This is a list of primary characters from the anime series Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Most of them are people who became the first members of Kamina's Team Gurren. The plot of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is divided into two main story arcs, separated by a seven-year timeskip. After the timeskip, most characters pass through important changes in their appearances and/or personalities, and some of them have their own unique roles in the overall story.
Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (Japanese); Yuri Lowenthal, Tony Oliver (Old) (English)
Personal Gunmen
The series protagonist, Simon (pronounced as See-mon) originally started off as a boy in the beginning of the story who suffered a low self-esteem due to his lack of parents and fear of earthquakes. Though physically underdeveloped for his age and ignored by adults and snubbed by girls, Simon is a valued digger in Giha Village. Simon is eventually befriended by Kamina, whose inspirational speeches start to give him enough confidence to muster his courage and take action in bouts of intense determination. Finding Lagann during his dig, Simon joins Kamina in going to the surface where he develops a crush on Yoko before learning she has feelings for Kamina. When Kamina died during the formation of Team Dai-Gurren, Simon is thrown into a maddened and pervasive depression, driving him to be overly aggressive in combat while isolating himself among the Team. But Simon's meeting with Nia helps him come to a revelation about his own nature, leading to him discarding his fears and doubts as he takes over Kamina's role as Team Dai-Gurren's leader.
In the second half of the series, Simon has become considerably lazier besides being excessively optimistic. Simon planned to marry Nia until the Anti-Spiral Race uses her to begin their attack on Earth. This results with Simon being sent to jail by the government to ease the people, later breaking free with Viral's help to take back Cathedral Terra as he leads Team Dai-Gurren to save Nia and destroy the Anti-Spiral. Managing to marry Nia before she fades away, Simon gives Lagann to Gimmy as he leaves his friends to wander the planet under a low-profile as a nameless vagrant. In the epilogue, the old man that Simon has become watches his former comrades setting out to contact other races throughout the galaxy to help prevent the Spiral Nemesis and ensure the safety of the universe.
Personal Gunmen:
Kamina (カミナ) is a young man from Giha, a subterranean village, who dreams of leaving the underground and going to the surface, a place which he alone believes he saw as a child. Possessing a seemingly arrogant personality, Kamina is very passionate about his goals and will pursue them without a trace of fear, hesitation, or sometimes sense. This attitude often manifests itself in dramatic speeches which have the power to rally all those who hear them to his call. As his first act of notoriety, Kamina forms "Team Gurren" and convinces his "blood-brother," Simon, to help him with his plan to drill through the roof of the village and get to the world above. However, the plan fails. Kamina willingly takes the blame for disrupting the peace and is jailed by the village chief. At night, Simon breaks him out to show him an extraordinary artifact he unearthed, only to be interrupted by a large Gunmen that crashes through the village's ceiling. A young girl sharpshooter named "Yoko" descends from the surface and ends up joining Kamina and Simon as they pilot the newly unearthed Gunmen Kamina names "Lagann". Together, they defeat the invading Gunmen and reach the surface in the process.