OUTLAW STARS

Outlaw Star (星方武侠アウトロースター, Seihō Bukyō Autorō Sutā?, translated as "Starward Warrior Knight Outlaw Star") is a manga series written and illustrated by Takehiko Ito. Gene Starwind and his partner Jim Hawking run a small business on the backwater planet of Sentinel 3. But all that changes the day that Hilda hires them for a bodyguard job. Now, thrust into a mystery they do not fully understand, they are on the run from the police, the pirates, an angry alien, and a mysterious assassin. But they have got one thing going in their favor - they have the galaxy's most advanced ship, the Outlaw Star. Gene Starwind dreams of life as an Outlaw, and fate smiles on him as he seems to suddenly wind up with a great job. But as things go awry, and he finds himself the new owner of the fastest, most technologically advanced space ship in the galaxy. Unfortunately, it's stolen and the owners want it back... Along with his partner Jim and the lovely Melfina, Gene must fight his way across the galaxy battling pirates, aliens, and assassins as he attempts to discover the secrets of the Outlaw Star.

The series takes place in the distant future, 150 years after the development of spacecraft capable of traveling faster than the speed of light, and follows the motley crew of the titular ship: the Outlaw Star.

An animated television series adaptation produced by Sunrise Studios aired on TV Tokyo from 8 January 1998 to 25 June 1998, totaling 26 episodes. The English language version of the series was produced by Bandai Entertainment and ZRO Limit Productions. An edited version aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami from January 15, 2001 to February 16, 2001 which skipped episode 23 due to nudity and suggestive themes. The complete collection of episodes was released on DVD in September 2002 in North America.

Outlaw Star follows the outlaw Gene Starwind and his eleven year-old business associate, Jim Hawking. Together they run a small jack-of-all-trades business on the backwater planet Sentinel III. After the two take a job as bodyguards for a mysterious outlaw, they find themselves the owners of the XGP15A-II, a highly advanced prototype spacecraft, and the caretakers of a bio-android named Melfina. Through the course of the series, the crew grows to include the assassin "Twilight" Suzuka and Aisha Clanclan, a Ctarl-Ctarl and former Ambassador of the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire.

Gene Starwind (ジーン･スターウインド, Jīn Sutāuindo?) is a player, a slacker and the captain of the Outlaw Star. He is well armed with a variety of weapons including a Caster gun, a magic pistol effective against Tao priests and other things of supernatural origin.

Melfina (メルフィナ, Merufina?) is a bio-android created by Professor Gwen Khan to work with the ship's navigator. Sometime 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.



James "Jim" Hawking (ジム･ホーキング, Jimu Hōkingu?) is the son of a world renowned hacker, and Gene's eleven year-old business partner and sidekick. He is the Outlaw Star’s resident computer expert and accountant, responsible for team's finances and plans. It is unknown how he came to be Gene's partner. He is often irritated by Gene's reckless habits.



Aisha Clanclan (エイシャ･クランクラン, Eisha Kurankuran?) is a hot-tempered catgirl who graduated 2nd in her class at the Ctarl Royal Space Academy. As a Ctarl-Ctarl Ambassador, she was in charge of locating the Galactic Leyline for the Empire, but after she unknowingly allowed Hot Ice Hilda to escape, the Empire ordered her to stay behind on Blue Heaven to look for clues as punishment. As such, she joins the Outlaw crew.



"Twilight" Suzuka (黄昏の鈴鹿, Tasogare no Suzuka?) is a female assassin who only kills when the sun is setting. Her weapon of choice is a bokken that can slice metal like a cleaver and smash concrete. After a failed attempt to kill Gene's friend Fred Luo, she decides to help the crew against the Kei Pirates mainly to go after her family's killer, Hitoriga of the Anten Seven.



The XGP15A-II, christened the Outlaw Star by Gene and his crew, is "the fastest, most advanced ship in the galaxy". It was constructed by the Kei space pirate guild using connections with the Space Forces military. Powered by four plasma fusion Unsen engines and a powerful Münchhausen reactor for use with its "sub-ether" faster-than-light drive. In addition, it is a "grappler ship", a spaceship with manipulator arms modified for combat purposes. It is designed so that the Bio-Android Melfina, who was created by the scientist Gwen Khan, can link up with and control the navigational systems. This was intended for the sole purpose of navigating the Galactic Leyline.