Roberta

Roberta (ロベルタ Roberuta^?) is a maid who worked for four years at the Lovelace household in Venezuela. Although her domestic skills such as cleaning and cooking were poor, she developed a close friendship with the young son of the Lovelace family, Garcia. Roberta was once known as Rosalita Cisneros (ローザリタ・シスネロス Rōzarita Shisunerosu^?), a former FARC guerrilla trained as an assassin in Cuba and an internationally wanted criminal. Balalaika refers her as a "hardcore terrorist" to the point that Hotel Moscow had to deploy all their commandos as well as Balalaika getting involved in the situation personally should things get out of hand. Revy refers to her as "Fucking Four Eyes" or "That Fucking Glasses Bitch". She earned the moniker "Bloodhound of Florencia" for her relentless drive to achieve her objectives. Her tormented past and the smell of blood, gunpowder and muck like that of a sewer rat emanating from her was something Revy understood full well.

In combat, Roberta is a truly fearsome opponent, having trained in a wide variety of martial, stealth, and weapon skills. Among the weapons she has used were a .50 caliber sniper rifle, combat knife, SPAS-12 shotgun disguised as an umbrella (reinforced with Kevlar), machine gun, and semi-automatic grenade launcher hidden in a suitcase, spiked brass knuckles, trench spike, and twin IMBEL Model 911 pistols (see Colt M1911 pistols). Her strength, speed, endurance, and instincts were honed to almost superhuman levels, so much so that Rock at one point refers to her sardonically as "a killer robot from the future" (a reference to James Cameron's Terminator movies).

While Roberta is one of the most powerful warrior-women in Black Lagoon, she is also humane. She is unwaveringly devoted to her master and his son, Garcia, whom she loves deeply as if he were her own child. Roberta and Revy fight each other, but only to beat themselves up. Rock interferes, but Roberta and Revy tell him to stay out of it. In the manga and anime, the fight ends in a draw right after they punch each other out simultaneously, (though Garcia claims she won because she remained conscious). Her kindness can easily change as seen in a humorous omake in Volume 1 of the manga when Garcia slapped her butt in a playful manner, which prompted her to pinch his arm and lift him up off the ground by the skin of his arm as punishment. There are a few hints that she may be religious, unlike many of the other main characters in Black Lagoon, specifically Catholic judging from the large crucifix she wears around her neck. It should also be noted that she very rarely uses profanity.

She admitted that she did murder children, women, or anyone in name of revolution during her FARC years. Disillusioned by the fact that she was merely a tool for the drug cartels in cahoots with FARC, she opted out and joined the Lovelace clan as a maid through her father who is a friend of Lovelace. Despite being asked by Garcia not to pick up gunfighting anymore, later events in the manga, which depicts her watching helplessly as a bomb was set killing many including Diego Lovelace. Garcia's question of why was his father was a victim makes her go into battle again, seeking revenge. Roberta also shows signs of a growing madness; she is shown taking mouthfuls of anti-psychotics, and experiencing haunting hallucinations in the form of her past victims. She once again stalks the city of Roanapur in search of the one responsible for assassinating her master. Unfortunately, it turns out to be the US Special Forces, who's intentions were to assassinate a general and had to sacrifice Diego Lovelace to complete their mission. Roberta's quest for vengeance has put many of the residents including Hotel Moscow, the Triad, and the Colombian Cartel on high alert as it could mean the end for all of them if their new enemy is the United States. Most of the residents blame the Lagoon Company for attracting her back to Roanapur despite the fact the group was in the dark about the situation and brushed it off as if it were an Elvis sighting. Further into her quest, she begins to lose sight of her goal, almost returning to her former persona to the point she begins to lose her sanity and has trouble identifying friend and foe, thus almost harming Garcia and Fabiola in the process. The Columbia Cartel even comments that she is no longer the hound they once knew, but a stray wolf searching for purpose. Her oath as the "Bloodhound of Florencia" is "In the name of Santa Maria, a hammer blow of righteousness to all injustice."

In Chapter 73, Roberta is last seen with an American woman, presumably Eda. The woman is able to disarm Roberta easily and pass her through the security, so whether she is Eda or not, she is definitely an American security agent. She finally catches up with Grey Fox and annihilates the entire squad minus Caxton, who is thought to be slain by Garcia (however, it later reveals he faked his own death); in order to stop her madness. In anger, she shoots Garcia, severely wounding him (though implied its not a mortal wound), she catches Garcia in her arms just realizing what she has done. In the extra missing pages of chapter 76, she and Garcia kissed and they made up with each other and returns to the Lovelace home. However, in the fifth episode of the OVA, Roberta is severely injured and is confined to a wheelchair as she later regains the ability to walk slowly (she has lost her left arm, her right eye, and visible as she is being wheeled out is a prosthetic foot and ankle, implying her lower right leg has been amputated as well).

In issue #50 of Anime Insider magazine, director Sunao Katabuchi comments that the animation staff referred Roberta as an "Evil Mary Poppins". He goes on to add that creator Rei Hiroe long thought of Roberta as a kind of "Death Poppins".

Hide