Marina

"I know we talk a lot of smack on the show and all, but I just wanted to say thanks. For everything."

- A text message to Pearl in the Octo Expansion

Marina Ida is one of two members of Off the Hook, a band featured in Splatoon 2, along with Pearl, that hosts Inkopolis News, replacing the Squid Sisters from the first game. Her signature color is teal.

She is voiced by Alice.

Appearance
Marina is an Octoling, the Octarian version of an Inkling. She has dark brown skin, silvery-teal eyes with reddish-pink pupils in the shape of an infinity symbol, like octopuses in real life, two eyelashes on each eye, very dark teal eyebrows that are constantly downturned in a "worried" expression and a beauty mark at the left of her lips. She appears to be taller than most Octolings and Inklings. Like Pearl, and unlike other Inklings, she has one sharp tooth in the middle at the top and bottom of her teeth instead of the usual two on top. Her tentacles are purplish-brown with teal edges, which are long and worn down reaching past her waist, and her fingers are pointed and teal at the tips, giving somewhat the impression of painted nails. Her outfit consists of a sleeveless black top covering her chest with a large, mostly undone silver zipper with an infinity-shaped hole resembling an 8 and a high collar, leaving her midriff visible, showing a teal navel piercing. She has black shorts with a diagonal waistline and slanted deep teal lines over teal tights, black fingerless gloves, and wears black boots with big undone silver zippers with 8-shaped holes, like the one on her top. She appears to have on large, black headphones with teal rings on the sides of them. Her teal color changed depending on the Splatfest team she chose, except for her eyebrows.

In the Octo Expansion, Marina wears a more hip-hop attire than her pop stage outfit. She wears a white bandana that is wrapped around her head with light gray designs, a long, silver chain necklace with an 8 symbol pendant (similar to her zippers from her stage outfit) around her neck, a black wristwatch and black chain bracelet on her right arm, a white turtleneck crop top, seafoam colored capris, and silver bowed, gray-white shoes. She also retains her headphones.

As an Octoling warrior, Marina's tentacles were shorter and she wore what resembles the, , and alongside her headphones, first shown in Marina's chat room and again on the back of the Splatoon 2 Live in Makuhari -Tentalive- limited-edition slipcover.

Personality and traits
Marina is more reserved than her partner, Pearl. She speaks in a sweet, gentle manner, is very excitable, and can get very sassy in response to others, though she often acts quite shy as well. While she is reserved, she does not appear to be concerned about expressing herself. She seems to be slightly forgetful at times and has been observed to forget the news she and Pearl are broadcasting. Her timidity shows when she sees an Inkling watching her through the window; when she notices them, she smiles awkwardly and waves. This behavior likely comes from the fact that many believe her to be an Inkling even though she learned the Inkling language recently and that she looks very different from the Inklings; her Octoling-like appearance is said to simply be a new fashion trend.

Marina has demonstrated a high level of intelligence, noted by Pearl in the Octo Expansion. This is demonstrated with the Shifty Stations, a series of stages created by Marina for Splatfests using advanced Octarian technology, as shown by the mechanics seem within Octo Canyon, as well as making rocks float. She is also capable of hacking Kamabo Corporation, allowing Agent 8 to pass a test using the data collected from their previous attempts.

In Japan, Marina's speech is occasionally rendered in katakana, indicating an accent of some sort. Unlike DJ Octavio, she does not speak completely in katakana. However, in the Splatune 2 liner notes, her lyrics are entirely in katakana, which is supposed to show that her singing is in a different language.

Marina is shown to be an enthusiast regarding all sorts of technology, befitting her background as an Octarian engineer. She is portrayed as being obsessed with the machinery found in various stages, such as the excavator found within Piranha Pit. She often utilizes similar machinery in the Shifty Station layouts she designs, which also includes various Octarian machinery found in Octo Canyon and Octo Valley.

Early life


Marina was born into "the oppression of Octarian society" and began to be trained as a combat engineer from a very early age. She graduated from elementary training at the age of 9 after skipping multiple grades and for the next few years went on to play a part in designing the Flooder and enhancing the Great Octoweapons. During the events of, she had received multiple commendations as part of DJ Octavio's wasabi supply unit. As a high-ranking member, she was known throughout Octarian society and was recognized by Agent 8 despite never meeting personally.

During Splatoon, Marina was present in the audience of Agent 3's battle against DJ Octavio but deserted the army and Octarian society shortly after hearing the Squid Sisters sing the Calamari Inkantation. According to witnesses, her only comment was "This changes everything." She escaped to Mount Nantai, where she did not even understand the Inkling language. While there, she met an Inkling called Pearl, who was practicing singing. Learning about Inkling culture and customs, Marina attempted to find Pearl again. When she did, she showed Pearl her musical abilities through her demo of Ebb & Flow and Pearl immediately agreed to them starting a band, forming Off the Hook in the process. They released Ebb & Flow as their first single, which was a hit. By the time of their fourth single, around nine months after the events of Splatoon, they had become popular enough to take over hosting Inkopolis News from the Squid Sisters.

Splatoon 2
By the time of, Off the Hook had become famous in Inkopolis Square for their music and for presenting Inkopolis News, in which Marina had a similar relationship with Pearl as Callie and Marie had. Their work included hosting Splatfest events, announcing the themes and singing and dancing to Color Pulse for the event's duration.

Although Pearl and Marina did not make appearances during Octo Canyon, they were the first to break the news of Callie and the Great Zapfish's disappearances. They also announced their rescue on Inkopolis News, fulfilling a request to play Fresh Start over the credits.

Octo Expansion
Marina had a major role in the Octo Expansion, where she and Pearl stumbled upon Cap'n Cuttlefish and Agent 8 by overhearing their radio transmission. Learning that they were trapped in the Deepsea Metro, attempting to escape to Inkopolis, they promised to help them out. The three acted as Agent 8's guides during the tests, while they also talked in Marina's chat room, where Marina was known as "DJ_Hyperfresh". This chat room was used by the group to learn about their respective pasts. When discussing with Cuttlefish about Marina's technological achievements, Pearl finally discovered her history as a member of the Octarian army, and despite being deeply shocked, she promised to remain friends with her.

After Agent 8 collected all four thangs and escaped from the Deepsea Metro, Off the Hook finally met them and Cap'n Cuttlefish in person after their battle with a brainwashed Agent 3. When the Telephone revealed its true nature as Commander Tartar to destroy Inkopolis, Marina came up with the plan necessary to defeat it - letting Agent 8 detonate her hyperbombs to cover the NILS Statue in ink, with Pearl using her Princess Cannon to finish it off. With the threat averted, the group returned safely to Inkopolis Square.

Trivia



 * Marina can be seen in Sunken Scroll 2, which depicts Agent 3's climactic fight against DJ Octavio in Splatoon. The picture shows various Octarians and Octolings cheering on in the background, one of which is Marina wearing Octoling Gear with the goggles off.
 * Marina refers to Pearl with the honorific "senpai" in the Japanese version of the game, which is an honorific used to address somebody of an elder social rank in a field or trade. This is due to Pearl being three years older than her.
 * Marina's eyebrows do not change color, like how Pearl's crown doesn't change color, and unlike how the Squid Sisters' main colors completely change. The reason for this is unknown.
 * Her tentacles are shown to change to completely one color, as shown in the most Splatfest promo art. The same likely goes for the Squid Sisters.
 * The infinity-shaped holes in her zippers are vertical instead of horizontal like her eyes' pupils, giving it more of an "8" shape.
 * Unlike Pearl and the Squid Sisters, she does not wear a hat-like accessory and has headphones instead.
 * Her toes are colored at the tips like her fingers, as shown in the Agility vs. Endurance Splatfest artwork.
 * According to Pearl, Marina owns a motorcycle.
 * Marina mentions she prefers to use the Splat Brella on Humpback Pump Track.
 * Marina shares a name with Marina from Animal Crossing, who also happens to be an octopus.
 * During a conversation about Blackbelly Skatepark, Pearl accidentally calls the stage a 'map'. Marina replies, "It's called a stage. Are you trying to get us fired?", breaking the fourth wall.
 * Marina is not just a DJ. As evidenced by the Haikaraibu at Tokaigi 2018 concert, she also plays a keytar with a Squid Sisters decal on the neck.
 * Her preferred personal pronoun in Japanese is ワタシ (watashi, which is used mostly by women or during formal speech. The fact that she pluralizes it to ワタシら (watashi ra) rather than ワタシたち (watashi tachi) seems to indicate that she uses it to sound formal and not to sound feminine.
 * Her speech is usually with formal variants and conjugations. When learning Japanese, the formal 丁寧語 (teinei-go) is usually the first taught to pupils, as is the pronoun わたし, since they are catch-all and useful in more situations. This might show that Marina has only recently learned the language she is speaking.
 * She also tends to make many malapropisms, further indicating that she only recently learned the Inkling Language.
 * Marina's text mostly extends syllables with the ～ character, and her sentences often end with ♪. This makes it read as if she is singing her lines.
 * Fans of the game have noted that Marina's outfit in the Octo Expansion, particularly her bandana, resembles rapper Tupac Shakur.
 * Both Marina and Pearl subtly break the fourth wall during one of the dialogues for Blackbelly Skatepark. When Pearl says "Hey, kids - don't spend all your time in front of the TV! Go play outside!", Marina responds with "But how can they play video games if they're not in front of a TV?!", slightly breaking the fourth wall, since they are referring to the players rather than the Inklings in the audience.
 * This dialogue is also a reference to the Nintendo Switch since it is a hybrid console that can be played both in front of a TV and as a handheld.
 * In Marina's in-game model, she does not seem to have any ears of sort whatsoever despite her wearing headphones most of the time. The reason for this is unknown.
 * In a Twitter post released from SplatoonJP, it is revealed that she officially has small, round ears like the enemy Octolings' but slightly bigger. Her ears are also smaller than the playable Octolings' due to her being based on a webfoot octopus than a dumbo octopus.
 * According to Pearl, Marina is a comic book collector, with at least 5000 comics.
 * In the Dutch version, Pearl states that Marina enjoys manga and clubs dedicated to them.
 * If the player plays as Agent 8 and zooms into their room in Inkopolis Square, she and Pearl will show a more friendly pose than if playing as Agent 4, seeing as they know them.
 * During the Off the Hook Concert at Polymanga 2018, Marina says at one point "I'M SO EXCITED! I think my hearts might explode!", implying that she has multiple hearts. This is a reference to how real-life octopuses have three hearts.
 * Marina's full name, as revealed in Octo Expansion, is a combination of her English name 'Marina' and her Japanese name 'Iida'. This is true in the Japanese version as well, though Marina's given name is Marine instead, making Iida her family name. This effectively gives Marina (nearly) the same full name across both the English and Japanese localizations, one of the only characters (if not THE only character) this is true for.
 * The Italian translation also references this by making her full name Nori Marinis.
 * Out of all the hostesses of the Splatoon series, Marina is the only one with headgear that does not represent an underwater creature.
 * In one of her dialogues for Kelp Dome, Marina says her favorite vegetables are beets, a pun on beats, referencing to the fact that she remixes and creates beats as a DJ.
 * In dialogue for Sturgeon Shipyard, Marina says to Pearl that the stage is one of her favorites and that all the heavy machinery there reminds her of her childhood (referencing her past as an Octoling engineer). Pearl states that Marina always gets a dopey smile when she announces the stage.
 * Pearl also notices that Marina uses sounds made by nearby boat motors in a track she made. In other languages, Marina states that heavy machinery creates great beats and has its charms.
 * Marina's Japanese surname (that she is commonly referred to as) is Iida, which is a common surname in Japan but also short for Iidako, Japanese for webfoot octopus. This could mean that Marina is that species, as Pearl and the Squid Sisters all have Japanese names that are puns on squid species.
 * In Japan, Marina's fanbase is known as Iidachi (イイダチ), which is a portmanteau of Marina's name, Iida, and tomodachi (友達), the Japanese word for "friend." The English equivalent to this name may be "Marination," as seen on the Marination Lace-Ups.
 * In the Unicorn vs. Narwhal opening dialogue, she reveals that her landlord is a narwhal.
 * Marina's computer and keytar have Squid Sisters decorations, hinting that she is a fan of them.