Balalaika

Voiced by: Mami Koyama (Japanese), Patricia Drake (English)

Balalaika (バラライカ, Bararaika) is the boss of Hotel Moscow. Before joining the mafia, she was a VDV paratrooper and officer in the Soviet Army during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. She wears her uniform dress coat as a jacket and is always smoking a cigar, in contrast with the other characters who smoke cigarettes. She frequently employs Dutch and the Lagoon Company, apparently because they share a mutual respect. Although she has shown herself to be rather cynical on occasion, she is also a pragmatic and professional businesswoman. She is named after the balalaika, a Russian stringed instrument.

Balalaika can be easily identified by the burn marks which scar most of the right side of her face and neck as well as her chest which she sustained in Afghanistan, earning her the nickname "Fry-Face" by those who dislike her. She has long blonde hair, and usually wears a large overcoat and a low-cut business suit. She appears to be in her 30s or 40s, although taking into account her past military exploits and likely rank (probably a captain, judging from the rank insignia on the shoulder boards of her dress uniform greatcoat and Boris and others on occasion calling her Kapitan ) in the then-Soviet airborne, it is possible that she is actually older. References to the Olympic Games in flashbacks in episode 21 (Los Angeles (1984) and possibly Moscow (1980)) and then the end of the USSR (1992) show a rapid progression from her childhood to being a seasoned veteran.

Balalaika, unlike many other "bosses", takes part in work normally done by underlings such as editing hardcore pornography, as seen in episode 7. Balalaika is also one of the few people to earn the respect of Revy, who has taken to calling her "anego (elder sister)". In turn, Balalaika also seems to hold Rock in high regard, sometimes relying on his knowledge and business skills.

In critical operations, Balalaika calls upon a personal cadre she calls the Desantniki (Russian special forces, much like the US Marines; "Desant" translates from Russian as "deep strike", usually indicating forces delivered by air or water. They are called Visotoniki in the manga). Composed of ex-Soviet special forces soldiers who had seen action in Afghanistan against anti-communist mujahedeen fighters, they act as Hotel Moscow's special ops team. In episode 10, Benny tells Rock that these men are skilled enough to independently "start and win World War III". Due to Balalaika's leadership during the hellish fighting in Afghanistan, her men look up to her as their superior and will do just about anything upon her orders. As a combat officer, she is a proficient marksman and well-rounded fighter, capable of taking care of herself despite the fact that all of her troopers, including Boris, often worry for her. When conducting foreign operations from Thai soil, she uses the Russian cargo ship Maria Zeleska as a legal cover from the police and various law enforcement agencies.

Source: Wikipedia