Difference between revisions of "Mari Makinami Illustrious"

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| birthday    = Unknown<ref>If they used the "seiyuu's birthday" rule as they did with most of the other characters, it would be 03/31.</ref>
 
| birthday    = Unknown<ref>If they used the "seiyuu's birthday" rule as they did with most of the other characters, it would be 03/31.</ref>
 
| seiyu      = [[Maaya Sakamoto]]
 
| seiyu      = [[Maaya Sakamoto]]
| va = (English) Trina Nishimura<br> (German): Jennifer Weiß(2.22 & 3.33 Old Dub), Lea Kalbhenn (2.22, 3.33 & 3.0+1.01)<br>
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| va = English: Trina Nishimura (1st voice); Deneen Melody (Amazon)<br>German: Jennifer Weiß (1st voice); Lea Kalbhenn (Amazon)<br> French: Kaycie Chase (Amazon)<br>Italian:Monica Ward (Amazon)<br>European-Spanish:Marta Barabarà (Amazon)<br>Latin-Amrican Spanish: Mireya Mendoza (Amazon)<br>Brazilian-Portuguese: Melissa Lucena (1st voice); Maitê Cunha (Amazon)
 
}}
 
}}
  
'''Mari Makinami Illustrious''' (真希波・マリ・イラストリアス) is an Eva pilot and third party operative introduced in ''[[Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance]]''. She is a stylized brunette with glasses and "twin tails".  
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'''Mari Makinami Illustrious''' (真希波・マリ・イラストリアス) is an Eva pilot and third party operative introduced in ''[[Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance]]'', as a completely new character who has no counterpart in the original continuity. </br>
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==Profile==
 
==Profile==
  
Mari is shown to have an enigmatic personality. Out of all the pilots, she is the only one who admits that she genuinely enjoys piloting. Her repeated comments suggest that she has a liking to the smell of LCL. She also appears to have reduced inhibitions and even identifies Shinji as a pilot in their first encounter by crawling up to him on all fours and sniffing for the smell of LCL. It is implied that Mari works for an unknown third party. A pilot designation has not been provided, assuming Mari officially has one (in-universe).
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Mari is a spunky young British brunette with glasses, and her hair is generally worn in twin-tails. She is shown to have a casual and energetic demeanour, but it hides a thoughtful, clever, and enigmatic personality. Out of all the pilots, she is the only one who admits that she genuinely enjoys piloting. Her repeated comments suggest that she has a liking to the smell of LCL. She also appears to have reduced inhibitions and even identifies Shinji as a pilot in their first encounter by crawling up to him on all fours and sniffing for the smell of LCL. It is implied that Mari works for an unknown third party. A pilot designation has not been provided, assuming Mari officially has one (in-universe).
  
 
In combat, she is extremely aggressive and despite her inexperience, she is shown to be an expert pilot on the level of Asuka, if not higher. Her first engagement with the [[Third Angel]] used no tactics whatsoever but saw her attacking the Angel head-on, chasing it outside of the base and pinning it down before self-destructing. She also appears to be aware of the Evas' sentient nature to some extent, going so far as to directly addressing them in a compassionate tone and even whispering goodbye to Eva-05 after its destruction. This makes it unlikely that she was the one who sabotaged it, although her being an acquaintance of Ryoji Kaji is suspicious.
 
In combat, she is extremely aggressive and despite her inexperience, she is shown to be an expert pilot on the level of Asuka, if not higher. Her first engagement with the [[Third Angel]] used no tactics whatsoever but saw her attacking the Angel head-on, chasing it outside of the base and pinning it down before self-destructing. She also appears to be aware of the Evas' sentient nature to some extent, going so far as to directly addressing them in a compassionate tone and even whispering goodbye to Eva-05 after its destruction. This makes it unlikely that she was the one who sabotaged it, although her being an acquaintance of Ryoji Kaji is suspicious.
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===Name===
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Mari is named after two World War II warships, the Japanese postwar destroyer [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JDS_Makinami JDS Makinami] (巻波, "overflowing waves")) and the British aircraft carrier [[Historical_Warships_in_Evangelion#HMS_Illustrious|HMS Illustrious]] ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Illustrious_(R87) detailed Wikipedia entry]). The two names may be intended to, as in [[Asuka Shikinami Langley|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,<ref>Google searches for "真希波" only yield results related to Mari's name, indicating that "Makinami" written this way is probably an original invention for this character.</ref> although this may be nothing more than a creative liberty.
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Originally, Anno considered naming her ''Mariko'', borrowing from one of his wife Moyoco Anno's manga, but instead opted for using the name of Mari Sakurano, from ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brave_Raideen Brave Raideen].'' Mid-way through productionh Anno also considered changing Mari's name yet again to ''Chizuru'', as a homage to Chizura Nambara from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%8Ddenji_Robo_Combattler_V Combattler V], and as a gesture to please "Shō-chan", refering to his friend and colleague [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dji_Kawamori Shōji Kawamori], creator of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macross Macross] mecha franchise. The choice of Mari was also done as a nod to another friend of Anno, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yutaka_Izubuchi Yutaka Izubuchi], creator of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RahXephon RahXephon]. Izubuchi speculated that another character from ''Raideen'' served as inspiration for Rei and Asuka. This characer's name was ''Rei Asuka''. By finally making a reference to Raideen, Anno felt, Izubuchi could "save Buc-chan[Izubuchi]'s face."<ref>[https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2010-crc#part-4 Evangelion 2.0 CRC - “We persisted in changing Mari’s appearances up until the very last minute”]</ref><ref>See [https://wiki.evageeks.org/Character_Name_Origins Character Name Origins] for the naming of the series' characters.</ref>
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[[File:Petit Eva Mari profile.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Mari's name revealed]]
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Her first name was originally unveiled in the Nintendo DS ''Petit Eva: Evangelion @ Game'' game.<ref>[http://neweva.web.fc2.com/ha.htm DS game screen shots]</ref> 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''.<ref>Promotional poster with revised terms list.</ref> 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). She caused a furor among fans after months of teasing and her ultimate reveal.<ref>[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-02-19/anno-evangelion-2.0-film-slated-for-june-27-in-japan Anno's Evangelion 2.0 Film Slated for June 27 in Japan (Update 2)]</ref><ref>[https://www.cinematoday.jp/news/N0017756 『ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:破』新美少女キャラは、めがねっ子の真希波・マリ・イラストリアス!]</ref>
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==Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance==
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Mari is introduced for the first time in the plug of [[Evangelion Unit-05]] just as she is about to sortie to take down the rogue [[Third Angel]], which is attempting to escape from [[Bethany Base]]. Activating Unit-05's A.T. Field, she attempts to ram her jousting lance into the Angel, but it dodges her and escapes, using a halo to punch a hole to the exterior of the base. Mari follows it out in short order (switching to battery power in the process), pinning the Angel to one of the pillars surrounding the base with her lance, and begins to the crush the core with her left hand. However, she is unable to exert enough pressure on the core as the cybernetic limbs were forcefully synchronized with the Eva. Running short on time and options, Mari decides to yield control of the right arm to the Eva itself, causing Unit-05 to enter a semi-berserk state, tearing open its jaws and bellowing, and clamps down on the core with the right arm. The gambit works, and the Angel's core is crushed. Mari immediately ejects, and escapes Unit-05's subsequent self-destruction, which takes Bethany Base with it. She muses about not being so sure about involving an adult to achieve her own goals, and bids farewell to Unit-05, saying that it did well.
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Some time later, Mari attempts to enter Japan covertly via parachute, but she goes off-target and violently lands on Shinji, who is relaxing on the school roof. The impact knocks her glasses off, and she gets a call from someone just as she finds them. She informs the person on the phone that she landed off-target, and asks if the "Euro people" (Presumably EURO-Nerv or the IPEA) couldn't work this out. She then informs them to just be ready to extract her later and hangs up. Turning her attention to Shinji, she sniffs him and says that he smells of LCL, remarking that he's "interesting". She then hands him his SDAT, and asks him not to tell anyone about the encounter, calling him "Nerv's Puppy", and leaves.
  
 
When Zeruel attacked Tokyo-3 at the end of the movie, Mari launched Eva-02 with [[IPEA]] assistance to engage in battle, intercepting the Angel inside the Geofront while dual-wielding pallet rifles. Unlike Asuka's repeated attempts at damaging the Angel in the series however, Mari quickly gave up on ranged attacks and went into a screaming charge with a Thunder Spear, leaping onto the Angel and firing Eva-02's needle guns in an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Angel's AT-field with a point-blank attack. In the English dub, she is quite foul-mouthed, constantly taunting her opponents while piloting.
 
When Zeruel attacked Tokyo-3 at the end of the movie, Mari launched Eva-02 with [[IPEA]] assistance to engage in battle, intercepting the Angel inside the Geofront while dual-wielding pallet rifles. Unlike Asuka's repeated attempts at damaging the Angel in the series however, Mari quickly gave up on ranged attacks and went into a screaming charge with a Thunder Spear, leaping onto the Angel and firing Eva-02's needle guns in an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Angel's AT-field with a point-blank attack. In the English dub, she is quite foul-mouthed, constantly taunting her opponents while piloting.
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Mari uses two distinct plugsuits over the course of the film. The first is the unusual green and white suit that appears to be custom-built for Eva-05, with different material on the limbs (corresponding to the Eva's mechanical prostheses) and three green tubes attached to each wrist (probably involved in the "forced synch" with the prostheses). The second plugsuit, worn for Mari's sortie in Eva-02, is a pink one with white trim very similar to Kaworu's. Despite her change in Evas, her new plugsuit still bears a '''05''', suggesting it may have been intended for use with that unit.
 
Mari uses two distinct plugsuits over the course of the film. The first is the unusual green and white suit that appears to be custom-built for Eva-05, with different material on the limbs (corresponding to the Eva's mechanical prostheses) and three green tubes attached to each wrist (probably involved in the "forced synch" with the prostheses). The second plugsuit, worn for Mari's sortie in Eva-02, is a pink one with white trim very similar to Kaworu's. Despite her change in Evas, her new plugsuit still bears a '''05''', suggesting it may have been intended for use with that unit.
  
In ''[[Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo]]'', Mari is the pilot of [[Evangelion Unit-08]] and a member of [[Wille]]. She is shown to have a playfully belligerent relationship with Asuka; Asuka frequently refers to her as "Four-Eyes," while Mari refers to Asuka as "Princess". Mari is first seen providing sniper backup for Asuka during the battle with the [[Evangelion Mark.04]] units during [[Operation US]]. Later, when Asuka cannot reach Unit-02 in time, [[Misato]] sorties Mari in Unit-08 against [[Evangelion Mark.09]]. She manages to shoot off Mark.09's head, but this does not stop [[Rei Ayanami]] from escaping with Shinji.
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==Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo==
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[[Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo|14 years later]], Mari is the pilot of [[Evangelion Unit-08]] and a member of [[Wille]]. She is shown to have a playfully belligerent relationship with Asuka; Asuka frequently refers to her as "Four-Eyes," while Mari refers to Asuka as "Princess". Mari is first seen providing sniper backup for Asuka during the battle with the [[Evangelion Mark.04]] units during [[Operation US]]. Later, when Asuka cannot reach Unit-02 in time, [[Misato]] sorties Mari in Unit-08 against [[Evangelion Mark.09]]. She manages to shoot off Mark.09's head, but this does not stop [[Rei Ayanami]] from escaping with Shinji.
  
 
Mari once again provides sniper fire cover for Asuka during the battle against [[Evangelion 13]] in [[Terminal Dogma]], as well as providing her with [[Evangelion_Power_Sources#Spare_Batteries|spare batteries]] and a container for the [[12th Angel]] within [[Evangelion Mark.06]], as Asuka [[Theory and Analysis:Kaworu in Eva 3.0|tries to stop Shinji from pulling the Spears]]. She also interacts with Rei, advising her to escape from Mark.09 before it turns into a [[Vessel of the Adams]]. When Rei is unresponsive, Mari expresses her opinion that Rei's "original" was nicer. Mari recognizes immediately that the awakened Evangelion 13 is really a surviving [[Adams]] as [[Fourth Impact]] begins. She is assigned by Asuka to attack Evangelion 13, but fails to reach it before [[Kaworu Nagisa]] dies in a failed attempt to stop the Impact. In order to stop Fourth Impact entirely, Mari forcibly ejects Shinji, telling him to help Asuka and get to know the world. Unit-08 is later picked up by the [[AAA Wunder]] along with the wreckage of Unit-02.
 
Mari once again provides sniper fire cover for Asuka during the battle against [[Evangelion 13]] in [[Terminal Dogma]], as well as providing her with [[Evangelion_Power_Sources#Spare_Batteries|spare batteries]] and a container for the [[12th Angel]] within [[Evangelion Mark.06]], as Asuka [[Theory and Analysis:Kaworu in Eva 3.0|tries to stop Shinji from pulling the Spears]]. She also interacts with Rei, advising her to escape from Mark.09 before it turns into a [[Vessel of the Adams]]. When Rei is unresponsive, Mari expresses her opinion that Rei's "original" was nicer. Mari recognizes immediately that the awakened Evangelion 13 is really a surviving [[Adams]] as [[Fourth Impact]] begins. She is assigned by Asuka to attack Evangelion 13, but fails to reach it before [[Kaworu Nagisa]] dies in a failed attempt to stop the Impact. In order to stop Fourth Impact entirely, Mari forcibly ejects Shinji, telling him to help Asuka and get to know the world. Unit-08 is later picked up by the [[AAA Wunder]] along with the wreckage of Unit-02.
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Mari's new plugsuit in 3.0 is similar in coloration to her second plugsuit from the previous film, though it now bears a '''08''' to reflect her new status as Unit-08's pilot. She also has new glasses that have rectangular frames instead of her previous pair of rounded glasses.
 
Mari's new plugsuit in 3.0 is similar in coloration to her second plugsuit from the previous film, though it now bears a '''08''' to reflect her new status as Unit-08's pilot. She also has new glasses that have rectangular frames instead of her previous pair of rounded glasses.
  
Her quarters with Asuka on the Wunder are also a sort of isolation chamber. This [https://eva-fan.com/blog-entry-4898.html is referenced as such] in concept art for the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvz-cr5_Fjc 10th Khara anniversary exposition]." Asuka and Mari are referred to as "dangerous persons" that must kept apart from the crew, further estranging the former from humanity..
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Her quarters with Asuka on the Wunder are also a sort of isolation chamber. This [https://eva-fan.com/blog-entry-4898.html is referenced as such] in concept art for the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvz-cr5_Fjc 10th Khara anniversary exposition]." Asuka and Mari are referred to as "dangerous persons" that must kept apart from the crew, further estranging the former from humanity.
 
 
{{MontageBox
 
|float  = left
 
|columns = 3
 
|title  = Mari Makinami Illustrious
 
|colour  =
 
|image1  = [[Image:Eva 1.0 jikai C19 mari.jpg|thumb|Mari's first closeup in the 1.0 preview.]]
 
|image2  = [[Image:Mari eva2-ticket3.jpg|thumb|75px|center|In first plugsuit]]
 
|image3  = [[Image:Eva2-22 C0001 bootup.jpg|thumb|Mari prepares for her first outing in an Eva.]]
 
|image4  = [[Image:Eva2-22_C0076.jpg|thumb|Bidding Eva-05 farewell.]]
 
|image5  = [[Image:2.22 Shinji-Mari-meeting.png|thumb|Mari formally introduces herself to [[Shinji Ikari]].]]
 
|image6  = [[Image:Eva2-22 C1584A.jpg|thumb|Under [[Beast Mode]] influence.]]
 
|image7  = [[Image:Eva2-22 jikai C22.jpg|thumb|Holding conference in [[Evangelion 3.0]] preview.]]
 
|image8  = [[Image:3.0 Mari new glasses.jpg|thumb|New glasses in 3.0.]]
 
|image9  =
 
|image10 =
 
|caption =
 
}}
 
{{-}}
 
  
==Evangelion 3.0 (-120min) (SPOILERS)==
 
  
{{Template:Spoilers}}
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==Evangelion 3.0 (-120min)==
  
 
[[Operation US|Before launch]], Asuka is by Mari, who is wearing her school uniform. Looking at the moon, Asuka recites a poem from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB ''Manyoshu''], about wanting to see someone again. Mari explains she wants Shinji to be able to easily recognize them once he's recovered. [[Misato Katsuragi|Misato]]'s plan is for Mari to lead the operation with Asuka in support, as her [[Evangelion Unit-08|Unit-08]] is less damaged, but Mari suggests Asuka take the lead instead. Asuka however is reluctant, and believes Shinji himself dead and unrecoverable. Looking at an old picture of Shinji, Asuka changes her mind, and puts on her old plugsuit from the previous film and improvises a repair.<ref>[[Evangelion 3.0 (-120 min.)]] prequel manga, [https://forum.evageeks.org/post/924437/Evangelion-manga-day-before-Q-what-can-we-expect-in-that-manga/#924437 translation at Evageeks]</ref>
 
[[Operation US|Before launch]], Asuka is by Mari, who is wearing her school uniform. Looking at the moon, Asuka recites a poem from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27y%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB ''Manyoshu''], about wanting to see someone again. Mari explains she wants Shinji to be able to easily recognize them once he's recovered. [[Misato Katsuragi|Misato]]'s plan is for Mari to lead the operation with Asuka in support, as her [[Evangelion Unit-08|Unit-08]] is less damaged, but Mari suggests Asuka take the lead instead. Asuka however is reluctant, and believes Shinji himself dead and unrecoverable. Looking at an old picture of Shinji, Asuka changes her mind, and puts on her old plugsuit from the previous film and improvises a repair.<ref>[[Evangelion 3.0 (-120 min.)]] prequel manga, [https://forum.evageeks.org/post/924437/Evangelion-manga-day-before-Q-what-can-we-expect-in-that-manga/#924437 translation at Evageeks]</ref>
  
==Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (SPOILERS)==
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==Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time==
  
{{Template: Spoilers}}
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In ''[[Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time]]'', Mari is part of Operation 0706 to restore part of Paris and recover a large Euro-Nerv supply cache. She is sortied against NERV's multiple Evangelion Mark.44A, Evangelion Mark.44B and a single Evangelion Mark.4444C to protect the Euro-Nerv restoration team. Mari is able to annihilate the first waves of Mark.44A with Eva-08β's machine guns, but they eventually overheat and she is forced to discard them. She continues to fight off the remaining waves of Mark.44A barehanded, and is eventually able to make them stab each other en masse, allowing her to toss them into the coreified ground, and they explode. Immediately, a Mark.4444C and some Mark.44Bs reveal themselves from a camouflage cocoon, prompting Mari to call the Mark.44A decoys "cheeky". The Mark.44Bs immediately begin charging the latter's positron cannon. Helmsman Nagara succeeds in blocking the first strike using all the support destroyers fitted with Enchanted Shields of Virtue, but the Mark.44Bs recharges the positron cannon once again. With no way to block the second shot, Mari grabs the remains of The Eiffel Tower and charges the Mark.4444C, while prompting Nagara to cause a distraction. However, her attempt fails as Mark.4444C grabs Eva-08β's legs with one of its tentacles just before impact, twisting them out of shape. Unfettered, Mari activates the booster's on Eva-08β's arms, driving the Tower down the cannon barrel and destroying the Mark.4444C. As the Mark.4444C is defeated, it swirls its tentacles among the multiple Mark.44Bs and they all explode, with Mari hastily retreating to escape.
  
In ''[[Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time]]'', Mari is part of Operation 0706 to restore part of Paris and recover a large supply cache. She is able to defeat the Nerv attackers, at the cost of Unit-08's legs. Mari meets Asuka and Shinji when the Wunder comes to pick them up. Upon greeting Asuka, she teases her about her unresolved feelings for Shinji, "I thought you didn't care about boys his age", to which Asuka responds that Shinji "needs a mother, not a girlfriend". Before their mission in Antartica, Mari re-introduces herself to Shinji. When Shinji expresses he understands why Asuka was angry at him, Asuka recognizes he has grown up, and Asuka confesses she did like him in the past. Mari congratulates Shinji, and asks Asuka if she feels better, to which she affirms.
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Mari later meets Asuka and Shinji after the Wunder picks them up. Upon greeting Asuka, she teases her about her unresolved feelings for Shinji, "I thought you didn't care about boys his age", to which Asuka responds that Shinji "needs a mother, not a girlfriend". When Asuka complains about her hair growing being the only change in her body, Mari (while cutting her hair) tells her that is proof of Asuka's humanity. Before their mission in Antarctica, Mari re-introduces herself to Shinji by reminding him of their encounter on the school roof 14 years prior. When Shinji expresses he understands why Asuka was angry at him, Asuka recognizes he has grown up, and Asuka confesses she did like him in the past. Mari congratulates Shinji, and asks Asuka if she feels better, to which she affirms.
  
  
During the final battle against Nerv, Mari pilots the repaired Eva-08 supporting Asuka against a wave of Nerv Evas. She remains puzzled at Gendo's plans. When Asuka is absorbed by Eva-13 and Shinji is preparing to pilot Unit 01 again, Mari takes Eva-08 in an "overlapping state" and merges it with [[Evangelion Unit-09|Eva-09]], [[Evangelion Unit-10|10]], [[Evangelion Unit-11|11]], and [[Evangelion Unit-12|12]], and uses it to fight a new horde of Nerv Evas. She tells Shinji to once again "save the Princess". Mari then meets [[Kōzō Fuyutsuki|Fuyutsuki]], referring to him as "Fuyutsuki-sensei", further alluding to her familiarity, and he calls her "Maria of Iscariot".
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During the final battle against Nerv, Mari pilots the repaired and upgraded Eva-08γ supporting Asuka against waves of Eva Series.7 as they descend and then Eva Jacks at New Nerv HQ, but she remains puzzled at Gendo's plans. When Asuka is absorbed by Eva-13 and Shinji is preparing to pilot Unit 01 again, Mari takes Eva-08 in an "overlapping state" and merges it with [[Evangelion Unit-09|Eva-09]], [[Evangelion Unit-10|10]], [[Evangelion Unit-11|11]], and [[Evangelion Unit-12|12]], and uses it to scuttle the other Nerv Erlösung battleships. Just before finishing off the Nerv battleships, she meets [[Kōzō Fuyutsuki|Fuyutsuki]], referring to him as "Fuyutsuki-sensei", further alluding to her familiarity, and he calls her "Maria of Iscariot". Inside the Anti-Universe, she asks Shinji to once again "save the Princess" and wait for Mari to come for him, calling him by name.
   
 
Attempting to stop Instrumentality, Mari sacrifices her combined Evangelion. During Gendo's Additional Impact, Mari is shown to have been a friend of [[Yui Ikari]] and Gendo in college and helped get them together. When Shinji talks with Asuka and expresses his feelings, Mari bids farewell to Asuka. Shinji is sitting on the beach when Unit-08γ emerges from the ocean. Mari takes her glasses off and comments "Just barely on time". Shinji gets up and runs in her direction. Inside the ocean, she thanks Unit 8+0+10+11+12 while Unit-08 and Mari thanks the [[Final Evangelion]]. She emerges from the ocean and puts her glasses back, saying "I have kept you waiting, Shinji".
 
  
In the final scene of the movie, Asuka, Rei and Kaworu, as adults, are in the other platform of Ube-Shinkawa Station train station in the city of Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. An adult Shinji is sitting on a bench with his bag wearing a suit, when Mari covers his eyes and asks who is it. Shinji replies, referencing their earlier encounter on the Wunder. Mari, also an adult, is wearing a pink blazer. Mari walks up Shinji and approaches his neck facing his front and smells his neck: "The smell of an adult". Shinji initially looks annoyed but replies confidently, to Mari's surprise, and she removes his [[DSS Choker]]. She offers her hand and says, "Well then, lets go, Shinji-kun." and Shinji agrees, leaving the main gate and guiding him to the new world.<ref>''"It was a heavy burden for me, wondering if the fans would scold me for having such a newcomer hold hands with Shinji at the end (laughs). However, there have been many ways to portray "Eva" in the past, and if you can think of this as one of the possible endings, I'll be saved."<br>''" I feel that Mari just really likes people. She likes Shinji, but I think Asuka is special to Mari. Even though Asuka treats her coldly, Mari always calls her "Princess" and respects and protects her as a special person. In addition to the battles, they have together, the scene where she cuts her hair is very quiet and calm, and it has a nice sentimentality to it. I thought the contrast between the two was well-drawn. For the scene with Asuka, it was great to be able to record her voice with Yuko Miyamura. "'' - [https://wiki.evageeks.org/Evangelion_3.0%2B1.0_Assorted_Translations#Maaya_Sakamoto_as_Mari_Illustrious_Makinami Maaya Sakamoto, 3.0+1.0 pamphlet inreview]</ref>
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When Shinji and Gendo see Gendo's memories in Instrumentality, Mari is shown to have been a friend of [[Yui Ikari]] and Gendo in college and helped get them together, revealing that she is also a victim of the Curse of Eva (or similar). When Shinji talks with Asuka and expresses his feelings, Mari bids farewell to Asuka. After Instrumentality ends, Shinji is sitting on the beach when Eva-08γ emerges from the ocean. Mari takes her glasses off and comments "Just barely on time". Shinji gets up and runs in her direction. Dropping into the ocean, she thanks Unit 8+0+10+11+12, calling it the "last Evangelion", before it disappears. She emerges from the ocean and puts her glasses back, telling Shinji that she's kept him waiting.
  
* "Maria of Iscariot" may also be rendered as "Mary of Iscariot" as "Maria" is the Japanese name of the Biblical Mary.  
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In the final scene of the movie, an adult Shinji is shown sitting on the bench of a train station with his bag and wearing a suit, when Mari covers his eyes and asks who is it. Shinji replies, referencing their earlier encounter on the Wunder. Mari, also an adult, is shown wearing a pink blazer. She walks up to Shinji and approaches his neck facing his front and smells it, remarking that he now smells like an adult. Shinji initially looks annoyed but replies with a compliment confidently, to Mari's surprise, and she removes his [[DSS Choker]]. She offers her hand to leave the station with her and Shinji agrees, both of them leaving the main gate and guiding him to the new world.<ref>''"It was a heavy burden for me, wondering if the fans would scold me for having such a newcomer hold hands with Shinji at the end (laughs). However, there have been many ways to portray "Eva" in the past, and if you can think of this as one of the possible endings, I'll be saved."<br>''" I feel that Mari just really likes people. She likes Shinji, but I think Asuka is special to Mari. Even though Asuka treats her coldly, Mari always calls her "Princess" and respects and protects her as a special person. In addition to the battles, they have together, the scene where she cuts her hair is very quiet and calm, and it has a nice sentimentality to it. I thought the contrast between the two was well-drawn. For the scene with Asuka, it was great to be able to record her voice with Yuko Miyamura. "'' - [https://wiki.evageeks.org/Evangelion_3.0%2B1.0_Assorted_Translations#Maaya_Sakamoto_as_Mari_Illustrious_Makinami Maaya Sakamoto, 3.0+1.0 pamphlet inreview]</ref>
* Mari's emergence from the ocean is a visual reference to Ariel's emergence in The Little Mermaid.
 
===Name===
 
Mari is named after the post-World War Two destroyer Makinami (itself named after a World War Two era destroyer [[Historical_Warships_in_Evangelion#IJN_Makinami.28.E5.B7.BB.E6.B3.A2.29|Makinami]] (巻波, "overflowing waves")) and the British aircraft carrier [[Historical_Warships_in_Evangelion#HMS_Illustrious|HMS Illustrious]]. The two names may be intended to, as in [[Asuka Langley Soryu|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<ref>Google searches for "真希波" only yield results related to Mari's name, indicating that "Makinami" written this way is probably an original invention for this character.</ref>, although this may be nothing more than a creative liberty.
 
 
 
Her first name was originally unveiled in the Nintendo DS ''Petite Eva@School'' game.<ref>[http://neweva.web.fc2.com/ha.htm DS game screen shots]</ref> 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 *******")<ref>[[:Image:Eva2 poster red.jpg|Website version of promotional poster.]]</ref>. Mari's entire name was at last revealed in a revised version of the poster included with the first issue of ''[[Eva Extra]]''<ref>[[Resources:Eva 2.0 Promotional Posters|Promotional poster with revised terms list.]]</ref>. 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). In English, Asuka calls her "Four-Eyed Crony".
 
  
 
==Appearance in the Manga==
 
==Appearance in the Manga==
Line 97: Line 85:
 
==Production History==
 
==Production History==
  
{{Template:Expand}}
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===Development===
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Mari's character has a tumultuous development history, with Chief Director [[Hideaki Anno|Anno]] knowing little more of his intent for her than that he wanted her to "destroy Eva". Unlike the others, her character was not Anno's idea, but rather the result of an explicit request by the producer, Otsuki, for a new main female character. Anno accepted it as a way of differentiating the Rebuilds from the anime series, but believes it was for commercial reasons.<ref>''Tsurumaki: Yeah. The appearance of a new character and Eva Unit-05 was requested by executive producer (Toshimichi) Otsuki-san. I think the motive was a commercial one—to strengthen the appeal of the film'' - [https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2010-crc Evangelion 2.0 Complete Records Collection]</ref><ref>''Well, in regards to Mari, she is the result of us trying to make a character that isn’t very ‘Evangelion’-like. Perhaps the way she’s one step away from the seriousness of ‘Evangelion’ makes her appear more ‘FLCL’-like. I didn’t make her purposefully into a ‘FLCL’-like character, but rather she was the result after talking to and finding some common ground with Anno-san.'' - [https://japanesetranslationblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/translation-of-kazuya-tsurumaki-interview-part-12-16-10-2010-potential-spoilers-for-flcl/ Tsurumaki, "10 years since then" interview]</ref> Anno initially intended to make Mari a rather isolated charcater, devoid of relationships, but could not refrain from making her to much like the series' original characters, so decided to hand her development to others. Assistant director [[Kazuya Tsurumaki]] ended up shouldering much of the responsibility for Mari, and Yoji Enokido was also recruited during a writer's retreat to provide an outsider's opinion - Enokido is considered an outsider, and his characterization ended up being mostly his brainchild.<ref>''Saakamoto: The main story is about Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and the others, and I used to think that Mari was just a cheerful character who would be a spice to the story. In fact, she wasn't really the focus of ":3.0", and I was aware that that was the way it was going to be, but I didn't expect to be given such an important role at the very end. I don't know if he intended it to be this way from the beginning or if he went towards this place while making it. When Mari appeared in ":2.0" for the first time, Anno explained her role to me, but he said, "Tsurumaki is more interested in the portrayal of Mari, so I'll leave it to Tsurumaki," so I assumed that Anno didn't have any feelings for Mari. So I was a little curious as to why she was given such an important role (laughs).''<br>[...] ''Tsurumaki: I think the Mari in "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME" has changed a lot in terms of meaning since ":2.0". In ":2.0", when Anno himself created the character, he inevitably became himself, just like Shinji, so I think he wanted to make Mari a different character, so he entrusted her to an external person"'' - [[Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Assorted Translations#Kazuya Tsurumaki| Tsurumaki, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 booklet interviews]]</ref> This is in contrast to the existent NGE characters, which were all based on Anno himself to varying degrees.<ref>[https://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Hideaki_Anno:_Eva_Special_Talk_with_Anno_Hideaki_and_Toshiya_Ueno_.28Newtype_11.2F1996.29 Eva Special Talk with Anno Hideaki and Toshiya Ueno (Newtype 11/1996)]</ref><ref name=":3" />
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Much of the disagreement revolved around how (and how ''much'') to integrate Mari into the preexisting ''Eva'' framework, and the nature of her personality.<ref>''There was an interview with Tsurumaki in which he confessed that during the production of “Ha” they still weren’t sure about what to do with Mari, even the name which was tentatively “Mariko”. They HAD to have a new character (a new pilot), but they didn’t have much of an idea as to what to do with it.'' - [https://forum.evageeks.org/viewtopic.php?p=357818#357818 Forum thread], referring to this [https://nblogtokyo.blogspot.com/2009/08/cut-20098.html untranslated interview] from CUT Magazine.</ref> In the very first drafts, Mari was to do little more than appear in the pre-title Third Angel sequence and to later observe the [[Tenth Angel]]'s destructive power (the latter idea shown in the first movie's trailer for ''2.0''), and Anno kept Asuka's role relatively intact relative to her NGE self, and she'd remain the focus of the film much like the corresponding Action Arc of the series. Various ideas were tested in early script drafts and storyboards wherein Mari took over part of another character's role from NGE, which was eventually abandoned due to the desire to give Mari her own identity. At first, Anno kept Asuka's role relatively intact relative to her NGE self Her personality changed from various different themes, like being a mysterious and quiet girl, or the ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dojikko dojikko]'' archetype of a clumsy and careless girl, all in an attempt to differentiate her from Rei and Asuka.<ref name=":3">"Anno-san had previously said, “All the characters that appear in Eva are me”; he said that not just Shinji, but Kaji and Misato as well, and even characters like Kaworu and Rei, are aspects of himself. In this sense, every character is ultimately the same. On the surface, different “seasonings” have been used, but inside [the characters] really are very similar. If Mari were to end up the same as them, she would not be able to destroy that world. As a result, for me, Mari was a girl who made use of that “frivolousness”112 that was the opposite of diligence for her own benefit." - [https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2010-crc#part-3 Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Tsurumaki Interview]</ref> Anno decided to inpinge some relationships from other characters into hers in order to give her more spce, for instance, Kaji and Asuka's relationship was entirely removed from the film and replaced with Mari's "subordinate" role to Kaji.<ref>Anno: Yeah. I completely cut it from the film. The main reason was that, in a film, there is simply not enough room to depict something like Kaji and Asuka’s story. Even if we had put just a little [of that] in, then she would not have worked as a character, and it would inevitably have been a nuance that only those who knew the original series would understand. So I completely cut that [relationship], and instead decided to have Kaji be close to Mari. That decision was made because of the fact that, among the main characters who had appeared up to this point, there were none who knew Mari, and this was causing me various difficulties in writing. That being the case, I figured that Kaji was the most suitable. He was, like Mari, a character who appears from “Break” onwards. He’s someone who seems to know various secrets, and to have various connections. - Evangelion 2.0 CRC</ref> Other suggestions slowly began to surface as Anno could only give vague directions to his writers - one of his first was that the character should be an "Onee-san" or be an animal lover. The ideas were so generic and vague that Tsurumaki considered Mari to have had "multiple personalities"; "a different character in each scene she appeared in", making it difficult to give her a consistent characterization and psychology. Tsurumaki in particular felt she'd simply end up simply repeating Shinji's relationships with other characters and consuming their personalities. In the storyboard of the preparatory manuscript drawn by director Masayuki, there is a scenario introducing her to Shinji and others as the "Fourth Girl" at the 8th Apostle War Prewar Strategy Conference. In another storyboard, Mari would have pushed up her glasses in the same manner as Gendo.<ref>"Tsurumaki: Certainly Mari’s appearances had increased. Furthermore, if there were scenes where Mari appeared by herself, that was still fine. Even in the early stages of the plot[’s development], we didn’t really feel that such scenes were a problem. The difficulty lay in her relationships with other characters. Especially, if we intended to portray a relationship between Shinji and Mari, it would entail strange things happening. At one point she would have Rei Ayanami’s role in relation to Shinji, at another point Asuka’s, at another point Misato’s. There was a sense that her character was changing depending upon the circumstances of each scene. In the first place, if it’s Rei’s role, Rei herself can do it, and if it’s Asuka’s role, Asuka herself can do it. To the extent that this newly arrived character, Mari, is just partially substituting for roles that other people have carried out up until now, the story itself is really unchanged. My impression was, if that’s going to be the case, Mari is probably not needed." - Eva 2.0 CRC</ref> Anno decided to postpone discussion at the time. It was during this "script retreat" that Enokido was brought in as an outsider.
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In response to mounting pressure from fans after her first teased apparence during the preview at the end of ''[[Evangelion 1.0]]'', Anno progressively increased her role and space in the story. Tsurumaki noted she'd be a character of "minor importance" originally.<ref>I thought that Mr. Anno would not be the type to change the way he makes a film based on the reaction of the audience. "But after the end of the first film, I felt that I had to work harder." I thought he wouldn't be the type to change the way he made things. We talked about how we had to work harder after the end of the first film. "In order to respond to our customers, we have to change." We were talking about how we needed to make 2.0 something more... better. But it's hard to decide. We would say, "We have to make changes to meet our customers' expectations. How can we meet the expectations of our customers and satisfy ourselves? In a state of limbo, the production of "Ka" went through many changes. [...] Mari was originally intended to be a character of minor importance. [http://yui-spirits.kboyu.net/2009/07/cut8.html Tsurumaki, CUT Magazine July 2009]</ref><ref>''"It's like we were rebuilding at random. Once it started turning, it started accelerating and wouldn't stop. I don't think even Mr. Anno imagined it would go this far.<br>This "acceleration" led to the creation of a new character, Makinami Mari Illustrious, a symbol of the changes in the new film version. Initially, Mari was only going to appear briefly, but as it turned out, she became a deeply involved character. But since she was a completely new character, there was no room for her to be included, so it was very difficult. If I put her in, the original story would be destroyed. It's very complicated.<br>[...]"The character's personality changed two or three times depending on the production period, and it was very difficult. Her name was 'Mariko' at first, too. - [http://blog.livedoor.jp/evafan/archives/51227610.html Tsurumaki Interview, July 2009 AERA Magazine]''</ref><ref>''Enokido: There were versions of the unfinished screenplay where Mari appears only at the beginning, and doesn’t participate in the battle at the end. - Evangelion 2.0 CRC''</ref> Most of the new ideas ended up discarded and rejected by the rest of staff, who couldn't come to a consensus. In draft number 7, for instance, Mari would pilot Unit-02 together with Asuka in the same entry plug, in draft #11, Mari was depicted as an European classmate of Asuka's. Other ideas included playing up to stereotypes of her British nationality, like her first meeting Shinji in a train station, or having tea time on the roof of the school in draft #13. Tsurumaki felt particularly unsatisfied, and felt that Mari could never be distinct enough from Asuka, Rei or Misato. Tsurumaki eventually came up with the idea of her falling from the sky by way of parachute, as a way of having her do something bizarre and different.
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Enokido was asked for his input, and he suggested Mari to be a "neutral and lighthearted" character inspired by harem and shounen manga.<ref>"Enokido: The sadness and happiness of young men is bound up in the fact that they always possess these two contradictory wishes. The so-called “Harem Anime” genre is for the most part intended to satisfy these desires. In “Urusei Yatsura”, Shinobu is the Japanese girl who was one’s childhood friend and always by one’s side, and Lum is the “alien girl”. We say “alien”, but [such characters] perhaps [have] an “American” image. Rei and Asuka exactly fit the pattern of this “perfect lineup”.<br>Now, coming up with a plan as regards the third girl who must compete with this “ultimate combination” seemed to me a very difficult job. In addition, Director Anno had not, up to this point, developed anything himself, but, expressing the desire for a completely new character, had left Mari’s development to others.<br>"This being the case, my first proposal for an additional type was a Sapphire (from [Tezuka Osamu’s] Princess Knight) type. If Rei and Asuka are completely different types, I wondered if a “neutral”, lighthearted type who battles with an “innocent” image would be good. At this point, though Anno-san agreed that it would be good, he thought a Wato (Chiyoko) type (from [Tezuka’s] The Three-Eyed One) would be more realistic, and he got quite excited about it." - [https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2010-crc#part-2-1 Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Enokido interview]</ref> Enokido's suggestion was that Mari should serve as a rival for Asuka who ultimately usurps her. Enokido wanted to go so far as to have Mari become the main pilot for Unit 02, say ''anta baka'' to Shinji and even kiss him, though this was eventually discarded by Anno and other writers. Tsurumaki, in particular, protested one of the proposed alterations as “I’m an Asuka fan, and I won’t be happy if this scene gets cut”.<ref name=":3" /> Enokido also suggested for Mari to be full of tattoos symbolizing her dead pets.<ref>''"— In the original scenario Mari was the daughter of a distinguished English family who kept dogs and cats, and so on; what were the circumstances [relating to that]?<br>Enokido: Speaking of that, I also remember conversations like, “What if we gave her tattoos of the names of all the pets she’s kept up until now?” For example, we would insert a bath scene where we see the area from her chest to her stomach is completely covered in tattoos. If she gets asked, “Why do you have them?” she’d answer something like, “They’re the names of all my pets that have died up until now. The tattoos ensure I don’t forget them, and that they still ‘live’ with me”."'' - Eva 2.0 CRC</ref> Anno's assistant, [https://wiki.evageeks.org/Ikki_Todoroki Ikki Todoroki], suggested scenarios like her being a guest at [[Hikari Horaki (Rebuild)|Hikari's]] house, and a rival with Asuka for Kaji's affections and control of Unit 00, beating her in a synch test. One inspiration for her demeanour were the ''miko'' women of Shinto temples.<ref>Enokido: As we had many conversations relating to Mari, I think it was. As for other images, there was the part of a Miko-san [shrine maiden] channeling the gods. She is not “practical” like Asuka, but thinks about “deep” things, like someone who somehow can see mysterious things like those connected with the gods. She is not “unworldly” to Rei’s extent and she talks a lot. As nothing had yet solidified, we had these sorts of discussions about ideas. - [https://www.gwern.net/docs/eva/2010-crc#part-2-1 Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Enokido Interview]</ref> These indecisions led to about forty revisions of the script in total, and the writers were mostly forced to come to an agreement when repeatedly reaching deadlines.
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===Design===
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[[File:Mari Makinami Illustrious Earlier Designs 2.jpg|thumb|200px|Mari's earliest available designs. Note the resemblance with the other female characters.]]
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Similary to his other attempts to distance himself from Mari's conceptualization, Anno gave initially vague ''settei'' to Sadamoto and Tsurumaki. In one of her old character designs, her plugsuit is numbered 04 instead of 05 like she appears initially in the movie. Anno requested her design be based on a "Christian Missionary-style". Other early designs included a Victorian version of Mari, playing on English stereotypes, and her checkered skirt was in reference to Scottish stereotypes. Her early association with green and use of tights was in reference to pictures of British schoolgirls Anno brought to Sadamoto when he asked for references. Initially, he also considered giving her a long-sleeved blazer.<ref name=":2">"Yes. When I got the instructions on Mari's seifuku design, the document consisted of only two lines: British-style and Christian Missionary School-style. When I asked the general director Anno-san "What is Missionary School-style", he replied "I don't know, create an image from the words"! I then asked him for some reference material and a few days later he brought some photos of British school girls and said "Like this". All their skirts were long – 15cm below the knee – and some looked so old! Looking at all the photos I found that many used check designs, most school girls wore tights and the blazers had colored edges. I used these features in creating the design. I told Amano san that if she didn't wear a blazer it wouldn't look very British. In the trailer of EVA 1 you know Mari is wearing a Blazer, but in EVA 2 it would not be right if she wore one so I changed the design." - [https://web.archive.org/web/20120304091240/http://sekai-seifuku.org/en/interview2_2/ Sadamoto, World Seifuku Project Summit Part 2]</ref><ref>"Speaking of pink, at first it wasn't used at all for Mari's plug suit and we didn't even test it. For over two weeks we would try green, then yellow, and then it struck me "Pink is it". We photoshopped in pink and it was perfect, and decided on the spot to make it pink."<br>Ayanami's plug suit is white, and Asuka's is red. Pink is in between these two colors and it loses some impact, so I did think about making it a more outrageous color. Black would be more British, but a bit harsh, so I went for green. Mari's older model plug suit is green, but I was surprised how much pink suited her. - Sadamoto, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120304151905/http://sekai-seifuku.org/en/interview2_3/ World Seifuku Project Summit]</ref> Sadamoto concluded that her glasses were a simple but effective way to differentiate her from the other main female characters.<ref>[https://nonsolopanzer.com/2016/06/19/yoshiyuki-sadamoto-interview-osada-bon-2009/ Sadamoto, O-sada-bon 2009]</ref> Mari was intended to attract a new kind of fan, and a character that could be "broken". <ref>"As for Mari, a character present in the Rebuild, they wanted to attract a new type of fan, as well as create an additional character that could be "broken" (in this case the translator was not sure of the word used); Sadamoto also said that he really likes Mari's character, and plans to reuse it in the future." - [https://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff#Yoshiyuki_Sadamoto:_Milan_Manga_Festival_.282013.29 Yoshiyuki Sadamoto: Milan Manga Festival (2013)]</ref><ref>''On the one hand we wanted to create a different character, one that would appeal to a new type of audience and mark a break in the story. There were both "market" and plot requirements, and I had to keep them in mind. In the movies there is a great mystery around her presence, which is why you only find her there. '''I couldn't use her in the manga, although I would have liked to.''' She'll be up to a lot of mischief, together with Asuka, so wait for the new movie, because there will be surprises and a lot of interesting characters.'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20130814092522/http://www.dummy-system.com/sadamoto-days-i-fan-meet-e-lintervista/ Sadamoto Days – i fan meet e l’intervista] (2013)</ref> Additionally, Anno thought Mari's glasses were a good way to showcase their animators' talent, as it was much harder to animate them in the original series.
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[[File:Mari Makinami Illustrious Earlier Designs 1.jpg|thumb|200px|left|These designs feature an umbrella, another example of British stereotypes influencing Sadamoto.]]
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At first, Sadamoto simply merged Asuka's and Rei's characters; however, he himself was dissatisfied with the result, thinking the character was too derivative. To visually distinguish her from the two protagonists of the series, he gave her straight, dark hair and a taller head and body than her colleagues. The eyes instead were designed to be long and well defined, so as to give her a more kawaii look. He opted for a hairstyle with two braids, but since Asuka also has hair with two braids, Anno suggested moving the springs of the braids down, adding a band. For the posture and hairstyle, inspiration was taken in particular from those of actress Yui Aragaki, who played Umemura Hikari in the dorama ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Boss_My_Hero My Boss, My Hero]''. Anno decided to make the character wear two different combat suits, one old and one new generation, as a further element of detachment from the other pilots.
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[[File:Mari Makinami Illustrious Earlier Designs 3.jpg|thumb|Mari's early design uniforms. Note the strong British influence also.|200px]]
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[[File:Mari Makinami Illustrious Second Plugsuit 1.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Mari's early plugsuit designs, with changing colors.]]
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In the very early stages of production, staff considered a plugsuit in green, indigo or yellow, and then moved to pink, a color popular in anime, giving her a touch of femininity. Sadamoto later noticed that, compared to the white and red models of Rei and Asuka, pink has less visual impact, which is why he then gave her a more "scandalous" color, so for her reveal in the green plugsuit, he opted for green, which he also associated with England, from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_racing_green British racing green].<ref name=":2" /> The proposal was made by the colorist Kikuchi Kazuko, and was immediately welcomed with fervor by Sadamoto. Its design was inspired by the green uniforms of the Gamilas from ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Battleship_Yamato Space Battleship Yamato]'', as well as by some spacesuits from the TV series ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_(TV_series) UFO]'', and the space suits of Soviet cosmonauts. Sadamoto attempted to give her a sleekier, more modern design that'd feel updated, but still similar to the existing pilots' suits. Anno decided to give it a helmet as well, in order to cover the face until the end of the battle and create a dramatic effect for her reveal; for the design of the helmet Sadamoto took inspiration from those of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_cycling track cyclists], much like [[Misato Katsuragi (Rebuild)|Misato's]] motorcyclist-inspired<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031221114712/http://kodansha.cplaza.ne.jp/gainax/sadamoto/sadamoto_4th/sadamoto_4th_scene3.html Sadamoto - Kodansha 2003 interviews]</ref> jacket. The design of the lower part of the suit, however, traced that of fencing suits, feeding the idea of a girl belonging to European aristocracy, and more mature than the other pilots.<ref>'''''YA: What did you think when you first heard about Mari?'''''S: I thought it was fitting that the new films should include a new character. I really strove to design a character who was distinct from Asuka and Rei, though I do worry that there are some small but telling similarities that remain. My idea was to create a character so distinct from the other Evangelion characters as to almost feel out of place in the Evangelion world. I suppose I could've designed her as a sort of "halfway point" between Asuka and Rei, but Asuke and Rei are both such strong characters, in their own separate ways. I wanted to bring something completely different to the table with Mari.
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For Mari, I'd been asked to design a character who "goes about with a parasol, like the sort of heroine you see in an anime". As I initially designed her, she was very adult-like, having attended a strict private Christian school in Britain. However, in the original script, there was a scene where she returns home to a room full of birds and dogs and begins talking to them, to indicate that she was also rather idiosyncratic. Mr. Anno had also requested that she be more adult-like in appearance and manner than either Asuka or Rei, to set her apart. And that she have a huge chest (laughter).
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There was a television drama I'd really been enjoying at the time I began designing Mari. The heroine in this drama had a pair of long ponytails. I really liked this character feature, and worked it into Mari's design. After all was said and done, we ended up with the design that we have now, although there are still many elements of my personal tastes and interests of the time in Mari's design (laughter).
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Incidentally, I decided to give Mari glasses because I thought that this would be a simple yet affective way to set her apart from the other characters. Some people have said that she "doesn't seem like an Evangelion character", which is exactly what I was aiming for. I'm glad to see, though, that the majority of people have appreciated her character.
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YA: How did you go about designing Mari's uniform and plug suits?
  
[[Image:Eva1-0 jikai C18.jpg|right|thumb|Unrealized scene of Mari watching the 10th Angel's destructive mayhem.]]
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S: I'd been asked to make Mari seem very British, so I tried to design accordingly. For her school uniform, I thought that a large bow and long socks, along with a traditional checked skirt, would look the part. [https://www.gwern.net/docs/www/gainax.forumfree.it/1cd20f172f9022c9d4d64bc23761ed8d2915124b.html Sadamoto Interview (Young Ace n.3, 2009)]</ref><ref>[https://forum.evageeks.org/post/930375/Evangelion20-CRC-interviews/#930375 Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Sadamoto interview]</ref> There are several nods to her age being in fact much older than the other pilots.
Mari's character has a tumultuous development history, with Chief Director [[Hideaki Anno|Anno]] knowing little more of his intent for her than that he wanted her to "destroy Eva". Director [[Kazuya Tsurumaki]] ended up shouldering much of the responsibility for Mari, and [[Yoji Enokido]] was also recruited during a writer's retreat to provide an outsider's opinion. Much of the disagreement revolved around how (and how ''much'') to integrate Mari into the preexisting ''Eva'' framework, and the nature of her personality. At one point, Mari was to do little more than appear in the pre-title Third Angel sequence and to later observe the [[Zeruel|Tenth Angel]]'s destructive power (the latter idea shown in the first movie's trailer for ''Ha''). Various ideas were tested in early script drafts and storyboards wherein Mari took over part of another character's role from NGE, eventually abandoned due to the desire to give Mari her own identity. Enokido's suggestion was that Mari should provide a rival for Asuka who ultimately usurps her. Enokido wanted to go so far as to have Mari become the main pilot for Unit 02, say ''anta baka'' to Shinji and even kiss him, though this was eventually discarded by Anno and other writers. In another concept for Mari that was never incorporated into the finished film, she would have owned numerous cats and had tattoos of them on her arms and legs. The fact that Mari occasionally punctuates her speech with "nya" (the Japanese equivalent of "meow") may be a reference to this abandoned idea.
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Sadamoto had considerable impact in her earlier characterization as well. Due to his experience in the [[Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga)|Evangelion manga]], staff valued his input in how to handle the reduced space for characterization the movie format gave them. Producer Ohtsuki also complained to Anno that they had not yet decided on a voice actress even by the time the recording stage of production was imminent. Ohtsuki asked other staff for suggestions, and using Maaya Sakamoto, a famous voice actress that Sadamoto, Enokido and Tsurumaki worked with before on ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebuster Diebuster]'' but had no familiarity with Eva was Sadamoto's idea. Maaya Sakamoto was called and selected without an audition or explanations, and would only then receive some information on the character. Sakamoto, after trying hard to interpret the character, concluded from explanations by Anno and Tsurumaki that she'd play the character as an "alien" element to Evangelion.<ref>''[Maya] I said that Marie had destroyed “the former Eva”.<br>[...]- Parting words filmmakers somehow affected the result?<br>[Maya] When I heard about the “destruction”, then realized what an important role, and at the same time extremely responsible mission entrusted to me.I’m sure: to destroy the so ingrained image of the product, the new creation must be a monstrous adventure. And I threw all worries about leaving “Old Eva”, and decided to voice Mari as some kind of an alien element, that today’s Anno needs.'' - [https://webcitation.org/5t5HxYsjU Newtype July 2009]</ref><ref>特集:『破』が教える、エヴァンゲリオンは生き続ける, CUT Magazine, August 2009</ref> Sakamoto says she herself still has difficulty understanding Mari's character an that she's full of mysteries, an opinion shared by Ogata, Shinji's voice actress. She says Anno shared several important details with her, but she says she won't reveal them: "I'll take it to my grave".<ref>[https://www.buymeacoffee.com/rikki/maaya-sakamoto-talks-pain-understanding-role-mari Maaya Sakamoto talks about the pain of understanding the role of Mari. I will take secrets to my grave.]</ref> Moyoco Anno has commented on associating herself with Mari, [https://ha-navi.com/eva-my on her paid fan newsletter], from April 2nd: ''Don't compare me with Mari. It's great that people are talking about "Shin Evangelion" and their thoughts on it, but... But please don't compare me to the work any more than you have to. Please don't make me feel uncomfortable about it.'', as well as Khara staff's denial and Anno himself. Instead, they link her to Tsurumaki's decisions.<ref>Khara [http://yaraon-blog.com/archives/198024 staff] and [http://yaraon-blog.com/archives/197163 official account] had commented on on Gainax co-founder, Toshio Okada, [https://www.excite.co.jp/news/article/Myjitsu_286477/ talking about it] on [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGLGGMsGr his Youtube channel]: ''Another disgusting video came around. I've never had any contact with the director, and I've never met Toshio Okada. I think it's time to stop making insulting remarks based on crazy assumptions. ; "Toshio Okada hasn't even met Anno for a quarter of a century, and he's never met Moyoco. And yet, there are people who misguidedly say that Mari is Moyoco and believe them. The most misguided part."''; ''"Mari only has Tsurumaki-san's libido in her. She has glasses, is strong, and could have been in FLCL. She's also a character with the same dialogue."''</ref><ref>Hideaki Anno did comment on Moyoco in her 2002 manga ''[https://i.redd.it/nqb1gw5hbth71.jpg Insufficient Direction]'': ''"My wife's public image is that of a strong woman, but actually she's very sensitive, fragile and weak. She constantly has to face her difficult past, and she couldn't escape the reality of having to provide for her family. It's just that she needed to don a piece of armor called "toughness" over her heart. I can sense that deep inside she battles loneliness and alienation and is barely holding her emotional balance in check."''</ref><ref>''Director Anno said, "You can speculate about me as much as you want, but if you're gonna speculate about my wife, you can read as much as you want about her in her works at the upcoming Moyoko exhibition."'' - [[Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Assorted Translations#April 11 stage greeting]]</ref>
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==Gallery==
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{{MontageBox
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|float  = left
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|columns = 3
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|title  = Mari Makinami Illustrious
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|colour  =
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|image1  = [[Image:Eva 1.0 jikai C19 mari.jpg|thumb|Mari's first closeup in the 1.0 preview.]]
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|image2  = [[Image:Mari eva2-ticket3.jpg|thumb|75px|center|In first plugsuit]]
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|image3  = [[Image:Eva2-22 C0001 bootup.jpg|thumb|Mari prepares for her first outing in an Eva.]]
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|image4  = [[Image:Eva2-22_C0076.jpg|thumb|Bidding Eva-05 farewell.]]
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|image5  = [[Image:2.22 Shinji-Mari-meeting.png|thumb|Mari formally introduces herself to [[Shinji Ikari]].]]
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|image6  = [[Image:Eva2-22 C1584A.jpg|thumb|Under [[Beast Mode]] influence.]]
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|image7  = [[Image:Eva2-22 jikai C22.jpg|thumb|Holding conference in [[Evangelion 3.0]] preview.]]
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|image8  = [[Image:3.0 Mari new glasses.jpg|thumb|New glasses in 3.0.]]
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|image9  =
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|image10 =
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|caption =
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}}
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{{-}}
  
 
==Notes & References==
 
==Notes & References==
 
{{reflist}}
 
 
*As she approaches the Angel in Bethany Base, Mari sings part of the song "The 356-Step March" by Kiyoko Suizenji:
 
*As she approaches the Angel in Bethany Base, Mari sings part of the song "The 356-Step March" by Kiyoko Suizenji:
 
<blockquote>マリ「しあわっせはーあるいってこないだーからあるいってゆっくんだねーん <br> いっちにっちいっぽみーかでさんぽ <br> さーんぽすすんでにっほさっがるー <br> じーんせいはっわんつー!ぱんち・・・ <br><br>
 
<blockquote>マリ「しあわっせはーあるいってこないだーからあるいってゆっくんだねーん <br> いっちにっちいっぽみーかでさんぽ <br> さーんぽすすんでにっほさっがるー <br> じーんせいはっわんつー!ぱんち・・・ <br><br>
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Mari (singing): ''♪ Happiness doesn't walk to me, because I'm walking to it <br> One day, one step. Three steps in three days <br> Three steps forward, two steps back <br> Life's a one-two punch... ♪''</blockquote>
 
Mari (singing): ''♪ Happiness doesn't walk to me, because I'm walking to it <br> One day, one step. Three steps in three days <br> Three steps forward, two steps back <br> Life's a one-two punch... ♪''</blockquote>
  
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{{reflist}}
  
 
{{Character List}}
 
{{Character List}}

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Mari Makinami Illustrious
Mari
真希波・マリ・イラストリアス
Affiliation(s) Unknown third party(2.0), Wille (3.0)
National Heritage British[1]
Birthday Unknown[2]
Seiyū Maaya Sakamoto
Voice Actor English: Trina Nishimura (1st voice); Deneen Melody (Amazon)
German: Jennifer Weiß (1st voice); Lea Kalbhenn (Amazon)
French: Kaycie Chase (Amazon)
Italian:Monica Ward (Amazon)
European-Spanish:Marta Barabarà (Amazon)
Latin-Amrican Spanish: Mireya Mendoza (Amazon)
Brazilian-Portuguese: Melissa Lucena (1st voice); Maitê Cunha (Amazon)

Mari Makinami Illustrious (真希波・マリ・イラストリアス) is an Eva pilot and third party operative introduced in Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance, as a completely new character who has no counterpart in the original continuity.

Profile

Mari is a spunky young British brunette with glasses, and her hair is generally worn in twin-tails. She is shown to have a casual and energetic demeanour, but it hides a thoughtful, clever, and enigmatic personality. Out of all the pilots, she is the only one who admits that she genuinely enjoys piloting. Her repeated comments suggest that she has a liking to the smell of LCL. She also appears to have reduced inhibitions and even identifies Shinji as a pilot in their first encounter by crawling up to him on all fours and sniffing for the smell of LCL. It is implied that Mari works for an unknown third party. A pilot designation has not been provided, assuming Mari officially has one (in-universe).

In combat, she is extremely aggressive and despite her inexperience, she is shown to be an expert pilot on the level of Asuka, if not higher. Her first engagement with the Third Angel used no tactics whatsoever but saw her attacking the Angel head-on, chasing it outside of the base and pinning it down before self-destructing. She also appears to be aware of the Evas' sentient nature to some extent, going so far as to directly addressing them in a compassionate tone and even whispering goodbye to Eva-05 after its destruction. This makes it unlikely that she was the one who sabotaged it, although her being an acquaintance of Ryoji Kaji is suspicious.

Name

Mari is named after two World War II warships, the Japanese postwar destroyer JDS Makinami (巻波, "overflowing waves")) and the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious (detailed Wikipedia entry). 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,[3] although this may be nothing more than a creative liberty.

Originally, Anno considered naming her Mariko, borrowing from one of his wife Moyoco Anno's manga, but instead opted for using the name of Mari Sakurano, from Brave Raideen. Mid-way through productionh Anno also considered changing Mari's name yet again to Chizuru, as a homage to Chizura Nambara from Combattler V, and as a gesture to please "Shō-chan", refering to his friend and colleague Shōji Kawamori, creator of the Macross mecha franchise. The choice of Mari was also done as a nod to another friend of Anno, Yutaka Izubuchi, creator of RahXephon. Izubuchi speculated that another character from Raideen served as inspiration for Rei and Asuka. This characer's name was Rei Asuka. By finally making a reference to Raideen, Anno felt, Izubuchi could "save Buc-chan[Izubuchi]'s face."[4][5]

Mari's name revealed

Her first name was originally unveiled in the Nintendo DS Petit Eva: Evangelion @ Game game.[6] 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.[7] 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). She caused a furor among fans after months of teasing and her ultimate reveal.[8][9]

Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance

Mari is introduced for the first time in the plug of Evangelion Unit-05 just as she is about to sortie to take down the rogue Third Angel, which is attempting to escape from Bethany Base. Activating Unit-05's A.T. Field, she attempts to ram her jousting lance into the Angel, but it dodges her and escapes, using a halo to punch a hole to the exterior of the base. Mari follows it out in short order (switching to battery power in the process), pinning the Angel to one of the pillars surrounding the base with her lance, and begins to the crush the core with her left hand. However, she is unable to exert enough pressure on the core as the cybernetic limbs were forcefully synchronized with the Eva. Running short on time and options, Mari decides to yield control of the right arm to the Eva itself, causing Unit-05 to enter a semi-berserk state, tearing open its jaws and bellowing, and clamps down on the core with the right arm. The gambit works, and the Angel's core is crushed. Mari immediately ejects, and escapes Unit-05's subsequent self-destruction, which takes Bethany Base with it. She muses about not being so sure about involving an adult to achieve her own goals, and bids farewell to Unit-05, saying that it did well.

Some time later, Mari attempts to enter Japan covertly via parachute, but she goes off-target and violently lands on Shinji, who is relaxing on the school roof. The impact knocks her glasses off, and she gets a call from someone just as she finds them. She informs the person on the phone that she landed off-target, and asks if the "Euro people" (Presumably EURO-Nerv or the IPEA) couldn't work this out. She then informs them to just be ready to extract her later and hangs up. Turning her attention to Shinji, she sniffs him and says that he smells of LCL, remarking that he's "interesting". She then hands him his SDAT, and asks him not to tell anyone about the encounter, calling him "Nerv's Puppy", and leaves.

When Zeruel attacked Tokyo-3 at the end of the movie, Mari launched Eva-02 with IPEA assistance to engage in battle, intercepting the Angel inside the Geofront while dual-wielding pallet rifles. Unlike Asuka's repeated attempts at damaging the Angel in the series however, Mari quickly gave up on ranged attacks and went into a screaming charge with a Thunder Spear, leaping onto the Angel and firing Eva-02's needle guns in an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate the Angel's AT-field with a point-blank attack. In the English dub, she is quite foul-mouthed, constantly taunting her opponents while piloting.

She also demonstrated considerable knowledge about the inner workings of Evangelions by activating Eva-02's Beast Mode (which resembles a "controlled berserk"). During this, she demonstrated a bloodthirsty, animalistic behavior not unlike that of the Eva, and despite the heavy damage sustained, she never once attempted to retreat but pressed her attacks until her Eva was damaged beyond combat capability.

Mari uses two distinct plugsuits over the course of the film. The first is the unusual green and white suit that appears to be custom-built for Eva-05, with different material on the limbs (corresponding to the Eva's mechanical prostheses) and three green tubes attached to each wrist (probably involved in the "forced synch" with the prostheses). The second plugsuit, worn for Mari's sortie in Eva-02, is a pink one with white trim very similar to Kaworu's. Despite her change in Evas, her new plugsuit still bears a 05, suggesting it may have been intended for use with that unit.

Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo

14 years later, Mari is the pilot of Evangelion Unit-08 and a member of Wille. She is shown to have a playfully belligerent relationship with Asuka; Asuka frequently refers to her as "Four-Eyes," while Mari refers to Asuka as "Princess". Mari is first seen providing sniper backup for Asuka during the battle with the Evangelion Mark.04 units during Operation US. Later, when Asuka cannot reach Unit-02 in time, Misato sorties Mari in Unit-08 against Evangelion Mark.09. She manages to shoot off Mark.09's head, but this does not stop Rei Ayanami from escaping with Shinji.

Mari once again provides sniper fire cover for Asuka during the battle against Evangelion 13 in Terminal Dogma, as well as providing her with spare batteries and a container for the 12th Angel within Evangelion Mark.06, as Asuka tries to stop Shinji from pulling the Spears. She also interacts with Rei, advising her to escape from Mark.09 before it turns into a Vessel of the Adams. When Rei is unresponsive, Mari expresses her opinion that Rei's "original" was nicer. Mari recognizes immediately that the awakened Evangelion 13 is really a surviving Adams as Fourth Impact begins. She is assigned by Asuka to attack Evangelion 13, but fails to reach it before Kaworu Nagisa dies in a failed attempt to stop the Impact. In order to stop Fourth Impact entirely, Mari forcibly ejects Shinji, telling him to help Asuka and get to know the world. Unit-08 is later picked up by the AAA Wunder along with the wreckage of Unit-02.

Mari's new plugsuit in 3.0 is similar in coloration to her second plugsuit from the previous film, though it now bears a 08 to reflect her new status as Unit-08's pilot. She also has new glasses that have rectangular frames instead of her previous pair of rounded glasses.

Her quarters with Asuka on the Wunder are also a sort of isolation chamber. This is referenced as such in concept art for the 10th Khara anniversary exposition." Asuka and Mari are referred to as "dangerous persons" that must kept apart from the crew, further estranging the former from humanity.


Evangelion 3.0 (-120min)

Before launch, Asuka is by Mari, who is wearing her school uniform. Looking at the moon, Asuka recites a poem from the Manyoshu, about wanting to see someone again. Mari explains she wants Shinji to be able to easily recognize them once he's recovered. Misato's plan is for Mari to lead the operation with Asuka in support, as her Unit-08 is less damaged, but Mari suggests Asuka take the lead instead. Asuka however is reluctant, and believes Shinji himself dead and unrecoverable. Looking at an old picture of Shinji, Asuka changes her mind, and puts on her old plugsuit from the previous film and improvises a repair.[10]

Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time

In Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, Mari is part of Operation 0706 to restore part of Paris and recover a large Euro-Nerv supply cache. She is sortied against NERV's multiple Evangelion Mark.44A, Evangelion Mark.44B and a single Evangelion Mark.4444C to protect the Euro-Nerv restoration team. Mari is able to annihilate the first waves of Mark.44A with Eva-08β's machine guns, but they eventually overheat and she is forced to discard them. She continues to fight off the remaining waves of Mark.44A barehanded, and is eventually able to make them stab each other en masse, allowing her to toss them into the coreified ground, and they explode. Immediately, a Mark.4444C and some Mark.44Bs reveal themselves from a camouflage cocoon, prompting Mari to call the Mark.44A decoys "cheeky". The Mark.44Bs immediately begin charging the latter's positron cannon. Helmsman Nagara succeeds in blocking the first strike using all the support destroyers fitted with Enchanted Shields of Virtue, but the Mark.44Bs recharges the positron cannon once again. With no way to block the second shot, Mari grabs the remains of The Eiffel Tower and charges the Mark.4444C, while prompting Nagara to cause a distraction. However, her attempt fails as Mark.4444C grabs Eva-08β's legs with one of its tentacles just before impact, twisting them out of shape. Unfettered, Mari activates the booster's on Eva-08β's arms, driving the Tower down the cannon barrel and destroying the Mark.4444C. As the Mark.4444C is defeated, it swirls its tentacles among the multiple Mark.44Bs and they all explode, with Mari hastily retreating to escape.

Mari later meets Asuka and Shinji after the Wunder picks them up. Upon greeting Asuka, she teases her about her unresolved feelings for Shinji, "I thought you didn't care about boys his age", to which Asuka responds that Shinji "needs a mother, not a girlfriend". When Asuka complains about her hair growing being the only change in her body, Mari (while cutting her hair) tells her that is proof of Asuka's humanity. Before their mission in Antarctica, Mari re-introduces herself to Shinji by reminding him of their encounter on the school roof 14 years prior. When Shinji expresses he understands why Asuka was angry at him, Asuka recognizes he has grown up, and Asuka confesses she did like him in the past. Mari congratulates Shinji, and asks Asuka if she feels better, to which she affirms.


During the final battle against Nerv, Mari pilots the repaired and upgraded Eva-08γ supporting Asuka against waves of Eva Series.7 as they descend and then Eva Jacks at New Nerv HQ, but she remains puzzled at Gendo's plans. When Asuka is absorbed by Eva-13 and Shinji is preparing to pilot Unit 01 again, Mari takes Eva-08 in an "overlapping state" and merges it with Eva-09, 10, 11, and 12, and uses it to scuttle the other Nerv Erlösung battleships. Just before finishing off the Nerv battleships, she meets Fuyutsuki, referring to him as "Fuyutsuki-sensei", further alluding to her familiarity, and he calls her "Maria of Iscariot". Inside the Anti-Universe, she asks Shinji to once again "save the Princess" and wait for Mari to come for him, calling him by name.

When Shinji and Gendo see Gendo's memories in Instrumentality, Mari is shown to have been a friend of Yui Ikari and Gendo in college and helped get them together, revealing that she is also a victim of the Curse of Eva (or similar). When Shinji talks with Asuka and expresses his feelings, Mari bids farewell to Asuka. After Instrumentality ends, Shinji is sitting on the beach when Eva-08γ emerges from the ocean. Mari takes her glasses off and comments "Just barely on time". Shinji gets up and runs in her direction. Dropping into the ocean, she thanks Unit 8+0+10+11+12, calling it the "last Evangelion", before it disappears. She emerges from the ocean and puts her glasses back, telling Shinji that she's kept him waiting.

In the final scene of the movie, an adult Shinji is shown sitting on the bench of a train station with his bag and wearing a suit, when Mari covers his eyes and asks who is it. Shinji replies, referencing their earlier encounter on the Wunder. Mari, also an adult, is shown wearing a pink blazer. She walks up to Shinji and approaches his neck facing his front and smells it, remarking that he now smells like an adult. Shinji initially looks annoyed but replies with a compliment confidently, to Mari's surprise, and she removes his DSS Choker. She offers her hand to leave the station with her and Shinji agrees, both of them leaving the main gate and guiding him to the new world.[11]

Appearance in the Manga

In the extra chapter of the manga, it is revealed that Yui Ikari and Mari were classmates, and the two became close friends as students under Fuyutsuki. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto has, however, clarified in an interview that the extra chapter and Mari's inclusion in it should not be seen as a part of neither the manga nor the Rebuild series' storyline, stating that it was something he purely did for "fun", comparing the chapter to "fanservice".[12]

Mari in the Manga
Yui is shown giving Mari a new look.
Yui addresses the girl as Makinami Mari.


Production History

Development

Mari's character has a tumultuous development history, with Chief Director Anno knowing little more of his intent for her than that he wanted her to "destroy Eva". Unlike the others, her character was not Anno's idea, but rather the result of an explicit request by the producer, Otsuki, for a new main female character. Anno accepted it as a way of differentiating the Rebuilds from the anime series, but believes it was for commercial reasons.[13][14] Anno initially intended to make Mari a rather isolated charcater, devoid of relationships, but could not refrain from making her to much like the series' original characters, so decided to hand her development to others. Assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki ended up shouldering much of the responsibility for Mari, and Yoji Enokido was also recruited during a writer's retreat to provide an outsider's opinion - Enokido is considered an outsider, and his characterization ended up being mostly his brainchild.[15] This is in contrast to the existent NGE characters, which were all based on Anno himself to varying degrees.[16][17]

Much of the disagreement revolved around how (and how much) to integrate Mari into the preexisting Eva framework, and the nature of her personality.[18] In the very first drafts, Mari was to do little more than appear in the pre-title Third Angel sequence and to later observe the Tenth Angel's destructive power (the latter idea shown in the first movie's trailer for 2.0), and Anno kept Asuka's role relatively intact relative to her NGE self, and she'd remain the focus of the film much like the corresponding Action Arc of the series. Various ideas were tested in early script drafts and storyboards wherein Mari took over part of another character's role from NGE, which was eventually abandoned due to the desire to give Mari her own identity. At first, Anno kept Asuka's role relatively intact relative to her NGE self Her personality changed from various different themes, like being a mysterious and quiet girl, or the dojikko archetype of a clumsy and careless girl, all in an attempt to differentiate her from Rei and Asuka.[17] Anno decided to inpinge some relationships from other characters into hers in order to give her more spce, for instance, Kaji and Asuka's relationship was entirely removed from the film and replaced with Mari's "subordinate" role to Kaji.[19] Other suggestions slowly began to surface as Anno could only give vague directions to his writers - one of his first was that the character should be an "Onee-san" or be an animal lover. The ideas were so generic and vague that Tsurumaki considered Mari to have had "multiple personalities"; "a different character in each scene she appeared in", making it difficult to give her a consistent characterization and psychology. Tsurumaki in particular felt she'd simply end up simply repeating Shinji's relationships with other characters and consuming their personalities. In the storyboard of the preparatory manuscript drawn by director Masayuki, there is a scenario introducing her to Shinji and others as the "Fourth Girl" at the 8th Apostle War Prewar Strategy Conference. In another storyboard, Mari would have pushed up her glasses in the same manner as Gendo.[20] Anno decided to postpone discussion at the time. It was during this "script retreat" that Enokido was brought in as an outsider.

In response to mounting pressure from fans after her first teased apparence during the preview at the end of Evangelion 1.0, Anno progressively increased her role and space in the story. Tsurumaki noted she'd be a character of "minor importance" originally.[21][22][23] Most of the new ideas ended up discarded and rejected by the rest of staff, who couldn't come to a consensus. In draft number 7, for instance, Mari would pilot Unit-02 together with Asuka in the same entry plug, in draft #11, Mari was depicted as an European classmate of Asuka's. Other ideas included playing up to stereotypes of her British nationality, like her first meeting Shinji in a train station, or having tea time on the roof of the school in draft #13. Tsurumaki felt particularly unsatisfied, and felt that Mari could never be distinct enough from Asuka, Rei or Misato. Tsurumaki eventually came up with the idea of her falling from the sky by way of parachute, as a way of having her do something bizarre and different.

Enokido was asked for his input, and he suggested Mari to be a "neutral and lighthearted" character inspired by harem and shounen manga.[24] Enokido's suggestion was that Mari should serve as a rival for Asuka who ultimately usurps her. Enokido wanted to go so far as to have Mari become the main pilot for Unit 02, say anta baka to Shinji and even kiss him, though this was eventually discarded by Anno and other writers. Tsurumaki, in particular, protested one of the proposed alterations as “I’m an Asuka fan, and I won’t be happy if this scene gets cut”.[17] Enokido also suggested for Mari to be full of tattoos symbolizing her dead pets.[25] Anno's assistant, Ikki Todoroki, suggested scenarios like her being a guest at Hikari's house, and a rival with Asuka for Kaji's affections and control of Unit 00, beating her in a synch test. One inspiration for her demeanour were the miko women of Shinto temples.[26] These indecisions led to about forty revisions of the script in total, and the writers were mostly forced to come to an agreement when repeatedly reaching deadlines.

Design

Mari's earliest available designs. Note the resemblance with the other female characters.

Similary to his other attempts to distance himself from Mari's conceptualization, Anno gave initially vague settei to Sadamoto and Tsurumaki. In one of her old character designs, her plugsuit is numbered 04 instead of 05 like she appears initially in the movie. Anno requested her design be based on a "Christian Missionary-style". Other early designs included a Victorian version of Mari, playing on English stereotypes, and her checkered skirt was in reference to Scottish stereotypes. Her early association with green and use of tights was in reference to pictures of British schoolgirls Anno brought to Sadamoto when he asked for references. Initially, he also considered giving her a long-sleeved blazer.[27][28] Sadamoto concluded that her glasses were a simple but effective way to differentiate her from the other main female characters.[29] Mari was intended to attract a new kind of fan, and a character that could be "broken". [30][31] Additionally, Anno thought Mari's glasses were a good way to showcase their animators' talent, as it was much harder to animate them in the original series.

These designs feature an umbrella, another example of British stereotypes influencing Sadamoto.

At first, Sadamoto simply merged Asuka's and Rei's characters; however, he himself was dissatisfied with the result, thinking the character was too derivative. To visually distinguish her from the two protagonists of the series, he gave her straight, dark hair and a taller head and body than her colleagues. The eyes instead were designed to be long and well defined, so as to give her a more kawaii look. He opted for a hairstyle with two braids, but since Asuka also has hair with two braids, Anno suggested moving the springs of the braids down, adding a band. For the posture and hairstyle, inspiration was taken in particular from those of actress Yui Aragaki, who played Umemura Hikari in the dorama My Boss, My Hero. Anno decided to make the character wear two different combat suits, one old and one new generation, as a further element of detachment from the other pilots.

Mari's early design uniforms. Note the strong British influence also.
Mari's early plugsuit designs, with changing colors.

In the very early stages of production, staff considered a plugsuit in green, indigo or yellow, and then moved to pink, a color popular in anime, giving her a touch of femininity. Sadamoto later noticed that, compared to the white and red models of Rei and Asuka, pink has less visual impact, which is why he then gave her a more "scandalous" color, so for her reveal in the green plugsuit, he opted for green, which he also associated with England, from British racing green.[27] The proposal was made by the colorist Kikuchi Kazuko, and was immediately welcomed with fervor by Sadamoto. Its design was inspired by the green uniforms of the Gamilas from Space Battleship Yamato, as well as by some spacesuits from the TV series UFO, and the space suits of Soviet cosmonauts. Sadamoto attempted to give her a sleekier, more modern design that'd feel updated, but still similar to the existing pilots' suits. Anno decided to give it a helmet as well, in order to cover the face until the end of the battle and create a dramatic effect for her reveal; for the design of the helmet Sadamoto took inspiration from those of track cyclists, much like Misato's motorcyclist-inspired[32] jacket. The design of the lower part of the suit, however, traced that of fencing suits, feeding the idea of a girl belonging to European aristocracy, and more mature than the other pilots.[33][34] There are several nods to her age being in fact much older than the other pilots. Sadamoto had considerable impact in her earlier characterization as well. Due to his experience in the Evangelion manga, staff valued his input in how to handle the reduced space for characterization the movie format gave them. Producer Ohtsuki also complained to Anno that they had not yet decided on a voice actress even by the time the recording stage of production was imminent. Ohtsuki asked other staff for suggestions, and using Maaya Sakamoto, a famous voice actress that Sadamoto, Enokido and Tsurumaki worked with before on Diebuster but had no familiarity with Eva was Sadamoto's idea. Maaya Sakamoto was called and selected without an audition or explanations, and would only then receive some information on the character. Sakamoto, after trying hard to interpret the character, concluded from explanations by Anno and Tsurumaki that she'd play the character as an "alien" element to Evangelion.[35][36] Sakamoto says she herself still has difficulty understanding Mari's character an that she's full of mysteries, an opinion shared by Ogata, Shinji's voice actress. She says Anno shared several important details with her, but she says she won't reveal them: "I'll take it to my grave".[37] Moyoco Anno has commented on associating herself with Mari, on her paid fan newsletter, from April 2nd: Don't compare me with Mari. It's great that people are talking about "Shin Evangelion" and their thoughts on it, but... But please don't compare me to the work any more than you have to. Please don't make me feel uncomfortable about it., as well as Khara staff's denial and Anno himself. Instead, they link her to Tsurumaki's decisions.[38][39][40]

Gallery

Mari Makinami Illustrious
Mari's first closeup in the 1.0 preview.
In first plugsuit
Mari prepares for her first outing in an Eva.
Bidding Eva-05 farewell.
Mari formally introduces herself to Shinji Ikari.
Under Beast Mode influence.
Holding conference in Evangelion 3.0 preview.
New glasses in 3.0.


Notes & References

  • As she approaches the Angel in Bethany Base, Mari sings part of the song "The 356-Step March" by Kiyoko Suizenji:

マリ「しあわっせはーあるいってこないだーからあるいってゆっくんだねーん 
いっちにっちいっぽみーかでさんぽ
 さーんぽすすんでにっほさっがるー 
じーんせいはっわんつー!ぱんち・・・

Shiawase wa aruite konai, dakara aruite yuku 'n da ne
Ichinichi, ippo. Mikka de sanpo.
Sanpo susunde, niho sagaru
Jinsei wa, one-two-panchi...


Mari (singing): ♪ Happiness doesn't walk to me, because I'm walking to it
One day, one step. Three steps in three days
Three steps forward, two steps back
Life's a one-two punch... ♪

  1. The booklet that comes with the 2.22 DVD release states that Mari was born in the United Kingdom.
  2. If they used the "seiyuu's birthday" rule as they did with most of the other characters, it would be 03/31.
  3. Google searches for "真希波" only yield results related to Mari's name, indicating that "Makinami" written this way is probably an original invention for this character.
  4. Evangelion 2.0 CRC - “We persisted in changing Mari’s appearances up until the very last minute”
  5. See Character Name Origins for the naming of the series' characters.
  6. DS game screen shots
  7. Promotional poster with revised terms list.
  8. Anno's Evangelion 2.0 Film Slated for June 27 in Japan (Update 2)
  9. 『ヱヴァンゲリヲン新劇場版:破』新美少女キャラは、めがねっ子の真希波・マリ・イラストリアス!
  10. Evangelion 3.0 (-120 min.) prequel manga, translation at Evageeks
  11. "It was a heavy burden for me, wondering if the fans would scold me for having such a newcomer hold hands with Shinji at the end (laughs). However, there have been many ways to portray "Eva" in the past, and if you can think of this as one of the possible endings, I'll be saved."
    " I feel that Mari just really likes people. She likes Shinji, but I think Asuka is special to Mari. Even though Asuka treats her coldly, Mari always calls her "Princess" and respects and protects her as a special person. In addition to the battles, they have together, the scene where she cuts her hair is very quiet and calm, and it has a nice sentimentality to it. I thought the contrast between the two was well-drawn. For the scene with Asuka, it was great to be able to record her voice with Yuko Miyamura. " - Maaya Sakamoto, 3.0+1.0 pamphlet inreview
  12. https://wavemotioncannon.com/2017/02/21/the-current-status-of-gainax-interview-hiroyuki-yamaga-yoshiyuki-sadamoto-september-2016/
  13. Tsurumaki: Yeah. The appearance of a new character and Eva Unit-05 was requested by executive producer (Toshimichi) Otsuki-san. I think the motive was a commercial one—to strengthen the appeal of the film - Evangelion 2.0 Complete Records Collection
  14. Well, in regards to Mari, she is the result of us trying to make a character that isn’t very ‘Evangelion’-like. Perhaps the way she’s one step away from the seriousness of ‘Evangelion’ makes her appear more ‘FLCL’-like. I didn’t make her purposefully into a ‘FLCL’-like character, but rather she was the result after talking to and finding some common ground with Anno-san. - Tsurumaki, "10 years since then" interview
  15. Saakamoto: The main story is about Shinji, Rei, Asuka, and the others, and I used to think that Mari was just a cheerful character who would be a spice to the story. In fact, she wasn't really the focus of ":3.0", and I was aware that that was the way it was going to be, but I didn't expect to be given such an important role at the very end. I don't know if he intended it to be this way from the beginning or if he went towards this place while making it. When Mari appeared in ":2.0" for the first time, Anno explained her role to me, but he said, "Tsurumaki is more interested in the portrayal of Mari, so I'll leave it to Tsurumaki," so I assumed that Anno didn't have any feelings for Mari. So I was a little curious as to why she was given such an important role (laughs).
    [...] Tsurumaki: I think the Mari in "EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME" has changed a lot in terms of meaning since ":2.0". In ":2.0", when Anno himself created the character, he inevitably became himself, just like Shinji, so I think he wanted to make Mari a different character, so he entrusted her to an external person" - Tsurumaki, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 booklet interviews
  16. Eva Special Talk with Anno Hideaki and Toshiya Ueno (Newtype 11/1996)
  17. 17.0 17.1 17.2 "Anno-san had previously said, “All the characters that appear in Eva are me”; he said that not just Shinji, but Kaji and Misato as well, and even characters like Kaworu and Rei, are aspects of himself. In this sense, every character is ultimately the same. On the surface, different “seasonings” have been used, but inside [the characters] really are very similar. If Mari were to end up the same as them, she would not be able to destroy that world. As a result, for me, Mari was a girl who made use of that “frivolousness”112 that was the opposite of diligence for her own benefit." - Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Tsurumaki Interview
  18. There was an interview with Tsurumaki in which he confessed that during the production of “Ha” they still weren’t sure about what to do with Mari, even the name which was tentatively “Mariko”. They HAD to have a new character (a new pilot), but they didn’t have much of an idea as to what to do with it. - Forum thread, referring to this untranslated interview from CUT Magazine.
  19. Anno: Yeah. I completely cut it from the film. The main reason was that, in a film, there is simply not enough room to depict something like Kaji and Asuka’s story. Even if we had put just a little [of that] in, then she would not have worked as a character, and it would inevitably have been a nuance that only those who knew the original series would understand. So I completely cut that [relationship], and instead decided to have Kaji be close to Mari. That decision was made because of the fact that, among the main characters who had appeared up to this point, there were none who knew Mari, and this was causing me various difficulties in writing. That being the case, I figured that Kaji was the most suitable. He was, like Mari, a character who appears from “Break” onwards. He’s someone who seems to know various secrets, and to have various connections. - Evangelion 2.0 CRC
  20. "Tsurumaki: Certainly Mari’s appearances had increased. Furthermore, if there were scenes where Mari appeared by herself, that was still fine. Even in the early stages of the plot[’s development], we didn’t really feel that such scenes were a problem. The difficulty lay in her relationships with other characters. Especially, if we intended to portray a relationship between Shinji and Mari, it would entail strange things happening. At one point she would have Rei Ayanami’s role in relation to Shinji, at another point Asuka’s, at another point Misato’s. There was a sense that her character was changing depending upon the circumstances of each scene. In the first place, if it’s Rei’s role, Rei herself can do it, and if it’s Asuka’s role, Asuka herself can do it. To the extent that this newly arrived character, Mari, is just partially substituting for roles that other people have carried out up until now, the story itself is really unchanged. My impression was, if that’s going to be the case, Mari is probably not needed." - Eva 2.0 CRC
  21. I thought that Mr. Anno would not be the type to change the way he makes a film based on the reaction of the audience. "But after the end of the first film, I felt that I had to work harder." I thought he wouldn't be the type to change the way he made things. We talked about how we had to work harder after the end of the first film. "In order to respond to our customers, we have to change." We were talking about how we needed to make 2.0 something more... better. But it's hard to decide. We would say, "We have to make changes to meet our customers' expectations. How can we meet the expectations of our customers and satisfy ourselves? In a state of limbo, the production of "Ka" went through many changes. [...] Mari was originally intended to be a character of minor importance. Tsurumaki, CUT Magazine July 2009
  22. "It's like we were rebuilding at random. Once it started turning, it started accelerating and wouldn't stop. I don't think even Mr. Anno imagined it would go this far.
    This "acceleration" led to the creation of a new character, Makinami Mari Illustrious, a symbol of the changes in the new film version. Initially, Mari was only going to appear briefly, but as it turned out, she became a deeply involved character. But since she was a completely new character, there was no room for her to be included, so it was very difficult. If I put her in, the original story would be destroyed. It's very complicated.
    [...]"The character's personality changed two or three times depending on the production period, and it was very difficult. Her name was 'Mariko' at first, too. - Tsurumaki Interview, July 2009 AERA Magazine
  23. Enokido: There were versions of the unfinished screenplay where Mari appears only at the beginning, and doesn’t participate in the battle at the end. - Evangelion 2.0 CRC
  24. "Enokido: The sadness and happiness of young men is bound up in the fact that they always possess these two contradictory wishes. The so-called “Harem Anime” genre is for the most part intended to satisfy these desires. In “Urusei Yatsura”, Shinobu is the Japanese girl who was one’s childhood friend and always by one’s side, and Lum is the “alien girl”. We say “alien”, but [such characters] perhaps [have] an “American” image. Rei and Asuka exactly fit the pattern of this “perfect lineup”.
    Now, coming up with a plan as regards the third girl who must compete with this “ultimate combination” seemed to me a very difficult job. In addition, Director Anno had not, up to this point, developed anything himself, but, expressing the desire for a completely new character, had left Mari’s development to others.
    "This being the case, my first proposal for an additional type was a Sapphire (from [Tezuka Osamu’s] Princess Knight) type. If Rei and Asuka are completely different types, I wondered if a “neutral”, lighthearted type who battles with an “innocent” image would be good. At this point, though Anno-san agreed that it would be good, he thought a Wato (Chiyoko) type (from [Tezuka’s] The Three-Eyed One) would be more realistic, and he got quite excited about it." - Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Enokido interview
  25. "— In the original scenario Mari was the daughter of a distinguished English family who kept dogs and cats, and so on; what were the circumstances [relating to that]?
    Enokido: Speaking of that, I also remember conversations like, “What if we gave her tattoos of the names of all the pets she’s kept up until now?” For example, we would insert a bath scene where we see the area from her chest to her stomach is completely covered in tattoos. If she gets asked, “Why do you have them?” she’d answer something like, “They’re the names of all my pets that have died up until now. The tattoos ensure I don’t forget them, and that they still ‘live’ with me”."
    - Eva 2.0 CRC
  26. Enokido: As we had many conversations relating to Mari, I think it was. As for other images, there was the part of a Miko-san [shrine maiden] channeling the gods. She is not “practical” like Asuka, but thinks about “deep” things, like someone who somehow can see mysterious things like those connected with the gods. She is not “unworldly” to Rei’s extent and she talks a lot. As nothing had yet solidified, we had these sorts of discussions about ideas. - Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Enokido Interview
  27. 27.0 27.1 "Yes. When I got the instructions on Mari's seifuku design, the document consisted of only two lines: British-style and Christian Missionary School-style. When I asked the general director Anno-san "What is Missionary School-style", he replied "I don't know, create an image from the words"! I then asked him for some reference material and a few days later he brought some photos of British school girls and said "Like this". All their skirts were long – 15cm below the knee – and some looked so old! Looking at all the photos I found that many used check designs, most school girls wore tights and the blazers had colored edges. I used these features in creating the design. I told Amano san that if she didn't wear a blazer it wouldn't look very British. In the trailer of EVA 1 you know Mari is wearing a Blazer, but in EVA 2 it would not be right if she wore one so I changed the design." - Sadamoto, World Seifuku Project Summit Part 2
  28. "Speaking of pink, at first it wasn't used at all for Mari's plug suit and we didn't even test it. For over two weeks we would try green, then yellow, and then it struck me "Pink is it". We photoshopped in pink and it was perfect, and decided on the spot to make it pink."
    Ayanami's plug suit is white, and Asuka's is red. Pink is in between these two colors and it loses some impact, so I did think about making it a more outrageous color. Black would be more British, but a bit harsh, so I went for green. Mari's older model plug suit is green, but I was surprised how much pink suited her. - Sadamoto, World Seifuku Project Summit
  29. Sadamoto, O-sada-bon 2009
  30. "As for Mari, a character present in the Rebuild, they wanted to attract a new type of fan, as well as create an additional character that could be "broken" (in this case the translator was not sure of the word used); Sadamoto also said that he really likes Mari's character, and plans to reuse it in the future." - Yoshiyuki Sadamoto: Milan Manga Festival (2013)
  31. On the one hand we wanted to create a different character, one that would appeal to a new type of audience and mark a break in the story. There were both "market" and plot requirements, and I had to keep them in mind. In the movies there is a great mystery around her presence, which is why you only find her there. I couldn't use her in the manga, although I would have liked to. She'll be up to a lot of mischief, together with Asuka, so wait for the new movie, because there will be surprises and a lot of interesting characters. Sadamoto Days – i fan meet e l’intervista (2013)
  32. Sadamoto - Kodansha 2003 interviews
  33. YA: What did you think when you first heard about Mari?S: I thought it was fitting that the new films should include a new character. I really strove to design a character who was distinct from Asuka and Rei, though I do worry that there are some small but telling similarities that remain. My idea was to create a character so distinct from the other Evangelion characters as to almost feel out of place in the Evangelion world. I suppose I could've designed her as a sort of "halfway point" between Asuka and Rei, but Asuke and Rei are both such strong characters, in their own separate ways. I wanted to bring something completely different to the table with Mari. For Mari, I'd been asked to design a character who "goes about with a parasol, like the sort of heroine you see in an anime". As I initially designed her, she was very adult-like, having attended a strict private Christian school in Britain. However, in the original script, there was a scene where she returns home to a room full of birds and dogs and begins talking to them, to indicate that she was also rather idiosyncratic. Mr. Anno had also requested that she be more adult-like in appearance and manner than either Asuka or Rei, to set her apart. And that she have a huge chest (laughter). There was a television drama I'd really been enjoying at the time I began designing Mari. The heroine in this drama had a pair of long ponytails. I really liked this character feature, and worked it into Mari's design. After all was said and done, we ended up with the design that we have now, although there are still many elements of my personal tastes and interests of the time in Mari's design (laughter). Incidentally, I decided to give Mari glasses because I thought that this would be a simple yet affective way to set her apart from the other characters. Some people have said that she "doesn't seem like an Evangelion character", which is exactly what I was aiming for. I'm glad to see, though, that the majority of people have appreciated her character. YA: How did you go about designing Mari's uniform and plug suits? S: I'd been asked to make Mari seem very British, so I tried to design accordingly. For her school uniform, I thought that a large bow and long socks, along with a traditional checked skirt, would look the part. Sadamoto Interview (Young Ace n.3, 2009)
  34. Evangelion 2.0 CRC - Sadamoto interview
  35. [Maya] I said that Marie had destroyed “the former Eva”.
    [...]- Parting words filmmakers somehow affected the result?
    [Maya] When I heard about the “destruction”, then realized what an important role, and at the same time extremely responsible mission entrusted to me.I’m sure: to destroy the so ingrained image of the product, the new creation must be a monstrous adventure. And I threw all worries about leaving “Old Eva”, and decided to voice Mari as some kind of an alien element, that today’s Anno needs.
    - Newtype July 2009
  36. 特集:『破』が教える、エヴァンゲリオンは生き続ける, CUT Magazine, August 2009
  37. Maaya Sakamoto talks about the pain of understanding the role of Mari. I will take secrets to my grave.
  38. Khara staff and official account had commented on on Gainax co-founder, Toshio Okada, talking about it on his Youtube channel: Another disgusting video came around. I've never had any contact with the director, and I've never met Toshio Okada. I think it's time to stop making insulting remarks based on crazy assumptions. ; "Toshio Okada hasn't even met Anno for a quarter of a century, and he's never met Moyoco. And yet, there are people who misguidedly say that Mari is Moyoco and believe them. The most misguided part."; "Mari only has Tsurumaki-san's libido in her. She has glasses, is strong, and could have been in FLCL. She's also a character with the same dialogue."
  39. Hideaki Anno did comment on Moyoco in her 2002 manga Insufficient Direction: "My wife's public image is that of a strong woman, but actually she's very sensitive, fragile and weak. She constantly has to face her difficult past, and she couldn't escape the reality of having to provide for her family. It's just that she needed to don a piece of armor called "toughness" over her heart. I can sense that deep inside she battles loneliness and alienation and is barely holding her emotional balance in check."
  40. Director Anno said, "You can speculate about me as much as you want, but if you're gonna speculate about my wife, you can read as much as you want about her in her works at the upcoming Moyoko exhibition." - Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Assorted Translations#April 11 stage greeting


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 | 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