or is a fictional character in the anime film tetralogy Rebuild of Evangelion, based on the television series Neon Genesis Evangelion and introduced in the film Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009). Mari is a pilot for the European branch of the special agency Nerv, founded to counter enemies of humankind known as the Angels. She first appears aboard the mecha Evangelion Unit 05, before fighting on Evangelion Unit 02 in place of Asuka Langley Shikinami. Brave and tenacious on the battlefield, Mari is friendly, lighthearted and humorous with her colleagues. She is originally voiced by Maaya Sakamoto; in the English-language version, she is voiced by Trina Nishimura and Deneen Melody. Besides the Rebuild of Evangelion films, Mari appears in an extra chapter of the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, written and illustrated by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, and in several video games.
The character was created after a request by Toshimichi Ōtsuki, producer of the original anime, to introduce a new female character to the Rebuild to attract a new audience. Hideaki Anno, director and main screenwriter of the original series and the films, decided not to meddle in the pilot and replicate the other main characters, all of whom were based on his personality. He entrusted its development to other members of Khara studio, particularly Kazuya Tsurumaki. The concept went through a complex chain of changes and second thoughts; neither Anno nor the others knew what kind of heroine to create, and were undecided until the last minute. Her character design was entrusted to Sadamoto, the series' character designer, who played on stereotypical elements associated with England.
The character had a mixed reception from critics. Reviewers were divided between those who found her overly sexualized and her role insignificant and those who found her a viable alternative to the characterization of the other protagonists. Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021) revealed more details about Mari, which generated more mixed reviews; some critics noted a lack of explanation of her nature, and others appreciated her psychology and her role in the finale.
Conception For the film Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (2009), the second instalment of the Rebuild of Evangelion saga, King Records representative and former Neon Genesis Evangelion producer Toshimichi Ōtsuki requested a new female character to strengthen its appeal and expand its audience. Director and main screenwriter Hideaki Anno welcomed the idea as a breath of fresh air which would distance the new films from the original work and give its audience fan service. Anno planned to introduce Mari in the film's opening scenes and play on , a kanji in the film's Japanese title which has the two meanings of "interlude" and "break". Her presence was initially intended to be minor; not speaking, she would be introduced by other characters. Mari's personality, speech and first battle, however, varied during development. Anno was conflicted; as producer and director he wanted to introduce changes to the story through her, but as the original series writer he did not want to make major changes.
Mari was introduced in a promotional poster for the film which was noted by fans. Her first name was revealed in the Nintendo DS game Petit Eva: Evangelion@School, and her surnames were introduced in Eva Extra magazine.From the film's Complete Record Collection, pp. 387-388. Anno, as he did with other characters in Neon Genesis Evangelion, combined two actual warship names. He chose the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, lead ship of the British Royal Navy's class of the same name, for Mari's first surname; her second surname was inspired by the Makinami from the Ayanami class destroyer of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. The kanji played on the names of the series' other two main female characters, Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu ("Shikinami Langley" in Rebuild of Evangelion). The new pilot was initially planned to be named , an homage to a character by Moyoco Anno, Anno's wife. The director also considered , in reference to Chizuru Nambara in Combattler V. The name Mari was finally chosen in homage to Mari Sakurano's character in Brave Raideen.
Anno struggled with the character, unable to decide on Mari's role and personality. He first feared that he was forcing her into the story to distance Rebuild of Evangelion from the classic series; his early drafts were uneven, and she only appeared in the film's opening scene. Anno rewatched the original anime, trying to come up with original ideas, but was constrained by the main characters' rigid roles. The inclusion of novelty, in his opinion, could have ruined the whole work. Anno was thus vague at first, giving generic directions to his colleagues at studio Khara, such as the new character loving animals. Anno's generic guidance complicated the staff's work; assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki said that Mari seemed to have "multiple personalities" and was a different character in each scene, and it was difficult to make her consistent. Anno's instructions included, "In this scene, she looks for her glasses"; "She says at the end of the sentence", and "Her breasts need to get bigger". Wanting to make the character foreign, he decided to hang back so she would be different from the existing characters in the classic series and entrusted her creation to others, particularly Tsurumaki.
In the first version of Anno's storyline, Mari became active in the third chapter and appeared briefly in the second. The opening scene of 2.0 tried to break with the old Evangelion, with dialogue in Russian and English. The familiar voice of Ryoji Kaji, the first character to interact with Mari, was added to reassure viewers and not be confused by the innovations. Anno wanted to avoid exploring her in depth, preferring to emphasize Asuka. After the premiere of Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone at Shinjuku Milano, however, a rewrite of the second film began. About forty changes were made to the script until the last minute; when the roles of Rei, Asuka, and Misato Katsuragi became clear, Anno still found problems with Mari's. He attempted to create an as-yet-untried character type, but did not know what exactly to do. Due to fan demand, Anno expanded Mari's scenes from the script's first drafts. Some ideas were rejected by other staff members and discarded, such as a scene in which Mari and Asuka would fight in the same Evangelion against the eighth Angel in a nininbaori, a Japanese comedic act where two people wear the same large coat and pretend to be one person.CUT-0549. Another shelved suggestion saw her in the role of Asuka's European classmate, which would have weakened Asuka's isolation. Other possibilities involved Mari meeting Shinji Ikari near a railroad track and drinking tea on the roof of a school; after several drafts, however, her character was still unclear to Anno.
The result was a character somewhat similar to Rei, Asuka, and Misato; Tsurumaki remained dissatisfied, believing that he could not detach Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance from the original series. He wanted to have Mari do something bizarre, such as parachute from the sky; her meeting with Shinji was storyboarded just in February 2009, while Tsurumaki and other staff members continued to work close to the deadline. To decide on her personality, Anno asked other staff members, including Yōji Enokido, for their opinions. Enokido, remembering harem anime stereotypes, proposed a fighter like Sapphire in Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight, so a neutral, carefree and innocent character. Anno then came up with a childlike girl similar to Chiyoko Wato in Tezuka's Mitsume ga Tōru, considering her more realistic. Other ideas were proposed; studio staff suggested that Mari belonged to a wealthy English family, owned several cats, and had tattoos of her pets' names. Ikko Todoroki suggested making Mari a guest at Hikari Horaki's house"Evangelion New Theatrical Edition: Break", Screenplay Retreat Memo, 2007/10/31--11/2 Atami. and a rival with Asuka for Kaji's attention and control of Unit 02.Evangelion New Theatrical Edition: Break, Organizational Plan Draft, 2007/10/13 Yōji Eenokido. Another proposal by Enokido included a romantic subplot with Shinji.
Design
Character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto gave Mari a stereotypically English look. Anno tried to influence her design as little as possible, giving very rough guidelines to Sadamoto and Tsurumaki and only checking the completed work. Using the stereotype of a meganekko girl, Sadamoto added Mari eyeglasses.From the Yoshiyuki Sadamoto interview in . This succeeded in aesthetically differentiating her from the other protagonists; glasses were seldom used for the characters in the classic series to simplify the animators' work. Anno finally chose the sketch with the eyeglasses for Mari's preview in the credits of You Are (Not) Alone, which was later refined by Sadamoto. The only guidelines Sadamoto received from the staff were for a "British-style" girl who was a student at a private Christian institution. When he asked Anno what he meant by a "private Christian institution," however, Anno said that he did not know. Sadamoto imagined Mari with Victorian-era clothes and a parasol before opting for a plaid skirt. Anno gave him photographs of British schoolgirls as a reference, and Sadamoto noticed that most of them wore tights and jackets with colourful borders. First giving Mari a long-sleeved jacket inspired by the protagonists in Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, he opted for a simple white shirt and tie because of the anime's summer setting.
The studio required a character who would appeal to a new audience, and Sadamoto had to keep that requirement in mind. Merging the characteristics of Asuka and Rei at first, he found that too derivative. To visually distinguish her from the two protagonists of the classic series, he gave Mari straight, dark hair and a thinner head and body than her colleagues. He also designed her with long and well-defined eyes, giving her a cute appearance. Sadamoto then decided to give her two braids; since Asuka has a similar hairstyle, Anno suggested adding a headband. The artist took inspiration from Umemura Hikari, a character from the dorama My Boss, My Hero, played by Yui Aragaki.
Anno decided to have Mari wear two battle suits, one older and one newer, to further distinguish her from the other pilots. During the film's early production, a green, indigo, or yellow plug suit was considered; pink, a popular color in the Japanese animation industry, was ultimately chosen to give Mari a more feminine touch. Sadamoto later noticed that pink had less visual impact than Rei and Asuka's red and white designs, so he designed her an old green suit, a more "outrageous" color stereotypically associated with England, at the suggestion of colorist Kikuchi Kazuko. For Mari's old costume design he took inspiration from the uniforms of the Gamilas in Space Battleship Yamato and from the space suits in the British television series UFO. Cold War Soviet space-suit design inspired Sadamoto to color the lower part of the old plug suit checkered-green. Sadamoto wanted to make the new plug suit more modern than the green one, taking advantage of technology and noting the differences between the first and second series of the Lotus Elise spyder. Anno also decided to give Mari a helmet, covering her face until the end of the first battle for dramatic effect, and Sadamoto took his cue from bicycle helmets. The design of her lower clothing was based on a fencing suit, suggesting membership in the European aristocracy.
Voice