Summary
Marller, also romanized as Marla or Mara, was once the childhood friend of Urd and the other main goddesses before transforming into a demon. Although she serves as their arch-rival, her true allegiance is complicated by her lingering affection for them. Her official duty is to expand demonic market share on Earth by signing contracts with humans, while her secondary tasks involve sabotaging the goddesses’ activities and causing them distress. However, she typically neglects her primary contractual obligations, focusing instead on hindering the goddesses under the logic that removing them from the market will automatically grant demons a one hundred percent share. Personality-wise, Marller leans more toward mischief and determination rather than outright cruelty. She still cherishes her time with the goddesses, often forgetting her darker duties when the chance to socialize arises. Her perspective is somewhat narrowed by her past; she felt deeply abandoned when Urd fully accepted her role as a goddess, a decision she believed necessitated the end of their friendship. This history fuels her obsession with undermining the goddesses, yet she simultaneously enjoys their company whenever possible. In the TV series, this conflict manifests as insecurity and self-doubt, particularly regarding her inability to boost the demons' influence, a struggle that brings her to tears when Urd suggests she lacks talent. Marller possesses two distinct vulnerabilities: she is repelled by good luck charms and cannot help but dance whenever she hears rock or disco music. Her name carries various cultural references. The romanization Marller is used by creator Ken Akamatsu (referred to as Mr. Fujishima in the source text), while Marla reflects a Japanese pronunciation and Geneon Animation’s localization. The name Mara also evokes the Buddhist demon who tempted Gautama Buddha, a parallel mirrored in the series when she attempts to distract Keiichi using Sayoko during her debut. Additionally, many Japanese speakers avoid the pronunciation Mara because it sounds identical to a slang term for male genitalia.
