Marie

Name:
Marie
Name of the hieroglyph:
マリー
Romaji's name:
Marī
Age:
17-18 years old
Height:
150 cm
Date of birth:
April 20
Zodiac sign:
Aries (Fire)

Affiliation(s):
Liberty BC British Academy Liberty

Team:
The Sensha-Do Team of the British Columbia Freedom Academy

Role(s):
Commander
Tank commander

Reservoir(s)
Heart of the FT-17

"Can't we just fight over little things? The cake will get ruined."
Marie

"I wonder what will happen first: I finish eating the cake or they give up?"
Marie

Mari (マリー, Mari) is a minor character in Girls und Panzer: The Final Battle.

Marie is a student of the Escalator faction at the British Columbia Freedom Academy, she is the Commander-in-Chief and commands the FT-17 with the Red Heart emblem.

Mari is a short girl with long, blond hair styled in an ojo-style curl and dark green eyes. During matches, she wears the BC Freedom's Sensha-dō uniform, and outside of matches, she wears her school uniform. She is also often seen carrying a fluffy fan with the school emblem.

Mari is more graceful and reserved than her more hot-tempered lieutenants. She seems to be quite the glutton, as she can always be found devouring cakes. Because the FT (two-man tank) has an extra crew member, she cannot enter the tank. Because she sits on a cushion in the tank, she has another characteristic trait: carelessness. She cannot enter the tank even when it is under heavy fire from enemy tanks. She also appears arrogant and initially acts condescendingly: she refuses to bow during the greeting before the match with Ooarai and taunts her opponent during the match. Despite her capricious nature and seemingly obliviousness to the constant squabbles between the students of the Escalator and Exam factions, she, representing political centristism, often does everything possible to force them to cooperate, such as pitting them against each other in a practice match or ruining their uniforms to distract from their squabbles. Mari also knows how to lose gracefully: she praises Ooarai's tactics and invites their team to dinner. As the commander-in-chief, she is a skilled strategist and is capable of orchestrating such a convincing squabble between the two factions that even Ooarai will believe that Freedom BC is incapable of interfactional cooperation.

Mari lies in a cradle next to the bracket for the second round of the Cauldron tournament. We then see her assisting Andou and Osida in the second round, who are overwhelmed by the chaos following the appearance of Team Oni. We last see her with Asparagus, concerned by the dark aura emanating from Shizuka and Yaika.

She then undergoes several training sessions, during which she pits Ando and Oshida against each other to determine which of them is best suited to protect her tank. Ultimately, they either face off or team up against her, and she destroys them both.

When it came time to choose opponents for the first matches of the Winter Cup Track and Field, Mari sent two of her assistants up on stage to select them from a ballot. When they drew three and realized that BC would be playing Ooarai in the first match, Andu and Oshida lashed out. Mari seemed unconcerned, more focused on the cake than the match. She told them to stop arguing, as it was ruining her enjoyment of dessert. Andu and Oshida's argument seemed genuine, though it's unclear whether Mari was feigning ignorance or being sincere.

A few days later, Mari witnessed her classmates, seemingly on the verge of causing a riot, arguing over the food being served. Mari intervened in the midst of the argument. At first, she pretended not to care what was happening to her classmates and even asked her Shadow Faction team to bring her food. But instead of the usual Escalator dish, she was served taiyaki (the same dessert Ando makes at his stall) with a chocolate filling. Mari enjoyed the food and surprised her classmates, who were also eager to try taiyaki. She admitted she had already ordered a portion. Intrigued, her classmates tried the unusual dish and were satisfied. Then they realized what Mari had meant. She had combined the dish eaten by the poor students with the rich chocolate from the rich students' cafeteria. Her classmates realized that Mari wanted them to work together because, as with taiyaki, the results could be unexpectedly impressive. Mari then convinced her subordinates to band together and form an alliance. Afterward, she realized the opportunity the election revolt presented. She knew Ooarai would send a spy (Yukari Akiyama) and how she would arrive. With this information, Mari ordered her subordinates to pretend the unrest was ongoing.

When Yukari arrived, she had no idea her cover had been blown and that everything she was recording was nothing more than a pretense. In the video she recorded during the infiltration, Mari sits on her tank and eats cake while everyone else fights. Pretending to be bothered by the food, Mari this time convincingly feigned incomprehension. Mari's ruse worked so well that by the time Yukari left, she was completely convinced that the members of Black Soul were incapable of cooperating.

During the first-round Winter Continuous Track Cup match against Ooarai Girls' Academy, she commanded the flagship FT-17 tank, bearing the distinctive "Red Heart." During the greeting, she refused to bow to her opponent, instead asking why she had to (though it's possible this was simply a farce to further convince Oarai that she didn't care about the match). When the battle began, Mari ordered the FT to be positioned on a hill accessible only by a wooden bridge, with an ARL 44 as escort. She and her crew then disembarked and pretended to have a picnic, visible from Oarai's position. Her tanks also pretended to fire at each other to further confuse the enemy. By this point, the ruse had worked so well that Ooarai threw all caution to the wind and decided to cross the wooden bridge without examining the surroundings. Once most of Ooarai's tanks were halfway across the bridge, Marie sprung her trap: her tanks opened fire on Ooarai's tanks, trapping them. Marie was confident the battle would be over quickly and she would achieve a decisive victory, but she failed to take into account Ooarai's other tanks. Ooarai's Duck and Leopon's team outflanked the British Commonwealth positions and opened fire from the rear. Meanwhile, thanks to Shark's team and the Mark IV, the Ooarai tanks on the bridge were able to escape without sustaining losses. Realizing her trap had failed and that her position was no longer holding, Marie ordered her tank to retreat. As they retreated, she and her teammates sang Chant de l'Oignon.

Moments later, as her two lieutenants were chatting amiably, apologizing for their previous squabbles and demonstrating team spirit, Ooarai tanks caught up with them and opened fire. Marie didn't expect the enemy tanks to catch up so quickly, but she remained calm and ordered her tanks to take up defensive positions in the side woods. While the FT remained in the center of the side woods, protected by other tanks, Marie and her crew disembarked to have a picnic. A few minutes later, the Ooarai tanks caught up with the British Commonwealth tanks and began to distract them with Rabbit, Leopard, and Shark teams while the remaining tanks outflanked them. Using the Mallard tank's turret, Team Ooarai dealt a devastating blow to the British Commonwealth tanks, leading the two factions of Team British Commonwealth to believe the other faction had mutinied. This caused the team to break formation and engage in friendly fire. Mari was initially unaware of the friendly fire until the ARL fighters accompanying the FT began to fail, confusing her crewmates. Believing her tanks were engaged in a fierce battle with Ooarai's tanks, she told her teammates not to worry and then authorized the ARL to disengage. Thinking she was backing them up, the ARL informed Mari they would surely smash the Somua tanks to pieces. Then Mari realized her tanks weren't fighting Ooarai, but each other. Panicked, she and her team rushed to the troop carrier to intercept their comrades. Just as the Somua and ARL tanks were about to open fire on each other at point-blank range, an FT arrived on the battlefield just in time to prevent a clash. After a brief argument, Marie managed to defuse the situation by telling her teammates that the whole mess was caused by Mallard's team. After destroying the enemy B1, Marie ordered her tanks to retreat from the side forest, having already lost four tanks and been severely disabled.

During their retreat, her team once again sang "Chant de I'Oignon" while the Ooarai attempted to block their path. During the pursuit, both the Ooarai and the British Union began rapidly losing tanks. Eventually, the Ooarai were left with only four tanks, while the British Union had only the FT-17. Marie then realized their only chance of victory was to disable the Ooarai flagship tank (Team Turtle). Just as the FT was about to catch up and disable the Hetzer, Marie and her team encountered Team Shark. Stopping, Marie looked back and found herself surrounded by Team Leopard and Team Eel. Realizing she was trapped and the match was lost, Marie managed to take one last bite of cake before the FT was eliminated, and the Ooarai won the match. The camera shoots her from above, she is still enjoying the cake, and smoke is pouring out of the FT's engine.

After the match, Mari discussed the game with Miho, complimenting each other's strategies, and their teams ate dinner together. Later, during the quarterfinals, Mari, along with her substitutes and Azumi, watched Ooarai's match against Chi-Ha-Tan Academy, viewing it as a learning opportunity. During the match, the four shared sweets, such as cake, and at the end, Mari commented on the strategies used by both teams.

Maria's birthday coincides with the birthdays of Napoleon III and Adolf Hitler—April 20. It is unknown whether this was intentional.
• On this same day in 1945, the Battle of Nuremberg ended, and in 1792, France declared war on Francis I, "King of Hungary and Bohemia," beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.

Her character, name, and appearance are based on Marie Antoinette from the popular shoujo manga "The Rose of Versailles."
• The fact that Marie is part of the Escalator Faction, the upper-class faction of BC Freedom, and is the school's Commander-in-Chief, echoes her position in the manga (and history), as Marie Antoinette was of nobility and was the Queen of France.
• In the manga, Marie has the same curls as Marie Antoinette.

The fact that Marie, despite belonging to the upper class, is always depicted with cake may be a reference to Book VI of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions (1782), where he writes that "the great princess" (without naming her), upon learning that the peasants had no bread, said, "Then let them eat cake!" (or brioche, depending on the translation). This phrase is now often (and perhaps erroneously) attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette. However, there is no evidence that she ever said it.

She apparently did gymnastics or something similar (like yoga or ballet) as a hobby. This was evident when she dodged Oshida's shot by leaning back on the back of her tank, then flew onto the turret while Ando and Oshida were arguing (again), and effortlessly perched on the ARL cannon to talk to Oshida.

Marie and her tank comrades are certainly the luckiest characters in the series, as despite driving a very light and outdated tank, they were hit by a Panzer IV and a Tiger (P), but survived.