Ricardo (リカルド Rikarudo), who commonly calls himself Rico (リコ Riko), is an apprentice priest at the Rip-Off Church.
Appearance[]
Rico is a young adult man with a skinny build, light tan skin, and green eyes. He has shaggy, dark green hair styled with a frontal widow's peak and bangs. He normally wears black clerical clothing with a clerical collar. On other occasions, he wears light-colored pants and a short-sleeved dress shirt.
Black Lagoon history[]
Like Eda and Sister Yolanda, Ricardo is a highly skilled gunman whose choice of weapon is a M60 machine gun. He refers to Eda as "Sis" ("Ane-san" in Japanese) instead of "Sister," much to her chagrin. He helps other church members in the Rip-Off Church's informant network in gathering intelligence and organizing items.
Greenback Jane[]
When Eda and Revy started a gunfight with the Nuevo Laredo Cartel due to Janet Bhai's escape, Rico came from the back to aid in the shooting, introducing himself to Revy and deploying his machine gun. After Elvis and Lobos's men retreated, the Rip-Off Church members brought Jane inside to discuss why Elvis was after her, and Rico quietly sat in the pews while Eda, Revy and Yolanda questioned her and helped her out.[1]
El Baile de la muerte[]
When Mister Chang desired more information from a CIA agent who he was in contact with, he went to the Rip-Off Church to call the agent. Sitting in the pews, Rico pointed Chang to the confession booth in which there was a cell phone that Chang used to call the agent, who was actually Eda disguising her voice.[2] Later, Rico informed Eda that he had sneaked into Roberta's hideout to plant the travel documents for her so that she could continue her plan to hunt down Grey Fox. He wondered why Eda had arranged the entire plan, but she reminded him not to peek into others' affairs and not to call her "sis."[3] Rico's presence in this arc is only in the manga.
The Wired Red Wild Card[]
When Revy was arrested by the Roanapur City Police and Feng Yifei was being hunted by The Quartet, Rock visited the Yellow Flag to discuss a trade with Eda. The nun arrived at the bar with Rico, both of whom were dressed in casual clothing, and told Rock that she already knew that he was harboring Feng. The ex-salaryman in turn told Eda that he would give her the Lagoon Company's client & transport list from the beginning of the year to April in exchange for information in the past six months of business between the Albanian and Italian mafias, as well as creating arrangements to free Revy. Eda agreed to the terms and got up from her stool, informing Rico that they needed to report the info to Sister Yolanda and then they could begin snooping for Rock's desired information.[4]
The next morning when Rock and Feng were staying at Rowan "Jackpot" Pigeons's strip club, Eda and Rico arrived, both dressed in their priestly clothing. Rico set the documents on the table, and Eda told Rock about the Albanian Mafia's origins and then ordered Rico to discuss the assassins of the Quartet. Rico showed the pictures and told Rock the information on three of the assassins: Montero, Rob, and Park Seung, all of whom worked for Bren the Black Death. As Rico hesitated about the fourth assassin, Eda smacked the back of his head, with Rico apologizing since they could not find any concrete information on the fourth brother.
Next, Eda discussed the recent delivery of large amounts of gold among the Albanians in addition to the details of where the "washing machine" money laundering account was likely located. When Rock proposed that he use the missing account as insurance for Feng's safety, Feng herself replied that she could not access the account since it was offline, making Rico and Eda burst into laughter. Rock suggested finding another internet café to access the account, but Rico reminded him that the assassins would be surveying internet cafés since that was where Feng was found and almost killed. While Eda recommended Rock try convincing the Roanapur City Police to let him use their internet, Rico lit Eda's cigarette, and Rock and Feng left to try the nun's idea.[5]
El réquiem de los Desalmados[]
Upon Yolanda and Eda coming to an agreement about gathering intel on Gris el Tigres and his mafia Los Soldados, Eda summoned Rico and ordered him to retrieve all of the information on drug trafficking activities in Mexico from 1985 to the present. Accordingly, he did so and gave the info to the young nun, who then relayed the findings to Rock.[6]
Gore Gore Girl history[]
Volume 2[]
Rico appears in two stories of the second volume of Dismemberment Galore! The Gore Gore Girl. In the first story, Rico was at a restaurant carrying a rifle and ordered a ham sandwich and honey latte, remarking that he was exhausted after a long night. Once he got his food, he saw that Rock, Sawyer the Cleaner, Shenhua and Lotton were also dining there, asking them if they were having a party. As Rico told them that there were a lot of people who rushed to the Rip-Off Church that previous night, he saw their confused faces and asked them what was wrong. Seeing that Rock did not recognize him, Rico told him that he was with the Rip-Off Church, making the embarrassed Rock pretend to finally recognize him. Rico began to sweat nervously because he felt insulted, but Rock assured him that he meant no offense toward the apprentice priest and invited him to sit down with them.
In contrast, Shenhua calmly stated that she had never heard of him, surprising Rico. While he sat down at a table adjacent to theirs, Rock asked him if he was involved in the shooting that they heard minutes ago, with Rico stating that it was simply "missionary work," adding that it was also noisy the night that he worked a lot. Continuing to eat his food, Rico agreed with Rock and Shenhua that they were not fond of working overtime. As they continued to eat, several armed men arrived at the restaurant, yelling at everyone to give up their money. Rico and the others were unfazed and tiredly showed no concern about the threat, so Shenhua convinced Sawyer to deal with the robbers.[7]
In the second story, a father and child had visited the chapel so that the former could request an exorcism for his allegedly possessed child, but Eda refused. The man then started to speak words that she did not understand and then shot his child, causing Eda to shoot him in turn. Annoyed by the turn of events, Eda told Rico to clean up the mess, but as he entered the chapel, the apprentice priest began vomiting and went on a rampage, causing Eda to subdue him and tie him up. When Sawyer the Cleaner arrived to clean up the corpses, Eda explained the situation and showed her the tied-up Rico, yelling at him to ask how he was doing. As Rico turned around, his eyes rolled backward into his head and he began speaking violently toward Eda, repeatedly calling her a "slut" and making sexual comments. Seeing that he had not recovered, Eda kicked him back onto the ground, then continuing to plead with Sawyer and soon experiencing hallucinations of dead people inside the church due to a strange mist. The next morning, Sister Yolanda saw the tied-up Rico and the unconscious Eda next to the pews, telling the awakened Eda to explain herself.[8]
Volume 9[]
During a fight against a crowd of "nonbelievers" at night, Rico and Eda believed they saw Elvis Presley among the people, surprising them. However, as the fight ended, the Elvis lookalike disappeared without a trace. Afterward, the two of them went to an outdoor dining place to order some food, with Rico ordering a grilled beef sandwich and high-sugar coffee. As they walked to the eating area, they agreed with each other that the person had to be Elvis. Overhearing them, Rock and Shenhua asked them about the encounter and admitted that they too witnessed Elvis while carrying out their respective jobs.
From then on, Rico quietly ate his food as Eda and the others discussed the rumor about Elvis still being alive. A minute later, Lotton arrived with the Elvis lookalike, surprising everyone. As Elvis thought about buying everyone Elvis sandwiches, several gangsters with whom Elvis was formerly associated interrupted them and demanded that Elvis accompany them in response to him cutting ties with them. To the side, Rico watched the encounter in confusion, and the others were amazed at Elvis's freelancing skills and the fact that he drove a pink Cadillac like the real Elvis did.[9]
Eda Initial Stage history[]
Devastating New Face[]
Rico briefly appeared in the first chapter of Eda Initial Stage, meeting with Eda at an outdoor dining place and giving her documents detailing requests from a third party for weapon shipments. Impressed, Eda told Rico to continue his plan. Once more, Rico called her "sis" to her annoyance, but she got distracted as she thought she saw a familiar face nearby, jumping up from her seat. Startled, Rico asked her why she moved so suddenly, with Eda telling herself that she remembered something that she should not have.[10]
Trivia[]
- In a popularity contest during the 10th manga collection release, Rico ranked 38th with 8 votes.[11]
- In a popularity contest during the 12th manga collection release, Rico ranked 44th with 12 votes.[12]
- Rico is the only member of the Rip-Off Church who is not seen smoking.
- Rico is one of only three characters, the other two being Eda and Russell, who appear in both Black Lagoon spinoff series.
- He is one of three characters in the Black Lagoon universe, the other two being Le Majeur and Choptop, who refer to their respective mentors as "Sis" (姐さん Ane-san).
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 38: Greenback Jane Part 1
- ↑ Chapter 56: El Baile de la muerte Part 13
- ↑ Chapter 69: El Baile de la muerte Part 26
- ↑ Chapter 92: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 16
- ↑ Chapter 93: The Wired Red Wild Card Part 17
- ↑ Chapter 119: El réquiem de los Desalmados Part 3
- ↑ Gore Gore Girl Chapter 08: Chill Out
- ↑ Gore Gore Girl Chapter 12: The Fog
- ↑ Gore Gore Girl Chapter 57: Love Me Tender
- ↑ Eda Initial Stage Chapter 01: Devastating New Face Part 1
- ↑ http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest/
- ↑ http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest_12/