Mari Illustrious Makinami showed up in Rebuild of Evangelion 2, and she's basically shrouded in mystery. She pilots the Provisional Evangelion Unit-05, which is completely unlike anything else in the series—it's got four wheeled mechanical legs instead of humanoid ones, no hands, and instead features a jousting lance and a claw. Because the thing is so unconventional, Mari needs special gear to operate it: a helmet-like contraption and a plugsuit rigged with various attachments and tubing that help her control the unit's movement.
What makes Mari stand out among the pilots is her attitude. She's genuinely enthusiastic about piloting—she actually seems to enjoy it, singing to herself over the comm before diving into fights with Angels. The other kids are basically traumatized by the job; Mari treats it like a game.
She's also oddly knowledgeable for someone so new to the scene. She knows her way around Nerv's systems, has access to backdoors in both the base and the Eva programs, and is privy to operational details that supposedly only top-level Nerv staff should know about. Whether that makes her trustworthy or suspicious is part of what keeps her interesting.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
