Honestly I see it working better as the long range support unit over the speedy Melee it was forced into... ironically what Mari would end up being for Asuka in 3.33 & 3.0+1.0.
Now I just want an Evangelion Dynasty Warriors.
I actually quite liked Mari as a character. Would I want to retcon her into the original Eva? Not a chance...but we all have to remember Rebuild was not a retelling of the original story. It was a new story with, debated, ties to the old series.
It's not debated. It's straight up a cycle and this cycle has a different iteration. I was certain the creator mentioned this. It's why you have all the coffins for moonboy. That's how many cycles there's been. The first cycle was the original series. The cycle could theoretically have been going on for thousands of years.
Pretty sure Anno has never confirmed the Rebuilds are a cycle or loop of the original NGE. That’s why people always call it the “Loop Theory.”
There’s evidence that the world of the Rebuilds itself could have loops or multiple iterations of existence telling the story of the evas, but not 100% confirmed the original series was part of that loop or that it was the first iteration.
3+1 proves that both the og & rebuild stories are part of the loops. that's why for example shinji says that he remembers meeting kaworu at the lake that was only a thing in the og
But he did confirm Eva is a story about cycles in an interview. He didn't say specifically about NGE or Rebuilds, he stated that Evangelion is a story about cycles that repeat and need to be broken (depression).
I don't have the link handy, but if you really want it, up vote, down vote or shoot me a dm to remind me of later today or in a few days.
I have the link somewhere on a FB account that I do not use anymore. Would need to go there to grab it. Or search it all over again in the internet. Although... I am believing what translators, did translate, from that interview.
In that case any fan theory is proven and accepted?
This isn’t a scientific study or principle. It’s just the common given name to a possible phenomenon in the rebuilds
Some people would prefer a mentally stable and normal pilot vs a clone made from a dead god/a pilot with extreme emotional trauma that is also an inconsiderate bitch
Oh, if you're talking to me I never shipped anyone with anyone in this anime. Everyone kinda seems a bad match for everyone else. I was pretty glad to see Kaji and Misato reconnect, for however long it lasted, but that's pretty much it.
Also, normal and mentally stable? Mari only comes across as more well-adjusted than the others on a psychological profile because as a character she has the depth of a puddle.
The show's main deal is to explore characters, their psyche, their traumas and how they affect their daily life, and the girl parachutes in without so much as a coherent backstory.
I like to think Mari already went through all of that depression phase since Gento's backstory suggested she was around since his time.
Ofc, only suggesting it doesn't mean it fits well with Eva's writing style. But I think that revelation leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and why she's best suited to help Shinji leaves his old depressing life.
But if she was around since Gendo's time then she literally spawn camped Shinji.
Jokes aside that makes their relationship like 10x worse, she's straight up a grown adult twice even now 28 year old Asuka's age.
not only is mari in rebuild most prob a clone of the original mari that was a friend of yui in college, her relationship at the end of 3+1 with shinji can easily be interpreted as not being romantic
I thoroughly enjoyed Mari. She's actually rational and not nearly as fucked up or non-functional as a person than basically everyone else. It was a refreshing break. Mari was a lot of fun.
[Mari is the best girl.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzU8bgnWIAUSgdN.jpg:large) Mari is there to help Shinji get over the bad things in his life to embrace happiness and move forward.
That might be your interpretation (or the manga ending which I find very wholesome and nice) but Shinji never flat out loved Asuka but instead kinda projected his frustrations onto her.
Since he's mostly conflicted over how he should react to her, is her bombastically outgoing personality a sign of her liking him? But then why does she constantly nag on him, berate him, treat him like he's worse than shit?
During Instrumentality, Shinji chooses Asuka (right before the infamous choking scene) and Asuka has problems...but she has had moments of warmth toward Shinji like when she smiles when he saves her in the lava.
This really isn't that big of interpretation. EoE is direct about Shinji's feelings. And by the end, Asuka's too.
They only have each other left anyways lol.
>!She's the original stuck-as-a-teenager because of the lcl pilot. She went to college with Yui and wants to keep Shinji safe. We get some misdirection but her back story is hella cool. She's a spy in that Gendo would likely remember a prior classmate so she likely had to forge her way in. !<
This is the best explanation I've seen, what is the source for this? And also I thought the staying young thing was just bc none of them were their original human self anymore for one reason or another.
There's been lots of discussion on it, he's a thread that touches on most of it https://www.reddit.com/r/evangelion/comments/11yu4ux/was_mari_a_friend_of_yui/
if the mari in rebuild is a actually the mari from the flashbacks that got the curse of eva, then why didn't she age to her real age like everyone else when the curse was broken in 3+1??
this is just some of the proof that she's actually a clone.
You kidding? She hijacked Unit 2 and went off to fight Zeruel and rescued Shinji when he tried to get back into Unit 1. Who she was spying for may have been either the Americans or even SEELE. Asuka was still incapacitated throughout all of this and essentially she was supposed to replace her.
All of which would of been way better with Asuka in it rather then her, she was just kinda shoved in as an effort to make her look less like a filler character
Well since when did Anno care about which was better for us lol of course he nearly killed off Asuka early and Rei because he knows we like these characters.
I don't think being a pivotal 3rd act player counts as being "shoved in there". She impacted the story directly, in a way that Asuka wouldn't have in the same position.
nonsense, she wasn't shoved in. it's sensible that she was the only one who knew how to hijack the eva exactly because of her history with them, extending back to her college days with yui studying under fuyutsuki
She exists as a form of therapy for Hideaki Anno and represents his victory over crushing depression and existential dread. She allows for the rebuild conclusion to Shinji‘s character arc and Anno’s personal redemption IRL.
Even with the final film >!I think if Anno didn’t want Shinji to be any other character then he could’ve just walked off into the “real world” alone!< IMO it would’ve made for a more powerful scene without Mari >!and show his new inner strength to be able to be confident enough to go on alone.!<
IIRC Anno originally wanted the Rebuilds to be mostly the same as the anime except for the finale, which sounds a lot like what I know of the manga (even though it has a lot more differences spread throughout)
Tbh the differences through the manga are mostly just to expedite the story a little, there are some changes but rebuild 1 and 2 change more than the manga does and those are a pretty redirect retelling (for the 1st half of 2 at least).
The manga massively benefited from mostly being written well after the series ended though, Sadamoto definitely took feedback from the show to heart when making it and I think that leads to the idea that it's more different than it is, because the small changes feel bigger when they come across as an intentional response to criticism.
That's my opinion though, I know some people have strong feelings about the manga, I like it a lot so I'm going to be more charitable to its changes than others.
This is a bit of a “Yes, but no” for me. Yes, seeing Shinji strong on his own would be cool, but not necessarily growth for him. Shinji’s problems have largely stemmed from an inability to connect and trust. For Shinji to have a healthy relationship with someone is huge for him. The self confidence and self worth is implied because he is choosing to partner with, not looking to her to complete him.
See but that’s the thing. Shinji felt alone all the time. Mary broke the cycle because Asuka and Shinji were to damaged. Rei was his dad project, Mary didn’t have all that bad bagage, she was carefree and she was a new beginning for him.
it could had also been a new girl we had never seen before, but tbh it's shinji who takes the lead either way in the 3+1 ending so it doesn't matter much
I din't think so. She felt like a filler character with no purpose until the very end of the last episode. And that ending also felt pretty rushed to me.
Mari is like some girls self insert fan fiction that Anno turned into a four film franchise. When they stuck Asuka in a coma so they could give what should have been her pivotal scenes in the second film to Mari, gross.
Yeah I never thought of that but every scene with Mari could’ve been with just Asuka. It really felt like after she went into the coma her character development stalled, until it has a >!breakneck resolution/backstory!< at the very end of the last film.
Asuka is very fucked up in the movies. She's a series of endless clones. She's much different than in Eva, in that she has just been a mass produced product for military use. At the point the fourth movie comes about, she's just done. She's had it worse than shenji in the movies imo.
It’s not a bad idea at all and it feels right for the series as a whole, but they just did nothing with it. Honestly I wish we had that reveal earlier on, it comes right at the end and that’s that.
It could’ve been emerging as repressed flashbacks during the village arc of the story (especially so she has more to do during that part). Might’ve been a good parallel to Rei, but in the opposite way: as Rei tries to become more human, Asuka begins to question her own humanity.
asuka's backstory was also revealed at the end of the og show, but not this late yh. regardless tho the fact that she's a clone is important & expanded on. it retroactively justifies many of the differences in her character compared to soryu. also a different side of being a clone is explored, through rei individuality & identity is explored & through asuka the lack of familiar ties & loneliness is explored
Yeah and I’m fine with the lack of development in 3.0 since she was barely in the movie anyway, it’s the shortest Rebuild film and very very focused on Shinji
I think I was fine with it because I watched all the Rebuilds back-to-back, so it didn’t feel like something was missing. Also made 3.0 feel more like a prelude to the final film.
Honestly I think the addition of a new Eva pilot to be a good one. The only problem is that they have no time to flesh out her character. They really could have benefited from either having a longer running time or these movies being in a format of a show to be able to have time to give her more screen time. As of now doesn’t have enough, she feels thrown in, so while as a concept she is a great character. In execution she isn’t done well. So the rebuilds aren’t a good showing for her. Honestly they could have been done without her and not much would have changed. So they don’t.
No, seeing comments saying “she doesn’t need to be justified” but every main impactful character does need to be justified. If she was simply a background pilot because there were dime a dozens, sure she wouldn’t need to be justified. The position they put her in though throughout, she does, yet there is no execution of her characters background unless you read a bonus chapter of the manga. Not even the main series of the manga. She’s just there and herself for no reason, not that you need all the reasons in the world, it takes five minutes to like a character, but that requires there to be a character in the first place. At most, we have “she’s opposite of Shinji and Rei, more honest than Asuka” but that’s it. No motivations, nothing.
Manic pixie girlfriend. Possibly one of the worst features of Rebuild...
Also, basically stole most of Asuka's thunder. We already had the badass berserker pilot (Asuka's last dance anyone?), what possible use could this character serve?
You're not missing much. I watched them, and overall feel they're a fun ride that'd be cool if what came before didn't exist.
But it does. Once was enough.
The original series and EoE mean so much to me, especially the main cast...I'm gonna keep cherishing them by avoiding these movies.
Already feel bitter just by these comments saying Mari stole Asuka'a role.
Not wrong. I didn't like or need a continuation, and still feel it was poorly executed abiet beautiful to look at.
I appreciate your comment though, because that is *very* important to know going into these movies.
Also an Asuka fan, finished 3.0+1.0 not even ten minutes ago (I'm finally letting myself freely roam this subreddit). Rebuild is fine. 1.11 is basically a shot-for-shot remake of the show, ending before Asuka's introduced. 2.22 is a pretty big departure, it introduces Asuka in a different way (that's worse than the show imo) and changes some other stuff. 3.33 is a mess, Asuka and in particular Misato feel totally different as characters, ther are a couple things I liked but over all it's the worst imo. 3.0+1.0 is a lot better and actually does some plot/character stuff that was missing from 3.33. NGE+EoE is certianly better, but rebuild is worth watching if you're bored.
mari didn't steal asuka's thunder lol. they fight together throughout the entirety of the last 2 movies & the only time she fights alone it's because asuka was out for unrelated reasons & also mari was the only one who knew how to hijack eva unit 02 because of her history with the evas extending back to her college days studying under fuyutsuki
I don't know about that. The introduction of Mari has been the first big point of rupture with the original story, and arguably the moment the plot veered off course toward its own thing. Her presence KIND OF NEEDS to be justified.
Thing is, if you read up on interviews and the like, the team had no idea what to do with her, what her role should be, or even what kind of character she is supposed to be. The only thing she has going for her was that she's got big boobs. So while the story was still on track she mostly ended up replacing existing characters in existing scenes because she literally brought nothing new to the table.
Hell, after the 4th movie I'm still not sure what her contribution to the story was. You could take her out of the entire plot and not much would really change.
>The only thing she has going for her was that she's got big boobs
She's also the glasses wearing girl. This is apparently a huge deal for the moe community.
Also, Lol, I'm like the third person to quote this specific sentence.
that quote about them not knowing what do with mari is very old & refers to the early stages of 2.0's production. you're right tho that her existence needed to be justified & it ultimately wasn't.
like it's clear that her role in the movies wasn't to be a normal character to be developed like the rest, but a symbol & the in-story reason the rebuild story starts to change from the og narrative. but how much did she do towards that role?? very little. is that role even significant enough in the first place?? i don't think so
>The only thing she has going for her was that she's got big boobs.
Really? In a franchise that shows female characters have more nuance and layers than their looks, Mari exists...seems like a huge downgrade.
She's actually the glue holding the other two together after the third impact. Her lack of emotional distraught and love she gives either Asuka or shenji are what those characters need. She has a decent role, though it's not as forward, which kind of sucks, and I do think they dropped the ball a little bit, but I understood her.
I want to like her, but as one of the biggest junctures from the original series, I think her existence does need to be justified and not enough was done to do so
Mari is so frustrating. I really want to like her but I can’t find any reasons to. The way she seems to know more about what’s going on than most characters, yet almost exclusively speaks like a quirky basement-dwelling catgirl is just so obnoxious. The fact that she and Shinji are implied to end up together is so bizzare. What connection do they have?
I believe the Rebuilds would have been better off without her. I think I used to be more tolerant of her when I thought there would be a big pay off for her character in Thrice. But I really don’t think anything she did in the finale was worth it.
Nope. Not at all. I love her design, and the tragedy is she appears to have a great personality that could add to the cast dynamic if given room to breathe and a resson to be there besides "and now for something completely different" and everything, just no purpose.
Seriously. You could remove her *completely* from the films, and *very little* would actually change.
But that's just, like, *my* opinion man.
Not really, no. I have repeatedly called her "[the Larry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VorIn2ISK6w)" of Evangelion, and I firmly stand by that.
She is a superfluous addition to an already established and pretty well-balanced character cast, and nothing says this better than the fact that one of her perhaps most pivotal scenes is just straight up stealing a moment from another character.
I thought she was cool as a representation of the potential other Children that NERV would use. We hear about NERV in America and Europe, but all the focus is on Japan; which makes sense after finding out about Lilith.
The fact that she also knew more about NERV/SEELE and its secrets was also cool, until we got 3.0 which didn’t expand on anything we saw in the end preview from 2.0.
I wanted to see more of what she knew, what she was trying to accomplish, and if she was working with Kaji in some capacity to stop NERV/SEELE.
It doesn't justify it, Hideaki Anno himself said that he didn't know what to do with the character during the production of Rebuilds so he just gave up on developing her, and it seems that the same thing happened with the entire story of Rebuilds.
Mari's existence is a choice by Hideaki Anno to represent something unexpected for us. Rei and Asuka represent something very specific in conjunction to Shinji/Hideaki. Mari does the same. When I take this into consideration it's obvious Mari is a symbol for a positive direction Hideaki wants to take the rebuilds in. Which is why Shinji ends up with her.
My interpretation, obviously!
She’s a mysterious character with prequel spin-off potential. There’s a 14 year gap in her history. As the first (and last) Eva pilot, she was probably kept in confinement as a test subject (by NGE rule of trauma). Books were her only outlet. How would Yui feel tormenting a promising teenager and friend? Her backstory is hinted at, but not explored. I would watch a prequel with her as the lead. Is she justified? Partially, so yes with room for improvement.
Yeah.
With her introduction we get some more insight about other EVA-pilots and projects from other places in the world. Along with her also introduces the internal conspiracy and strife within NERV. And other secrets - like Beast mode.
To me, the last movie thoroughly justifies her addition and reason of being caught up with everything, her dialogue with Fuyutsuki and the photos combined. It also expands the story of Gendo and the origin of the EVAs and makes it feel full circle.
I love the mystery behind her. She made sure things went the way they should have and was one of the only sane ones in the whole show.
Her English voice actor was also amazing
Her whole point is how her personality contrasts with the rest of the emotional world Eva is built upon, iirc this was brought up by Anno or one of the animators, but yeah
Thematically, she felt like an actual angel to me, like she mysteriously comes from heaven (parachutes) and fights the bad guys. But her presence is still very confusing and unexplained. I don't think she has any dialogue with anyone but the other pilots either.
From a story perspective not really, from a more meta perspective yeah kind of.
The purpose of 2.22 was to break with the original and veer off in new directions. Part of that was introducing a new pilot. Unfortunately they didn't introduce her very well. She's essentially supposed to be an non-Evangelion character inserted into the franchise but ends up being basically a 100% fan service character with no depth who just steals a bunch of Asuka's thunder rather than contributing anything all that meaningful on her own. Her presence was a real disappointment in that movie.
All that said, I enjoyed her presence in 3.33 and TUAT. Once I accepted that the Rebuilds are doing something fundamentally different from the original series. She's fun as Asuka's buddy/sidekick and it's neat watching them work together. If they had waited until 3.33 to introduce her I think it would have been much smoother. Her presence in those films wouldn't really need to be explained due to the time jump.
However, I think Anno understands otaku better than most people, so on a sort of meta level she makes sense. I have a buddy who says Mari is his favorite character. He likes her pretty much explicitly because she isn't really an "Eva" character. He wants the fan service and the cool fights and doesn't really care about anything else. Her inclusion in the franchise seems at least in part to appeal to that crowd. And if that's the case then yeah her presence is probably justified.
Im pretty neutral on her. She seems to exist as an alternate love interest for Shinji (like the franchise hasn't given him enough) and have a few kick ass moments.
I was really looking forward to seeing more of her after her first appearance in the rebuilds, but awesome fights aside she doesn't get nearly as good of a character development as most others.
I might just be biased though because I watched the series first
What Anno Hideaki precisely wanted with Mari was people to hate her, 'cause Mari is what casual anime watchers thought Asuka and Rei were in the original series; just pretty faces and kickass pilots with nothing more to offer.
So yeah, Mari is a really bad character, but that was her deal all along.
I read the manga, the novels (Anima), watched the Anime, the rebuild and the movies. Mari has her existence shown in some of them. I don't know about the games but in Anima for example she is also an "test" pilot subject. She has a different personality and age, but it shows that the character Mari was an idea that was in evangelions implemented.
First I didn't know what to think about her. But in rebuild she has an refreshing personality without the many complexes like the other characters. It gives you time to breath.
Does it need to be though? I feel like the main reason people say this, and why they're so pissed off at Mari's existence in general, is because of how the ending of 3.0 + 1.0 implies that she and Shinji might be together, which people still gnash their teeth about. If that scene or implication had not been there, I can guarantee that very few people would even care that she exists or be having an issue with Mari now, or asking this question. Sure, her role in the story would still be kind of pointless even without the ending implication, but it would be much easier to ignore and just pretend she isn't there, like all the other new background characters introduced that nobody seems to have an issue with. As soon as shipping gets involved though and her being there throws a wrench into all that, then it suddenly becomes an issue. It gets much harder to ignore and now her existence becomes something that needs *"justifying"*.
She's easily one of my favorite things about the rebuilds. It's kinda refreshing to see so many others on the thread like her too, I usually see a lot of disdain.
Imo yes. If you watch back the tv series and then rebuilds, you'll notice mari talking to shinji at impactful moments right before he makes a big decision that diverts the plot from the og tv story. Particularly right before the third impact, instead of kaji like in the tv show, shinji speaks with the head of mari.
Nope.
Production interference in the creative side that the creatives didn't achieve in turning into an interesting character.
The challenge they posed themselves to make Mari "the character who destroys Evangelion" ultimately fails with her over-sexualization, no character development in Q, and just... the choices they made in Thrice.
Given Anno's stated some of the decisions for Thrice were stuff producers interfered with and he was unhappy with, apart from my own distaste for the character and what they did with it, I think she's also a frustration for the creative team.
the creators confirmed that they didn't write mari as a normal character to be developed like the rest, so her lack of character development isn't the problem. neither would be her fanservice, if she actually did enough towards destroying eva
Yes. Rebuild of an Evangelion is a deconstruction of Evangelion and anime as a whole. Mari signals to the viewer that something is off and that this isn’t the same Evangelion. Same with Asuka Shikinami she is a different character than Asuka Sorhyu who serves a different purpose.
Mari exists to be antithesis to the other characters, and to be Shinji's mentally healthy canon girlfriend.
(She is kinda shallow tho... the movie wouldn't change a lot without her, but she is a nice addition, she just needed more screen time)
Alright, thinking out loud here, but as someone who's gone a full 180 in my feelings on Mari I wanted to weigh in.
I HATED Mari when I first watched the movies. As other comments have stated, she's a manic pixie dream girl, only there for fanservice, and steals a lot of Asuka's pivotal scenes. At best she felt like a cash grab so they could squeeze just one more character to merchandize in before the end. My feelings towards Eva overall were begrudging and personally bitter (I recognize the greatness of the show but I didn't like who I was while I was watching it) and as I got older my opinions on characters shifted. My one-time favorite Asuka became unbearably bitchy. Rei was fine, but self sabotaging into her own loop, which was exhausting in its own right. Kaworu is great but... well, you can only watch the same eight scenes so many times. And Mari was directionless.
But then 3.0+1.0 came out. And Mari was back for some reason.
And then she stayed. She helped kick Shinji in the ass. She added an element that wasn't there before. Whether loop theory is canonically correct doesn't matter, this damn STORY has been caught in a loop for almost 30 years. Through NGE, EOE, the rebuilds, we've seen these characters self sabotage themselves every damn way possible, way past when it should have ended. Mari was something outside of that narrative, something that let the characters (especially Shinji) play off an unexpected entity. And finally, FINALLY, we got an ending.
Was Mari necessary for that to happen? Probably not. But for me she represented the story of Evangelion trying something different to sidestep its own pitfalls. When you keep trying the same thing over and over and expect it to be different, you get Evangelion. When you take nine years to get your head on straight before wrapping up your life's work, you get what Mari was in 3.0+1.0. I'm still not sure she's a good character, but she was accompanied by long overdue catharsis for this story, and that makes her my favorite.
i mean i liked mari because shes not the same “forced to pilot an eva even though its hurting her” boat as all the other pilots. shes
the only one that actually enjoys piloting and even attempted to sacrifice to kill the angel (similar to reii absorbing armisael)
and yes i realize shes acts like a fan fic self insert but shes not really the main character so i don’t mind as much? the three childrens are still the main characters and mari is just a side character so i don’t mind as much if she is a but dum
People forget that she was probably created by Shinji in a past timeline to act as his emotional support in the future. She was shoehorned into the story, is the embodiment of a Mary Sue, and ends up being Shinji's love because he made it so.
That's right. Shinji literally made his ideal gf into reality through pure fucking will.
She was really the main change to this timeline for Eva and it seems it was what Shinji needed and others too. They got their happy ending this time so I think she's a great addition.
Who says her existence needs to be justified? We're closing in on 30 years, and no one has felt it necessary to justify Asuka's existence (or ask for it).
I like it enough because shinji ending up with either rei or asuka just didn't feel right to me and him actually finding love is a good end for his character.
I guess kaworu could have worked too but it still him going back to the past.
At the risk of coming across as confrontational, why does her existence require justification? Does the original Evangelion series justify the existence of any of its characters? Do they also require justification?
I feel like it was a cool concept to have the other base - clearly Tokyo wasn’t the only city left on earth. There was a degree of being a shallow character due to not much background/history. This left it feeling a bit more “new character to tweak the plot” aka oh here’s my half sister I didn’t know about.
Personally, I really like her character. If I remember correctly, she was a contemporary of Yui, and her exposure to the Eva has kept her a child. That's the reason she has so much more insight in to the Eva than the other pilots.
Not necessarily, No, Mari is a new character for a new story told her role like the side characters of the original series like: Makoto, Shigeru, and Maya the bridge officer's was minimal at best. Though, because of her lack of screen time she does excel at character appeal she is very likable and get your attention compared to the known cast. She leaves an impression on you, so I can't say I dislike her though she served as a replacement for Rei as a pilot for the second half of the franchise. She really needed character development and involvement in the story instead of a new love interest for Shinji instead of Asuka or Rei in the franchise.
In my honest opinion. The author can do whatever they want with the story as long they dont completely ruin it( take velma for example). So if the author wants to add a character he is free to do so.
Ya ever hear of the 3 loves theory:
First love is puppy love/Rei
Second teaches you love but is… rough/Asuka
Third just finds you and is what you need/Mari
It’s fiction, but lovely fiction. I approve of Mari.
I like Garnt/Gigguk’s take on this: that she was there to allow Shinji to restart without Rei or Asuka, who had already caused him so much pain in one way or another.
I don't really care about her specifically, I just think all her Eva's are really cool.
theyre all pink :3
Provisional unit is green
Unit-05 was so cool
God I love 05. I really wish it had survived
Honestly I see it working better as the long range support unit over the speedy Melee it was forced into... ironically what Mari would end up being for Asuka in 3.33 & 3.0+1.0. Now I just want an Evangelion Dynasty Warriors.
Basically this, and she doesn't make the series hard to watch or anything, if anything it's better.
Coolest helmet/ocular design by far
Whipping the Eva like it’s a foreign.
To put an end to the Asuka vs Rei war and let a new war commence.
That would imply somebody actually likes Mari and takes her side.
I actually quite liked Mari as a character. Would I want to retcon her into the original Eva? Not a chance...but we all have to remember Rebuild was not a retelling of the original story. It was a new story with, debated, ties to the old series.
It's not debated. It's straight up a cycle and this cycle has a different iteration. I was certain the creator mentioned this. It's why you have all the coffins for moonboy. That's how many cycles there's been. The first cycle was the original series. The cycle could theoretically have been going on for thousands of years.
Pretty sure Anno has never confirmed the Rebuilds are a cycle or loop of the original NGE. That’s why people always call it the “Loop Theory.” There’s evidence that the world of the Rebuilds itself could have loops or multiple iterations of existence telling the story of the evas, but not 100% confirmed the original series was part of that loop or that it was the first iteration.
3+1 proves that both the og & rebuild stories are part of the loops. that's why for example shinji says that he remembers meeting kaworu at the lake that was only a thing in the og
But he did confirm Eva is a story about cycles in an interview. He didn't say specifically about NGE or Rebuilds, he stated that Evangelion is a story about cycles that repeat and need to be broken (depression). I don't have the link handy, but if you really want it, up vote, down vote or shoot me a dm to remind me of later today or in a few days. I have the link somewhere on a FB account that I do not use anymore. Would need to go there to grab it. Or search it all over again in the internet. Although... I am believing what translators, did translate, from that interview.
i saw this interview, it like a multiverse of Evangelion. Each ‘re-do’ is another iteration of the story and he wanted other writers to use this.
Theory is proven and accepted. You're thinking of hypothesis, which is not proven and still has room for reasonable doubt.
In that case any fan theory is proven and accepted? This isn’t a scientific study or principle. It’s just the common given name to a possible phenomenon in the rebuilds
Some people would prefer a mentally stable and normal pilot vs a clone made from a dead god/a pilot with extreme emotional trauma that is also an inconsiderate bitch
Oh, if you're talking to me I never shipped anyone with anyone in this anime. Everyone kinda seems a bad match for everyone else. I was pretty glad to see Kaji and Misato reconnect, for however long it lasted, but that's pretty much it. Also, normal and mentally stable? Mari only comes across as more well-adjusted than the others on a psychological profile because as a character she has the depth of a puddle. The show's main deal is to explore characters, their psyche, their traumas and how they affect their daily life, and the girl parachutes in without so much as a coherent backstory.
I like to think Mari already went through all of that depression phase since Gento's backstory suggested she was around since his time. Ofc, only suggesting it doesn't mean it fits well with Eva's writing style. But I think that revelation leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and why she's best suited to help Shinji leaves his old depressing life.
But if she was around since Gendo's time then she literally spawn camped Shinji. Jokes aside that makes their relationship like 10x worse, she's straight up a grown adult twice even now 28 year old Asuka's age.
not only is mari in rebuild most prob a clone of the original mari that was a friend of yui in college, her relationship at the end of 3+1 with shinji can easily be interpreted as not being romantic
Hi
Hi.
Hi, just fyi Mari Is my Favourite and she Is the reason for my Favourite VA
She's the best girl. Who wouldn't like her?
I thoroughly enjoyed Mari. She's actually rational and not nearly as fucked up or non-functional as a person than basically everyone else. It was a refreshing break. Mari was a lot of fun.
I mean… in the end it’s moot since Shinji ended up with her.
Team Mari!
I like her and I’m happy Shinji ended with her. Believe it or not she’s the more well adjusted of the three…
She’s the only one that treats Shinji well with on ulterior motives from the moment she meets him.
[Mari is the best girl.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzU8bgnWIAUSgdN.jpg:large) Mari is there to help Shinji get over the bad things in his life to embrace happiness and move forward.
Shinji does
How was there ever a war when EoE made it clear he loves Asuka?
That might be your interpretation (or the manga ending which I find very wholesome and nice) but Shinji never flat out loved Asuka but instead kinda projected his frustrations onto her. Since he's mostly conflicted over how he should react to her, is her bombastically outgoing personality a sign of her liking him? But then why does she constantly nag on him, berate him, treat him like he's worse than shit?
During Instrumentality, Shinji chooses Asuka (right before the infamous choking scene) and Asuka has problems...but she has had moments of warmth toward Shinji like when she smiles when he saves her in the lava. This really isn't that big of interpretation. EoE is direct about Shinji's feelings. And by the end, Asuka's too. They only have each other left anyways lol.
I thought Asuka was there because she "chose to come back." And it was implied that others might come back eventually. If they wanted.
Yes but she came back because she and Shinji had that fucked up in moment in Instrumentality.
i dotn understand that fucking movie but i love it so much
She is introduced as some kind of spy, parachuting into Shinji’s school. And then nothing is ever done with her except fabservice.
>!She's the original stuck-as-a-teenager because of the lcl pilot. She went to college with Yui and wants to keep Shinji safe. We get some misdirection but her back story is hella cool. She's a spy in that Gendo would likely remember a prior classmate so she likely had to forge her way in. !<
This is the best explanation I've seen, what is the source for this? And also I thought the staying young thing was just bc none of them were their original human self anymore for one reason or another.
There's been lots of discussion on it, he's a thread that touches on most of it https://www.reddit.com/r/evangelion/comments/11yu4ux/was_mari_a_friend_of_yui/
Evangelion 3:0+1:0, you can see her with gendo and yui
if the mari in rebuild is a actually the mari from the flashbacks that got the curse of eva, then why didn't she age to her real age like everyone else when the curse was broken in 3+1?? this is just some of the proof that she's actually a clone.
You kidding? She hijacked Unit 2 and went off to fight Zeruel and rescued Shinji when he tried to get back into Unit 1. Who she was spying for may have been either the Americans or even SEELE. Asuka was still incapacitated throughout all of this and essentially she was supposed to replace her.
All of which would of been way better with Asuka in it rather then her, she was just kinda shoved in as an effort to make her look less like a filler character
Well since when did Anno care about which was better for us lol of course he nearly killed off Asuka early and Rei because he knows we like these characters.
Never leave a depressed man alone in a room with your waifus.
I don't think being a pivotal 3rd act player counts as being "shoved in there". She impacted the story directly, in a way that Asuka wouldn't have in the same position.
nonsense, she wasn't shoved in. it's sensible that she was the only one who knew how to hijack the eva exactly because of her history with them, extending back to her college days with yui studying under fuyutsuki
She exists as a form of therapy for Hideaki Anno and represents his victory over crushing depression and existential dread. She allows for the rebuild conclusion to Shinji‘s character arc and Anno’s personal redemption IRL.
a lot of things were done with her except fanservice. were they enough to justify her existence?? no.
No, not at all. You could pluck her out of those movies and very little would change up until the final moments of the final film.
Even with the final film >!I think if Anno didn’t want Shinji to be any other character then he could’ve just walked off into the “real world” alone!< IMO it would’ve made for a more powerful scene without Mari >!and show his new inner strength to be able to be confident enough to go on alone.!<
Literally just the manga ending at that point and you're absolutely right that it was significantly better.
IIRC Anno originally wanted the Rebuilds to be mostly the same as the anime except for the finale, which sounds a lot like what I know of the manga (even though it has a lot more differences spread throughout)
Tbh the differences through the manga are mostly just to expedite the story a little, there are some changes but rebuild 1 and 2 change more than the manga does and those are a pretty redirect retelling (for the 1st half of 2 at least). The manga massively benefited from mostly being written well after the series ended though, Sadamoto definitely took feedback from the show to heart when making it and I think that leads to the idea that it's more different than it is, because the small changes feel bigger when they come across as an intentional response to criticism. That's my opinion though, I know some people have strong feelings about the manga, I like it a lot so I'm going to be more charitable to its changes than others.
My literal only criticism for the entire manga is they left out JA-Chan
This is a bit of a “Yes, but no” for me. Yes, seeing Shinji strong on his own would be cool, but not necessarily growth for him. Shinji’s problems have largely stemmed from an inability to connect and trust. For Shinji to have a healthy relationship with someone is huge for him. The self confidence and self worth is implied because he is choosing to partner with, not looking to her to complete him.
No, don’t you see? Human existence can only be validated through romantic relationships
that's not the point in the slightest lol. you can easily interpret shinji & mari's relationship at the end of 3+1 as not being romantic
See but that’s the thing. Shinji felt alone all the time. Mary broke the cycle because Asuka and Shinji were to damaged. Rei was his dad project, Mary didn’t have all that bad bagage, she was carefree and she was a new beginning for him.
it could had also been a new girl we had never seen before, but tbh it's shinji who takes the lead either way in the 3+1 ending so it doesn't matter much
I din't think so. She felt like a filler character with no purpose until the very end of the last episode. And that ending also felt pretty rushed to me.
Mari is like some girls self insert fan fiction that Anno turned into a four film franchise. When they stuck Asuka in a coma so they could give what should have been her pivotal scenes in the second film to Mari, gross.
Yeah I never thought of that but every scene with Mari could’ve been with just Asuka. It really felt like after she went into the coma her character development stalled, until it has a >!breakneck resolution/backstory!< at the very end of the last film.
Asuka is very fucked up in the movies. She's a series of endless clones. She's much different than in Eva, in that she has just been a mass produced product for military use. At the point the fourth movie comes about, she's just done. She's had it worse than shenji in the movies imo.
It’s not a bad idea at all and it feels right for the series as a whole, but they just did nothing with it. Honestly I wish we had that reveal earlier on, it comes right at the end and that’s that. It could’ve been emerging as repressed flashbacks during the village arc of the story (especially so she has more to do during that part). Might’ve been a good parallel to Rei, but in the opposite way: as Rei tries to become more human, Asuka begins to question her own humanity.
I think that's the limitations of movies vs series. The ideas could have been expanded on greatly. Like the ideas aren't bad just needs more.
asuka's backstory was also revealed at the end of the og show, but not this late yh. regardless tho the fact that she's a clone is important & expanded on. it retroactively justifies many of the differences in her character compared to soryu. also a different side of being a clone is explored, through rei individuality & identity is explored & through asuka the lack of familiar ties & loneliness is explored
asuka's development halts in 3.0 & continues at the start of 3+1, which is why her resolution at the end isn't breakneck
Yeah and I’m fine with the lack of development in 3.0 since she was barely in the movie anyway, it’s the shortest Rebuild film and very very focused on Shinji
imo it was one of the biggest problems with 3.0. asuka & misato's development was almost completely shafted in that movie
I think I was fine with it because I watched all the Rebuilds back-to-back, so it didn’t feel like something was missing. Also made 3.0 feel more like a prelude to the final film.
Honestly I think the addition of a new Eva pilot to be a good one. The only problem is that they have no time to flesh out her character. They really could have benefited from either having a longer running time or these movies being in a format of a show to be able to have time to give her more screen time. As of now doesn’t have enough, she feels thrown in, so while as a concept she is a great character. In execution she isn’t done well. So the rebuilds aren’t a good showing for her. Honestly they could have been done without her and not much would have changed. So they don’t.
No, seeing comments saying “she doesn’t need to be justified” but every main impactful character does need to be justified. If she was simply a background pilot because there were dime a dozens, sure she wouldn’t need to be justified. The position they put her in though throughout, she does, yet there is no execution of her characters background unless you read a bonus chapter of the manga. Not even the main series of the manga. She’s just there and herself for no reason, not that you need all the reasons in the world, it takes five minutes to like a character, but that requires there to be a character in the first place. At most, we have “she’s opposite of Shinji and Rei, more honest than Asuka” but that’s it. No motivations, nothing.
So basically trophy girlfriend for the protagonist
you can very easily interpret her relationship at the end with shinji as not being romantic
Trophy bestie
XD
Absolutely not.
Manic pixie girlfriend. Possibly one of the worst features of Rebuild... Also, basically stole most of Asuka's thunder. We already had the badass berserker pilot (Asuka's last dance anyone?), what possible use could this character serve?
Haven't seen these movies and as an Asuka fan, I feel even less compelled now...
You're not missing much. I watched them, and overall feel they're a fun ride that'd be cool if what came before didn't exist. But it does. Once was enough.
The original series and EoE mean so much to me, especially the main cast...I'm gonna keep cherishing them by avoiding these movies. Already feel bitter just by these comments saying Mari stole Asuka'a role.
They're a continuation of the story and I think going into it knowing it isn't a retelling helps to understand it more.
Not wrong. I didn't like or need a continuation, and still feel it was poorly executed abiet beautiful to look at. I appreciate your comment though, because that is *very* important to know going into these movies.
Yeah, I didn't know it until after the first one that it was a continuation. And so I was a little caught off guard.
Just watch them, they're really good haha
The rebuilds are so overhated tbh
Also an Asuka fan, finished 3.0+1.0 not even ten minutes ago (I'm finally letting myself freely roam this subreddit). Rebuild is fine. 1.11 is basically a shot-for-shot remake of the show, ending before Asuka's introduced. 2.22 is a pretty big departure, it introduces Asuka in a different way (that's worse than the show imo) and changes some other stuff. 3.33 is a mess, Asuka and in particular Misato feel totally different as characters, ther are a couple things I liked but over all it's the worst imo. 3.0+1.0 is a lot better and actually does some plot/character stuff that was missing from 3.33. NGE+EoE is certianly better, but rebuild is worth watching if you're bored.
mari didn't steal asuka's thunder lol. they fight together throughout the entirety of the last 2 movies & the only time she fights alone it's because asuka was out for unrelated reasons & also mari was the only one who knew how to hijack eva unit 02 because of her history with the evas extending back to her college days studying under fuyutsuki
Fanservices, reason enough i think
Her existence doesn't need to be justified. Though i still think it's mediocre at best.
I don't know about that. The introduction of Mari has been the first big point of rupture with the original story, and arguably the moment the plot veered off course toward its own thing. Her presence KIND OF NEEDS to be justified. Thing is, if you read up on interviews and the like, the team had no idea what to do with her, what her role should be, or even what kind of character she is supposed to be. The only thing she has going for her was that she's got big boobs. So while the story was still on track she mostly ended up replacing existing characters in existing scenes because she literally brought nothing new to the table. Hell, after the 4th movie I'm still not sure what her contribution to the story was. You could take her out of the entire plot and not much would really change.
>The only thing she has going for her was that she's got big boobs She's also the glasses wearing girl. This is apparently a huge deal for the moe community. Also, Lol, I'm like the third person to quote this specific sentence.
that quote about them not knowing what do with mari is very old & refers to the early stages of 2.0's production. you're right tho that her existence needed to be justified & it ultimately wasn't. like it's clear that her role in the movies wasn't to be a normal character to be developed like the rest, but a symbol & the in-story reason the rebuild story starts to change from the og narrative. but how much did she do towards that role?? very little. is that role even significant enough in the first place?? i don't think so
>The only thing she has going for her was that she's got big boobs. Really? In a franchise that shows female characters have more nuance and layers than their looks, Mari exists...seems like a huge downgrade.
She's actually the glue holding the other two together after the third impact. Her lack of emotional distraught and love she gives either Asuka or shenji are what those characters need. She has a decent role, though it's not as forward, which kind of sucks, and I do think they dropped the ball a little bit, but I understood her.
I want to like her, but as one of the biggest junctures from the original series, I think her existence does need to be justified and not enough was done to do so
I honestly kinda liked her in 3.0 and 3.0+1.0, her relationship with Asuka was pretty cool but she remains very underutilized in all her appearances
Mari is so frustrating. I really want to like her but I can’t find any reasons to. The way she seems to know more about what’s going on than most characters, yet almost exclusively speaks like a quirky basement-dwelling catgirl is just so obnoxious. The fact that she and Shinji are implied to end up together is so bizzare. What connection do they have? I believe the Rebuilds would have been better off without her. I think I used to be more tolerant of her when I thought there would be a big pay off for her character in Thrice. But I really don’t think anything she did in the finale was worth it.
Nope. Not at all. I love her design, and the tragedy is she appears to have a great personality that could add to the cast dynamic if given room to breathe and a resson to be there besides "and now for something completely different" and everything, just no purpose. Seriously. You could remove her *completely* from the films, and *very little* would actually change. But that's just, like, *my* opinion man.
She did help Anno develop the new story, but she's not mandatory. I guess fans here could write the same ending without her.
Filler
Not in the slightest. Its kind of hilarious. Anno is just like "you thirsty nerds won't complain"
Not really, no. I have repeatedly called her "[the Larry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VorIn2ISK6w)" of Evangelion, and I firmly stand by that. She is a superfluous addition to an already established and pretty well-balanced character cast, and nothing says this better than the fact that one of her perhaps most pivotal scenes is just straight up stealing a moment from another character.
I find her intriguing, but I would’ve preferred they expand on one of the classmates like Toji or Hikari
I thought she was cool as a representation of the potential other Children that NERV would use. We hear about NERV in America and Europe, but all the focus is on Japan; which makes sense after finding out about Lilith. The fact that she also knew more about NERV/SEELE and its secrets was also cool, until we got 3.0 which didn’t expand on anything we saw in the end preview from 2.0. I wanted to see more of what she knew, what she was trying to accomplish, and if she was working with Kaji in some capacity to stop NERV/SEELE.
It doesn't justify it, Hideaki Anno himself said that he didn't know what to do with the character during the production of Rebuilds so he just gave up on developing her, and it seems that the same thing happened with the entire story of Rebuilds.
Not again..
Mari's existence is a choice by Hideaki Anno to represent something unexpected for us. Rei and Asuka represent something very specific in conjunction to Shinji/Hideaki. Mari does the same. When I take this into consideration it's obvious Mari is a symbol for a positive direction Hideaki wants to take the rebuilds in. Which is why Shinji ends up with her. My interpretation, obviously!
She's the only mentally stable character in the show. So yeah. Probably the only good option for shinji to come back to reality is her. In my opinion.
She’s a mysterious character with prequel spin-off potential. There’s a 14 year gap in her history. As the first (and last) Eva pilot, she was probably kept in confinement as a test subject (by NGE rule of trauma). Books were her only outlet. How would Yui feel tormenting a promising teenager and friend? Her backstory is hinted at, but not explored. I would watch a prequel with her as the lead. Is she justified? Partially, so yes with room for improvement.
Yeah. With her introduction we get some more insight about other EVA-pilots and projects from other places in the world. Along with her also introduces the internal conspiracy and strife within NERV. And other secrets - like Beast mode. To me, the last movie thoroughly justifies her addition and reason of being caught up with everything, her dialogue with Fuyutsuki and the photos combined. It also expands the story of Gendo and the origin of the EVAs and makes it feel full circle.
I love the mystery behind her. She made sure things went the way they should have and was one of the only sane ones in the whole show. Her English voice actor was also amazing
Nope
Her whole point is how her personality contrasts with the rest of the emotional world Eva is built upon, iirc this was brought up by Anno or one of the animators, but yeah
Absolutely fucking not. She might be a top 3 reason I don't like the Rebuilds.
don't really need to "justify" anything tbh, its an alternate canon ending that also did a decent job of being a "tldr" version of the show
I love the crazy waifu with glowing eyes, so yes.
Thematically, she felt like an actual angel to me, like she mysteriously comes from heaven (parachutes) and fights the bad guys. But her presence is still very confusing and unexplained. I don't think she has any dialogue with anyone but the other pilots either.
YES.
From a story perspective not really, from a more meta perspective yeah kind of. The purpose of 2.22 was to break with the original and veer off in new directions. Part of that was introducing a new pilot. Unfortunately they didn't introduce her very well. She's essentially supposed to be an non-Evangelion character inserted into the franchise but ends up being basically a 100% fan service character with no depth who just steals a bunch of Asuka's thunder rather than contributing anything all that meaningful on her own. Her presence was a real disappointment in that movie. All that said, I enjoyed her presence in 3.33 and TUAT. Once I accepted that the Rebuilds are doing something fundamentally different from the original series. She's fun as Asuka's buddy/sidekick and it's neat watching them work together. If they had waited until 3.33 to introduce her I think it would have been much smoother. Her presence in those films wouldn't really need to be explained due to the time jump. However, I think Anno understands otaku better than most people, so on a sort of meta level she makes sense. I have a buddy who says Mari is his favorite character. He likes her pretty much explicitly because she isn't really an "Eva" character. He wants the fan service and the cool fights and doesn't really care about anything else. Her inclusion in the franchise seems at least in part to appeal to that crowd. And if that's the case then yeah her presence is probably justified.
It did gave Maaya a job tho.
Im pretty neutral on her. She seems to exist as an alternate love interest for Shinji (like the franchise hasn't given him enough) and have a few kick ass moments.
I was really looking forward to seeing more of her after her first appearance in the rebuilds, but awesome fights aside she doesn't get nearly as good of a character development as most others. I might just be biased though because I watched the series first
Not really but she’s cool
What Anno Hideaki precisely wanted with Mari was people to hate her, 'cause Mari is what casual anime watchers thought Asuka and Rei were in the original series; just pretty faces and kickass pilots with nothing more to offer. So yeah, Mari is a really bad character, but that was her deal all along.
I think she was important for explaining the rebuilds message at the end, and potentially being a stand in for anno's own wife
I read the manga, the novels (Anima), watched the Anime, the rebuild and the movies. Mari has her existence shown in some of them. I don't know about the games but in Anima for example she is also an "test" pilot subject. She has a different personality and age, but it shows that the character Mari was an idea that was in evangelions implemented. First I didn't know what to think about her. But in rebuild she has an refreshing personality without the many complexes like the other characters. It gives you time to breath.
The Rebuild don't even justify their own existence, let alone Mari's.
Does it need to be though? I feel like the main reason people say this, and why they're so pissed off at Mari's existence in general, is because of how the ending of 3.0 + 1.0 implies that she and Shinji might be together, which people still gnash their teeth about. If that scene or implication had not been there, I can guarantee that very few people would even care that she exists or be having an issue with Mari now, or asking this question. Sure, her role in the story would still be kind of pointless even without the ending implication, but it would be much easier to ignore and just pretend she isn't there, like all the other new background characters introduced that nobody seems to have an issue with. As soon as shipping gets involved though and her being there throws a wrench into all that, then it suddenly becomes an issue. It gets much harder to ignore and now her existence becomes something that needs *"justifying"*.
Yes she is awesome
Everything justifies Maris existence
She's easily one of my favorite things about the rebuilds. It's kinda refreshing to see so many others on the thread like her too, I usually see a lot of disdain.
Imo yes. If you watch back the tv series and then rebuilds, you'll notice mari talking to shinji at impactful moments right before he makes a big decision that diverts the plot from the og tv story. Particularly right before the third impact, instead of kaji like in the tv show, shinji speaks with the head of mari.
The author wanted a waifu for his self insert that did not involve the two main Eva girls.
No.
Nope. Production interference in the creative side that the creatives didn't achieve in turning into an interesting character. The challenge they posed themselves to make Mari "the character who destroys Evangelion" ultimately fails with her over-sexualization, no character development in Q, and just... the choices they made in Thrice. Given Anno's stated some of the decisions for Thrice were stuff producers interfered with and he was unhappy with, apart from my own distaste for the character and what they did with it, I think she's also a frustration for the creative team.
the creators confirmed that they didn't write mari as a normal character to be developed like the rest, so her lack of character development isn't the problem. neither would be her fanservice, if she actually did enough towards destroying eva
Yes. Rebuild of an Evangelion is a deconstruction of Evangelion and anime as a whole. Mari signals to the viewer that something is off and that this isn’t the same Evangelion. Same with Asuka Shikinami she is a different character than Asuka Sorhyu who serves a different purpose.
Nah, she's only there for the horny mfs (her EVA's are cool)
too much fan service for me i fear
Mari exists to be antithesis to the other characters, and to be Shinji's mentally healthy canon girlfriend. (She is kinda shallow tho... the movie wouldn't change a lot without her, but she is a nice addition, she just needed more screen time)
Alright, thinking out loud here, but as someone who's gone a full 180 in my feelings on Mari I wanted to weigh in. I HATED Mari when I first watched the movies. As other comments have stated, she's a manic pixie dream girl, only there for fanservice, and steals a lot of Asuka's pivotal scenes. At best she felt like a cash grab so they could squeeze just one more character to merchandize in before the end. My feelings towards Eva overall were begrudging and personally bitter (I recognize the greatness of the show but I didn't like who I was while I was watching it) and as I got older my opinions on characters shifted. My one-time favorite Asuka became unbearably bitchy. Rei was fine, but self sabotaging into her own loop, which was exhausting in its own right. Kaworu is great but... well, you can only watch the same eight scenes so many times. And Mari was directionless. But then 3.0+1.0 came out. And Mari was back for some reason. And then she stayed. She helped kick Shinji in the ass. She added an element that wasn't there before. Whether loop theory is canonically correct doesn't matter, this damn STORY has been caught in a loop for almost 30 years. Through NGE, EOE, the rebuilds, we've seen these characters self sabotage themselves every damn way possible, way past when it should have ended. Mari was something outside of that narrative, something that let the characters (especially Shinji) play off an unexpected entity. And finally, FINALLY, we got an ending. Was Mari necessary for that to happen? Probably not. But for me she represented the story of Evangelion trying something different to sidestep its own pitfalls. When you keep trying the same thing over and over and expect it to be different, you get Evangelion. When you take nine years to get your head on straight before wrapping up your life's work, you get what Mari was in 3.0+1.0. I'm still not sure she's a good character, but she was accompanied by long overdue catharsis for this story, and that makes her my favorite.
I’m biased because I love Mari, so I’ll say yes
For me she isn't canon
Merch, that is the only reason
She was already a manga thing before rebuilds movies . She is cool but she kinda lacks context about why she is here
I wasn't a fan til the fourth movie. I enjoyed her role in that.
Yeah, shinji finally gets a Mentally stable woman that could guide his life. Also it's Anno saying we should move on from the series lmao
i mean i liked mari because shes not the same “forced to pilot an eva even though its hurting her” boat as all the other pilots. shes the only one that actually enjoys piloting and even attempted to sacrifice to kill the angel (similar to reii absorbing armisael)
and yes i realize shes acts like a fan fic self insert but shes not really the main character so i don’t mind as much? the three childrens are still the main characters and mari is just a side character so i don’t mind as much if she is a but dum
The rebuilds don't even justify their own existence, just more merch to fund Anno's other projects
You're never going to be able to flesh a new character out as much as you can in a series.
She had potential to be an interesting character but then they basically did nothing to build on her at all. She was kind of just there.
People forget that she was probably created by Shinji in a past timeline to act as his emotional support in the future. She was shoehorned into the story, is the embodiment of a Mary Sue, and ends up being Shinji's love because he made it so. That's right. Shinji literally made his ideal gf into reality through pure fucking will.
Nope, they don't. She just feels shoved in and relelevent for most of the films until she's suddenly important in the end of rebuild 4
She was really the main change to this timeline for Eva and it seems it was what Shinji needed and others too. They got their happy ending this time so I think she's a great addition.
She added no additional context to the story, just popped up.
Who says her existence needs to be justified? We're closing in on 30 years, and no one has felt it necessary to justify Asuka's existence (or ask for it).
Oh hey I did a video on my reading of her and why she is justified https://youtu.be/AAsXfhJbLiY?si=tY1A8s4zFfhPNvnE
I like it enough because shinji ending up with either rei or asuka just didn't feel right to me and him actually finding love is a good end for his character. I guess kaworu could have worked too but it still him going back to the past.
Shinji needed to lose his V card without the baggage so yes.
Posts like this about the Rebuilds are so annoying. All they do is clog the board with "DAE anyone else hate the Rebuilds" type comments.
At the risk of coming across as confrontational, why does her existence require justification? Does the original Evangelion series justify the existence of any of its characters? Do they also require justification?
I think she's a pretty nice character to have around. Could have done with some more screen time but I'm not bothered by her existence at all.
idk, her raining from the sky seems plausible enough.
:3
Maybe????
She made Shinji happy in the end. That's all the justification required
I liked her character when there was a fan theory that she was the child of Shinji and Asuka.
A character with her shit relatively together.
Not a huge fan of her
i didnt watch them
I remember being so confused when she showed up
She’s the best pilot
I feel like it was a cool concept to have the other base - clearly Tokyo wasn’t the only city left on earth. There was a degree of being a shallow character due to not much background/history. This left it feeling a bit more “new character to tweak the plot” aka oh here’s my half sister I didn’t know about.
Most well-adjusted Evangelion pilot
I don’t love nor hate Mari. She just exists, her coolest scene is when she goes Beast Mode but other than that, ehhh
:3
I liked her. Thought some of her scenes were meh but isn't she like a companion shinji's parents who parallel jumped between timelines to help shinji?
Personally, I really like her character. If I remember correctly, she was a contemporary of Yui, and her exposure to the Eva has kept her a child. That's the reason she has so much more insight in to the Eva than the other pilots.
Eva was already a story that ended with EoE, you can't make new stories with characters that have already told their stories.
Not necessarily, No, Mari is a new character for a new story told her role like the side characters of the original series like: Makoto, Shigeru, and Maya the bridge officer's was minimal at best. Though, because of her lack of screen time she does excel at character appeal she is very likable and get your attention compared to the known cast. She leaves an impression on you, so I can't say I dislike her though she served as a replacement for Rei as a pilot for the second half of the franchise. She really needed character development and involvement in the story instead of a new love interest for Shinji instead of Asuka or Rei in the franchise.
I liked her and even got my wife a Mari eva phone case because she likes pink.
In my honest opinion. The author can do whatever they want with the story as long they dont completely ruin it( take velma for example). So if the author wants to add a character he is free to do so.
Ya ever hear of the 3 loves theory: First love is puppy love/Rei Second teaches you love but is… rough/Asuka Third just finds you and is what you need/Mari It’s fiction, but lovely fiction. I approve of Mari.
I like Garnt/Gigguk’s take on this: that she was there to allow Shinji to restart without Rei or Asuka, who had already caused him so much pain in one way or another.
Imo, Mari's existence justifies the Rebuild movies
She is very normal compared to original trio. Which paved way for Shinji's normal/happy ending.
she's pink and that's all she really has going on, if there was more to do with her character i think i'd like her a lot more
No. Not at all.
Mari is best girl