zlink64 wrote:So I just read the bonus chapter. Is it safe to assume that by the time Mari is introduced in rebuild she is a old woman stuck in a teenaged body the way Asuka is after the time skip? I'm thinking this since her appearance in the manga is proof that she is was a teenager during that time period.
Please remember that you’re talking about a place in a timeline where Mari never pilots an Eva Unit in her life in the events leading to Impact, unlike the Mari in NTE who piloted at least 3 different Eva Units in the events leading to the Impacts. In this sense, this can also be a case where we have two different Maris.
This wouldn’t be the first time this has happened. According to Sadamoto’s manga, we also know that Asuka Soryu is a sperm-donar baby who never met her father, whereas in NGE she knew her father (assumed by natural birth) and had a rough relationship with him during his remarriage after her mother’s death. (Not to mention that in NTE her last name isn’t even “Soryu.”)
Now could this aspect of Mari bleed into NTE in the form of some reveal in Eva Shin? Maybe. As pwhodges stated, Mari calling Ikari “Gendo-kun” is awfully weird for a teenage girl. But I can’t recall that girl ever referring to anyone with a “san” honorific anyway, so it could be that this is just another inherent quirk of Mari’s. The other thing to consider that, if Sadamoto’s manga flashback is in anyway an indicator of NTE Mari’s backstory, then it’s not likely that the women with glasses in the photograph Fuyutsuki shows to Shinji is related in any form to Mari, as a few around here have been speculating.