maria
Introduced in episode ten ("Interaction"), Maria is a second generation Neo-gene bred and engineered by the NSWF. After Reina falls out of favour with Furumizu, the director begins to focus his affections on Maria in the hope that she will become his perfect "mother". Maria is the most powerful of all the Neo-genes and Nishida notes in episode ten that "This girl will surpass all...". The biggest issue with Maria is her mental stability — she doesn't really have any. Although she appears to be around fifteen-years-old, mentally Maria is only four (having been born and engineered in a lab). Owing to her age and upbringing, she is prone to childish tantrums and agressive outbursts. Furumizu laments that "her mind has yet to catch up with her body".
After witnessing a mother and daughter interact during a shopping trip, Maria becomes obsessed with the idea of having a mother. She feels everyone at the NSWF hates her, but "Maria's mother would definitely like her". She refuses to train properly with the other Neo-genes and builds up various fantasies in her mind about what her mother will be like ("Hey, did you know Mama can do anything? She'll do whatever I ask. She would never do anything bad. She'll always, always be with me."). Furumizu eventually strikes a deal with Maria — he will reveal who her biological mother is if she can successfully equip a Cloneblade. Maria immediately throws herself into her studies, desperate to be united with the one person she feels will love her unconditionally.
This turns out to be (surprise!) a bad idea. When Maria finally equips a Cloneblade and Furumizu reveals who her biological mother is, Maria isn't satisfied in knowing about the woman from a file — she wants to be loved by her. In episode fifteen, Maria decides to escape from the NSWF and track down her mother, Soho Reina.
Reina, having just reunited with the child she gave birth to six years ago, is not happy to see Maria when she unexpectedly arrives on her doorstep. Maria, in turn, is horrified to see her mother with another child. Maria ascertains that the child is "Maria's big sister" but cannot understand why Rihoko is "so puny". Furious at the thought of having to share her mother with someone else, Maria decides she wants to eliminate Rihoko (whom she refers to as "that").
This is something Reina cannot abide and she is eventually forced to fight Maria in Cloneblade form. As Reina's breakdown is well underway at this point, she proves to be a weak opponent for Maria to fight and is injured quite quickly. Maria is disgusted that her mother would fight to protect someone else "You're Maria's mama, so why? Why?! Why?!". Concluding that Reina must hate her like everyone else, Maria violently runs her through several times. Despite this, Reina continues to fight because she so desperately wants to protect Rihoko (whom Maria intends to kill after she's done with her mother). This proves confusing for both parties.
Maria: Why are you stopping me?
Reina: Good question... It is incomprehensible...
Maria: This isn't my mama.
Maria finally deals a fatal blow to her mother, disgusted that she isn't the mother she wanted. In the process however, Reina stabs Maria back. Maria begins screaming hysterically "It hurts!". The dying Reina chides her daughter, "You shouldn't go overboard with your power...There's no point to it if you don't fully understand it..." before the NSWF appear and steal Maria away.
Reina dies with Takayama by her side, still confused by everything that has happened. While Maria sees Masane and Rihoko happily reunited as the NSWF chopper departs. She cries to herself "It hurts... Mama...".
relationship
Reina and Maria only meet briefly in one episode, but this meeting is crucial to the overall direction of the series. Maria has the mentality of a child, she feels persecuted and alone so she seeks unconditional love. She sees her mother as the only person who could possibly love her in a genuine way. Sadly, for both parties, this just isn't possible. Reina feels no attachment to Maria when they finally meet despite the fact that they are biologically related.
It isn't exactly Reina's fault that she is unable to feel anything for Maria, she was never raised to comprehend emotions and indeed, has trouble feeling attachment to her other daughter as well. Like all the Neo-genes, Reina and Maria are victims of Furumizu's hubris. His arrogant desire to be born anew creates and casts aside hundreds of Neo-genes, all of whom we can assume are motherless creatures like Reina and Maria (after all, Furumizu regards natural conception and birth as "primitive").
Although she commits both matricide and patricide over the course of the series, Maria is truly just a hurt child at heart. When she kills Reina she initially feels triumphant at defeating a woman she regards as disappointing, but only moments later she cries out for her mother when she is in pain. Deep down, Maria never wanted to destroy her mother, she just wanted to be with her (albeit in an absolutely bizarre way). With Reina dead Maria matures, but becomes utterly directionless in the process.
No longer having Reina as a goal, Maria becomes rudderless and begins seeking power to fill the gap left by her mother's death. She ends up so consumed by the idea of power, that she kills Furumizu and assumes control of the NSWF in order to gain more of it. Except Maria doesn't know what all her power is for — she seeks it, but has no direction in which to focus it. This proves to be her downfall when she goes against Reina's final words about excessive power and decides to chase the Witchblade. Even with her advanced Cloneblade, Maria stands no real chance against Masane and eventually meets her demise.
In the final episode we get a glimpse of what Maria truly wanted from all her struggles against Masane and Douji Industries — Reina. When Masane and Maria fight, Maria says "Once I get the Witchblade I'll--" only to see Reina in Masane's place "You'll what?". Stunned by the apparent appearance of her mother, Maria is quickly run through by Masane (as Reina) who continues to embrace her as she dies.
Maria: Mama...
Masane (as Reina): I see. So that's what you wanted.
Maria: Hey Mama... Do you love Mari--?
In the end, all Maria wanted in life was the one thing that fate cruelly denied her — the unconditional love of a mother. Reina didn't know of Maria's existence before she broke down her door, she never intentionally kept her affections at bay. It was just an unfortunate set of circumstances that pitted them against each other. Reina was forced to choose between her daughters and, in the end, opted to protect the powerless one. Even as she lays dying, Reina is unable to understand why she was willing to sacrifice herself for her child.
Reina, like Maria, is a beautiful but damaged creation — capable of intellectual and physical brilliance, but emotionally broken beyond repair. Had mother and daughter met under different circumstances perhaps the outcome could have been different. With both of them engineered victims of Furumizu's research however, the only way they are able to find peace is in death.