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Plot
In the distant future, humans have traveled to the stars and colonized the planets around them. But the spacelanes have become a throwback to the days of the swashbucklers, with a twist. There is the spacefleet, representing law, the pirates, representing chaos, and the Outlaws, who fit somewhere in between--some are altruistic spacefarers, others are opportunistic fortune-seekers.
Enter our heroes, a mechanically inclined kid and an older kid who's a crack-shot and even smoother with the ladies... but his real dream is to go to space. Their business is Starwind and Hawkins, and they'll do anything for a buck, be it bodyguard or farm equipment repair. Or both, as the case may be--when a beautiful client shows up asking for some hard to find hardware and physical protection, they jump at the chance. But they're about to get more than they bargained for. You see, it seems that their client is more than she appears (ooh, big surprise there), and she has some very powerful, and very unpleasant, wizards after her. Things go from bad to worse, but it looks like this just might be their chance to get off the rock and into the wilds of space--and a whole slew of adventures.
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Gene and Jim
The fun of OUTLAW STAR is characterized best by its main protagonist. Gene Starwind is a sly, sharp-shooting hero whose success with his gun (and with the ladies) is matched only by his propensity to get space-sick. Imagine that: the star of a space-faring series has to continually worry about vomiting onto his control panel. This sort of ironic comedy can be found throughout OUTLAW STAR, creating excellent segues between the fantastic action sequences and the delightful characters.
Gene Starwind
Gene is pretty much "Outlaw Star's" main character. He likes shooting stuff and drinking, spends...uh...'quality time' with women, and runs a small, semi-legitimate business which basically consists of bounty hunting and taking any kind of odd job for money (provided it's not too dangerous). His house is a mess. He acts like your basic 20-year-old guy. He has a deeply rooted phobia of space travel (stemming from his childhood, when his father forced him into the only escape pod of a burning ship). This makes things interesting when he winds up going into space (he has to drink heavily in an attempt to keep from getting sick). But he winds up the captain of the ship "Outlaw Star," which somehow keeps him from feeling confined and scared (although he's still scared of space).
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Jim Hawking
Despite his appearance, Jim is every bit as mature as Gene, maybe more so. (Not that that's saying much. ^_-) He's Gene's partner, and always refers to Gene as 'aniki' (I've heard that word used for 'brother' and also just for someone who sees someone else as a mentor--Anime Village translates it as the natural-sounding 'Gene,' instead of an imposed translation like 'mentor' or something). He's really an excellent mechanic. I'm pretty sure he thinks adults are nuts. ^_^ He has an unnatural attraction to his car, I'm afraid; he's named it Ehefrau, which is German for 'wife.' ^_^; Other than that (and seeing Melfina as a mother figure (!)), he's pretty normal.
Melfina
Hilda, Gene, and Jim opened a briefcase supposedly full of something valuable and it turned out to be HER inside, cryogenically frozen. She's an android, trying to figure out why she was made; nonetheless, she's a very *human* android, who can feel emotions, eat, etc. In the ship Outlaw Star, she wears a bathing suit and gets in a clear cylinder of gel to serve as navigator. Weird stuff. She's still trying to figure out *what* she is, exactly. 
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Aisha Clanclan
She used to be Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire, a very very powerful type of cat people. (Yeah, another catgirl...her character single's cute, anyway...) She is very strong, nearly able to beat Gene, Jim, and Melfina all put together, and can transform into a super-powerful beast (so she says, anyway...). She holds a major grudge against Gene and company, and is always broke.
 
Suzuka
The resident assassin/mercenary of the series. Wears a Jappanese komono which causes her trouble at least once,(because they're so baggy) and insists on keeping her word and killing her victims when she says she's going to kill them, which is always at sunset (not a minute later).Which got her the nick-name Twilight Suzuka Her weapon is a wooden sword (which doesn't get detected by weapons detectors), but she can cut through walls and stuff with it (not to mention people), and can just about beat Gene (who has a caster-which is sort of like a gun) with it.
Gilliam
Gilliam is the Outlaw Star's onboard computer. It is less than impressed with Gene's piloting skills, which sometimes annoys Gene. The ship has some weird things a little bigger than a can of soda (that are suposed to be little Gilliam droides) that have faces and go around on tracks to 'talk' to crew members, give. Jim gets along with them rather well, what with his..love of machines... Anyway, Gilliam's kind of the most cynical of the group, which is a little weird (as I, at least, generally imagine computers (correction--computers of the future) as compliant and faithful...). In concution Gilliam is all...ya.
The XGP a.k.a. The Outlaw Star
Hilda
Hilda's pretty much the one that starts the story off; she demands Gene and Jim escort her to a farm... Anyway, she has an eyepatch over her right eye, but is an outlaw, not a pirate. She's the one who gets Jim, Gene, and Melfina to the XGP(Outlaw Star) in the first place. When she finds Melphina with Gene and Jim the K-pirates try to steal her for themselves. Hilda is killed in the battle.
Fred Luo
Fred is basically a merchant who's able to get all sorts of illegal weapons and stuff. He's kind of a coward, and is also a very shrewd businessman who doesn't let the fact that someone saved his life cloud his judgment on a deal.
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