| Rosarita Cisneros (Roberta) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rosarita Cisneros (Roberta) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | Unknown |
| Height | 170 cm (5' 7") |
| Affiliates | Diego Lovelace Garcia Lovelace Fabiola Iglesias |
| Affiliation | Lovelace Family |
| Former Affiliation | FARC |
| Weapon | Multiple |
| Race/Nationality | Colombian |
| First Appearance | |
| Manga | Chapter 02: Rasta Blasta Part 1 |
| Anime | Episode 08: Rasta Blasta |
| Anime Voice | |
| Japanese Anime Voice | Michie Tomizawa |
| English Anime Voice | Tabitha St. Germain |
| Image Gallery | |
Rosarita Cisneros (ロザリタ・チスネロス, Rozarita Chisunerosu) more commonly known as Roberta (ロベルタ, Roberuta), is a maid who worked at the Lovelace Family household for four years in Venezuela.
Appearance
Roberta is pale-skinned young woman with very long dark purple hair that is tied in low pigtail braids, blue eyes and large, thick and overly round glasses. She is seen wearing a long maid uniform and a cross necklace.
Character Bio
Although her domestic skills such as cleaning and cooking were poor, Roberta developed a close friendship with Garcia Lovelace, the young son of the Lovelace family. She was once known as Rosarita Cisneros, a former F.A.R.C 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 "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 fully well.
Ability
In combat, Roberta is a truly fearsome opponent who has quite a powerful body. Her strength, speed, endurance and instincts have been honed to almost supernatural 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. She has extensive training in a wide variety of tracking, stealth, and combat skills, including martial arts, and a very high degree of proficiency in the use of a wide variety of weapons. Among the weapons, she has used is a Barrett M82A1 anti-material sniper rifle with a grenade launcher mounted underneath the barrel, which she could fire one-handed despite the weapon's size and significant weight - a testament to both her skill and tremendous physical strength. She has also used a combat knife, a SPAS-12 shotgun disguised as an umbrella, machine gun, grenade launcher hidden in a suitcase, spiked brass knuckles, trench spikes, and twin Sistema Colt Model 1927s (see Colt M1911 pistols). In the manga, she uses IMBEL M1911 developed by Indústria de Material Bélico do Brasil, based on the Colt M1911A1, as well as an antique Charleville musket that once belonged to the Lovelace family.
The irony is that while Roberta is one of the most powerful warrior-women, if not the most dangerous, in Black Lagoon, she is also one of the more humane. She has an unwavering devotion to her master and dotes on his son, Garcia, whom she loves deeply. 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 Roberta won because she remained conscious. Her kindness can easily change, as seen in a humorous omake in Volume 1 of the manga when Garcia flipped her skirt up, groped and 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 until he apologized, showing that her patience has a limit before losing her temper.
History
Roberta admitted that she did murder children, women or anyone in name of revolution during her F.A.R.C years. Disillusioned by the fact that she was merely a tool for the drug cartels in cahoots with F.A.R.C, she opted out and joined the Lovelace clan as a maid through her father who was a close friend of Diego Lovelace. Despite being asked by Garcia not to pick up gunfighting anymore, later events in the manga depict her watching helplessly as a bomb was set off, killing many including Diego. 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 anger; she is shown taking mouthfuls of stimulant drugs, and experiencing haunting hallucinations in the form of her past victims, most notably a Japanese man. It is revealed that she tore his family picture before ruthlessly shooting him in the forehead. 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 U.S. Special Forces, whose 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 in the process. The F.A.R.C commander even comments that she is no longer the hound they once knew, but a stray wolf. Her oath as the "Bloodhound of Florencia" is, "For I vow upon the name of Santa Maria, to strike down upon any and all unrighteousness," according to Vol. 1. This version is seen in the Vol. 6: "I vow in the name of Santa Maria. An iron hammer to all the unrighteous."
In Chapter 73, Roberta is last seen with an American woman, presumably Eda. The woman is able to subdue Roberta and give her a location where Gray Fox is, so regardless of if she is Eda or not, she is definitely an American security agent. Roberta finally catches up with Grey Fox and kills the soldiers from the three groups sent out, minus Caxton who is thought to be killed by Garcia. However, it was later revealed that he faked his own death by using fake bullets in order to stop her path of revenge. In the manga, Ray is killed by Caxton when he tries to kill Roberta after she pulls herself together.
In added pages of 76 chapter Vol. 9, when Roberta was shot by Garcia with fake bullets, she accidentally shot Garcia, wounding him by grazing his liver. Garcia smiles and kisses her on the lips, which causes her to blush. Roberta, Fabiola and Garcia came out of the situation alive and well. There is also scene where Fabiola greets the murdered Japanese engineer's family who are visiting the Lovelace mansion, and a nervous Roberta and Garcia are standing side by side.
In the anime OVAs, it is shown that Roberta, Fabiola and Garcia came out of the situation alive and well in the end. However, Roberta has lost her right leg, left arm, her right eye, and index and middle finger of the right hand, the latter of which she severed herself and tossed to the ground after they were nearly shot off by an American sniper. She is shown alongside Garcia when he is meeting up with Shane, Fabiola, and the Japanese engineer family.
Trivia
- In issue #50 of Anime Insider magazine, director Sunao Katabuchi comments that the animation staff referred to Roberta as an "Evil Mary Poppins". He goes on to add that creator Rei Hiroe had long thought of Roberta as a kind of "Death Poppins".
- In the manga (Vol. 9 Chapter 76), she survived without sustaining any major injury.
- In the manga (Ch. 44 Pg. 11), it is revealed that Roberta has a moderate curvaceous figure with large breasts (bigger than Revy's) as she is seen naked in the shower.
- In the ending to the "Roberta's Blood Trail" OVA, there are differences on how Roberta survived the fight.
- In both versions, she survives.
- In the manga, she lives without any noteworthy injury.
- In the anime, she suffers significant wounds throughout the final battle as she ultimately lost her left arm, right leg, two fingers and her right eye. She was also confined to a wheelchair, but this seems to be temporary when she recovered as she is seen rising from the chair at the end of the OVA.
- In the First Popularity Poll, Roberta ranked 5th place with 374 votes.