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Main Characters
Captain Marika Kato
The daughter of Gonzaemon Kato and Ririka Kato, Marika is an Ordinary High-School Student who participates in her school's space yacht club and works part-time at a local Maid Cafe. It soon turns out that she is the only person who can take Gonzaemon's place (legally). While she's reluctant to take on the role, she does display natural talent for the job and accepts becoming Captain of the Bentenmaru. She also captains Odette II as Yacht Club's President after Jenny and Linn graduate.
- Ace Pilot: Marika's first scene shows her piloting a "dinghy" (a small one-person space ship) from space to a landing on the ground with considerable skill (although it's actually a simulator).
- Action Girl: Takes on "a brave passenger" aboard the Princess Apricot in a sword fight, and wins... kinda.
- Affably Evil: Tells the passengers of the Princess Apricot they won't be harmed so long as they comply with her demands.
- Badass Adorable: When they raid the Princess Apricot, Hyakume says the passengers will be really happy as not only do they get to experience a pirate raid, the pirate's captain is a cute girl.
- Badass Cape: One of the many modifications Mami added made the cape on Marika's pirate uniform even more badass looking.
- Badass Longcoat: She wears a thigh-length leather coat as part of her pirate uniform.
- Bubbly Waitress: Marika Kato, before she became a space pirate, was a waitress at a maid cafe. She was cheerful and boistrous, even greeting Chiaki with an exuberant, if unwanted, "Chiaki-chan!"
- Catchphrase: Saa! Kaizoku no jikan da! (It's time for some piracy!)
- Combat Pragmatist: When she loses her duel against Kane she uses a hidden gun to just shoot him instead.
- Even the Girls Want Her: Be it as an Ordinary High-School Student or a Pirate Girl.
- Evil Is Hammy: Especially her big speeches during the raid on the Princess Apricot. Chiaki even comments that Marika seems to be getting really into it.
- When she herself poses as Marika in ep. 10, though, she arguably hams it up even more.
- Evil Laugh: In episode 6... well she gives it a a go at least.
- Guile Hero: Tends to use her tactical prowess to avoid fighting opponents head on.
- Idiot Hair: Most visible when she's in her school uniform.
- In the Blood: Her father Gonzaemon and mother Ririka were space pirates in their own right.
- Meido: Marika works part-time at a noir-style high-class Maid Cafe.
- Ordinary High-School Student: At the start of the show.
- Pirate Girl: The daughter of the late Captain of the Bentenmaru and it's current Captain.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Thanks to Mami's modifications.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Marika greatly resembles her mother Ririka in her later years.
- Villain Protagonist: Affably Evil and tends to try to avoid conflict, but she ''isn't a pirate.
- You Are in Command Now: She succeeds her parents as the captain of the Bentenmaru at the beginning of the series.
Chiaki Kurihara
Introduced as just the New Transfer Student to Marika's class, Chiaki turns out to be aware of Marika's parentage, and display similar skills in piloting a space ship. It is later revealed that she's actually the daughter of the captain of the pirate ship Barbarossa.
- Ace Pilot: She won the dinghy race after all.
- Catchphrase: "Don't call me that." In reference to the Insistent Terminology.
- Combat Pragmatist: In Sailing 1, she fires off a low-powered flare to blind the would-be kidnapper, then uses the resulting gunfight to cover her extraction of Marika.
- Evil Is Hammy: When imitating Marika's pirate persona, she chews the scenery even more than her.
- Evil Laugh: Of the Noblewoman variety.
- Foil: To Marika.
- Hime Cut: Her usual hairstyle
◊ has the long length and even bangs and she exudes stoic dignity. - Insistent Terminology: Hates having -chan being added to her name.
- Luminescent Blush: When eating sweet things, especially chocolate parfait.
- Pirate Girl: Just like Marika, she's the daughter of a pirate captain and a pirate herself.
- The Stoic: She is serious and display little emotion, except when she encounters a chocolate parfait.
Bentenmaru crew
Kane McDougal
Helmsman aboard the Bentenmaru, and Marika's substitute teacher.
- Ace Pilot: He's as skilled as he is handsome.
- Hand Cannon: He carries a massive revolver that can punch fist-sized holes through an android.
- Pretty Boy:
- In his role as a teacher, he teaches a few dozen teenage girls, several of whom notice how pretty he is.
- In Episode 19, after they've learned his identity, several of them demand he teach them how to pilot dinghies. Very loudly and insistently.
- Twin Switch: Performs one with his younger twin brother Shane near the end of the series.
- Undercover as Lovers: He and Misa pose as a married couple as part of their cover identities at Hakuoh Academy.
Misa Grandwood
The medic aboard the Bentenmaru.
- Drives Like Crazy: How bad is it? Marika and Gruier exhaust themselves from screaming in terror.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She really likes her drink.
- The Mentor: Acts as Marika's guide through her training as the new pirate captain of the Bentenmaru and provided most of the exposition for the ways privateers carry out their jobs. Marika depends on her so much to the extent that it becomes quite a stressful situation for both when Misa and the crew are sick and out of commission and Marika has to carry out a mission without her!
- Ms. Fanservice: By the show's relatively restrained standards.
- Number Two: Quite surprisingly for The Medic, serves as a Bentenmaru's XO, especially in a crew management aspect.
- Red Baron: "Bloody Misa".
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted as she's pretty kind. (Though she has a terrible bedside manner when taking care of wounded.)
- Stripperiffic: Her outfit when on-board the Bentenmaru. Think "skintight bodysuit with bits cut out of it◊".
- Undercover as Lovers: She and Kane pose as a married couple as part of their cover identities at Hakuoh Academy.
Schnitzer
The Bentenmaru's weapons officer, a hulking, demonic Cyborg. Not a Gentle Giant by any means, but much nicer than one might expect from his appearance.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Well, he is a nine-foot-tall cyborg. Also the Bentenmaru's weapons officer, and commander of Bentenmaru's marines.
- Caped Mecha: Cyborg, technically, but apart from that he's got the aesthetic down pat.
- Chest Blaster: Six of 'em, and they're implied to be only part of an extensive suite of built-in weaponry.
- Face of a Thug: Actually looks outright demonic, though when he talks he's fairly polite and soft spoken. He's also shy about being seen by people he doesn't know unless he's working.
- Genius Bruiser: Being technically proficient, levelheaded and scientifically adapt, it's almost easy to forget he's also an enormously strong, armored cyborg who can survive unprotected in space and wield heavy weapons on his own.
- He looked much more humanoid in the novels, not unlike the Ironbeard, actually.
- Horned Humanoid: It may be a helmet but he's never seen with it off.
- The Quiet One: While he does speak occasionally, he doesn't talk much at all.
Coorie
Electronic Warfare officer.
- Handy Feet: She can type with her toes.
- Nerds Are Sexy: (Male) pirate EW officers all swoon about her when she is in her nerd getup. Lampshaded when Marika wonders why they didn't prefer her "outside clothes", and Coorie's answer that EW officers spend too much time "watching the truth" to worry about appearances.
- The Glasses Come Off/Letting Her Hair Down: She's quite the looker without her nerd get-up◊. Kane mentions in episode 24 that she should just stick to that look, but Coorie refuses to.
- Her anime "off-hours" look is positively demure compared to the light novels' one, where not only she was a total bombshell◊, but also her outfit was basically aping Yoko Littner's.
- Her anime "off-hours" look is positively demure compared to the light novels' one, where not only she was a total bombshell
- Sweet Tooth: She has a fondness for sweet foods.
Luca
Navigator and Seer.
- Covert Pervert: Surprisingly enough, Luca gets a dreamy look at her face at memory of being able to hang out at the beach with a bunch of attractive guys.
San-Daime
Engineer, Damage Control.
- Real Men Wear Pink: He collects stuffed animals.
- Watch the Paint Job: Goes into a frenzy at the thought of the Yacht Club accidentally breaking Bentenmaru.
Hyakume
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Kalob Martinez (English) 
Sensors, Intel.
Hakuoh Academy
Mami Endo
Marika's friend and co-worker from the Maid Cafe. The only named character who has never been into space.
- The Fashionista: Makes several modifications to Marika's pirate uniform
- She also designs a crew uniform for Odette II.
- Meido: She works as a maid along with Marika.
Jenny Dolittle
President of the Hakuoh Academy Space Yacht Club — and, therefore, captain of the Odette II until her graduation. Lynn's lover.
- The Captain: Acts in this role for the Odette II's cruise. While she doesn't seem to share Marika's tactical talent, she appears a natural at the crew management aspect.
- Club President: She is the president of the Hakuoh Academy Space Yacht Club.
- Damsel in Distress: In episode 17 it's revealed she's being forced into an Arranged Marriage by her uncle, and Lynn wants to hire the Bentenmaru to rescue her.
- Damsel out of Distress: The rescue attempt is rendered moot when she takes a chance to escape by shooting her way to an electronic warfare/recon fighter with a pistol she had hidden under her wedding dress.
- Ojou: Heir to the Dolittle Space Shipping conglomerate.
- Precision F-Strike/Sophisticated as Hell: Her response to Lightning 11's demand for the Odette II's immediate surrender was "Bakame!" which is roughly equivalent to saying "You stupid son of a bitch!" in English, Crunchyroll subtitled it as "Nuts!". Either way it's not language you'd normally hear from an Ojou
- Put on a Bus: Jenny has graduated from Hakuoh Academy by Sailing 12. (But she comes back during the Hakuoh Pirates arc.)
- Silk Hiding Steel: A pistol to be precise and the silk was her wedding dress. It's a visual metaphor for her personality.
Lynn Lambretta
Vice-president of the Space Yacht Club. A troublemaker and skilled hacker. She is also Jenny's lover.
- Alliterative Name: Lynn Lambretta.
- Butch Lesbian: Rare example of one being portrayed as attractive and feminine.
- Club President: She takes over after Jenny graduates.
- The Lancer: To Jenny in the Space Yacht Club.
Ai Hoshimiya
Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese), Margaret McDonald (English)
A new member of the Space Yacht Club and a rookie pilot.
- Ace Pilot: Effortlessly dodges gunfire from Jenny's Evil Uncle ships.
- In episode 20 she dodges out of danger easily when one of the other girls loses control of her yacht in the simulator... which Kane had set to replicate the "great red spot" on Jupiter which is home to the strongest winds in the solar system.
- In episode 21, after her dinghy's electronics have been knocked out, Ai has no navigation systems. What does she do? Open the hatch and proceed to stellar navigate by sight, without even a sextant.
- Badass Adorable: When she's in at the helm, she's like a moefied Wash.
- Dude Magnet: During the Space Yacht Club's raid on the Princess Apricot out of all the girls, she is the only one being hit on.
- Shrinking Violet: Appears as this at first, but is slowly starting to come out of her shell.
Hakuoh Academy Space Yacht Club
A club at Hakuoh Academy which Marika is a part of. Its activities include dinghy simulations and practice cruises on its training vessel, the Odette II. Its members have been involved in the Bentenmaru's affairs a few times after learning of Marika's pirate heritage.
- Back for the Finale: Talvikki and Flora return in the final episode with Jenny to help fly the Odette II while the rest of the club returns home for exams.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The hoodies the members wear are colour-coded to their school year, cycling between pink, green and blue. Gruier and Grunhilde have black ones.
- Put on a Bus: The members who graduated towards the end of the Golden Ghost Ship arc.
Serenity Kingdom
Princess Gruier Serenity
A princess who stows away on the Bentenmaru.
- Badass Adorable A cute princess who may not be an Action Girl but the way she addressed the Serenity ships in Episode 9 was pretty badass, especially the threatening way she signed off.Gruier: ...Cease fire immediately! Failure to comply will be regarded as treason! That is all!
- Expy: Hello, future descendant of Sailor Moon!
- Good Is Not Nice: Centuries-old royal families are not known for playing fair, and consequently, little Gruier has a surprisingly vicious streak.
- The McCoy: As of the "Hakuoh Pirates" arc, she is falling into this role.
- Pimped-Out Dress: A white one with trimming of white flowers.
- Pirate Girl: Though only briefly when Marika lets her borrow the outerwear from her uniform. When Marika suggests the switch one of the other crew members even (jokingly) calls her "The Pirate Queen".
- Of course, she was one of the Hakuoh Pirates, too.
- And then in the last episode, she's got her own pirate outfit, and is disappointed she won't get to use it.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Girly Girl to her own sister Grunhilde's Tomboy.
Grunhilde Serenity
Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Kalin Coates (English) 
Gruier's younger sister.
- Ace Pilot: In episode 21 she came in second in the yacht race, losing only to Chiaki.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: She's not afraid to lead her soldiers into battle.
- Tomboy: Her military uniform resembles more of a prince's take on an old Royal Marines/British Army redcoat uniform.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tomboy to her own sister Gruier's Girly Girl.
Yotof Sif Sideux
Voiced by: Atsushi Ono (Japanese), David Wald (English)
The Grand Chamberlain of the Serenity Privy Council.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: In the manga, he has a brief fight with Schnitzer and easily holds his own.
- Really 700 Years Old: Not quite so much, but he is quite a bit older than he looks, and he looks to be in his eighties. Explained in the novel by him being a genetically engineered, extremely long-lived "Methuselah".
Catherine
A commander in the Serenity royal bodyguards.
- The Voiceless: In the anime, she does not speak at all.
Others
Captain Ririka Kato
Mother of Marika Kato and widow of Gonzaemon Kato, she is a Space Pirate who served under the Bentenmaru as a chef. After Gonzaemon's death, Ririka succeeds him as captain and eventually retires to become an air traffic controller.
- Action Mom: Ririka is a former pirate whose age hasn't slowed her down one bit.
- Good Parents: Ririka is understanding of Marika's intentions of becoming a pirate.
- Lethal Chef: When she was a pirate, she didn't cook that well. Misa recalls her food and gets shivers from the memories.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Ririka doesn't seem to impede the decisions Marika makes throughout the series, and in fact is rather supportive of her goals.
- Red Baron: She was nicknamed "Captain" Ririka in the light novels and "Blaster" Ririka in the anime.
- Retired Badass: By the time Marika becomes a pirate, she's working as an air traffic controller, having retired a long time ago from piracy. In the anime's Grand Cross arc, she joins Ironbeard's crew, and proves she still has her old skills.
- Supreme Chef: To the point that her cooking is a regular subject of the series' Food Porn moments.
- In episode 13, Misa mentions that when she first came on board, she was a Lethal Chef.
Show
Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese), Andrew Love (English)
An agent from the Bentenmaru's insurance company, the Harold Lloyd Insurance Union.
- Jive Turkey: In the dub, he speaks with street slang.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Marika was afraid to talk to the insurance agent at first due to Ririka's tale of Ham-to-Ham Combat she did with him. Turns out Show replaced that guy a few years earlier and understood that the previous guy's method of doing things wasn't always the best. He actually does quite a bit to help Marika out during the series, whether it's providing information or pulling strings to let her pirate with a "backup" crew when the main crew is sick and quarantined.
Captain Kenjo Kurihara
Voiced by: Yasunori Matsumoto (Japanese), Rob Mungle (English)
Chiaki's father and captain of the pirate ship Barbarossa.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: In episode 25, Marika has the chef transmit a message to the other pirate ships regarding where the final fight is going to take place. The song playing in the background is the pirate song, with an extra addition of girls singing a bit off-key. Kenjo, upon hearing it, tells one of his crew mates to broadcast it across the entire ship. Chiaki is then shown hiding under the covers of her bed, and a short cutaway scene shows her and Marika recording the song being broadcasted. Marika, on the other hand, smiles proudly and seems to enjoy the song.
- Not to mention that he tells Marika that she is Chiaki's favorite pirate.
- The Lancer: He seems to serve as one for Marika during the Grand Cross arc, as he's something like her second in command as far as the fleet is concerned.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Like Ririka towards Marika, he gives Chiaki a surprising amount of freedom. A large part of it is mostly to ensure Marika's safety, but he also has no qualms with letting Chiaki fill in for Marika while the latter searches for the ghost ship with Gruier.
Robert Dolittle
Voiced by: Eizou Shuda (Japanese)
Jenny's uncle and the head of Hugh and Dolittle Interstellar Transportation.
Ironbeard
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), Mike Yager (English)
A mysterious pirate registered with the Galactic Empire and the captain of the Parabellum.
- All There in the Manual: His reason for faking his death in the animé is only explained in a short story that came alongside the Blu-Ray Box for the series.
- Faking the Dead: In the anime, his true identity is Gonzaemon Kato, Marika's father.
- Large Ham: Has a penchant for making dramatic entrances; his first appearance is standing on top of his ship, dramatic wind blowing his cape behind him (it's actually a projected hologram) and adding sound effects to weapons fire. He also steals Quartz's thunder right out from her when she's making her big speech to the pirates.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Gonzaemon dies in the light novels, but survives in the anime.
Quartz Christie
Voiced by: Yuko Sanpei (Japanese), Genevieve Simmons (English)
The captain of the experimental ship Grand Cross, the culprit behind the pirate hunting incidents.
- All There in the Manual: Is actually the crown princess of the galactic empire, something only revealed in the short story On Her Majesty's Space Pirates that came alongside the Blu-Ray Box for the series.
- Canon Foreigner: She is a character created specifically for the anime.
Old Man/Legendary Chef
A famous Chinese chef whose restaurant served as a meeting point and base for the Sea of Morningstar original pirates. His sons (two of whom we've seen in the series) are running a chain of restaurants around Tau Ceti space which serves as a pirates' secret communication network.
- Supreme Chef: His shaved ice (recipe of which is preserved by his sons) is apparently a dessert to die for and is famous even in the Galactic Empire.
- When his eldest son prepares it in the episode 25, he mentions that the sauce alone is matured for 500 years.
Frontier Pirates
Some of the other pirate captains and crews who hold Letters of Marque from the War of Independence like the Bentenmaru.
- Meaningful Name: Witherspoon, the captain of the El Santo. He seems to get through quite a lot of them.
- Ninja: Master Dragon and the Shangri-La crew.
Novel/Manga-Only Characters
Jackie
A criminal hacker and scammer whom Marika faces several times during the novels.
- Theme Naming: His various assumed surnames (Celsius, Fahrenheit etc) are all units of temperature.
Müller Grant
A frontier pirate captain (the non-privateer sort) and a high-ranking executive of a Pirate Guild.
- Long-Lived: Being a Methuselah.
