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Mariko Kurama (蔵間マリコ, Kurama Mariko?),

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Mariko Kurama (蔵間マリコ, Kurama Mariko?), also known as Number 35, is the daughter of Kurama[12] She is described as the most powerful of the diclonius. During an escape attempt by Number Three, Kurama was infected by her vectors, turning him into a carrier of the Diclonius virus, which ultimately caused Mariko to be born a diclonius, much to her father's shock and horror.

As an infant, Mariko was imprisoned and raised inside a massive steel container with no human contact other than with Saito, a scientist acting as a foster mother through speakers and monitors. She has been kept alive on pure nutrients that are intravenously fed into her body through a large tube connected to her body. After she is released, it is revealed that she is physically impaired, as shown by her atrophied limbs; she moves around in a wheelchair. This is most likely due to her suffering from near-starvation and dehydration, as well as from to being heaviely restrained, which made her unable to move, while she was locked up at the institute[citation needed].

Despite the environment she was raised in, Mariko is relatively well-developed psychologically. She is extremely homicidal and sadistic, and enjoys torturing and dismembering her victims. She have no problems in torturing and murdering others, no matter what race or species they belong to, be it Human or Diclonius. The only one she will not harm is her father Kurama. However, her personality is not blatantly evil. She is only having fun, seeing killing as a game, and the pleasure she gets from it is equivalent to a child ripping the wings off of an insect or burning ants with a magnifying glass.[13] She is in fact capable of caring about others and has a strong love for Kurama.

In order to keep Mariko under control, the research institute implanted bombs in her body during infancy; one is used to remove her right arm, after she attacks and mortally wounds the scientist at the institute who acted as her foster mother. When she is sent to kill Nana, Mariko is also given a prosthetic to move with her vectors.

In the manga, during confrontation with Nana, Kurama tells both of them about the circumstances of the birth of Mariko. Feeling rejected by her father and that he favors Nana, Mariko attempts to kill her as an act of revenge, but is stopped by Bando,[14] who at the request of Kurama, escapes carrying Nana with him, although he is not able to prevent her from returning to the fight.

Meanwhile, Kurama reconciles with Mariko, who immediately afterward protects him from being hit by a non-explosive missile.[15] After being hit by this missile, Mariko temporarily manifests a split personality like Lucy/Nyu that is infantile and affectionate towards her father. Lucy then appears, searching for Nana with the rest of the inhabitants of the Inn. Upon seeing Kurama, Lucy attempts to kill him, but Mariko sacrifices herself to save her father. She tries to kill Lucy to protect Kurama by activating the bomb(s) that were inside of her body, while holding on to Lucy, but fails despite her efforts.While the bomb(s) indeed goes off, they do not kill Lucy. She instead only loses her horns, and becomes Nyu for the next several months, but not before seemingly tearing Marikos head off just mere seconds from the explosion.[16]

In the final episode of the anime, Kurama and Mariko meet and she realizes that he is her father. Mariko tells him that during her entire life at the institute's prison, she dreamed that one day he and her mother would come to take her home and live as a real family. She demands to know why he allowed her to suffer in the institute her whole life, and becomes jealous when Nana calls Kurama "papa." Mariko threatens to kill Nana, and Kurama raises his gun but is unable to shoot her. Instead, Kurama walks over to Mariko and hugs her tightly. He then picks her up in his arms, and promises they will never again be apart, while ordering an assistant to detonate the remaining bomb inside of her body. Kurama then tells Mariko he never stopped thinking about her and that her mother loved her until the moment she died. The assistant, after hesitating, activates the bombs, killing the both of them.