himself, if there is any chance of gaining useful info, or sometimes when he's just extra angry. Usually delegates this to Rico, who will cheerfully (though not maliciously) take care of it.
  • Jerkass Facade: Jean maintains a cold demeanor towards his cyborg Rico, and hits her whenever she doesn't perform to standard. Seeing as the cyborgs are all going to die before adulthood as a result of their conditioning, he has good reason not to get too attached, especially since Jean still feels the loss of his sister Enrica. On rare occasions, however, this façade cracks, like when Rico is injured and falls into the sea during a battle and Jean desperately dives in to save her.
    • Jean might actually feed off of the resentment directed his way to some extent - the strained atmosphere removing comfort and understanding away from him, and stoking up frustrations in himself, and so strengthening and keeping him by default in the hard-set flinty face that he's set to the world. I don't believe that Jean is naturally nasty, he's not so grim a character as he presents himself - from his grandfather's death to his early career in the manga, he's been playing a role that he feels that he ought to. It even goes beyond Sophia's death - when he gives Rico a hug at the range after Angelica's death, we understand that he's cold to and demanding of her because he feels that he shouldn't be affectionate to a weapon, rather than him being unconscious of the fact that he's being insensitive. Jean is a jerk because he perceives that he has to be to endure in this line of work, inflicting bitterness and infuriation on himself to be the goads driving him on - if he mellowed out, he'd run out of fuel.
  • Knight Templar: Has been one pretty much since birth, having his family killed only increased his fanaticism.
  • New Roman Legions: Was an officer in the Carabinieri, stationed with the Tuscania Regiment.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Right before Turin, he feels guilty about betraying Raballo to the Agency and orders Rico to kill him when Dante tries using him as a Human Shield. As he dies slowly, he apologizes to Rico and tells her to move on. Averted at chapter 95, where he's confirmed to be alive, but amnesiac regarding Rico
  • Shoot the Hostage: Giacoma tries to use Jean as a shield. Jean's response? He orders Rico to shoot through him anyway with an anti-material rifle.
  • Taking You with Me: Does this to Dante for trying to use him as a shield.
  • Thanatos Gambit: When Dante tries using him as a shield, Jean pulls one on him, using Rico for his gambit.
  • Would Hit a Girl: You bet, and the woman doesn't have to be the SWA's quarry either--he's smacked Rico hard enough to draw blood, and gave Priscilla a shiner during hand-to-hand sparring. To be fair to him, though, he doesn't enjoy hitting them, and he never hit his fiance (though he did throw an orange in her face, it made sense in context).

Victor Hilshire (Triela's handler)

Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (Gunslinger Girl) Masaya Matsukaze (Il Teatrino) (JP), Dameon Clarke (Gunslinger Girl) J Michael Tatum (Il Teatrino) (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Always Save the Girl: Hilshire doesn't hesitate to run back to save Triela, even when directly ordered not to.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV bordering on Type II.
  • The Atoner: Hilshire clearly feels guilty over Rachelle Belleut's death in their bungled raid in Amsterdam, and goes far beyond the call of duty to protect the girl she died to save in an effort to make her Heroic Sacrifice mean something.
  • Cowboy Cop: Hartmann raids a Snuff Film warehouse on his own initiative, leading to the death of his Love Interest, French doctor Rachelle Belleut.
  • Germanic Depressives: Hilshire seems the typical "serious German" to his fellow handlers, and when the audience first sees him he's keeping an emotional distance from Triela, leaving her confused as to exactly what he expects of her. But it turns out that Hilshire's just never been comfortable dealing with children or socialising with others.
  • Killed Off for Real: Neither he nor Triela made it through the operation against Dante.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Shading into Martyr Without a Cause. His latest letter to Roberta even quotes Macaulay's Horatius (Stanzas 27-29).
  • Last-Name Basis: Hilshire is never called 'Victor' by the other handlers; Triela doesn't even know his first name until Roberta Guellfi mentions it.
  • Meganekko: Hilshire appears to have a thing for these women, or at least ones who share his anti-social loneliness and hunger for justice.
  • Morality Chain: Inverted. He's a good cop who's forced to carry out assassinations because becoming Triela's handler was the only way to protect her.
  • Naive Newcomer: At Europol Hartmann is kept on liaison work because he's believed to be too sensitive and idealistic for field operations.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: You've got this girl who's traumatised and mutilated from a snuff film, and you've heard of an agency in Italy that can make her all better. At least she's alive.
  • Nom De Guerre: His real surname is Hartmann; Hilshire is a fake identity given when he joined the Agency.
  • You Know Too Much: During a flashback to how he ended up with the agency; when Hartmann discovers that Triela has been turned into a cyborg killer, he threatens to blow the whistle on the Agency, Jean gives him the choice of either becoming Triela's handler, or becoming a corpse and abandoning Triela to an unknown fate.

Marco Toni (Angelica's handler)

Voiced by: Norihiro Inoue (Gunslinger Girl) Kazuki Yao (Il Teatrino) (JP), Jim Foronda (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV --> Type V --> Type IV.
  • The Bus Came Back: Marco drops out of the story after Angelica's death, but he reappears five volumes later. This is not a case for shouting out He's Back excitedly, partially because he was never the central hero but also because his return to active service is treated in a very low-key, almost incidental way.
  • Handicapped Badass
  • New Roman Legions: Marco was with the Polizia di Stato's Criminal Police Central Directorate, plus he had combat experience with NOCS.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Flashbacks reveal that Marco was a good handler to Angelica (of the friendly brother type) but when she starts losing her memory he becomes resentful and indifferent. He does show moments of concern, but it isn't until his Heel Realisation that Marco starts trying to comfort Angelica in her final days. Later when Sandro asks for advise handling the cyborgs, Marco can only warn him against getting attached to them in the first place.

Raballo (Claes' handler)

Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi (JP), Bill Flynn (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV to the naked eye, but is really a Type II.
  • Handicapped Badass
  • Jerkass Facade: Raballo is a gruff veteran embittered over the loss of his leg in a meaningless accident, who's only training Claes so he can get back into the Carabinieri. He's curt towards her and strikes people on a couple of occasions (not without cause) but in the end is the only one who makes an active step towards trying to stop what's being done to the girls.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Raballo decides to go to the newspapers about the SWA. The next thing we see is Jean telling Claes that her handler was killed in a hit and run accident, thought we never find out any further details.
    • Well we later hear Jean apologizing to Raballo after turning down Claes's request to join the Turin mission. Which at least eliminates any lingering doubt.
  • New Roman Legions: Raballo was Jean Croce's superior officer in the Carabinieri.

Alessandro "Sandro" Ricci (Petrushka's handler)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Hero: A definite Type V, given the vices he passes on to Petra. But sometimes he'll slip into Type II or III.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Averted. Alessandro actively dislikes redheads (after his redheaded mentor ran out on him) and is frustrated when his cyborg arrives with a luscious scarlet mantle. It's assumed the agency put red hair on Petra to spite him.
  • Honey Trap: Sandro's job was to seduce female radicals (or women related to radicals) which has given him a Handsome Lech reputation among his colleagues.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: Sandro is specifically recruited from Intelligence because his morals will be more flexible than the military and police types previously recruited as handlers (e.g. police and soldiers are supposed to protect women and children, whereas spies are more likely to be Manipulative Bastards). He has no discernable patriotism or sense of duty. He loves to watch people, not interact with them. However, perhaps because of that there are several instances where he gives bad guys every opportunity to surrender and tries to talk them down.
  • Non-Action Guy: Prior to the Turin Power Plant attack Sandro left all the combat to Petra. During the attack he leaves his cover out of concern for his cyborg and gets chewed out by Marco for it.
  • Sherlock Scan: Has developed this skill since he was a kid.
  • Teacher-Student Romance: With the mentor who recruited him into the intelligence services.


Padania Movement

Flanca and Franco

A description of the characters goes here.

Tropes exhibited by these characters include:
  • Anti-Villain: Franco is Type II; while he isn't a Woobie, he only participates in Padania's activities because of his devotion to Flanca.
  • Bus Crash: And it actually happens onscreen, though Cristiano (the sole survivor) doesn't alert us to it until many chapters later.
  • He Is Not My Boyfriend: People assume these two are lovers, but it's actually a case of Like Brother and Sister -- Franco gave Caterina the name Flanca in deliberate evocation of that trope.
  • Irony: Caterina is the one responsible for Marco (a handler with the Agency) getting together with his girlfriend Patricia.
  • Killed Off for Real: As confirmed by Cristiano later on.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident: Caterina's father dies in prison under suspicious circumstances when she appeals his conviction. This is what caused her to become a terrorist.
  • Shell Shocked Senior: Franco no longer believes in terrorist causes; only the fervour of his partner keeps him going.
  • The Stoic: Franco. Flanca often jibes him about it.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: The pair try to avoid placing bombs where children will be hurt, and Flanca manages to stop Pino from offing a young girl, never mind that said girl had been snooping on them at the worst possible moments lately.

Pinocchio (AKA Pino)

Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (JP), Jerry Jewell (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Anti-Villain: Type I.
  • Badass Normal: Consistently portrayed as faster, stronger and more accurate then the girls despite being just a normal boy.
  • Celibate Villain: Pinocchio has no interest in girls and finds Aurora's Precocious Crush annoying. It's left unclear whether this behaviour is due to Asexuality, an Ambiguously Gay crush on his Honorary Uncle, or simple disinterest in anything that might distract him from his role as a killer.
    • Remember Pino hasn't been conditioned out of his memories. Considering where Cristiano found him, he probably has some serious psychological scars, and a few mental blocks on physical intimacy.
  • Cultured Warrior: Subverted. Pino appears to be one due to his ability to play the piano, but it turns out that he can only play the one tune and that his surrogate father kept him out of school.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Like Triela, Pino is a victim of child abuse who was rescued by his surrogate parent-figure, and who measures his success solely by his ability to kill for that 'parent'.
  • Due to the Dead: Triela returns his treasured key ring to him after killing him in combat.
  • The Stoic
  • Wall of Weapons: In Pino's hideout in Montalcino.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Pino kills a young girl on his first mission, emptying his silenced pistol into her body. He tries to warn Aurora away from him, but is perfectly willing to kill her when she stumbles into their hideout (Flanca puts a stop to this). Although, when Triela is lying unconscious in front of him, it brings up memories of his first mission and he's unable to pull the trigger.

Cristiano Savonarola

Voiced by: Naoki Tatsuta (Gunslinger Girl) Yoji Ueda (Il Teatrino) (JP), Unknown (Gunslinger Girl) John Swasey (Il Teatrino) (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Big Bad: For the first and second seasons of the anime. Cristiano runs the Milan branch of Padania.
  • Cultured Warrior
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Orders his men not to commit violence in sight of art galleries or churches -- as they're in Florence his underling gripes that it doesn't leave much for them to attack.
  • Not Quite Dead: Reappears as an Evil Cripple.
  • Meaningful Name: Girolamo Savonarola was a 15th Century Dominican friar who preached against the corruption and immorality of the established order, and was executed for it.
  • Parental Substitute: Raises Pinocchio as a child assassin, but by default he becomes a surrogate son.
  • The Man Behind the Man: Finances Dante's operation to destroy the SWA.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Cristiano appears to accept his fate when Padania betrays him to the police, as someone has to pay the price for their recent failures at the hands of the SWA. When Pinocchio refuses to leave his side, Cristiano decides to flee the country to save Pinocchio's life. Unfortunately that decision comes too late as the Agency is already moving in for the kill.

Giacomo Dante

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Batman Gambit: His men seize the Belltower of St. Marks to demand the release of a terrorist leader -- it turns out Dante is actually several miles away with an anti-material rifle and the detonator for a cruise missile, waiting to ambush the SWA when they attack.
  • BFG: Uses a 20mm anti-material rifle, firing it from the hip at one stage.
  • Big Bad: Replaces Cristiano as the main target of the SWA.
  • Blood Knight: This guy seems to have too much fun in battle.

"The Five Republics has won this battle! Go ahead, fight all you want! It just makes it more exciting! Such a hateful enemy, you are! Such a lovely hate unfolding in the front of me!

"I opened the book of mankind's history. People have always fought and killed, many times without real reason. Violence is the way of the world. I am simply playing along."


Others

Enrica Croce (Jean & Jose's sister)

Voiced by: Kana Akutsu (JP), Brittney Karbowski (EN)

A description of the character goes here.

Tropes exhibited by this character include:
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Enrica does not react well to Sophia's arrival on the scene, decrying Jean's fiancée as an interloper and making every effort to be an ass to her.
  • Ghostly Goals: In death, Enrica's soul has been distilled down to a core of bitter, resentful, vengeful spite. Her ghost is a cold dagger pricking at her brothers to accomplish the Unfinished Business of ending her killer, Dante. A weak Type B - she cannot destroy Dante herself but relentlessly drives others to do so.
  • Harp of Femininity: Enrica played the harp and was accomplished enough to win competitions. This also serves to illustrate her Big Brother Worship because this image of serenity (and the fact that she's only adolescent) conflicts with her precocious desire to follow Jose into the Carabineri.
  • Parental Neglect: With middle-aged career parents and adult brothers away with the Carabinieri, Enrica has to clean, cook, and manage her own way around the family home.
  • Posthumous Character: Enrica is long dead when the manga starts, and her life is detailed entirely through later flashbacks and spectral visitations.
  • Purity Sue (In-Universe): Whenever Jose has a flashback memory of Enrica, she's portrayed as the personification of innocence. When the manga starts to cover Enrica's backstory, she's shown to be a lot more flawed and human.
  • Who Wears Short Shorts?: As seen in the image provided for her.
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