Theories and Speculations about Mari Illustrious Makinami
Originally published at Lunar Shards. You can comment here or there.
I love Evangelion 2.22. I really really like the new character they introduced Mari! Yet something bugs me about the situation here. One of the theories tossed about among my friends is the possibility that Shinji jumped dimensions to attempt to redo his decisions in the past. The end result is a return to the beginning of Evangelion and a replay of events. Of course things aren’t all the same this time around. Things have changed a little bit. Shinji’s grown a little bit of a backbone for once and shit is happening far differently now. Evangelion 2.22 opens with the newest girl to the group, Mari Illustrious Makinami. Rambunctious and a bit of a psychopath, see’s a bit of fresh air considering our pilots are Shinji, Asuka and Rei.
The question is what role does she play in the universe? Her introduction has her piloting and eventually destroying Evangelion Unit 05. Who is she and why does she know so much about the Evangelions. One theory I stumbled upon whole thinking over things is the possibility that Shinji wasn’t the only one to travel back after the events of the End of Evangelion. Assuming this is the case with the ReBuild, the only other person who may actually make the Jump would be Asuka. Yet there already is an Asuka in the ReBuild series. Of course the trick is it the same Asuka? Asuka Langley Shikinami is our ReBuild pilot 02. She acts a little bit differently then in the TV series which can be attributed to the possibility that they wanted to refine her character but another thought popped up.
So during the Freecon panel this year for Evangelion, a thought blossomed in my head regarding who Mari might be. What if Asuka came back not as herself to make another attempt but as someone else free of the burden that dragged her down the first time. The only other person this could be is Mari since she’s the newest character. Yet for Asuka to exist also would mean a part of her, the part that carried the burden still returned. The possibility of a soul getting split into to when returning could work in this particular case since Asuka of ReBuild acts much more recluse then the TV series version however seems much more reasonable over time. Mari seems to share the more primal tendencies of the original Asuka. Elements upon which Asuka originally had such as interaction with Kaji and such seems to have been taken up by Mari. The two are expert pilots probably on par with each other.
Looking deeper into this strange theory, another strange event occurs in 2.22 that has me wondering. Towards the end of the movie, Mari launches in Evangelion 02 which was locked in storage with it’s core removed. Evangelion pilots have difficulties using other pilot’s Evangelions due to the nature of the core inside of it. Rei can pilot Unit 00 due to the fact that supposedly her first incarnation exists inside Evangelion 00. Shinji can pilot Unit 01 because the core is made up of her Mother. The two pilots can switch Evangelions without much problems due to the nature of their cores. Asuka only seems to be able to pilot Evangelion 02 since the core is that of her mother’s soul. That being said, in Evangelion ReBuild this nature isn’t’ mentioned though it is implied. If this is the case, Evangelion 02 shouldn’t be able to activate or even act at such a high Sync rate while Mari is piloting it unless the unit accepts her as a pilot. This can only lead me to believe there is some connection.
She eventually replaces Asuka in the fight against Zeruel. Similarly the results are almost the same with Evangelion 02 losing one arm but avoids losing the second one. The strike to the head which decapitates Evangelion 02′s head in the TV series only results in part of the head being damaged. Is it possible that Mari knew the attack was coming and was able to avoid being taken out completely? Strange as it is, the usage of Evangelion 02 seems to be a strong point of interest on what is going on.
Finally one final point in her personality is how she seems to look at Rei with contempt the same way Asuka did originally. This is seen in the preview of Evangelion 3.0 yet it’s hard to tell in such a short clip.
There are characteristics outside of this that seems to point clues at the possibility of a split existance of Asuka in this version of Evangelion. In the new ReBuild, Asuka Langley Shikinami is the new Asuka. New last name instead of the original TV series. Oddly, Mari Illustrious Makinami is the name of the new pilot. The two pilot’s last name’s Shikinami and Makinami share the same last character of “波” which is Nami or wave. Could this be a case of two different wave forms that make up a single person? Of course another possibility is simply the naming convention of female pilots which take names after the Ayanami-class Destroyer.
Maybe Mari’s pink (light red?) plug suit is a clue? That one’s a bit of a wild guess! Or her glasses! they’re red! Her head band has Evangelion Interface headset and she wears them all the time like a certain someone we know. Really though there’s a lot they Mari shares for some reason and it’s kinda troubling till we find out more about her.
I guess all we can do is leave this folder open until Evangelion 3.0 rolls around to see which elements actually do come true. I mean with how things end in Evangelion 2.22, anything can happen.