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.

Appearance
Marina is an Octoling, the Octarian version of an Inkling. She has dark brown skin, silvery-teal eyes and reddish-pink pupils in the shape of an infinity symbol, similar to 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 all the way 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 an asymmetrical/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, similar to the one on her top. She appears to have on large, black headphones with teal rings on the sides of them. Her teal color will change depending on the Splatfest team she chooses, with the exception of her eyebrows.

In 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 a “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 Neo Octoling Armor, Neo Octoling Boots, and a pair of Octoling goggles 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 despite the fact that 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 Shifty Station, 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. When the player begins Splatoon 2, Marina has not told Pearl of her past as an Octoling soldier, and only talked to her about it for the first time in the Octo Expansion chat logs after her file was extracted from Cap'n Cuttlefish's Octarian database. She expressed fear over coming out to the public once everyone knows she is an Octoling, but Pearl insisted that she will be beloved regardless.

Marina met Pearl on Mount Nantai when she had just come out of the Octarian society and up to Inkopolis, not understanding it at all. Marina learned about Inkling culture and customs from Pearl, going up to Mount Nantai every day for a week, hoping that Pearl would show up again. Pearl was initially confused and believed Marina was stalking her, but one day she heard Marina practising her voice and Marina insisted that they start a band. She explains later in the Octo Expansion that she just had a good feeling about her. Marina then showed Pearl one of the songs that she had written, which was the demo of Ebb & Flow, and Pearl immediately agreed to them starting a band. When Pearl showed Marina her rapping, Marina initially thought that she would not be very good, but was surprised at her abilities.

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 having an obsession 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.

History
Marina was once a combat engineer for the Octarians, having graduated from elementary training at only 9 years of age after skipping multiple grades. She went on to play a part in designing the Flooder and enhancing the Great Octoweapons. During the events of the first Splatoon, 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. She was present at the ‘concert’ hosted by DJ Octavio in his fight against Agent 3, but deserted shortly after hearing the Squid Sisters' Calamari Inkantation. According to witnesses, her only comment was "This changes everything." When she first arrived at the Inkling world, she did not understand the language and had to learn it from Pearl.

Octo Expansion
Marina has a role in the Octo Expansion paid downloadable content for Splatoon 2, where she wears a different outfit (reminiscent of the rapper Tupac Shakur), and is known by the moniker DJ_Hyperfresh. She, along with Pearl, can help Agent 8 to skip missions and further their progress. The player is given access to Marina's chat room, where facts about her past are revealed, such as the fact she used to work for DJ Octavio.

Trivia



 * Marina can be seen in Scroll 2 of the Sunken Scrolls, 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.
 * It is confirmed that Marina is 18 years old, according to Nintendo's Splatoon Twitter and the Splatoon 2 art book.
 * 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 implies that Marina may be either be younger than Pearl or less familiar or experienced in the Inkopolis industry and looks up to Pearl as a mentor or a respected figure who came before her. The Splatoon 2 artbook reveals Pearl is three years older, despite being shorter 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 similar to 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 own charms.
 * Marina's Japanese surname (that she is commonly referred 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 particular 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.