Yoko Tsuno characters

Through its twenty-seven comic book albums and its novel, The Yoko Tsuno series features a lot of supporting characters, creatures and antagonists.

Main trio

• Yoko Tsuno: she is an electrical engineer, who was raised in Japan but now lives in Belgium. She is quite compassionate and has a knack for making friends.

• Vic Video (Dutch: Ben Beeld, but sometimes also referred to as Max): he has a strong personality, and is a close friend of Yoko (who he seems to be in love with, though this is only hinted at). Before meeting Yoko, he directed live TV shows. At the start of Le Trio de l'étrange, Vic and Pol are co-workers at a TV production company, Vic directs and Pol is a cameraman. They run into Yoko who, since she is in between jobs, agrees to help them produce a television special about an underground river. This expedition leads to their discovery of the Vineans and their lasting friendship with Yoko. He is often the voice of reason and prudence moderating Yoko's impulsiveness. Vic appears in all albums except Aventures électroniques, L'Or du Rhin and La Pagode des brumes.

• Pol Pitron (Dutch: Paul Pola, German: Knut Knolle): he is the comic relief of the trio. His name comes from French "pitre", literally "clown". Before meeting Yoko, he worked as a camera operator under direction of Vic. Pol is often lazy and grumpy, as well as a real gourmet. He is also playful and quite fond of children. Pol appears in all albums except La Pagode des brumes, although he appears in only two stories of Aventures électroniques. He has matured somewhat after falling in love with Mieke, a 16th-century girl the group met while time-travelling.

Supporting

There also are a large number of supporting characters, including such exotic personalities as aliens and people from the future and past.

• Khany: a member of the extraterrestrial race of Vineans. As of the end of La Forge de Vulcain and the fall of Karpan's leadership, she is also their undeclared leader who directs the return of the Vineans from Earth to Vinea. She is also undertaking expeditions to find lost Vinean colonies. Like Vic, she is quite careful in her actions. Khany appears in Le Trio de l'étrange, La Forge de Vulcain, Les Trois soleils de Vinéa, Les Titans, La Lumière d'Ixo, Les Archanges de Vinéa, Les Exilés de Kifa, La Porte des âmes and La Servante de Lucifer.

• Poky: originally Khany's twin sister, she had been left in suspended animation when her sister was revived, so she is still the age of a child while Khany is an adult. Playful and curious, she is quite attached to Yoko and finds Pol's grumping amusing. Poky appears in Le Trio de l'étrange, La Forge de Vulcain, Les Trois soleils de Vinéa, Les Titans, La Lumière d'Ixo, Les Archanges de Vinéa, Les Exilés de Kifa and La Porte des âmes.

• Rosée du Matin (Morning Dew): Yoko's adopted Chinese daughter, as of Le Dragon de Hong Kong. The child of two biologists who experimented with the artificial enlargement of animals, she was orphaned when her parents perished in a storm. She had been raised by her grandfather, but due to his deteriorating health, he entrusted guardianship to Yoko. She has so far also participated in Yoko's time travel exploits and her trips into outer space. Morning Dew appears in all albums from Le Dragon de Hong Kong onwards. Morning Dew is inspired by Roger Leloup's daughter which he adopted from Korea.

• Emilia: A spirited fourteen-year-old girl of Scottish-Russian descend, who appears and joins the main cast in the series as of Le Septième Code. While she is not a skilled violin player as her mother was (and wanted her daughter to be), she demonstrates a natural aptitude for piloting. In La Servante de Lucifer, she is also revealed to have some latent telepathic talent.

• Ingrid Hallberg: a famous German organist, she won Yoko's friendship when they investigated her father's mysterious death in l'Orgue du Diable. She later reappears in La Frontière de la vie, Le Feu de Wotan and L'Or du Rhin.

• Monya: a denizen of the far future and the daughter of a scientist, she travelled back in time in La Spirale du temps to prevent the destruction of the Earth. She succeeded, but since this intervention caused a new time parallel to which she could not return, she has remained in the 20th/21st century. While still undertaking time travels, she lives as Yoko's adopted cousin in Borneo on Yoko's cousin Izumi's plantation. She has additional appearances in Le Matin du monde, L'Astrologue de Bruges, La Jonque Céleste and La Pagode de brumes.

• Mieke: a young florist from 16th century Bruges, she met Yoko and her friends when they investigated a strange painting which depicted both Yoko and Monya in L'Astrologue de Bruges. She has become Pol's fiancee and returns in La Porte des âmes and Le Maléfice de l'améthyste.

• Synda: the mother of Khany and Poky, she was put into suspended animation when the Vineans evacuated their home planet. Since the expected disaster did not occur, she remained alive and was eventually reanimated by her daughters and Yoko during Les Trois soleils de Vinéa. Since Synda was about Khany's age when she entered hibernation, both are now of the same age. Therefore, Synda has insisted that she and Khany should now be on first-name terms and consider each other sisters. Synda has a small role in Les Titans.

• Vynka: this Vinean male is Khany's trusted right-hand man and second-in-command and appears in Les Trois soleils de Vinéa, Les Titans and Les Archanges de Vinéa. A Vinean male that looks like him appears in La Lumière d'Ixo, but whether this is Vynka is unconfirmed.

• The Dancer in Stone: the relief of a dancing girl, which is carved into an old temple wall on Borneo close to the plantation of Yoko's cousin Izumi. Yoko has been coming to her to talk with her once in a while in La Spirale du temps, but in Le Matin du monde, the origin of the sculpture turns out to be more close to her than she may have thought.

• Aoki: a former Kamikaze pilot who became Yoko's substitute father after her grandfather had rescued him from his crashed plane. He dies in La Fille du vent while he helps Yoko to save Japan from an artificial tornado gone out of control.

• Myna: one of the refugees of Kifa, this small female nursery android easily befriends Yoko and helps her out in her Vinean adventures ever since. She appears in both Les Exilés de Kifa and La Porte des âmes.

Antagonists

The series has its share of antagonists as well.

• Karpan: a power-hungry Vinean who was in charge of the Earth colony' security, he was initially the servant of the corrupted Vinean central computer (Le Trio de l'étrange) before he directed a scheme to create a Vinean colony on Earth's surface. He died when he was dropped into a pool of lava in La Forge de Vulcain.

• Ito Kazuky: a Japanese arms dealer. Amoral and callous, he tries to achieve his goals by all means necessary. First appearing in La Fille du vent, he is eventually murdered in L'Or du Rhin.

• Queen Hégora: the despotic queen of the submerged city of the Archangels on Vinea. It turns out that she is an android - one of several - and that the city's life support is linked to her. The only intact copy rests now in the bowels of the city, not animate but still 'alive'. After her demise in Les Archanges de Vinéa, she has a small role in Les Exilés de Kifa.