The following is a list of characters from the Japanese manga series Gunslinger Girl.
Set in modern-day Italy, the series revolves around the Social Welfare Agency, a government-funded organisation which is supposed to provide advanced medical care to those in need. This, however, is a cover for a far different agenda: the patients, adolescent girls who have survived traumatic events, are brainwashed into forgetting their past, turned into cyborgs, trained in the use of weapons and used as assassins to battle enemies of the State. Each girl is assigned to an adult whose job is to provide the girl with training and act as a mentor and authority figure. The relationship between the cyborg-girls and their "handlers" forms the basis of much of the plot and varies from the affectionate to the indifferent with varying degrees of results.
Child cyborg assassins
First Generation
Left for dead after the brutal murder of her family, during which she herself was assaulted, Henrietta suffered severe psychological trauma, making her suicidal. Like the other cyborg-girls, she was brainwashed into forgetting these events by a technique known as conditioning. Henrietta has short brown hair and brown eyes. Henrietta is devoted to her handler, Jose Croce, towards whom she has strong feelings. She even shows signs of jealousy when she feels Jose is paying attention to other women. He encourages her to share his interest in astronomy which she passes on to the other girls. Jose even gives her a diary, but this causes her distress when, as a result of the long-term effects of the conditioning, she begins to forget the events she noted in the book. Henrietta's preferred weapons are the SIG Sauer P239 Two-Tone, the Fabrique Nationale P90 PDW, and the FN FAL. She and her handler have also used the Walther WA 2000 sniper rifle and Ingram MAC-10.
Confined to a hospital by severe birth defects, Rico was signed over by her parents to the SWA on her eleventh birthday. Rico loves her new body and life at the SWA, viewing each day as a blessing and maintaining a happy disposition. Rico appears to be the only cyborg with a clear memory of her life before coming to the SWA. Rico's interrelationship with Jean is often marked by his seeming apathy towards her, and his harsh treatment of her when she makes mistakes, while Rico accepts his treatment of her as without question, only occasionally showing subtle signs of discontent. At his own request she shoots through and very nearly kills Jean, who was being used as a shield by Dante, in order to kill Dante (although he also survives). In the epilogue of the penultimate chapter, it is revealed through Claes's narration that Rico passed away one year after the end of the main story. In the final chapter, after an undetermined amount of time has passed, Jean still keeps a picture of Rico on his desk. Rico's preferred weapons are the CZ-75 pistol and the Dragunov SVD. In chapter 79 she wields a FN SCAR with a CQC barrel and chambered in 7.62 NATO. She has also been shown wielding a Beretta SCP-70/90 and is additionally shown training with a Galil MAR carbine and a Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun. Her preferred support weapon is the MG 3 general purpose machine gun.