The characters of Sei Juushi Bismarck. See Characters.Saber Rider And The Star Sheriffs for their equivalents in the English dub.
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The Bismarck team and their allies
Bismarck Team as a whole
Left to right: Richard, Bill, Shinji and Marianne.
The protagonists of the series. They are selected by Professor Charles Louvre to pilot the advanced transforming spaceship Bismarck as an independent anti-Deathcula response team.
- Badass Crew: Even without Bismarck and their vehicles, they're skilled enough at hand-to-hand combat to fight the Deathcula invaders on equal terms.
- Mildly Military: While they fight alongside the Federation military, it's made clear early on they aren't actually part of said military. This means that they have a lot of freedom to go where they're needed, but also means they have to rely on the willingness of individual commanders to work with them.
- True Companions: They become this fairly early on, and rarely if ever argue among themselves. Even if they do, it's generally over how to carry out their missions rather than disagreeing over the missions themselves.
- We Help the Helpless: One of their main objectives. Since Deathcula deliberately goes after isolated towns and cities that aren't under the Federation military's umbrella, the Bismarck team are generally the ones who are in a position to actually help.
- You Are Too Late: Sadly, most of the time the Bismarck team only arrive in response to a distress signal after Deathcula have already destroyed a town or base and killed everyone. This isn't any failing on their part: they're one ship travelling an entire moon trying to help out against an enemy prone to specifically attacking isolated and distant targets.
Hikari Shinji
Voiced by: Yoku Shioya
The leader of the Bismarck Team. A hot-blooded young man with a strong sense of justice. Also a professional racer, which makes him Bismarck's main pilot. Has been friends with Marianne since childhood.
- Beware the Nice Ones: While overall a nice guy, in one episode after a Deathcula operative pulls a Released to Elsewhere with a girl he'd befriended (before gunning both the girl and her friend down in cold-blood), Shinji beat him to death with his bare hands.
- The Chains of Commanding: While he's described as being hot-blooded, he's actually reasonably calm and controlled when acting as team leader, specifically because he's aware that the lives of his friends (and the people counting on them) are his responsibility.
- That said, when it's only his own life on the line...
- Childhood Friends: He and Marianne go way back, and he's well acquainted with her dad too. In fact, Marianne and her father specifically tracked him down to pilot the Bismarck.
- Childhood Friend Romance: In the earlier episodes while it's pretty clear Marianne at least has a fondness for him, Shinji doesn't seem to see her as a romantic partner. By the end of the series, however, it's pretty obvious the two are now romantically involved.
- Cool Car: Road Leon. While ostensibly a race car, it's heavily armed with a Gatling gun and missile launchers. It's also the most durable of the three personal vehicles.
- Disappeared Dad: His father was a war hero during the first war with the Deathcula. He was killed in action heavily damaging the Deathcula flagship (and grievously wounding Deathcula leader Hauser).
- Gatling Good: The Road Leon's secondary armament is a retractable roof-mounted minigun.
- Hot-Blooded: This depends purely on whether or not he's acting as part of a team or on his own. As leader of the Bismarck team, he's more controlled. When he's on his own, he's more prone to playing this trope straight.
- I Know Judo: His sport pastime.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": In one episode, he has a chance to race against his personal hero Black Thunder.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The Road Leon's primary armament are a pair of hidden missile launchers.
- Military Maverick: Shinji is actually part of the Federation military, but went AWOL to participate in the race in the first episode.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He once beat a Deathcula agent to death with his bare hands in a berserk rage.
- Red Is Heroic: Wears red and is the leader of the Bismarck Team.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: His reactions to suggestions that he and Marianne are an item earlier in the series. As time goes on, they engage in more couple-like behaviour until the last few episodes make it clear the two are now in a relationship.
- Tell Me About My Father: Since his father was killed in action when Shinji was barely a year old, he approaches his father's old comrade General Domes hoping to learn more about him.
Bill Wilcox
Voiced by: Kazuhiko Inoue
A bounty hunter by trade, Bill happened to stumble upon a Deathcula agent while in pursuit of the AWOL Shinji, leading him to join the Bismarck Team full time. An expert gunman and ace pilot, Bill is in charge of the Bismarck's weapons systems.
- Ace Pilot: He's an excellent pilot, and those piloting skills are what puts him in charge of the Bismarck's weapons systems.
- Berserk Button: He really, really, really hates Deathcula. A big part of that is the fact his parents were murdered by them.
- Bounty Hunter: His profession prior to signing up with the Bismarck team. In fact, in the first episode he was after Shinji because the latter had gone AWOL and Bill was planning to claim the bounty on bringing him in.
- Casanova Wannabe: Considers himself the Romeo of the bunch.
- Cool Plane: Arrow Striker.
- Cowboy
- Dark and Troubled Past: Unlike Shinji (whose father died shortly after he was born), Bill was present when his parents were killed by Deathcula.
- Fragile Speedster: Compared to Shinji's Road Leon, the Arrow Striker is only lightly armed with a pair of retracting laser cannons. However, its agility is comparable to the Deathcula one-man attack craft and it has the highest speed of any of the Bismarck Team's personal vehicles.
- Graceful Loser: Bill was not at all upset that Shinji ended up being his first bounty to get away (due to the charges and bounty against him being dropped)
- The Gunslinger: Easily the best shot of the Bismarck team, and neither Shinji nor Richard are slouches in that regard either.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The Arrow Striker is only armed with laser cannons, but Bill pulls this off when at the weapons controls of the Bismarck itself.
Richard Lancelot
Voiced by: Bin Shimada
Dispatched by the Queen to join the Bismarck Team as their intelligence officer, Richard is practically perfect in both bearing and ability.
- The Ace: While he primarily fights with a sword, he's also an excellent shot. While Bill is definitely the best shot of the team, Richard isn't far behind.
- Awesome by Analysis: Thanks to his role as the intelligence officer.
- Cool Horse: Donatello.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blonde who is chivalrous, polite and likeable.
- Knight in Shining Armor: What he aspires to be.
- Officer and a Gentleman: How he carries himself.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works: One of his more typical moves in combat. It's sometimes hinted that he does this to freak people out.
Marianne Louvre
Voiced by: Chie Kojiro
Daughter of Charles Louvre, the creator of the Bismarck. As her father's trusted field agent, she specifically tracks her childhood friend Shinji down to become main pilot of the Bismarck before joining the team as field support and mission control.
- Childhood Friends: While just how far they go back isn't stated, it's clear that both Marianne and her father have known Shinji for a long time. This leads to...
- Childhood Friend Romance: towards the end of the series when the two are clearly in a relationship.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Really gets annoyed whenever a girl shows interest in Shinji.
- Everyone Can See It: It's pretty clear to most people that Marianne has, at the very least, affection for Shinji. As the series goes on, the two of them engage in more couple-like behaviour (e.g. going shopping, cooking together) until the last few episodes make it pretty clear the two of them are now together romantically.
- Indirect Kiss: At one point she casually takes a half eaten cake from Shinji and finishes it off, leading to Bill pointing this out. Marianne herself is confused, but Shinji, realising how it looks, becomes embarrassed.
- Jack of All Stats: She's able to run any of Bismarck's functions, but not to the same level as the others. She often fills in when one of the team isn't aboard, and she's had to pilot Bismarck solo while the others are carrying out missions on foot.
- Mission Control:
- While trained, she's nowhere near as skilled as Shinji, Bill or Richard. She is, however, good at updating mission objectives and relaying new info as it comes in.
- She's not a crack shot like the others, but she's more than capable of laying down covering fire while they get into position.
- These Hands Have Killed: While Marianne is brave, she really doesn't have a killer instinct the way Shinji, Bill or Richard do. She'll shoot back when fired upon, certainly, but when she actually kills Deathcula she's clearly badly shaken.
- Unknown Rival: She couldn't possibly know, but on a solo mission Shinji met and had an attraction to a girl who was murdered by Deathcula. After avenging her death and rejoining the team, Shinji asked Marianne to cook a specific dish for dinner (it was her turn to cook). Marianne agreed but pointed out she didn't know how to cook said dish, to which Shinji said he'd teach her.
Charles Louvre
Voiced by: Hiroshi Ito
Both a scientist and a politician, Professor Charles Louvre created the Bismarck robot to repel the Deathcula attacks. He personally chose Shinji to lead Team Bismarck, which also includes his daughter Marianne.
- Big Good
- Good Is Not Dumb: While he extended an olive branch to the Deathcula forces, he certainly wasn't going to trust them so easily.
- Good Is Not Soft: Related to the above, after the tentative peace treaty is broken by Deathcula massacring the colonists of Mars, Charles calls upon the Federation to retaliate with full force. By the time they're finished, the Deathcula are all but extinct.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- Team Dad: Both literally (in Marianne's case) and figuratively.
General Domes
- Voiced by: Mikio Terashima
Captain Reago
- Voiced by: Ryouichi Tanaka
Captain Holliday
The Deathcula aliens
The Deathcula as a whole
Mysterious invaders from beyond the solar system, the Deathcula are a race of human-like aliens who first encountered humanity 15 years earlier. They've since returned and have launched attacks on humanity's more distant colonies, focusing on Ganymede in particular.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Deathcula seem to have some sort of pathological need to engage in Kick the Dog behaviour.
- Attack Its Weak Point: One of the reasons the Bismarck team was formed was because Deathcula often go after soft targets like isolated towns or bases. In fact, the reason the Bismarck team spends well over half the season on Ganymede is because Ganymede is the only human colony still under development and so is especially vulnerable. There are occasionally references to Deathcula attacks on other colonies on other planets, but the planetary defenses are enough to repel them without Bismarck's help.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Deathcula spends much of the series being able to absolutely wreck most bases, towns or military forces they encounter that don't involve the Bismarck team.
- They're on the receiving end of this when they massacre the population of Mars, prompting the Federation to send an actual war fleet.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Deathcula cannot seem to understand concepts like loyalty or compassion. Worse, they see such emotions as weakness, seemingly not understanding those same emotions are what make the Bismarck team and humanity so resilient.
- Zerg Rush: In addition to targeting isolated locations, Deathcula also swarm their victims with numerous small one man assault craft, overwhelming defenders with countless missiles and laser fire from all directions. This is generally a very effective tactic, and there have been times when even Bismarck was at risk of being overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. Unluckily for Deathcula, they never send quite enough forces to actually overcome Bismarck using their usual tactics.
Deathcula Captain Zatler
- Voiced by: Banjo Ginga
- Batman Gambit: One of his more successful plans involved deliberately making it appear as though one of his planned attacks would be vulnerable to a ground assault. Shinji in Road Leon staked out the path (since Bill's Arrow Striker is an aerial vehicle and Richard's robotic horse Donatello is... well... a horse). That was exactly what Zatler was counting on, since the whole idea was to counter-ambush and take out Shinji. The plan came very close to succeeding, with Shinji only just surviving.
- Disk-One Final Boss: As the commander of the Deathcula forces attempting to take over Ganymede, Zatler is ultimately responsible for all the death and destruction suffered by the colonists. His death signifies the end of the concentrated Deathcula attempts to take over Ganymede. Afterwards, the Bismarck team begins travelling to other worlds to battle the Deathcula forces.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Zatler isn't stupid; he knows that while Bismarck is powerful, it is also just one ship and so can be overwhelmed by enough troops. He is also well aware that if even one Bismarck team member is taken out, Bismarck as a whole becomes much weaker. To that end, he deliberately left his forces vulnerable to a ground attack, knowing that Shinji would likely take his Red Leon and try to launch a surprise attack. Unluckily for Shinji, that meant he drove right into a trap.
- Villainous Valor: In his final appearance, he challenges Shinji to a one-on-one shoot-out even as his base explodes around him.
- You Have Failed Me: Hauser orders Zatler seized when he returns to the Deathcula homeworld for abandoning his post, but relents when Zatler explains he'd simply returned to personally report to his liege about the presence of the powerful new Earthling weapon Bismarck.
Deathcula special officer Perios
Voiced by: Hirotaka Suzuoki
- The Dragon: Functions as this following his appearance.
- Dragon Their Feet: When the Earth Federation launches a retaliatory strike on the massed Deathcula forces on Mars that is so ferocious they're actually winning, Perios decides to take their mobile fortress to attack Earth instead of heading to Mars to rescue Hauser.
- Smug Snake: While a lot smarter than most Deathcula commanders, Perios cannot help but act like an insufferable prick. This bites Deathcula in the ass bigtime in the finale, when his attitude clues Charles Levert and the Federation Council in to the fact that the Deathcula peace overtures are a sham.
- This Cannot Be!: Becomes more and more prone to this in the last few episodes when his plans start falling apart, beginning with the arrival of the upgraded Bismarck.
Fuhrer Hauser
- Voiced by:
- Actually a Doombot: When his final fortress on Mars falls and all the Deathcula killed, all present are shocked to see that the Hauser who emerges is simply a mechanical puppet.
- Big Bad
- Know When to Fold 'Em: At the halfway point of the series, Hauser sends a large invasion fleet to outright conquer Gandymede. However, when he receives word that the Bismarck team has attacked and destroyed Zatler's fortress (a major supply depot for the incoming fleet), he orders a retreat.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Or as much as one can be when the leader of a
Chaotic Evil race like the Deathcula. - Was Once a Man
