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Mari Illustrious Makinami appears as a teenager piloting EVA Unit-05 in the Rebuild of Evangelion films. Her energetic personality and youthful appearance suggest she's around the same age as Shinji and Asuka. However, Mari's true age presents one of the franchise's most intriguing mysteries.
The answer isn't straightforward. While Mari looks like a 14-15 year old EVA pilot, evidence throughout the Rebuild films suggests she's actually much older than she appears. Understanding Mari's real age requires examining her connections to the past and the secrets she carries.
Mari's Apparent Age vs True Age
In the Rebuild films, Mari presents herself as a teenage EVA pilot. She attends school, interacts with other young pilots, and displays the energy and mannerisms of someone in their mid-teens. This surface appearance matches the standard EVA pilot profile.
However, multiple hints throughout the films indicate Mari is significantly older:
- She appears in photographs from decades before the main story
- Mari knows Gendo and Yui Ikari from their university days
- She possesses knowledge about events from before Second Impact
- Her behavior sometimes reveals maturity beyond teenage years
Age Comparison Table:
|
Character |
Apparent Age |
True/Biological Age |
Timeline Evidence |
|
Mari Makinami |
14-15 years |
40+ years |
Present in university photos with Yui |
|
Shinji Ikari |
14 years |
14 years |
Born after Second Impact |
|
Asuka Shikinami |
14 years |
14 years |
Clone with implanted memories |
|
Rei Ayanami |
14 years |
Less than 14 years |
Clone created by NERV |
The University Photo Evidence
The most direct evidence of Mari's true age appears in photographs showing her alongside Yui Ikari during their university years. These images place Mari as a contemporary of Shinji's mother, who would have been in her twenties or thirties before Second Impact.
Since the main Rebuild timeline occurs approximately 14 years after Third Impact (which itself happened years after Second Impact), Mari should be middle-aged if she attended university with Yui. Yet she maintains a teenage appearance throughout the films.
The Curse of EVA Explained
The Rebuild films introduce the concept of the "Curse of EVA"—a phenomenon affecting EVA pilots that halts their physical aging. This curse explains why several characters maintain youthful appearances despite chronological ages that should show maturity.
Mari appears to be affected by this curse more extremely than other pilots. While the exact mechanism remains unexplained, the implication is that prolonged contact with EVA units or specific synchronization experiments prevented her body from aging normally.
Key characteristics of the EVA curse:
- Stops physical aging while maintaining biological functions
- Affects pilots with extended EVA exposure
- Creates discrepancy between chronological and biological age
- May relate to contact with Adam or Lilith-based technology
- Potentially reversible under certain circumstances
Mari's Connection to Yui Ikari
The photographs and subtle dialogue hints confirm Mari knew Yui personally before her disappearance into Unit-01. They were friends or colleagues during university, sharing research interests in bioengineering and EVA development.
This relationship suggests Mari may have been involved in the early EVA program from its inception. She likely participated in the same research that eventually led to Yui's absorption into Unit-01, giving Mari insider knowledge about EVA technology and NERV's true purposes.
Her familiarity with Gendo and the project's foundations explains her confident, almost casual attitude toward piloting. Unlike Shinji and Asuka, who stumble into the pilot role, Mari entered it with full understanding of what EVA units truly represent.
Why Mari Looks Young
Several theories explain Mari's youthful appearance despite her true age:
Early EVA Experimentation: Mari may have participated in prototype EVA contact experiments decades ago. These early synchronization tests could have triggered the aging curse before the main timeline began.
Intentional Preservation: Organizations like SEELE or early NERV might have deliberately preserved Mari's youth for long-term pilot availability. This would require technology beyond what the films explicitly show but aligns with the franchise's themes.
Clone Theory: Some fans theorize Mari might be a clone like Rei or Asuka, though evidence supporting this remains weak. Her unique personality and memories from the past argue against simple cloning.
Time Dilation Effects: Contact with EVA units or certain experiments might create localized time effects, causing Mari to age slower than normal time passage would suggest.
Mari's Role Across the Rebuild Films
Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance
Mari first appears piloting the temporary EVA Unit-05 against the Third Angel. Her introduction establishes her as an experienced, enthusiastic pilot who treats EVA combat almost playfully. She demonstrates advanced knowledge of EVA systems beyond what teenage pilots typically possess.
Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo
Fourteen years after Near Third Impact, Mari appears unchanged while other characters show age differences where applicable. She works with WILLE, the anti-NERV organization, and maintains her energetic personality. Her unchanged appearance during this time skip reinforces that she doesn't age normally.
Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time
The final film provides the clearest hints about Mari's true age through photographs and her final interaction with Shinji. She helps guide him toward escaping the EVA curse, suggesting she understands its effects from personal experience. The conclusion shows her waiting for Shinji in a world beyond EVA influence.
The Mystery of Mari's Background
Unlike other pilots whose backstories receive explicit explanation, Mari's history remains deliberately vague. The films never directly state her age or explain how she maintains her appearance. This ambiguity serves the character's mysterious nature.
Director Hideaki Anno intentionally left Mari's details unexplained, creating a character who exists somewhat outside the main narrative's tragic cycles. She represents an outside perspective on the events, someone who understands the full scope but isn't trapped by the same trauma affecting other characters.
What we know about Mari:
- Connected to EVA program's earliest days
- Knew Yui Ikari personally before Second Impact
- Unaffected by typical teenage pilot anxieties
- Maintains optimistic outlook despite understanding EVA's true nature
- Works against NERV/SEELE's plans in later films
- Successfully escapes the EVA curse by the finale
Comparing Mari to Other Characters
Mari's situation differs significantly from Rei and Asuka's unusual origins. Rei exists as a clone with Lilith's soul, explaining her artificial nature. Asuka in the Rebuild continuity is also a clone with implanted memories, revealed through her "Shikinami" surname designation.
Mari appears to be neither clone nor artificial construct. She's an original person who simply stopped aging through EVA-related circumstances. This makes her unique among the main cast—everyone else is either genuinely young or artificially created.
Fan Theories About Mari's Age
The community has developed numerous theories attempting to explain Mari's situation:
The Original Test Pilot Theory: Mari volunteered for the very first EVA synchronization experiments in the 1990s or early 2000s. These primitive tests triggered the curse before anyone understood what would happen, trapping her in a teenage body for decades.
The Time Loop Theory: Some fans suggest Mari exists outside normal time flow, possibly through connection to the various Impacts' reality-warping effects. This would explain her unchanged appearance across different timelines.
The Intentional Design Theory: SEELE or Gendo specifically preserved Mari as a long-term asset, knowing they'd need experienced pilots decades into the future. This would require technology never shown but fits with the organizations' ruthless planning.
The Quantum State Theory: Contact with EVA units places pilots in a quantum superposition regarding age, causing them to exist simultaneously at multiple ages until observed or removed from EVA influence.
The Significance of Mari's True Age
Mari's extended lifespan changes how viewers interpret her character. She isn't a traumatized teenager thrust into combat—she's a middle-aged woman who chose this path with full knowledge of the consequences. Her cheerful demeanor becomes more impressive knowing she's maintained optimism for decades.
This revelation also explains her mentorship role toward Shinji in the final film. Mari has lived through enough to understand that escaping EVA's influence requires conscious choice and courage. She guides Shinji not as a peer but as someone with decades more experience.
Why Anno Kept It Ambiguous
Director Hideaki Anno rarely provides explicit answers to mysteries in Evangelion. The franchise thrives on interpretation and discussion, with ambiguity serving artistic purposes. Mari's age remains unclear because definitive answers would reduce her symbolic role.
She represents possibility and optimism—someone who understands the worst of EVA's nature but maintains hope anyway. Pinning down exact ages and explanations would diminish her function as the character who exists slightly outside the story's deterministic tragedy.
The Curse's Resolution
By the final film's conclusion, Shinji manages to rewrite reality and free everyone from the EVA curse. The ending shows Mari and Shinji meeting in a world without EVAs, where normal aging presumably resumes. Whether Mari will now age normally or maintains some alteration remains unclear but becomes irrelevant in a world beyond EVA influence.
This resolution suggests Mari spent potentially decades waiting for someone to break the cycle. Her patience and persistent optimism across all that time makes her one of the franchise's most remarkably resilient characters.
Mari in Extended Media
Supplementary materials and promotional content occasionally hint at Mari's background but never explicitly confirm her age. Official character profiles list her as a teenager, maintaining the surface-level information while avoiding deeper explanations.
This consistency across materials indicates Anno's team deliberately maintains the mystery rather than accidentally omitting details. Mari's true age serves as one of the Rebuild series' intentional unanswered questions.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mari older than Gendo Ikari?
Mari appears to be roughly the same age as Gendo chronologically since both knew Yui during university. However, while Gendo aged normally into his forties, Mari's appearance remained frozen as a teenager due to the EVA curse.
Why doesn't Mari act like an older person?
Despite her true age, Mari maintains a youthful personality and energy. This could result from the curse affecting mental state alongside physical aging, or Mari consciously choosing to embrace youthful enthusiasm despite her chronological age.
Did Mari know Shinji's mother well?
Photographs confirm Mari and Yui Ikari knew each other during university years. They likely worked together on early EVA research projects. The exact depth of their friendship remains unexplored, but Mari clearly remembers Yui and understands what happened when she disappeared into Unit-01.
How did Mari become an EVA pilot originally?
The films never explain Mari's initial recruitment or training. Given her connection to the program's earliest days and friendship with Yui, she likely volunteered for experimental pilot programs during EVA development.
Will Mari age normally after the final film?
The ending removes EVA influence from the world, which should eliminate the curse preventing normal aging. However, the film doesn't explicitly confirm this. Mari's fate in the EVA-free world remains open to interpretation, though normal aging seems most likely given the curse's removal.
Is Mari immortal?
No evidence suggests true immortality. The EVA curse halted her physical aging but didn't make her invulnerable to death through injury or other causes. The curse simply maintained her teenage biological state rather than granting eternal life.
Conclusion
Mari Illustrious Makinami's true age remains one of Evangelion's most fascinating mysteries. While appearing as a teenager, she's actually decades older—a woman who witnessed the program's beginning and patiently waited for its end. This hidden depth makes her one of the Rebuild series' most intriguing additions to the franchise.
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