Affiliation(s): NERV
Rank: First Lieutenant
Age: 24
Birthday: July 11, 1991
Maya Ibuki works as a computer technician at NERV under Ritsuko Akagi, handling the technical side of Eva operations. During Angel battles, her job is straightforward: monitor the pilots' sync ratios and relay emergency commands to the Evangelions based on orders from command. She's best known among fans, though, for her complicated relationship with Ritsuko—something that becomes explicitly textual in The End of Evangelion. When Instrumentality begins, Lilith takes Ritsuko's form and types "I need you" into Maya's laptop before embracing her. Maya's response—a breathless "Senpai!"—before she reverts to LCL is basically the only moment the film gives us to read her true feelings, and fans have debated whether it's confirmation or something more ambiguous.
What really defines Maya, though, is her hatred of violence. Despite her technical job, she's visibly uncomfortable during Angel attacks, frequently nauseous and looking away. In The End of Evangelion, she stands out among NERV officers as refusing to fight the JSSDF invaders—not because she can't handle a gun, but because she's never shot at a person and won't start. When Shigeru tries to hand her a weapon to defend herself, she just can't do it. For much of that film's second half, she's buried face-first in a pink pillow under her desk.
Fans often read her as representing the audience's perspective throughout the series. She reacts with horror when you'd expect to feel horrified, and shows genuine joy in lighter moments.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
