Marie (ホタル, Hotaru^?, lit. Firefly Squid), is a recurring character in the Splatoon franchise and one of the former hosts for the Inkopolis News program, which announces events, and battle-related news. She used to host with Callie and manage Splatfests. In Hero Mode in Splatoon, it is revealed that she is Craig Cuttlefish's granddaughter. She is also Agent 2 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon. Despite their title being "Squid Sisters", her and Callie are actually cousins. In Hero mode of Splatoon 2, Marie can be found on the different areas with dialogue. However, it can be hard to spot her. She is voiced by Mari Kikuma and her signature color is green.

Appearances

Splatoon

Her tentacles, which are milk-white, are tied in a large bow on the right side of her head, with the ends wrapped around to the other side and curling up slightly at the ends with an unsaturated gray gradient. She has large, downturned eyes with gold irises and light brown pupils in the shape of a plus. Her eye markings end in small, slightly curved points, and her eyebrows are large and oval shaped. Her ears are slightly narrower and longer than those of the average Inkling, and on them she wears a pair of chunky milk-white earrings.

Her dress, which has no sleeves and ends in a skirt, is black with a reflective texture. On the front are three neon green marks, which, somewhat morbidly, are made to look like the cuts made in squid when it is cooked, and the inside skirt facing is also green. With this outfit, she wears lime green tights, black shorts, white gloves, and a small, white, shirt collar necklace. Marie also wears a pair of black wedge shoes with a texture similar to leather, which have a shiny green material on the bottom and two green buttons on either side of the ankle. She wears a green and white hat resembling a calamari ring and has a beauty mark on her right cheek.

During a Splatfest, any part of Marie's appearance that is normally green will change to match the color of her Splatfest Team, including the ends of her tentacles.

As a child, Marie wore traditional Japanese-style clothing, and her tentacles were much shorter and messier. Her first outfit, shown in Sunken Scroll 17, consisted of a black yukata with a white polka dot pattern at the bottom, and a pair of thick black zōri with pink thongs. On the left side of her head, she wore a green and white accessory that simply looked like a smaller version of her current calamari hat.

For her second outfit, which was shown in promotional art for the Japanese Grasshopper vs. Ant Splatfest, Marie wore a white yukata with a seashell pattern in lime green, navy blue, and dull purple. The calamari accessory had taken on a dark purple tint in addition to its existing colors.

Splatoon 2

In Splatoon 2, Marie has grown taller and sports a new outfit: a traditional Japanese-style clothing that resembles the outfit that she wore as a child. Her outfit consists of a black and dark grey kimono with gold triangle patterns around the waist and carries a green parasol with the Cuttlegear brand logo on it. She also wears a pair of traditional Japanese sandals, or 'geta', and a different, pink, headpiece described in The Art of Splatoon 2 as being reminiscent of cooked shrimp. The kimono bears the Kensaki (Toni Kensa) family emblem, although the connection is unknown, and she carries a green and white oil-paper umbrella. However, during the final boss fight against DJ Octavio and a brainwashed Callie, Marie will arrive with Sheldon, wearing her Squid Sisters outfit again to help Callie break free of Octavio's brainwashing and rejoin her to beat him for good.

Splatoon 3

In Splatoon 3, Marie sports a new outfit: a new outfit similar to her attire from the first game. She wears a long white jacket with three bright yellow marks, which, somewhat morbidly, are made to look like the cuts made in squid when it is cooked, she wears grayish black tights, and black gloves. She also wears a pair of black tabi socks with visible stitches that resemble the Non-slip Senseis. There are lime green non-slip pads attached to the soles, and she carries her Japanese oil-paper umbrella from Splatoon 2. Her green and white calamari accessory is now black and white with dark greenish spots, her tentacles are now white with a faint yellowish green tinge at the ends of her tentacles.

Personality

Marie, like her cousin, has an extremely complicated personality which has grown more complex as the games go on; she is first introduced as generally laid-back, reserved. but also very prone to being sassy and sarcastic, especially to her cousin. Although she cares for her cousin and her music and her fans, she often doesn’t show it and prefers instead to make sassy and sarcastic comments in the first game. This makes her a good foil to Callie, who is more energetic and peppy, with a kind and innocent demeanor. However, in Splatoon 2, when Callie goes missing, Marie’s care for her cousin is put on blatant display, as she is so worried for her cousin she seems to fall into a state of self-loathing and worry, reverting back to wearing traditional Japanese-style clothing like she did when she was a child, often trying to act sassy in front of Agent 4 (but deep down her thoughts are shown as melancholy, and she is unable to focus without Callie), and her mood improves greatly when Callie comes back, although she generally holds back a lot of her sassy comments, as if she is scared of Callie running away again.

In Splatoon 3, Marie’s personality becomes somewhat of a fusion of the melancholy one shown in Splatoon 2 and the sassy one shown in Splatoon 1, with her still having a fondness for Japanese parasols, and retaining her love for sassy remarks, although she generally doesn’t make them about Callie anymore and instead prefers to make them about other people. She also somewhat smiles more than she used to, implying she is generally more happy than not with Callie back and a new Agent 3.

Hosting Duties

Inkopolis News

Inkopolis News is Inkopolis' news program, announcing events and updates on new features in Splatoon. Inkopolis News Studio can be found on the upper level of Inkopolis Plaza, where the Squid Sisters can be seen in their studio.

Splatfest

Marie used to host Splatfest events, a multiplayer event in which players of a region divide into two opposing teams, with Callie and Marie each representing a different team. Callie's team is always shown on the left side of the Splatfest artwork and Marie's team is on the right. For the duration of the event, their clothes and tentacles temporarily change color to match that of their team's Ink and they perform a live concert in Inkopolis atop trucks outfitted with stage equipment.

At the top left corner of the box showing the player's Splatfest Power is a pair of eyes representing the Squid Sister they have sided with the players on Callie's team see her angular eyes, and those on Marie's team see her heavy-lidded eyes. Both versions have their signature pupils, but with a dark red color instead of the usual gold.

During the results of the 15th North American Splatfest Early Bird vs. Night Owl, Callie got sick of Marie's attitude, causing the duo to argue about who won more Splatfests before getting personal. This hinted at the announcement of the final Splatfest; Callie vs. Marie, which was confirmed to last 48 hours, as opposed to the usual 24-hour duration of a standard Splatfest.

History

Splatoon

Callie and Marie were from Calamari County, where they were born and raised. After they won Inkopolis' first annual Youth Folk-Singing Contest, they moved to Inkopolis where they began their career as announcers for Splatfests and musicians.

When first beginning Splatoon's Hero Mode, Cap'n Cuttlefish refers to the player as Agent 3, as they are the third agent of the New Squidbeak Splatoon to fight off the Octarians. He even states that the equipment given to the player is a hand-me-down from the previous two agents. Towards the end of Hero Mode, it is heavily implied that Agents 1 and 2 were in fact Callie and Marie, respectively. Among other clues, Agent 1 almost refers to Agent 2 as "Marie", and the Squid Sisters are seen reporting on the return of the Great Zapfish while pretending not to know how it came back.

After Cuttlefish is kidnapped, the Squid Sisters will serve as the player's mission control until DJ Octavio is defeated. Also, as stated in the Sunken Scrolls and the dialogue for refighting DJ Octavio, Callie and Marie started their career after they won a singing contest.

Between the events of Splatoon and Splatoon 2

After the last Splatfest of Splatoon, the Squid Sisters grew in popularity, but Callie and Marie took separate paths, leading to the events of Splatoon 2. The story of Callie and Marie's separation was told in Squid Sisters Stories, a series of stories made available on official Splatoon websites.

Splatoon 2

After Marie wins Splatoon's final Splatfest, the two cousins begin to spend less time together. When Marie went on a holiday to visit her parents at their hometown in Calamari County, she could not find her cousin, and so recruited the player (who is known as "Agent 4") to search for Callie. In the Squid Sisters' absence, a news duo band, "Off The Hook", stepped into their place to host future Splatfests.

Marie returns as a major player in Splatoon 2's hero mode in Octo Canyon. This time, she is more open about her identity as Agent 2 and fills Cap'n Cuttlefish's role as Agent 4's main advisor and guide as the Cap'n is out on a research trip with Agent 3. As Agent 4 fights through the Octarian complex in search of the Great Zapfish, Marie reveals that Callie went missing at the same time and suspects Octarian involvement.

Eventually, she and Agent 4 discover that Callie has been brainwashed by DJ Octavio using his hypnoshades and are forced to fight him and Callie; as the battle continues, Marie is able to shoot off the hypnoshades with a Hero Charger, bringing Callie back to her senses and waking her up.

Splatoon 3

In Splatoon 3, the Squid Sisters remain as part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon, now headed by the original Agent 3 whom is addressed as the Captain. Both sisters act as part of the support team that accompanies the new Agent 3 throughout The Crater and Alterna.

When the Squid Sisters first encounter Deep Cut, Marie immediately recognizes the group from the Anarchy Splatcast. After the treasure is used by Captain, Marie and Callie give back the treasure to Deep Cut, an action that causes Marie to become Deep Cut’s boss.

During the bossfight against Mr. Grizz, Marie is heard singing the Calamari Inkantation with Callie back on Earth to evolve Smallfry into Hugefry. She is not seen again until the ending of the story mode, where both her and Callie give thanks to Agent 3.

Live Performances

On January 30, 2016, a real-life Squid Sisters concert called "Shiokaraibu" (Japanese: シオカライブ, translating to "Squid Sisters Live") was held at Niconico Tokaigi 2016, a gaming event in Chiba, Japan. It starred digital projections of Callie and Marie, using unique, high-quality 3D models instead of those used in-game. They performed all five of their songs, most of them being extended or remixed slightly, ending with Calamari Inkantation.^[1]

On April 29, 2016, the second live performance by the Squid Sisters was held at Choongakusai 2016, a music festival featuring a variety of popular artists.^[2] The concert featured the debut of two new songs: Bomb Rush Blush and Tide Goes Out. They were solos sung by Callie and Marie, respectively. The following day, it was revealed that the new songs will be unlockable with the new Callie and Marie Amiibo figures launching in July.^[3]

On July 8, 2016, their third live performance was held at Japan Expo 2016, a convention dedicated to Japanese pop culture in Paris, France.^[4] It had the same set list as their second concert, with the dialogue in between songs shown in French. The live band's stage presence was also given more of an emphasis in this concert.

A live album featuring recordings of the first two concerts, Splatoon Live in Masuhari, was released in Japan on July 13th, 2016.

A fourth live performance was held at Niconico Cho Party on November 3rd, 2016. ^[5] They performed City of Color/Ink Me Up medley, followed by Maritime Memory and Calamari Inkantation.

On February 10, 2018, the Squid Sisters made a special appearance at "Haikaraibu" (Japanese: ハイカライブ, translating to "Inkopolis Live"), which was held at Tokaigi 2018.^[6] After Off the Hook performed Ebb & Flow, Callie and Marie went on stage to perform Fresh Start, followed by Spicy Calamari Inkantation. Afterwards, both the Squid Sisters and Off the Hook performed Now or Never! as the finale.

Amiibo

On April 30, 2016, Splatoon JP announced that Squid Sisters' Amiibo will be released on 7th July 2016.^[7]

Using the Squid Sisters' amiibo applies all the cosmetic changes of a Splatfest to Inkopolis Plaza, and the player can choose what song they perform. This is the only way to see the accompanying dances for these songs, with the exception of City of Color, the default for Splatfests.

In the manga series

The Squid Sisters first appeared in issue 1 of the CoroCoro manga Splatoon, where they announced the CoroCoro Cup. They are hosts for that tournament. They now often appear in issues starting with issue 2.

Table Turf Battle

Marie is an opponent which can be played against in Table Turf Battle, going by her Agent callsign of Agent 2. She also has her own Table Turf battle card.

As an opponent

Agent 2
Map:	River Drift
Unlock:	Reach Rank 44; Beat Return of the Mammalians
Sleeve:
Deck

Songs

Marie's songs are in the Inkling language.

Splatfest

Name	Artist	Length	Music Track
"Tide Goes Out"	Marie	2:20
"Low Tide"	Marie	1:39

Trivia

• If the player attacks Marie with ink, she will defend herself with her umbrella.
• If the player looks at the Squid Sisters through their window while they are chatting with each other in their Inkopolis Plaza studio, Callie and Marie will stop talking and wave at the player.
• The Squid Sisters' puns are all squid-based.
• In Octo Canyon and Alterna, if the player tries to shoot Marie, she will block the ink with her umbrella (the same way using a Splat Umbrella) and shaking it off afterwards.
• In Sunken Scroll 20 of Splatoon 3, Marie is revealed to own a podcast called “Marie after Midnight”, where on the 100th episode of the show, she invited Callie over to be featured.
• Callie and Marie's names are, when combined, wordplay on "calamari". Their names in different localizations of the game tend to be based on different puns.
  • Marie realizes this when the player fights the final boss of Splatoon 2 for the second time. When Callie leaps onto Marie and Sheldon's truck before Phase 4 of the final boss, her outfit abruptly changes from her octopus-themed costume to her original Splatoon appearance.
  • In the French version of the game, Callie and Marie's names are Ayo and Oly, respectively. These names together are a pun on aioli, a sauce often served with seafood, and possibly a pun on Aori-ika, the Japanese name for the Bigfin Reef Squid.
• Marie given names in Japanese are derived from real-world species "Hotaru-ika" or firefly squid.
  • Her Spanish names is Mar. Mar is a Spanish given name and it means Sea, her and Callie's Spanish names make the word "Martina", a Spanish given name.
  • In the German Version of the Game, Marie's name "Limone" is referencing lemon.
• Marie and her cousin appear to be the second-oldest Inklings seen in-game, the oldest being Cap'n Cuttlefish. However, one can assume many Inklings older than them that don't participate in Turf War are somewhere absent from the city.
• Marie and Callie's outfit designs are thought to be centered around the dishes "ika soumen", "ika rings", and "ikayaki".
• Marie’s squid form is seen in Super Mario Maker is seen to be standard green squid, but with her signature pupils and eyelash-like points pointing downward.
• Marie is a charger main, revealed by bits of dialogue in the first and second games and her deck in Table Turf Battle. This is further confirmed by her palette in Side Order.
• According to Callie, Marie is good at impressions.
• In Hero Mode Stage 25, Far Flung Flooders, Marie says that she dislikes Flooders.
• In a piece of dialogue spoken during the stage announcements, the Squid Sisters reveal that they both have, in the past, been employees at Walleye Warehouse and that Callie can also be very clumsy. The dialogue is as follows:

Callie: "Remember working here [Walleye Warehouse] part-time back in the day?"

Marie: "Yeah, and how often you broke the assembly line..."

• In the stage news for Moray Towers, The Squid Sisters reference Pokémon in one of their lines, referring to the phrase 'It's super effective!' and 'I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was' which is one of the lines from the first Pokémon anime opening.

Callie: "Rollers are super effective here!"

Marie: "Chargers are the very best, like no gun ever was!"

And when Callie and Marie announce the Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue Splatfest one of their dialogues is a reference to Team Rocket's catchphrase in the anime.

Callie: "Sigh... This Splatfest is going to be trouble."

Marie: "And make it double!"

Callie: "We'll protect Inkopolis from devastation!"

Marie: "And unite all squids within our nation!"

• In the August Update, a new line has also been added, poking fun at mechanics developers implemented in order to maximize the frame-rate, such as Draw Distance.

Callie: "It's so foggy I can't even see the ground!"

Marie: "That's called draw distan- Er... It's smog. *COUGH*"

• The sixteenth and final global Splatfest, rather than featuring the Squid Sisters taking sides on a hosted showdown, featured the Squid Sisters themselves as the teams. The final results gave Marie a 54% popularity advantage and a 51% victory ratio, making her supporters the overall Splatfest winner.
• In Animal Crossing: New Leaf, scanning Amiibos of the two will unlock squirrel versions of themselves, called Cece (Callie) and Viché (Marie).
• With Callie missing and Marie absent to search for her, a new band, "Off the Hook", hosts Splatfests and produces music in their place.
• In Octo Canyon, Marie will reveal in a dialogue that she finds Agent 4 to be "pretty adorable."
• Although it is known that Callie and Marie are cousins and judging by their appearances, it is assumed that they are the same age.
• Marie's amiibo entry reads as follows:
  • Marie is the sassiest member of the pop idol duo known as the Squid Sisters in the Splatoon™ game. Along with Callie, she hosts Inkopolis News and Splatfest events, in which Inklings pick one of two sides and battle the opposing team in Turf War. These two cousins rose to fame after winning Calamari County’s first annual Youth Folk-Singing Contest, and their remarkable voices continue to rock Inkopolis!
• Marie apparently has scars from when Callie hit her with a bug net when they were children.
• Marie has a special type of ink called low-tide ink that stuns instead of splats.
• Fans have made March 13th be called Mar13 day, which in Engilsh is Marie day.

Gallery

Splatoon

Splatoon 2

Splatoon 3

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning/Notes
Japanese (日本語)	ホタル Hotaru	From Hotaru-ika (Japanese for Firefly squid)
Dutch (Nederlands)	Marie	Marie
German (Deutsch)	Limone	From limone (lime), referring to her main color and as a pun for a sauce.
Russian (русский)	Мари Mari	Transcription of English name
Latin American Spanish (español)	Tina	Feminine name, Spanish for tub. With Callie's Spanish name (Mar), it forms Martina.
European Spanish (castellano)	Tina	Feminine name, Spanish for tub. With Callie's Spanish name (Mar), it forms Martina.
Italian (Italiano)	Marina	From stella (star). With Marie's Italian name (Marina), it forms stella marina (starfish).
Chinese (汉语/漢語)	萤火 Yíng huǒ	From Japanese name

References