Sometimes when colors clash and mix, you end up with mud. But every now and then, you get to see a beautiful rainbow! And in the end...that's a gamble I'm willing to take! With Pearl, and Eight, and Acht, and everyone else!
Marina is an Octoling that appears to be taller and more curvaceous than most Inklings and Octolings. She has dark brown skin, teal eyes with reddish-pink horizontal pupils (which real-life octopuses have) in the shape of an infinity symbol and two eyelashes each, and dark brown tentacles with teal tips that can also change completely to one color; they are kept very long, arriving past her waist. She also has dark teal eyebrows that are constantly downturned in a "worried" expression, a teal gradient on her fingers, and a beauty mark at the left of her lips. Like Pearl, and unlike other Octolings, her sharp teeth are in the center on both the top and bottom, instead of being asymmetrical. She has also stated that she has multiple hearts, like how real-life octopuses do.[3]
Her outfit consists of a sleeveless, high-collared black top that bares her midriff, showing a teal navel piercing. It has a large, mostly undone silver zipper with an infinity symbol-shaped hole resembling the pupils of her eyes. She has black puffy shorts with a diagonal waistline and slanted grooves that light up in sync with the music; under them are teal tights and black boots with big undone silver zippers with 8-shaped holes like the one on her top. She wears large black headphones with teal rings on the sides of them, covering her ears, and black fingerless gloves. As seen in Splatfest artwork and Marina's Dev Diaries, she also occasionally wears glasses. During Splatfests, the teal on her design changes to match the color of the team she chose, except for her eyebrows.
In the Octo Expansion, Marina wears a more hip-hop attire than her pop stage outfit, somewhat resembling rapper Tupac Shakur. She wears a white bandana with light gray tentacle designs wrapped around her head, a long, silver chain necklace with an infinity-symbol pendant (similar to her zippers from her stage outfit) around her neck, a black wristwatch and a black chain bracelet on her right arm, a white turtleneck crop top, aqua colored capris, and silver slip-on shoes with a bow on top and white soles. She also retains her headphones. The gear items given out by the Marina amiibo are replicas of Marina's Octo Expansion outfit, namely the Marinated Headphones, Marinated Top, and Marinated Slip-Ons.
During the Final Fest, she wore a high-collared tight silver dress with a number-eight cut at the chest and very long sleeves turning into gloves, gray leggings with a darker diamond pattern, and matching thigh-length heeled boots covered by her dress. She also had two diamond shapes painted on her left cheek and a different pair of headphones, with diamond shapes instead of circles. She wears the same outfit in Side Order when possessed by Order as Marina Agitando, albeit with her tentacles being entirely brown and wearing a Controller VM on her head.
In Splatoon 3, Marina has a new outfit consisting of an orange jacket with a subtle zig-zag pattern and indigo interior, matching pants, and a black bralette. She wears different headphones with a glowing, sea-green circle pattern on each ear; they are connected by two orange tubes, with a small piece of reflective metal on either temple. She has black high heels with indigo midsoles and undersides, and the tips of her tentacles are now indigo with a galaxy pattern, although her sideburns and eyebrows remain teal. In 2D artwork, Marina is depicted with her navel piercing and different gloves that expose her knuckles and the backs of her hands; however, in Splatoon 3: Side Order and during the Splatoon 3 Live Concert at Nintendo Live 2024 TOKYO (prior to changing into her idol outfit for the final medley), she has her regular gloves and does not wear the piercing. When performing during Splatfests, Marina wears the same outfit as in Splatoon 2.
In the artwork for the Suffer No Fools music video, Marina wears an asymmetrical black tube top with a thinner strap on her right shoulder and a triangular cut under the same side of her chest, white baggy pants and black sports shoes. She also wears a thin black chain on her waist underneath her pants, golden 8-shaped wiry earrings and a matching bracelet on one of her wrists (the right one when she's shown with Pearl, and the left one when she goes against Shiver); she does not wear her usual headphones. Her tentacles have a gradient to orange, while her fingertips fade to dark teal and purple.
During the Baby Chicks vs. Li'l Bunnies vs. Bear Cubs Splatfest, Marina wears a pair of headphones with a wire-mesh pattern on the ears, a white sporty bralette, and a black mesh garment on top of it, covering her neck and the top of her cleavage, and reaching down to the middle and ring fingers of her hands. She wears long white hip-hop pants with plain black ankle boots, and her tentacles take on a sea green-to-pink gradient. Her fingertips and navel piercing are colored purple.
During the Palace vs. Theme Park vs. Beach Splatfest, Marina wears a holographic version of her usual shirt and shorts, while her boots, headphones and gloves are the usual black; she wears a straight purple visor on her eyes, dark gray tights, and her tentacles have a gradient to purple, while her fingers still change between the three team colors every stage rotation. She also wears a ring matching Pearl's on her back left tentacle, as well as two on her front right tentacle.
For the Grand Festival Splatfest, Marina wears a white plunge bikini top, a multi-tiered chrome necklace with round pendants hanging from a bronze choker, partially unbuttoned white pants with crossed laces on the bare sides, and tall white laced boots. Lacking her usual headphones, she wears multiple piercings in her ears, with a small, teal round one on the front and several purple spikes behind. Her fingertips have a gradient to white, matching Shiver and Frye's.
Personality and traits
Marina is more reserved than her bandmate Pearl. She speaks in a sweet, gentle manner, but can get very sassy in response to others teasing her. She is more sentimental and tender-hearted than Pearl, and has been known to break down crying in public when sufficiently touched. Despite her shyness, she does not appear to be concerned about expressing herself. She is forgetful[2] 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 was said to simply be a new fashion trend before Agent 8 came to Inkopolis Square. Early in Splatoon 2, international versions characterized Marina as being much more sarcastic and frequently delivering lighthearted jabs toward Pearl's character flaws, similar to Marie; this would be greatly toned down in the following updates. Octo Expansion would later hint this discrepancy is due to Marina wanting to disguise her inner lack of self-confidence, and in Splatoon 3: Side Order her international persona matches her Japanese one.
Marina is also heavily implied to have a crush on Pearl, being described as a "maiden in love" on the Japanese version of Splatoon Base,[4] and making a manga about her where she is drawn as a bishōjo, drawing flowers, sparkles, and hearts around Pearl. While this is never explicitly stated in-game, Marina shows her affection towards her by playfully poking fun at Pearl's small stature during newscasts, tackling and nuzzling her in a hug after they win the final battle of Octo Expansion, and becoming extremely devastated when Pearl floats around the idea of their band breaking up. This is also seen in Side Order, where Marina has a picture of Pearl as her computer's wallpaper, frequently uses heart emojis when speaking about Pearl in her dev diary, and compares herself to a "storybook princess" at the top of a tower who "brave Pearl" must rescue. She also appears to get jealous toward Acht when she thinks they are flirting with Pearl. Additionally, in Suffer No Fools, Frye calls Marina Pearl's "Grouper"—likely an in universe reference to Groupies, women who go on tours and have romantic relationships with the band, implying their relationship status is obvious.
Marina is known to be very technologically skilled, with Pearl describing her as being "too smart for her own good" in the Octo Expansion. This is demonstrated with the Shifty Stations, a series of stages created by Marina for Splatfests using advanced Octarian technology, with the mechanics from Octo Canyon appearing in them, as well as floating rocks. She is also capable of hacking Kamabo Corporation, allowing Agent 8 to pass a test using the data collected from their previous attempts, and can hack their CQ-80 device to show her chat room or release a distress signal. In the final battle of the Octo Expansion, she can use her laptop to analyze the NILS Statue in a few seconds, learning about the strength of its cannon and its use of sunlight to charge up power. In Side Order, Marina is the creator of the Memverse, a virtual reality setting with which she hopes to save sanitized Octolings like Acht by rejoining the memories stored in mem cakes with their souls; throughout the campaign, she is able to hack into the Memverse's code and provide buffs for Eight and the Pearl Drone. She is portrayed as being obsessed with the machinery found in various stages, such as Sturgeon Shipyard, Port Mackerel, and the bucketwheel excavator in Piranha Pit. She often utilizes similar machinery in the Shifty Station layouts she designs. While she does not like being considered a "nerd" in this regard in Splatoon 2, she seems to have embraced the identity by the time of Side Order. Marina is a childhood friend of Acht, with the two having gone to the same engineering school in the Octarian world.
Marina also owns a keytar with Squid Sisters and Off the Hook decals on the neck, which she can be seen playing during live performances of Muck Warfare and Anarchy Rainbow, and in-game during Splatfests in Splatoon 3 when performing We're So Back; her laptop is decorated similarly. Similarly, she plays the piano while touring with Damp Socks. She is a fan of shōjo manga, with her naming the Shifty Stations after them in the Japanese version and practicing crosshatching in secrecy,[2][4] and can draw. Her drawings are seen in Octo Expansion before the fight against Tartar as portraits of Agent 8 and Pearl, and seen again after she is rescued in Side Order.
In Japanese, 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 and Octotune liner notes, her lyrics are entirely in katakana, which is supposed to show that her singing is in a different language.[5] Her preferred personal pronoun 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. She also usually speaks 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 shows that Marina has only recently learned the language she is speaking. She also tends to make many malapropisms, further indicating this. 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. Marina refers to most characters with the honorific さん (san), and refers to Pearl with the honorific センパイ(senpai), which is an honorific used to address somebody of an elder social rank in a field or trade. This is due to Pearl having taught Marina about Inkling society and also might be because Pearl is three years older than her. In Side Order, Marina notably refers to Acht without an honorific, and speaks to them using casual タメ口 (tameguchi) rather than her usual formal speech, as they are longtime friends. This also points to Marina's polite language being a sign of respect, as opposed to merely a lack of experience.
Marina's favorite weapon class appears to be brellas. Her affinity for this weapon class has been referenced in Inkopolis News dialogue, the team artwork for Dexterity vs. Tenacity, and has been further confirmed by her Palette in Side Order.
History
Early life
Marina was born into "the oppression of Octarian society" as she would later describe it, and was trained as an 83rd generation combat engineer from a very early age. When she was six, she enrolled in the elementary training program in Slimeskin Garrison. She graduated from elementary training at the age of nine after skipping multiple grades, taking only advanced courses, and went on to the same elite training facility as Acht.[6] For the next few years, Marina went on to play a part in designing the Flooder and enhancing the Great Octoweapons. During the events of Splatoon, she 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 them never meeting personally.
During Splatoon, Marina was present wearing Octoling gear 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, even though she didn't know a word of the Inkling language.[7] While there, she met an Inkling named Pearl, who was practicing singing. Growing on each other, Pearl then taught Marina about Inkling culture and customs. After this, Marina came back to Mount Nantai every day for two weeks, hoping 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 that they decided to call Off the Hook. 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 Splatoon 2, 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 Marie had with Callie. Their work included hosting Splatfest events, announcing the themes and singing and dancing to Color Pulse for the event's duration. Across all regions, Marina and Pearl won 29 Splatfests each.
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 by "Freshly Fried Boy" 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 while on Mount Nantai. 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". The group used this chat room 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, using a fleet of helicopters to carry them away. When the Telephone revealed itself as Commander Tartar, who wants to destroy Inkopolis, Marina came up with the plan necessary to defeat it - having Agent 8 detonate her prototype 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.
After ascending some of the floors in the Spire of Order, Agent 8, Pearl, and Acht find Marina mind controlled by a machine, which was later revealed to be Order. After saving her, Marina explains that she created a prototype VR world called the Memverse.
She helps Agent 8 and Pearl by hacking the Memverse's system to give them permanent upgrades, such as increasing the number of lives per run, or reducing the amount of damage Agent 8 receives from the enemies.
Marina's first appearance in the manga was chapter 15, where she and Pearl announced the semi-final matches for the Square King Cup. During the same tournament, she, along with Pearl, provides the play-by-play report for both the semi-finals and finals.
In the Octo Expansion arc, Marina plays the same role she has in the game, helping Cap'n Cuttlefish, Eight, Team Blue, and Rider out of Deepsea Metro.
Marina makes two appearances in the Splatfest arc; once to announce the Funny Man VS Straight Man Splatfest, and another to provide the play-by-play report.
In the Square King Ranked Battle Cup arc, Pearl and Marina return to providing the play-by-play report for most of the tournament.
As a bonus included in Volume 10, she is seen in the short manga she made, Dear Pearl.
During the Final Fest arc, Marina appears to represent her team, Team Order, and she and Pearl once again provide the play-by-play report for the entire Splatfest.
Although Marina's ears often appear in 2D artwork, such as that for the Tsubuan vs. Koshian Splatfest, most of her in-game models do not have them at all, due to them being always covered by headphones; they only physically appeared during the Past vs. Present vs. Future Splatfest performances, due to Marina's outfit lacking headphones.
In Japanese, Marina's fans are known as イイダチ Īdachi, which is a portmanteau of Marina's name, Īda, and 友達 tomodachi, meaning "friend". The English equivalent to this name may be "the Marination," a portmanteau of "Marina" and "nation" and a play on "marination", as seen on the Marination Lace-Ups.
In the original and some localized versions of the Octo Expansion, Pearl reveals that Marina is a manga enthusiast that likes manga clubs.[9][10]
In a couple of localizations, Marina is said to be a comic enthusiast instead.[11]
In the Russian version, Marina is said to be waiting for an invite to an anime club.[12]
In the opening dialogue for Trick vs. Treat, she reveals that she still goes trick-or-treating, despite being an adult.
In one of her dialogues for Kelp Dome, Marina says her favorite vegetables are beets, a pun on beats, referencing the fact that she remixes and creates beats as a DJ.
In English and Spanish, Marina shares a name with Marina from Animal Crossing, who also happens to be an octopus.
In Splatoon 2, if the player plays as an Octoling and zooms into Off the Hook's studio in Inkopolis Square, Marina and Pearl will have a more friendly reaction than if playing as an Inkling, as they recognize the player as Agent 8. In Splatoon 3, they will do the same pose for Octolings after clearing the Spire of Order with every palette.
Marina knows every Deep Cut song ever written.[13]
Marina once developed an indie rhythm game that "ran at like 888 BPM." Acht was the only one of Marina's schoolmates who was able to complete it, though with extreme difficulty. She developed an even more difficult sequel after Pearl found the original too easy.[14]
When Pearl asks Acht for a story about Marina's past, they bring up the time where Marina went on a two hour long discussion on excavators in front of no one.[15]
Marina only learned that Ian BGM was actually Big Man upon collecting his Palette during Side Order.
Curiously, the Past vs. Present vs. Future Splatfest Artwork features Marina without any gradients on her fingertips.
Etymology
Marina is a feminine form of "Marinus", from the Latin for "of the sea", and is also derived from the name of a dock for boats. Her surname Ida is taken directly from her Japanese name.
Names in other languages
Language
Name
Meaning
Japanese
イイダ=マリネ Īda Marine
Īda is a common surname; from īdako (Japanese for webfoot octopus). Marine is short for "marination". The double hyphen implies that the given name is first, rather than the family name.
Dutch
Mariana ten Takel
Mariana is a female given name, referencing Mariana Trench and Mariana Islands. Ten ("at [the]") is a tussenvoegsel, used in Dutch surnames, and when put next to takel ("tackle, hoist, crane"), they make tentakel ("tentacle").
Combined with Alga ("Pearl") it forms Alga nori, a group of edible seaweeds, mostly used with Japanese sushi (Nori alone means the same thing as Alga nori)
Russian
Мариша Marisha
A diminutive form of the name Марина Marina
Марина Осьмуряш Marina Os'muryash
From осьминог os'minog ("octopus")
Spanish
Marina Villaoctos
Last name is based on the surname "Villalobos"
Chinese (Simplified)
饭田 Fàn Tián (Mandarin)
From 飯田 (iida), the surname Marina's Japanese name comes from.
Chinese (Traditional)
飯田 fàntián (Mandarin)
From 飯田 (iida), the surname Marina's Japanese name comes from.
↑ 4.04.1Character profile on Splatoon Base, which uses 恋する乙女 koisuru otome, from koisuru meaning "to fall in love" and otome meaning maiden, often used in romantic contexts such as otome games (dating sims). The relationship text says "センパイ!ついていきます!" senpai tsuite ikimasu, which translates as "senpai, I'll go wherever you go" (lit. "senpai, I'll follow you").
↑NoA Spanish localization of the Octo Expansion. Marina: "Recuerdo que cuando llegué al mundo de los inklings no entendía ni una palabra de su idioma. Tuviste que enseñarme todo desde cero, Perlita. ♪" (I remember when I arrived at the world of the Inklings, I didn't understand one word of their language. You had to teach me all from zero, Pearlie. ♪)
↑Humpback Pump Track/QuotesPearl: "Marina! You bought a new motorcycle recently, yeah? You gotta let me ride it!"
↑Pearl:「イイダのあこがれ 漫画 研究 会 略して マンケン!」(Marina admires manga study clubs, or "manken" for short!)Marina:「わ〜!センパイ!それはヒミツに...」(Wha?! Pearlie! That's secret...)
↑Dutch localization of Octo Expansion. Pearl: "Mariana weet mangaclubs wel te waarderen!" (Marina knows how to appreciate manga clubs!) Marina: "Jeetje, Lorelei! Dat is een geheimpje!" (Jeez, Pearl! That's a secret!)
↑NoA Spanish localization of Octo Expansion. Pearl: "¡Marina tiene 5000 cómics en casa!" (Marina has 5,000 comics at home!) Marina: "¡Perla! ¡Esa información es privada!" (Pearl! That information is private!)
↑Pearl: «Мариша в аниме-клуб ждет приглашение!» (Marina is waiting for an invite to the anime club!)