Marnie is the titular character of When Marnie Was There. It's eventually revealed that she's Anna Sasaki's biological maternal grandmother.
Biography[]
When Marnie (who's an only child) was two years old, she moved with her family to the Marsh House in the seaside town of Kissakibetsu. She was often mistreated by her nanny, Georgina Gordon and the maids, Ursula and Ella while her parents were traveling. Eventually, she met a man named Kazuhiko. Kazuhiko and Marnie spent a lot of time together, often sneaking out. One day, Kazuhiko and Marnie went to the silo that Marnie was deeply afraid of, due to the maids' usage of the location to secretly abuse her. She nearly died while in the silo, before Kazuhiko saved her.
After Marnie grew up, she moved to the city of Sapporo, married Kazuhiko and had one child, a daughter named Emily. While Emily was still a young child, Kazuhiko died of an unknown illness. Marnie had been so devastated by the sudden death of her husband that she ended up being sent to a sanatorium while Emily was sent to a boarding school so she could be cared for properly -- both of Marnie's parents had already passed away by then while Marnie was also an only child and we never hear anything about any relatives from Kazuhiko's side of the family, it was the only available option for Marnie and her daughter. Sometime after Emily turned 13, she came back home to live with her mom -- while Marnie was happy to finally be reunited with her daughter, Emily was (kind of understandably) furious with her mom for basically abandoning her and the mother and daughter were ultimately never able to reconcile.
Once Emily reached adulthood, she (after having one last argument with Marnie) more or less ran away from home to marry the man who had gotten her pregnant. Marnie never saw Emily in person again after that and never heard anything about her daughter (or her son-in-law) until receiving a phone call informing her that Emily and her husband had been killed in a car accident. Marnie ended up assuming guardianship of her only grandchild, Anna, who was around a year old at the time of her parents' death -- Marnie took great care of her only grandchild during the time they were together, and vowed to try and give Anna the kind of life that she herself had been unable to have and had been unable to give to Emily. Unfortunately, Marnie (who never got over the death of her daughter) ended up passing away just about a year after Anna's parents died, leaving the child orphaned and alone once again. During the course of Marnie's funeral, it became apparent that Marnie didn't have any other friends or relatives that could (or were willing) to take Anna in, so she was ultimately sent to an orphanage. Anna resided until she was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Sasaki when she was around 5-years-old.
After Marnie's passing, her spirit returned to her hometown, mainly to her childhood home and the abandoned silo -- the townsfolk seemed to notice her presence and started avoided said places, thinking (correctly) that they were haunted.
After Anna (who's now 12) has a health scare during a school outing (due to suffering from asthma), Yoriko (under advice from Dr. Yamashita) sends her daughter to stay with some relatives in Kissakibesu (the town Marnie grew up in) for summer vacation. While there, Anna finds herself drawn to the Marsh House and ends up reliving some of her grandmother's memories through Marnie herself (who adopted her preteen appearance), taking the place of Kazuhiko (Anna's biological maternal grandfather) in most of the memories. Anna seemed subconsciously aware of the fact that Marnie was a ghost, but she didn't show any fear towards her -- Anna's time with Marnie also helped Anna become more willing to open up to the people around her and, overall, become more cheerful and optimistic.
When Yoriko comes to Kissakibetsu to bring Anna back home to Sapporo at the end of the summer, she gives Anna an old photograph that she used to carry around with her during her time at the orphanage, before Anna had been adopted by Yoriko and Mr. Sasaki -- when Anna notices that the photograph is of the Marsh House, it makes her realize that not only was Emily her biological mother, but that Marnie was her biological grandmother. Realizing all of this also helps to finally bring Anna closure about her identity.
Personality[]
Marnie is a kind, friendly and lively person. She is always cheerful and has a smile on her face. Marnie is adventurous and loves running in the forest, picking mushrooms and rowing in boats in the marsh. Marnie is very caring and sympathetic, she listens to Anna talk about her life at home and lovingly reassures her that everything will be alright. But beneath her warm smile is a sad, lonely and fearful girl who misses her parents and is scared of the silo on the hill.
Marnie is very brave at times, like rescuing Anna from crashing her boat, tricking her abusive nanny by locking her in her room and going into the silo during a thunderstorm.
As an adult, she lived a bittersweet life and in the last moments of her life, she is determined to make sure her granddaughter Anna is well taken care of.
Appearance[]
Marnie has long golden blonde hair that falls over her back, ending is smooth ringlets. She wears her hair loose for most of her screen time, wearing a blue dress with white frills and a blue ribbon tied at her collar and also wears a green dress with a yellow bow on her collar. She wears at one point a white nightgown with a blue ribbon on her collar and goes barefoot.
At the party, she wears a pink dress with various frills and high heels. Her hair is held in an elegant-yet-simple style, having only one portion held back with a matching ribbon. She sports red earrings.
As an adult and old lady, her clothing is much more simple, having a warm, earthly look.
Relationships[]
- Unnamed parents (deceased)
- Kazuhiko (husband; deceased)
- Emily (daughter; deceased)
- Unnamed son-in-law (deceased)
- Anna Sasaki (granddaughter)
Trivia[]
- Marnie looks similar to Odette from The Swan Princess series also in the 9th film she met Anna Sasaki same like Princess Mei Li have met, Maria Robonik from Sonic the Hedgehog series befriends with Shadow the Hedgehog and Michiru Kaioh/Sailor Neptune from Sailor Moon series partner with Haruka Tenoh/Sailor Uranus.
- Her birthday is July 15th.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Marnie (2).jpg (140 KB)")
.jpg "Marnie (3).jpg (37 KB)")
