Yoko Littner

Yoko Littner (ヨーコ・リットナー) is the female protagonist of the series. She is a girl from Jeeha's neighboring village of Ritona who had been chasing the Gunmen that crashed into Jeeha Village during the events of Episode 1. She wields an extensive range of firearms, most frequently of which is a long range sniper rifle modeled after the Barrett M82. Although she is 14, the same age as Simon, she is very mature for her age and she is one of the most rational members of the group. Despite always badmouthing Kamina for his reckless behavior, it did not take long for her to confess her feelings to him. She was also Simon's love interest until he discovered that she was in love with Kamina.

Appearance
Yoko is a pretty, tall girl. She has red hair that extends down to her lower back. The most noticeable trait however, is her breasts and her butt, resulting in her extremely curvy figure. Yoko commonly wears a flame red bra and black, leather spandex type bottoms and wears a skull accessory on her head,while wearing two small needles for hairpins.

In part 2, Yoko appears very much the same, though physically older. At first, she wears the same outfit and a long cloak like jacket but when heading off to save Nia, changes into a yellow and black bra that goes from the sides rather then up and down. She also wears a white/silver jacket and similar pants.

=Personality= Despite being Simon's age, Yoko is shown to be very mature for her age. Instead of being impulsive like Kamina, Yoko prefers to think things through before charging head-first into a battle. Because of Kamina's antics and insults, she would constantly get into fights with him. Yoko is shown to be a very protective person, espcally towards Simon, Kamina and the children. One of the best examples was when she told Kamina that she would defend his back as she said "Your back...is your one big blind spot". Yoko is also very vocal when it comes to situations, often being the voice of reason for Simon and Kamina. Like Simon, she becomes depressed (not as bad as Simon however) after Kamina dies, as she is shown crying about it in a shower despite telling Dayyaka she was fine. In part two, Yoko remains generally the same, but with a new look on violence. Having seen friends die, Yoko believes that violence, mostly senseless, is terrible and is against the harming of children.

=Relationships= Simon

At the Start of the series Yoko took no real notice of Simon even finding him a bit annoying untill she saw his true personality. Afterwards, she was nurturing and caring towards him. It's possible she was always unaware of Simon's feelings towards her. After Kamina's death it is clear she felt pity for Simon but she said to Kittan that no one gets special treatment. For a short time she co-piloted Gurren Lagann with Simon untill he told her he could handle it himself.

In Part two Yoko Saves Simon and Viral from prison and helped Simon save the world. She was also present at Nia and Simons wedding



Kamina

When Yoko and Kamina first met, Kamina took no time in hitting on her thinking she was from the surface; he quickly lost inerest when he figured out she's not from the surface. They bicker and fight a lot but later Yoko confessed her love for him and Kamina kisses her telling her he will return that feeling 10 times over causing Yoko to laugh at him. Yoko tried to stay strong after Kamina's death but she was grieving over him. She gets very angry at Nia when she talkes about Kamina harshly without ever knowing him and after shouting at her she storms off. After she is gone Nia states that she's had tears in her eyes. Even though Kamina is dead it is clear that Yoko still loves him deeply



=Synopsis=

Before Beastman War Arc
Unlike Simon and Kamina, much of Yoko's backstory is never revealed. However, what is known is that when Littner ViIllage was filled with gas, Yoko was among them and was forced to flee to the surface.

Beastman War arc


When Simon and Kamina attempted to defeat the Gunmen that appeared in their home, Yoko appears to offer then aid. Kamina remarks that "Surface girls are hot" and helps Yoko destroy the Gunmen though Kamina's ego makes the task much more difficult. She then decides to join the two and helps them by providing back up fire and support. She tries her best to help Kamina face Viral but when she sees Simon cowering in fear,she yells at him to help. This helps Simon muster the courage to help Kamina. Over the next few episodes, she helps Simon and Kamina in their battles and in Episode 7 gets worried when Kamina tries to defeat Thymilph's Dai-Gunzan. She stands against other Gunmen with just a revolver until Kittan and the others arrive. In Episode 8, she reveals her feelings for Kamina, which he readily returns, and the two embrace and kiss. Simon accidentally witnesses the whole situation and runs off heartbroken. During the battle, Yoko saves Kamina from a sneak attack and provides support. When Kamina is killed, she, like Simon, takes it the hardest. When Simon meets Nia, she doesn't trust her at first (that's after she reveals she is Lord Genome's daughter). She is captured, along with most of Team Dai Gurren. She attempts to escape and doubts getting out but sees Simon digging and remembers what Kamina said about Simon that he refused to be laughed at by Simon's back.

On the deck of the ship, she shoots at Guame, but his armor protects him.She watches Simon's speech and is in awe, while commenting that he needs some work. She gets uneasy of Nia while waiting for Dai-Gurren to be fixed. However when Adiane attacks, Yoko appears and shots her Gunmen square in the shoulder. Afterwards, she makes peace with Nia and admits to herself that she was stupid for distrusting her. From there, she helps Simon by piloting Gurren for Rossiu. She does her best but when Viral attacks, she opens her hatch to shoot which Viral then hits, causing her to be knocked out. Simon saves her and she watches him fight Viral one on one remarking that he can pilot alone. Cytomander

however holds her hostage,but when Dai-Gurren attacks, Simon saves her again. She then asks Simon if he knew that she loved Kamina, to which he smiled and said yes. From there on she helps Simon by advising him. She orders him to go on and defeat Lordgenome and helps by fighting against the Gunmen.

Before Anti-Spiral War arc
After the Beastman war, Yoko was around to help Kamina City get established but leaves because she feels that she has no place in government or politics despite Rossiu and Simon's attempts to get her to stay. She eventually left for a small island where she became a teacher under the name of Yomako. During this time she uses a yellow motorcycle.

Anti-Spiral war arc
Despite being a teacher and not usually being involved in the affairs, she hears about Simon's trial and gets angry by Rossiu's decision. Sometime later ,as the island is being evacuated, two Beastmen attack and hold a little girl hostage. Yoko is forced to grab her rifle and change into a similar outfit to her original. She defeats the two Beastmen, while lecturing her class that violence and stealing is wrong, and decides to go save Simon. Heading to the city,Yoko runs into Kittan (who's in his Gunmen) and informs him of her plan to save him. Arriving at the prison, she shoots at the Anti-Spiral Nia which forces her to flee. She frees Simon and Viral (At Simon's request) and helps them by piloting the Dayakkaiser into battle. She helps Simon by fighting along side him and helps protect the Arc-Gurren. When Simon decides to go save Nia, Yoko goes as well, sporting a new outfit (much to Kittan's surprise). She helps the members of Team Dai-Gurren by holding out till Simon can transform the Chouginga Dai-Gurren. When the group returns to the ship and it gets dragged down into the dark sea, Yoko, Kittan, Gimmy and Darry go out and destroy the Anti-Spiral ships.

When the missile to destroy the Death Spiral Machine fails, she decides to go and destroy it but Kittan goes instead, kissing her before he leaves.She takes one of the gunner seats when Simon attempts to destroy the fleet of ships but, like everyone else, is trapped in the Space Time labyrinth. In her dream, she is a bounty hunter and a teacher, who is revealed to be the best shot in the galaxy, a super model, and married to Kittan. She, however, reaches forward and shuts off the screen, thanking Kamina and heading off to help Simon. She appears as one of Simon's drills and takes a position on the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. She appears after the final battle at Simon's and Nia's marriage.When Nia fades away, she attempts to speak to Simon, but he cuts her off. As Simon begins to leave, she tosses him the ring, which he catches.

After Anti-Spiral War Arc
Yoko appears as a middle aged woman, waving to several students at the end of Episode 27. Her face isn't seen but they call her by her Alias "Yomako".

=Powers and Abilities=
 * Skilled Marksmen:Yoko is a skilled shot with her rifle and has shown to be able to take out two Gunmen alone and without being injured. She is also shown to be able to hit weak spots on Gunmen even in the middle of a fight. One of greatest examples of her marksmanship is during her battle with Viral when she piloted Gurren Lagann with Simon. She was able to nearly hit Viral,despite being in the air and moving around (She missed him by a hair).


 * Skilled Gunmen Pilot:Like most members of Team Dai-Gurren, Yoko is skilled in Piloting a Gunmen. She piloted Gurren-Lagann with Simon once and piloted the Dayakkaiser in the second half and she, along with Kittan, Gimmy and Darry, took out many Anti-Spiral ships alone.

=Trivia=
 * Yoko has the last line in Gurren Lagann (Not counting the Epilogue).
 * Yoko says she doesn't wear clothes because it restricts her movement during combat.
 * A running gag is that Kamina makes fun of Yoko's buttocks and large breasts.
 * Another running gag is that Boota commonly sits inbetween her breasts, and other people, such as Simon, land on them, causing them to jiggle.
 * There is an unnamed character in the Shonen Jump series One Piece anime who bears an uncanny resemblance to Yoko. During one of the more recent arcs, the Amazon Lily Arc, there is a Kuja woman (an allusion to an Amazon warrior) who bears a similarity to Yoko. She has a flame print black bikini top, Yoko's hairstyle, but has brown hair and eyes instead of Yoko's red hair and yellow eyes. Another interesting note is that the director of the episode that featured her worked on Gurren Lagann. So most likely this was intentional as a shout out.
 * None of the people Yoko kissed have survived in the same episode she kisses them. Which has caused many fans to joke ironically that she gave them the "Kiss Of Death".
 * Although Yoko is stated as 14, in the official anime guide it states that she is really 18 in the start of the anime.