abstract
| - A former Japanese Salaryman, Rokuro "Rock" Okajima serves as the the Lagoon Company's negotiator and translator, and is the series' primary POV Character. Although the least physically dangerous member of the Company, Rock possesses the ability to negotiate with heavily-armed, insane, hyper-violent individuals, and not only get out of such negotiations alive, but even convince them to see things his way.
* Action Survivor: He's survived being caught in the middle of multiple gunfights, being kidnapped several times, a collapsing building, boat chases, car chases, assaults from various ultra-violent maniacs......and Revy.
* All Guys Want Bad Girls: A rare case where a kind, decent guy is after a violent and really dangerous female criminal, though Rock gets fed up with her attitude soon enough to make her think a bit.
* ...or is it the other way round?
* Anti-Hero: Goes from Type I-> Type III-> Type IV as time passes.
* Anime Hair: He has a strange hairstyle that's spiky and unkempt on one side and straight and groomed on the other side.
* Possibly to reflect his being caught between the Dark and the Light.
* Badass
* Badass Normal
* Badass Pacifist
* Being Good Sucks: At the beginning of "The Wired Red Card", he complains of this because of being shot with a blank at the end of the previous arc after all his efforts to save everyone.
* Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Revy.
* Unresolved Sexual Tension Lampshaded by Eda a lot, especially in Revy's face.
* Beware the Nice Ones: Easily the most decent and sympathetic human being in the series Roanapur, and usually very polite and even-keeled... but just as dangerous as his crewmates, albeit in a different way.
* Brown Eyes
* Butt Monkey: In his old job, he got his ass kicked a lot by his bosses. He's shaken this off as he adjusts to his life as a pirate.
* Character Development: Growing from his first appearance as a sad sack into one who can survive among some pretty awful people; not necessarily a completely positive change.
* The Chessmaster: Shown in full flux during the end of the "Baile de la Muerte" arc.
* Chronic Hero Syndrome: Particularly in the Yakuza arc. And no, it doesn't end well.
* Corrupt the Cutie: Rock seems to be headed in this direction
* The Cynic: What he has irrefutably become by the recent chapters. Whereas the old Rock would have been moved by Fabiola's lingering idealism towards a morally-gray-world where justice and decency can exist if you want it to, the double-whammy of failing to save Hansel/Gretel AND Yukio from Balalaika's clutches has knocked that hope clean out of him. The only response he had instead is now a cold, apathetic, Revy-like snarl.
* Distressed Dude: Revy gripes about how Rock gets captured all the time, leading to a funny moment when Yukio abducts him towards the end of the Yakuza arc.
* The Dulcinea Effect: Puts his ass on the line for Yukio, a girl he has only just met, and who proceeds to try and kill him. He probably did it because she reminded him of himself, though.
* Establishing Character Moment: The first time that Rock shows that he's not the timid weaksauce salaryman he appears to be is when Revy goes into a spiel about how Rock probably couldn't even begin to match her in a drinking game, only for him to flip his shit, call her bluff, and proceed to match her shot-for-shot in Bacardi (the challenge is then interrupted by grenades). The second time is when he shows us how to kill an attack helicopter with an obsolete torpedo boat.
* Even Evil Has Standards: He may have willingly chosen to become a pirate and run with very unsavory people doing very unsavory things, but dammit, he still has morals!
* Evil Makeover: Averted. He insists on keeping his typical white-collar suit from his Salaryman days instead of slipping into more comfy, action-oriented clothes. Considering that being in the Lagoon Company is his new job, he intends to treat it as such.
* Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: His eyes were shown as fairly wide at the beginning of the series, when he was at his most inexperienced and idealistic, but over time, they have narrowed considerably, as he became more competent/cynical. It should be noted that this style of eye is used to denote such badasses as Revy, Roberta, Ginji, etc.
* Good Is Not Nice
* Guile Hero: Has to relay on his wits and negotiation abilities to survive. The result? He becomes a good guy who has nonetheless managed to successfully make Balalaika and Sister Yolanda back down. He's a serious candidate for Magnificent Bastard, should he become even more embittered.
* Heel Realization: Not quite, but the events in Tokyo forced him to realize what kind of life he's chosen.
* Fabiola gives him another, more serious one of these by shooting him in the gut with a blank and calling him out.
* I Choose to Stay: He could have gone anywhere, could have started another honest life somewhere else, but he chose to stay with the Lagoon Company, having taken a shine to the pirate lifestyle.
* Improvised Weapon: Although not usually a physical fighter, he did defend himself from a chainsaw-wielding goth girl using a metal shelf the one time, and then there's the above example where he trips Chaka up using spilled cleaning fluid and knocks the obnoxious prick out with a bowling pin.
* It Amused Me: His main reason for helping Garcia in the second Roberta arc, this causes Fabiola to give him a What the Hell, Hero? speech.
* Knight in Sour Armor: By the end of Season 2, Rock freely admits that justice is non-existent, and that morality is a sham, yet he still believes in helping people because it's his "hobby."
* Morality Chain: To Revy. Starts more as a Morality Pet but, as their relationship thickens, he becomes this. Especially when she makes it very clear to him that she would never let anyone else talk to her the way he does or tolerate his naïveté from anybody else.
* To the point that when he goes Laughing Mad, gloating to himself over how Chang was wrong about the Gray Fox situation being unsalvagable, she seems to be given pause.
* Never Gets Drunk
* No Guy Wants an Amazon: Sure!
* Naive Newcomer: Initially.
* Non-Action Guy: Most of the time, anyway.
* Papa Wolf: He really doesn't like children being mistreated/put in danger, as seen with Garcia, Gretel, and Yukio. Notably, when Yukio was abducted, he mounted a rescue, and seeing what her captors had done brought out his foulest language and drove him to actually assault the ringleader. And later, he risks his life by trying to persuade Balalaika to spare her.
* Precision F-Strike: He's easily the most polite and well-spoken cast member, so when he does swear, it means he's truly furious, such as when he has it out with Revy, or when he sees how Chaka and his gang have mistreated Yukio.
* "Hey! (Hits Chaka over the head with bowling pin) Fuck you!"
* During the climax of episode 2: "YOU GOT FUCKED!" Along with Flipping the Bird.
* Protagonist Journey to Villain
* Psychotic Smirk: Has been using it since chapter 72, which combined with the narrowed eyes has cemented his status as a badass. It was also used in his earlier moments of awesome, with Revy's drinking challenge, and with the takedown of the Extra Order chopper.
* Slasher Smile
* Stranger in a Familiar Land: In the Yakuza arc.
* Sympathy for the Devil: For Hansel, and especially Gretel.
* Tall, Dark and Handsome
* Talking the Monster to Death: Does this several times, most notably with Balalaika at the end of the final arc.
* Though she made it clear that she was still calling the shots.
* Technical Pacifist: Rock absolutely refuses to use firearms, and the furthest he has gone to inflict bodily harm was to assault Chaka with a bowling pin. He's still very dangerous in his own right, as he comes up with plans that almost always succeed at the cost of racking up huge body counts. After all, he's the one who came up with the idea to attach several blocks of Semtex to a speargun, fire it at a container ship blocking their way, and then detonate the explosives to both disable the ship and throw off their pursuers as well.
* Token Good Teammate: Of the Lagoon Company, at least at first.
* Took a Level In Badass: Goes from a meek white collar to a badass Chessmaster as the series continues.
* The Unfavorite: The reason he hasn't contacted his family to let them know he's alive. He claims his distant relationship with his parents was because they preferred his older, more successful brother.
* Villain Protagonist
* Wide-Eyed Idealist: At least initially.
* Jade Coloured Glasses
* Will They or Won't They?: He and Revy.
* Unless they already did. Eda thinks this may have happened while they were in Japan.
* Xanatos Gambit: formed one to stop Roberta's Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
|