Melfina

Melfina
Biographical information
Given name	Melfina VSD02C
Nickname(s)	Melfina Maiden of the Leyline
Age	17.8
Blood Type	None
Species	Bio android
Planet	N/A
Physical description
Hair	Black
Eyes	Brown
Height	5'2" (160 cm)
Weight	132 pounds (60 kg)
Career information
Affiliation	Outlaw
Occupation	Bio Navigator for the Outlaw Star
Ship	Outlaw Star
Weapons	None
Out-of-Universe information
First Manga appearance	Outlaw Star: 1st Star: Fire & Ice
First Anime appearance	"Outlaw World"
English VA	Emilie Brown
Japanese VA	Ayako Kawasumi

"Who am I? Why was I made? Who made me? And what did they make me for?"

—Melfina

Melfina (メルフィナ, Merufina^?), born Melfina VSD02C, is a biological android created by the Kei Pirate Guild and Professor Gwen Khan in conjunction with the XGP 15A-II with the sole intention of finding the Galactic Leyline.

Biography

Creation

Created at some point before the start of the series through a collaboration between the Kei Pirate Guild and Gwen Khan, Melfina was designed and intended as the XGP 15a-II's navigation system.

"Hot Ice" Hilda

Before the beginning of the series, the Outlaw Hilda found out about the ship and Melfina and stole them from the Kei Pirates. Later, Hilda gained the assistance of Gene Starwind and Jim Hawking to help her recover Melfina before they were attacked by the Kei Pirates, led by their leaders, who were experienced Tao sorcerers. Hilda, Gene, and Jim had to hold them off until Melfina awakened from her state of suspended animation, at which point Gene used his coat as a blanket for Melfina as they escaped to Hilda's ship Horus to flee to Blue Heaven, a large asteroid that had become a major spaceport. Once there, Jim took Melfina to the local boutique to get her some proper clothes. However, after Gene and Hilda were attacked by hired hands looking for Melfina, they were forced to flee Blue Heaven.

Confrontation with Aisha Clan-Clan

As Horus fled Blue Heaven, it was confronted by the larger Ctarl-Ctarl starship Orta Hone Hone, under the command of Aisha Clan-Clan, an ambassador for the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire, who wanted the right-of-way to dock at Blue Heaven. Hilda forces Aisha into a game of chicken, and it is Aisha who is forced to yield and let the Horus escape. This results in her being stripped of her rank and demoted to Ctarl-Ctarl Resident Officer on Blue Heaven, and Aisha swears revenge on Hilda.

However, when Hilda takes Gene, Jim, and Melfina to where her allies should be waiting, they find Hilda's allies wiped out by the Kei Pirates they escaped earlier, forcing them to travel to Farfallus to recover the XGP 15A-II. However, Hilda is forced to sacrifice herself and the Horus to take out the young female leader of the Kei Pirates before she could attack the fleeing XGP with Gene, Jim, and Melfina on it as its new crew. When Gene returns to Blue Heaven to have the XGP repainted and registered, Melfina, Gene, and Jim run into Aisha, who seeks revenge on them for her demotion and loss of dignity because of her military heritage and any information they might have on the Galactic Leyline. After a hard chase that sees Aisha use up much of her energy while trying to transform into her stronger, feral form, Melfina, Gene, and Jim take her out for dinner, but then leave her to pay off the bill while they escape, making Aisha dead set on finding them again to try and regain her old rank and respect in the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire's military.

Characteristics

Appearance

Melfina appears as a beautiful young women with a slender and well proportioned build. She has large brown eyes and her black hair is collar length except for her two side bangs which reach down to her shoulders. Her outfit for most of the series is a white blouse a blue tie beneath a blue shawl, a short black skirt with suspenders that run across her breasts, grey tights with black heels, and a gold bracelet on her left ankle. After the leyline, Melfina changes to a pink dress with white sleeves that bares her shoulders, pink tights with calf high boots, and a violet cape. When interfacing with the Outlaw Star, she is completely naked.

Personality

Melfina is known for her extreme kindness, bravery and a desire to know who and what she truly is. These questions haunt her for much of her journey with Gene Starwind and are a source of indecisiveness and doubt at times. She is usually very cheerful and upbeat, acting as a surrogate mother to her friend and teammate Jim Hawking, looking after his and the group's well being, even outside perilous situations. Melfina is friendly and easygoing with most people. The nature of her creation suggests a type of naivety toward most situations or subjects, resulting a straightforward-but-innocent questions or outlook.

Her relationship with Suzuka and Aisha Clan-Clan, in one instance, reveals she is far less begrudging of their behavior towards herself, Gene and Jim during their first encounters with each other. Melfina is willing to trust Suzuka and Aisha in most situations, particularly when she is in need of physical protection from enemies. In turn, Suzuka and Aisha are typically more perceptive of Melfina's emotions than either Jim, Gilliam or Gene are.

However short lived her relationship with "Hot Ice" Hilda was, there was always the iteration of asking exactly what she wanted to do on Hilda's part, despite her often straight forward command over the young woman who willingly followed her. As result of Hilda's actions against the Kei pirates, Melfina felt a debt of gratitude toward the outlaw for saving her life. She also has a good friendship with Gilliam II, mostly due to his confidentiality, and because they share origins.

Of the group, she grows closer to Gene. Despite his brazen behavior, she remains comfortable in his presence and admits she feels safest around him, enough to sleep against his shoulder. As their investigation into the Galactic Leyline and her identity prolongs, she begins to doubt Gene's dedication to finding out the truth. She expresses as much at the Leyline after Hazanko capitalized on her doubts during her captivity. In the end, however, Melfina's trust is rewarded after she saves the lives of everyone within the Leyline and Gene admits to being in love with her. In a move to reaffirm her agency, Melfina expresses her "desire" to remain with Gene "forever".

Outside the circle of the Outlaw Star, Melfina's inadvertent connection with Harry MacDougall as a result of their minor similarities, forces Melfina to be self-dependent on her own abilities. Despite his seemingly gentle advances, Melfina's constant rejection reveals a cruel and controlling person who sees her an object to own and not a person. Yet, for all the abuse Melfina suffers from Harry, she pities his situation and on some level, cares for him. She is visibly distraught over his apparent death at the hands of Hazanko in the Leyline. Afterwards, she adopts a visibly more assertive personality - one sure of herself and her existence beyond the Leyline.

Abilities

Due to her unique nature, Melfina is capable of many feats impossible for ordinary life forms. Among these is her unique connection to the Galactic Leyline, acting as an interface of sorts with its reality warping capabilities to alter matter and energy when connected to it. Among her other unique features is her immunity to mind control by biological organisms such as the alien cactus, which could control and subdue several dozen organic beings simultaneously, even ones such as Aisha, Gene, and Jim, all three of whom are known to possess incredible willpower. Among her other unusual abilities is her power to heal others. This was first seen when she partially healed Gene's life-threatening wounds by taking him into her interface capsule within the Outlaw Star's bridge.

Melfina is athletic enough to keep pace with the likes of Gene and Suzuka when running, and is agile enough to dodge gunfire when necessary.

Melfina is also known for being a remarkable cook, with her work being heavily praised by the other crew members.

Trivia

• As part of Cartoon Network's editing on the daytime and early 2000s Adult Swim versions of this show (the 2018 version is uncut), the show has her portrayed as wearing tight black shorts and a sports bra.
• Concept art for the anime originally depicted Melfina as being capable of generating light shields to protect herself and others.

Gallery

Artwork

Animated Cel of Melfina in Grave of the Dragon

Screenshots

Melfina in the opening sequence, Through the Night

Melfina's profile (Between Life and Machine)

The code to unlock Melfina's suitcase

Melfina in Outlaw World (uncut vs. censored)

Manga

Melfina on the third volume of Outlaw Star

Concept Art

Final Melfina concept (color).

Size comparison concept

Maiden of the Leyline concept