light novel and anime series feature an extensive ensemble cast of characters created by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Katsumi Enami.
Largely set in a fictional United States, the series tells many loosely connected stories about people brought together by immortality and is often told from multiple points of view.
The cast is made up of many seemingly unconnected characters and at least twenty main characters,[1][2][3] including Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent, a pair of eccentric thieves; Firo Prochainezo and his mentor Maiza Avaro, members of Manhattan's small Camorrista Martillo family; Keith, Berga and Luck Gandor, three brothers who manage the small Gandor mafia family, also based in Manhattan; Szilard Quates, who recreates an immortality elixir which many characters accidentally drink, and his homunculus Ennis; Dallas Genoard, a young thug from a wealthy family, and his sister Eve; Czeslaw Meyer, a young boy; mafia hitman Ladd Russo and his fiancée Lua Klein; mute bodyguard Chane Laforet; gangsters Nice Holystone and Jacuzzi Splot; and the Gandors' adoptive brother Claire Stanfield, also known as the legendary assassin Vino.
The author of the light novel series Ryohgo Narita noticed that the large cast in The Rolling Bootlegs seems to have different motives, but intentionally or not, they all move toward the same end.
He remarks that Claire moves too much by himself (more so than Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent) and changed the entire plot of the novels; for example, all of the Russo and Lemure were supposed to have died.
Although Claire is the series' most popular character, Narita will not write a novel featuring him as the protagonist because he believes that the story would end very quickly without any excitement.
Nicholas originally worked for a military intelligence unit and he taught the employees to use guns, allowing the company to gain enough power to compete with surrounding organizations.
Keith (キース, Kīsu), Berga (ベルガ, Beruga) and Luck are brothers who manage the small Gandor (ガンドール, Gandōru) mafia family in Manhattan.
Keith wears a perpetual scowl and rarely speaks; the Daily Days will waive their fee for information in exchange for a few of his words.
After it is passed around Manhattan by gangsters believing it is alcohol, Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent, the three Gandor brothers, Firo Prochainezo and all of the Martillo executives drink it at a party.
By August 2002, Beg is placed in a mental hospital in New Jersey, oblivious to reality and reliving the happiest time of his life: being aboard the ship with Czeslaw.
Czeslaw Meyer (チェスワフ・メイエル, Chesuwafu Meieru), nicknamed Czes (チェス, Chesu), is a young boy who gained immortality aboard the Advenna Avis in 1711.
Despite this, he has a large sword tattoo on his face, which he got when Nice was seriously injured in an explosives accident, so that they would both be similarly marked and she would feel less ashamed about her scars.
She lost her right eye and gained extensive scarring on her body during an accident with homemade explosives when she was young, but she still carries bombs hidden underneath her clothing for difficult situations.
She believes that her father is the only person to ever love her and is so devoted to him that, when offered to receive something in exchange for keeping Huey's secrets, she asked him to take her voice so that she would never betray him.
The time she spends with Jacuzzi and Claire changes her into a more open and straightforward person, and her world expands past the one that included only herself and Huey.
The group is led by Tim (ティム, Timu), who was born Tock Jefferson (タック・ジェファーソン, Takku Jefāson) as Tick's younger brother.
The homunculi include Christopher Shaldred (クリスタファー・シャルドレード, Kurisutofā Sharudorēdo), Hong Chimei "Chi", Rail, Frank, Sickle, The Poet, Leeza Laforet and Adele (アデル, Aduru).
Because he is the alchemist who leads the others in summoning the demon aboard the ship Advenna Avis (アドウェナ・アウィス, Adowena Awisu) in 1711, he is the only one given the knowledge of the immortality elixir's formula.
In 1934, he is arrested by Victor Talbot for the destruction of public property during the bombing of the skyscraper Mist Wall and is imprisoned on Alcatraz Island.
[23] He exhibits a deep curiosity, disguising himself as human to follow some immortals and not stopping second group of people from drinking the elixir because he could not imagine what would happen next.
She highly regrets these actions, but is encouraged by an oblivious Isaac and Miria (whom she accidentally hits with her car) to put those thoughts aside and look to the future, radically changing her outlook in life.
She falls in love with Firo and marries him in the 1980s after developing her emotions for fifty years, and also adopts Czeslaw as her younger brother due to a misconception by Isaac and Miria that she wanted one.
Though he may seem to kill indiscriminately, he has preference (often seen in the form of hate) for those that think they cannot die or feel safe from death, or simply those who don't know their place in the world.
Claire Stanfield (クレア・スタンフィールド, Kurea Sutanfīrudo) is the legendary freelance assassin Vino (ヴィーノ, Vīno, Italian wine), who is hailed as the best in the world.
[28] Daryl Surat, a host of the Anime World Order podcast, and special guest Mike Toole described the cast as motley, weird and quirky as well as inept, either comically, horrifically or both at the same time.
The pair criticized the names of several characters, such as Luck and Berga Gandor, Jacuzzi Splot, and Nice Holystone, believing that they were ridiculous.
[2] The site also felt that Jerry Jewell was not cast well as Claire Stanfield, but believed Bryan Massey's, J. Michael Tatum's and Caitlin Glass' performances as Ladd Russo, Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent, respectively, were praiseworthy.
[2][18] They also believed that Maxey Whitehead was able to make Czeslaw Meyer sound "less like a girl" and was able to shift "effortlessly between innocent and not-so-innocent modes".
Aside from occasional struggles to maintain accents, other performances were also commended for bringing their characters to life and giving a sense of period and attitude.