The following is a list of characters from the Japanese manga and anime Outlaw Star.
Protagonists Gene, Jim and Melfina are the regular crew of the Outlaw Star. Suzuka and Aisha are more independent and are part-time crew-members.
Gene Starwind
is a 20-year-old bounty hunter and the main protagonist of the series who developed a fear of space flight and a hatred of pirates during an attack when he was 14. This attack resulted in his father's death at the hands of a band of mercenaries led by Ron MacDougall. Gene was thrown into an escape pod moments before their ship exploded, and landed on Sentinel III where he would remain until the beginning of the series. While on Sentinel III, Gene met the much younger Jim Hawking and the two went into business, forming a company called Starwind and Hawking Enterprises. It is in this capacity that Gene comes into possession of the bio-android, Melfina, and the revolutionary XGP spaceship which he christens the "Outlaw Star." This ultimately brings him into conflict with the forces of the tyrannical Kei Pirate chieftain, Lord Hazanko, and the cutthroat MacDougall Brothers.
Gene is a reckless thrill-seeker and lecherous womanizer who shamelessly flirts with almost every woman he meets. He would rather try to achieve his goals with a minimum of effort, and his brash attitude proves a continuous source of frustration to his partner, Jim. Despite his arrogant and immature nature, Gene does have a caring side to his personality and has proven himself capable of great acts of courage. After realizing Melfina had no recollection of her purpose or function, Gene promises to help her find her past and protects her from the various individuals in pursuit of her. Throughout the course of the series, he begins to develop feelings for Melfina, but is reluctant to open up to her for fear of making himself vulnerable.
Upon finally arriving at the Galactic Leyline, Gene comes to terms with his feelings with Melfina after she is forcibly removed to the center of the Leyline by its central computer. After being fatally wounded in a confrontation with Lord Hazanko, the Leyline transports his body to cyberspace so he can recover. There, he is reunited with Melfina who offers to grant him whatever his heart desires. Gene replies that there is nothing that the Leyline can give him and all he really wants is for her to come back with him. When he asks Melfina what she desires, she joyfully tells him that she too wants to return with him and be by his side forever. Subsequently, the two share a long and passionate kiss before preparing to leave the Leyline. However, their happiness is cut short when both learn Hazanko is also leaving the Leyline upon being granted all the power he desired. Realizing Hazanko now poses an existential threat to the universe, the two leave cyberspace and rejoin the Outlaw Star's crew to fight him to the death. In an intense battle on the outskirts of the Galactic Leyline, Gene ultimately manages to destroy Hazanko for good with the aid of the Outlaw Star and Melfina. Following the events at the Leyline, Gene returns to Sentinel III where he and Melfina are ultimately revealed to be in a romantic relationship. The series ends with him returning to deep space with the rest of the Outlaw Star's crew to seek out new adventures.
Gene is well armed with a variety of weapons, including a pistol, grenade launcher, knife, rocket launcher, etc. His special weapon, a Caster gun, fires special Caster shells; magic bullets that are effective against Tao priests and other entities protected against normal weaponry. Caster shells are projectile capsules containing a spell cast by a wizard that has been contained, allowing non-magic users to fire the spell from a gun. Caster shells are also numbered by power level (although not incrementally), the three most powerful being 4, 9, and 13. Caster shells are considered antiques, however, and are difficult to acquire. Some of the effects of the caster shells include opening up small controlled black holes in order to absorb an opponent, as seen by the shell being used effectively against Hamushi and ineffectively against Hazanko. Gene reserves these particular caster shells only for powerful opponents, since they carry the extreme danger of killing him if he uses them consecutively.
Gene's ear piercings are also incredibly useful to him, as they possess a communication device that serves like a two-way radio which allows him keep in contact with Jim, who holds the other communicator piercing. Although he openly voices his distrust of Aisha and Suzuka in Episode 21 he nonetheless cares about their safety as in Episode 18 he expresses gladness when he sees that they are OK during the ensuing inferno of the tournament building.
Gene bears many scars all over his body, a testament to the hardships that he has endured over his lifetime. The most noticeable are the two on his left cheek, just below his eye. These were all probably made after his father's ship was destroyed and he crashed on Sentinel III. In addition, Gene's name could be an oblique reference to Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek.
James "Jim" Hawking
is an 11-year-old business partner and best friend of Gene Starwind, though how they met is unknown. He is the son of a famous computer hacker known as the "Computer Wizard." Jim serves as the team's computer expert, hacker, strategist, and back-up. Unlike Gene, he is responsible, concerned, and worries about the team's finances and plans, preferring to earn money the hard way rather than to take risks. Jim becomes good friends with fellow Outlaw Star crew member Aisha Clan Clan, who is in some ways his opposite: Jim gets treated like a child even though he acts like an adult, while Aisha, though an adult, acts like a child. Jim also looks up to the android Melfina as a mother figure (whom he occasionally has to protect from Gene's lecherous advances), and gets along well with the Outlaw Stars on-board computer, Gilliam II. Jim has trouble, however, trusting strangers such as Hilda, who first approaches him and Gene under false pretenses, and Suzuka, who tries to kill Gene and whose motives are unclear. Episode 20 of the anime tells the story of Jim's first love, a young girl named Hanmyo who, unknown to the crew, is a combat pilot charged with destroying the Outlaw Star and its crew. His name could be a nod to Jim Hawkins of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Despite his small stature he is also quite capable of firing advanced firearms with a frightening degree of accuracy including ones that are even bigger, and heavier, than he is, as evidenced in Episode 17. It is also shown in various episodes that Jim can drive vehicles with surprising skill for his age.
Jim modifies one of the Gilliam maintenance robots, changing its color from blue to pink and adding silly eyebrows. He says that he just felt like making one of them special. After this is done, he carries that one with him and uses it as his own personal link to Gilliam.
Melfina
is a bio-android created by Professor Nguyen Khan when the Kei Pirates came to him and asked him to decode genetic engineering data found by them at the ancient ruins known as Grave of the Dragon, which the crew of the Outlaw Star also visited in episode 21. Due to the knowledge dating back to 30,000 years ago, the complexity of the information was so vast that even a great mind like his couldn't understand it all. Some time after she was created, both Melfina and the Outlaw Star were stolen from the Kei pirates by the outlaw Hilda, who intended to use them to find the Galactic Leyline. Melfina's appearance is of a petite and slender young woman with shoulder length black hair and large brown eyes. While her physical age appears to be eighteen, her real age is that of only two. She has no recollection of her past or why she was created, which often troubles her throughout the series. Later, on the planet holding the ruins of the Grave of the Dragon, she sings a mysterious song (the ending song for episodes 1-13) which possibly signifies the weight of the questions about her existence that she wants answered. Despite being an artificial humanoid, Melfina possesses both free will and human emotions as well as the physical need for food and rest (although for some unexplained reason she lacks the ability to dream). Her personality is sweet-natured, with a polite and loving -albeit generally naive- demeanor, and because of this Jim thinks of her as a mother figure. She's noted as having a natural talent for cooking, and serves as the Outlaw Stars official chef in addition to being ship's navigator.
After the death of Hilda, Melfina travels with Gene after he promises to find her purpose, and gradually begins to develop feelings for him. Later in the series, it is revealed that she was created to navigate to the Galactic Leyline, and is the only one able to act as a medium to access its vast powers. Because of this, the pirates referred to her as the "Maiden of the Leyline". In the last episode, the part of her spirit which was created to be the Maiden of the Leyline departs from her and relocates with the Leyline itself, meaning that Melfina is no longer bound to the Leyline and her past, and is subsequently freed from a forced destiny. While on the Leyline, Melfina and Gene finally admit their love for each other where they kiss and become a couple, and she later joins him in exploring space aboard the Outlaw Star.
Melfina navigates the Outlaw Star from within a cylindrical chamber on the bridge that rises from the floor and fills with a clear, liquid-like substance, supposedly to help her link with the ship. The liquid is most likely a stabilizing agent to help ensure that her link is static-free, and because of this she has to navigate without wearing any clothes. She covers herself with her arms across her chest in a formation resembling angel wings, and her lower area is obstructed by the chamber's outer retractable metal coverings. As part of Cartoon Network's editing, the show has her portrayed as wearing tight black shorts and a strapless bra.
Aisha Clanclan
is an 18-year-old Ctarl-Ctarl officer with a considerable ego and superhuman strength. She is also far more durable than any human; in episode 5, Gene shoots her at near-point blank range with a Caster shell that mimics a lightning bolt-type spell leaving Aisha merely stunned, while in episode 23 she is shown comfortably bathing in what seems to be molten lava. She also claims to have the best ears in the universe. While it is unknown if they are the best, she is shown to be able to hear small noises that no one else on the crew can. In episode 5, she claims to be immortal, but it is unknown whether or not this is based in fact or is merely Aisha's immense ego and racial pride. Even if it is true, it is more likely a reference to how difficult Ctarl-Ctarls are to kill than to an increased life-span. As with all Ctarl-Ctarl, Aisha has access to an ability referred to in the dub as "Beast Strength", where she taps into the primeval powers of her racial ancestors. This allows her to increase her strength and possibly her speed and durability, but is extremely energy-draining; Aisha burns a lot of calories by using this ability, and is always depicted as eating massive quantities of food afterwards. This ability is somehow tied to lunar bodies, both their presence and their phase, though it is unclear if these make it easier for her to access the ability, or if they reduce the amount of energy it drains. Using Beast Strength makes Aisha more animalistic in form and, apparently, in mentality; at less than full power, her fingernails elongate into claws, and she sprouts a tail, while at full power she assumes the form of a feline-like creature that resembles a white tiger with elongated ears.