Priss

Real Name: Priscilla S Asagiri

Identity/Class: Human, technology user

Occupation: Lead singer for cyberpunk rock band Sekiria (a.k.a. the Replicants in the English translation)

Affiliations: Knight Sabers

Enemies: Boomers

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Apewoman (Nene's nickname for her)

Base of Operations: MegaTokyo, c. A.D.2040

First Appearance: Bubblegum Crisis (February 1987)

Powers/Abilities: Priss an expert in fighting, and thus is the Knight Saber's combat specialist.

Like all the Knight Sabers, Priss' most impressive powers come from the powered battle-armour "hard suit" she wears. To operate the suit, a special skin-tight sensory suit is worn against the skin (no underwear allowed), which serves to exactly transmit every body motion to the hard suit, making them far more agile than they would be otherwise. This also allows the onboard computer to monitor the wearer's health at all times.

The suits all have a combination ceramic/metal alloy armour, which absorbs and disperses energies which strike the suit, whether they be lasers, particle weapons or the kinetic energy from punches or bullets. Small arms fire cannot penetrate the suit, and other attacks have a much reduced affect on the wearer. The suit functions provides a full range of protection from NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) attacks - it's sealed system keeps out chemical and biological weapons, as well as radioactive fallout, and it's internal life support and temperature control protects the wearer from heat and pressure changes. The internal batteries allows the suit to function for up to fifty hours without needing recharges, in optimal conditions. The armoured helmets both protect the faces of the wearer and provide Heads-Up Displays (HUD) for tactical purposes.

The suits are also offensively armed. The exoskeleton amplifies the wearer's strength to about 10 times their normal level - since each of the Knight Sabers are at peak human fitness to begin with, this means they can lift between one and two tons on average while wearing the hard suits. Each suit is also equipped with at least one in-built blaster weapon in one of the gloves, most commonly a laser cannon and a "knuckle blaster", which creates an electromagnetic explosive capable of blowing up Boomers.

For transportation purposes, all the hard suits include jump jets built into the back and hips, allowing the wearer to make impressive leaps or break their fall from great heights.

To maximise team efficiency and to prevent hard suit theft, each suit is tailored for a specific user, making it difficult to operate if stolen (and frankly, considering how form fitting they are, all but impossible for anyone with a dissimilar build to even get into). Each suit is customised to take into account the given Knight Saber's own skills and weaknesses.

Priss is the team's assault specialist, and her hard suit has been modified to reflect this. It is the most heavily armoured suit, after Sylia's, and it is also the most heavily armed. Her gauntlet included not only laser cannon, but also a number of railguns which fire armour piercing needles able to shred Boomers. After her suit was damaged, the repaired and modified version saw her laser cannon souped up even more, a knuckle bomber added (at the expense of one rail gun), the remaining rail guns enhanced, and rocket motors installed on her ankles to make her kicks more deadly.

When Sylia later upgraded all the hard suits, Priss gained a rack of 3 shaped explosive charges capable of sticking to a target, a knuckleguard, and "leg bombers" which added the explosive effect of a knuckle bomber to her already deadly kicks.

After a few years the railguns became shoulder mounted, raising their destructive potential even further. Priss also gained a laser sword similar to the one used by team leader Sylia. Sylia also developed modular equipment which allowed Priss to change some of her weapons from fight to fight, as needs required. Finally Priss's hard suit was altered to allow her to fly, rather than just make large leaps.

History: When Priss was twelve she lost both her parents during the Second Kanto Earthquake. Brought up in an orphanage after that, she ran away at 17 and joined a biker gang. When not riding with them, she tried her hand as a singer at local clubs. Priss fell in love with the leader of her gang, only to see him murdered and the police join in a cover-up of his death. Her attempt to obtain vigilante justice for her loss where stopped by Sylia, who offered her a better way to get even. Priss joined the Knight Sabers. When not working with them, she sings with a rock band, Sekiria.

Strong willed and rebellious, she is the Knight Saber's best fighter, her combat marked by a disregard for her own safety. Because of the losses in her life, she tries to keep people at arm's length, but she does care deeply for those who get passed her tough exterior.

Comments: Created by Toshimitsu Suzuki and Ken-Ichi Sonoda.

Originally voiced by Oomori Kinuko, then later by Tachikawa Ryouko.

As Kelvin Green kindly pointed out "Priss is named after the character of the same name in the movie Blade Runner, which has a broadly similar setting to Bubblegum Crisis (and the original anime rips off the Blade Runner soundtrack in a rather obvious manner). In some translations (and definitely in the Dark Horse version of the manga by Adam Warren) her rock group is called "The Replicants", which is also what the android/clone creatures from Blade Runner are called."

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

• Pris, the replicant played by Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner.

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

Back to Japanese heroes main page

Home

All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.