>>4314308>mariThe problem with Mari is the same kind of problem they had with Asuka when making rebuild; a refusal to truly commit to anything one way or the other. There are obvious differences between the two as far as personality, but from a technical standpoint, they share the same basic story role, that being ‘the other pilot.’ But because they never really commit to developing Mari beyond Anno’s vague ‘destroy Eva’ purpose, and Asuka trying to even find enough screen time to shine, what happens is Asuka and Mari get stuck trying to fill the same spot. Giving to one necessarily takes from the other and so on. And so instead of having a fully fleshed out character who disrupts Shinji’s life but ultimately reshapes the path he’s on we end up with two partial characters who sort of do that, but neither feel like they have the appropriate weight they need in the story. To paraphrase, I think Asuka and Mari should have been combined to form a new character, called Asuka Langley Soryu.