Mari Makinami Illustrious

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Mari Illustrious Makinami
Mari
真希波・マリ・イラストリアス
Age	Unknown
Birthday	Unknown
Seiyū	Maaya Sakamoto

Mari in plugsuit

Mari Illustrious Makinami (真希波・マリ・イラストリアス) is the new character to be introduced in Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance and the pilot of Evangelion Unit-05. She is a stylized brunette with glasses and "twin tails".

Profile

Essentially no information has been provided about Mari thus far beyond her name and images of her. She is shown for a mere two cuts in the preview for 2.0 at the end of the first Rebuild movie. The "keywords" poster for 2.0 includes an exchange of dialogue between her and Shinji.

Mari is the pilot for Eva-05 as various illustrations show: a Sadamoto illustration has been released showing Mari in the "05" plugsuit; Mari has been identified as the helmeted pilot in the first theatrical trailer; Mari is depicted (in plugsuit) alongside Eva-05 for her UCC Coffee can illustration (see image); and the writeup for the Revoltech Eva-05 figure at the Kaiyodo Hobby Lobby states that the Eva is piloted by "new heroine Mari". A pilot designation has not yet been provided (assuming there is one).

Mari is also able to pilot Eva-02, and activates "the Beast" mode, which is speculated to be similar to an Eva going berserk. Her personality supposedly isn't one based on Anno's psyche, and she really enjoys piloting to kill the Angels. She is able to speak English fluently and seems to only interact with Shinji in terms of her fellow pilots.It's implied she's a spy for Nerv's American branches.

Name

Design for upcoming Mari figurine

Mari is named after two World War II warships, the Japanese destroyer Makinami (巻波, "overflowing waves") and the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. The two names may be intended to, as in Asuka's case, represent a mixed heritage: here, British and Japanese (at minimum). Strictly speaking, neither "Illustrious" or "Makinami" (written as 真希波, "noble true wave") are real surnames, although this may be nothing more than a creative liberty.

Her first name was originally unveiled in the Nintendo DS Petite Eva@School game. Later, one of the official movie posters included a "teaser" for her full name: showing the "Mari" part, and substituting the remaining characters with asterisks ("*** Mari *******"). Mari's entire name was at last revealed in a revised version of the poster included with the first issue of Eva Extra. Before her actual name surfaced, Mari was known exclusively among fans as "Glasses Girl" (among Japanese fans, めがねのこ, megane no ko, meaning the same thing).

Notes

• Mari's glasses and long, dark hair has invited much comparison with the character Mayumi Yamagishi from the Sega Saturn game Neon Genesis Evangelion: Second Impression, although the two characters have distinctly different appearances.

References

Characters

Main characters: Shinji Ikari | Rei Ayanami | Asuka Langley Soryu

Nerv staff: Misato Katsuragi | Gendo Ikari | Ritsuko Akagi | Kozo Fuyutsuki | Ryoji Kaji | Maya Ibuki | Makoto Hyuga | Shigeru Aoba

Classmates: Toji Suzuhara | Kensuke Aida | Hikari Horaki

Other characters: Kaworu Nagisa | Yui Ikari | Naoko Akagi | Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu | Dr. Katsuragi | Mr. Langley | Keel Lorenz | Pen Pen

Rebuild of Evangelion: Asuka Shikinami Langley | Mari Makinami Illustrious | Sakura Suzuhara | Ryoji Kaji (Jr)

Miscellaneous: Minor Characters | Minor Characters (Rebuild) | Extracanonical Characters

Theory and Analysis: Name Origins (Warships) | Designs | Relationships | Profiles

Resources: 2015: The Last Year of Ryohji Kaji