List of Gunslinger Girl Characters - Cyborg Handlers

Cyborg Handlers

Jose Croce (ジョゼ, Joze?)

Voiced by: Hidenobu Kiuchi (Gunslinger Girl) Kōzō Mito (Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino) (Japanese), John Burgmeier (English)

Jose is an agent in Section 2, Henrietta's handler, and Jean's younger brother. He was previously an officer with the Carabinieri and was the youngest son of the influential public prosecutor Giovanni Croce and defense attorney Carla Croce, Enrica (whom Henrietta strongly resembles). In what would be labeled as the "Croce Incident", Jose's parents, sister and Jean's fiance were murdered when their car was destroyed by a roadside bomb set by Giacomo Dante of the terroristic Padania organization. To avenge his family, Jose and his brother joined the SWA to eradicate Padania, and ultimately kill Giacomo. After joining the SWA, Jose was initially adamant against treating the children the agency "repaired" as mere tools of vengeance, and is quite aware of their propensity for feeling emotion and pain, as well as each having a separate consciousness. However, as the series progress, he grows tired of treating Henrietta nicely as it is emotionally draining. After hunting down Giacomo, the terrorist responsible for his family's deaths and losing one of his eye, Jose grows detached from Henrietta, even allowing the SWA to "reset" Henrietta without caring about the consequences. During the SWA attack at the New Turin nuclear power station after Giacomo and his followers take control of the plant, Jose was accidentally shot and mortally wounded by a panicked Henrietta as she has a flashback of her past. Believing it was punishment on the way he treated her, he orders Henrietta carry out their suicide pact.

The name "Giuseppe" is used only in ADV's English adaptation of the manga; in the Japanese-language manga and anime, this character is named Joze (ジョゼ?), which has been rendered as Jose and even Giuse for the North American DVD release from FUNimation. Both forms have the same meaning: they are translations of the name "Joseph." Although in flashback of Enrika Croce, Carla mentioned Jose as Gioseffo when she told her daughter to invite his brother to her football match replacing her.

Jean Croce (ジャン, Jan?)

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

An agent of Section 2, Rico's handler and Jose's older brother. Jean is also the leader of the handlers and a trusted advisor to Director Lorenzo, the head of the department. Jean’s childhood was strongly influenced by his grandfather, a hero of the Italian resistance movement in World War II. His father, a leading anti-terrorist prosecutor, wanted him to become a lawyer, but Jean wished to enroll in a military academy and then join the Army. His service with the Carabinieri, which includes both civilian and military work, may have been a compromise. Jean became engaged to Sophia Durante, a fellow Carabinieri soldier, who was later killed in the car bomb that also claimed his parents and sister. Determined on revenge, Jean joined Section 2 which also included his brother Jose. Whereas Jose shows affection and concern for Henrietta — treating her like the little sister he loved so much — Jean looks upon Rico as simply a tool for vengeance — a means to an end. Jean's desire for revenge defines his being: he lives only to kill terrorists and is not above torturing them either. Rescuing innocent hostages is the least of his problems as long as he can kill the terrorists who took them. Jean can occasionally be quite brutal towards Rico: leaving her with a bleeding lip after he got angry with her; and pushing her aside in frustration when, due to an error of judgement on his part and through no fault of hers, his enemy Giacomo Dante escaped, leaving a trail of death and destruction behind him. During the attack at the Turin power plant, Dante takes Jean as a human shield after Rico is about to shoot him but Jean orders Rico to shoot anyway, killing Dante and severely wounding Jean. After being shot, Jean apologizes to Rico on how he treated her and tells her to live on without him.

Victor Hilscher (ヒルシャー, Hirushā?)

Voiced by: Masashi Ebara (Gunslinger Girl) Masaya Matsukaze (Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino) (Japanese), Dameon Clarke (Gunslinger Girl) J. Michael Tatum (Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino) (English)

Victor Hartman was a Europol detective from Germany tasked with inter-departmental liaison at Interpol HQ. He wanted to join the Child Abuse Regulations Section to help expose a child-torture group operating in Holland. However, his boss denied him the request on the grounds that he was “too soft” to deal with the sort of cases that the team came up with. Later approached by Rachelle Belleut, the two decided to investigate a warehouse where torture sessions were rumored to take place. They received information concerning the child smuggling ring from Mario Bossi, a Camorra leader who had experienced an attack of conscience. In the course of rescuing a girl from a snuff movie, Rachelle was mortally wounded. Hartman and Bossi managed to rescue the girl and get her to hospital where she fell into a coma as a result of her experiences. The two men thus took her to Italy for treatment at the Social Welfare Agency, fooling the Dutch police who needed her in Holland as part of their case. Only later did Hartman discover that the girl, now called Triela, was to become a brainwashed killing machine. He was outraged but gave in to Jean Croce's coercion and agreed to become her handler, changing his name to Hilscher in order to cover his tracks.

Hilscher develops a very strong bond with Triela, and is increasingly worried about shortening her life-span due to repairs and re-conditioning. Eventually, he vows to devote himself to protecting her and keeping her alive as long as possible. He follows through on this to the very end, when he voluntarily dies with Triela in the New Turin power plant siege, after she is mortally wounded and surrounded by the RF forces. Later, it is revealed that in anticipation of such an end, Hilscher had preserved some of Triela's eggs, in order to give her a symbolic 'second chance' at life.

Raballo (ラバロ, Rabaro?)

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), Bill Flynn (English)

A former Captain in the Carabinieri, discharged due to a leg injury, he was approached by Jean Croce to serve as Claes' handler. In return, Jean would ensure Raballo’s reinstatement to the Carabinieri after three years. During his time in Section 2, Raballo and Claes partook of activities outside the SWA, especially fishing. He also taught Claes the value of patience and rekindled her prior love of reading. However, some incidents led him to question the cyborg program and the way the girls were being used. He left the agency and contacted a friend who was a newspaper reporter, but Raballo was then said to have been killed in a rather fortuitous hit-and-run.

Marco Toni (マルコー, Marukō?)

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

An agent of Section 2 and Angelica’s handler, Marco Toni suffered an injury to his left eye, which resulted in his suspension from the Criminal Police Central Directorate (DCPP) of the Polizia di Stato. His friend, Dr. Bianchi, recommended Marco to serve as Angelica’s handler. To help Angelica adjust to her new surroundings and all the surgeries, he created a fairy tale titled Il Principe del Regno della Pasta ("The Prince of the Land of Pasta") about a prince who ate only pasta. This fascinated his girlfriend at the time, Patricia, who later wrote and published an actual book based on the story. The conditioning process changed Angelica’s personality and effectiveness and her memories could become random: she would remember some events and forget others. This caused Marco to no longer feel any attachment for her, though after her near death he felt regret over how he treated her. After Angelica was allowed back onto the field, he was still somewhat distant from her. Near the end, he reestablished the attachment that he used to have for her.

Lauro (ラウーロ, Raūro?)

Voiced by: Eisuke Tsuda (Japanese), Robert McCollum (English)

An agent of Section 2 and Elsa’s handler, little was said or shown about him in the manga other than he didn’t show her much attention, but Jean noted they were an excellent fratello. In the anime, Lauro was shown as being almost abusive towards Elsa, treating her with disrespect and disinterest. The anime also stated that Lauro joined Section 2 for the money because he had debts he needed to pay off and saw it only as a job, not as a cause. His lack of affection towards her caused Elsa to kill him before committing suicide.

Alessandro "Sandro" Ricci (アレッサンドロ, Aressandoro?)

As a boy, Alessandro Ricci's hobby was to observe people from a distance and figure out who they were and what they did from their appearance and body language. This brought him to the attention of a woman called Rossana who recruited him to the Public Security Division. Sandro was trained in surveillance and intelligence-gathering. As part of his missions he would seduce and bed the female relatives and associates of the activists he was targeting and this earned him a reputation in the department as something of a gigolo. There is some indication that he and Rossana had an affair. Her influence led Sandro to adopting a similar lifestyle to hers: a sparesely-furnished apartment filled with books and other material with which to do research on people and their habits. An example of this was when he had an informal chat at a hospital with a Russian ballerina, took down notes and returned to his flat in order to research the profession and increase his own knowledge into life in general. Sandro was assigned to Section 2 to become a handler to the first of a new generation of cyborgs. He showed little interest in touring hospitals and checking on potential recruits and told his colleagues that they could pick whichever girl they liked and do anything to her before he took over as handler. This included a certain amount of plastic surgery and Sandro's only condition was that she should not be a redhead (a possible reference to Rossana who had recently disappeared and gone into hiding). Surgeon Louis Duvalier overlooked this condition, probably to get back at Sandro and his lack of interest or apparent commitment. The new cyborg was named Petrushka and Sandro trained in her in the application of make-up, disguise, surveillance and taking an enemy by surprise by feigning friendlyness. He also encouraged her to smoke and swear — though when, at his request, she tried to insult him personally, a side-effect of the conditionning made her suffer a nervous breakdown. Sandro and Petra have become close over time, and there is even some indication of a budding romance between the young couple.

Bernardo (ベルナルド, Berunardo?)

Voiced by: Yuto Nakano (Japanese), Duncan Brannan (English)

An agent of Section 2 and Beatrice's handler, whom he appears to be fond of despite her lack of emotion. Unlike his cyborg charge, Bernardo is shown in both the manga and anime as a gregarious and outgoing person.

Earnest (アーネスト, Earnesto?)

Pia's handler, he turns rogue and attempts to deliver his cyborg Pia to Padania. Like his cyborg, Earnest is present only in the PS2 videogame.

Other Handlers

In Chapter 82, a handler named Kraman is introduced, but he's buried under a pile of rubble. His unnamed cyborg attempts to extricate him, but is wounded.

In Chapter 84, the handlers for the three Section 2 girls first introduced in Chapter 49 are identified and given names. The female handler is named Fio, and her cyborg is Soni. Yarow is the handler for Gattonero and Lupa is the handler for Fleccia. An unidentified handler (for the cyborg with long dark hair in a ponytail) is killed by Dante.