The New Touhou Character Alternate Interpretation Compendium!

Prismrivers for official name. And 3 characters.

i think its awesome that 9001 was the first on the page,

i gonna change to prismrivers because i feel like drawing koakuma and would like to have it done before we finish her discussion, which come to think of it is unlikely no matter who we choose.

I HATE THAT-

-checks post numbers-

-I got post 9001-

I INVOKED THE ONE I HATE!? GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH -explodes into danmaku-

edited 28th Aug '11 4:01:17 AM by TARDISES

The Jackson Sisters it is!

Hoorah.

Cool. I'm cool with the Prismrivers.

Boosh

Hai gaihs!

The Prismriver Sisters

Theme:
Ghostly Band ~ Phantom Ensemble*

(PoFV version)

Stage: The cherry blossom barrier from above the clouds
Cherry petals have been falling from above the clouds. Does "Reishouden", the legendary place, really exist?
bgm: Capital City of Flowers in the Sky*

Spellcard Motif: Music | Emotions | Ghostly Performances | Noise | Famous musicians and producers of instruments
Notable spellcards: PCB, Lunasa's PoFV, Merlin's PoFV, Lyrica's PoFV
Noisy Sign "Phantom Dinning", Funeral Concert "Prism Concerto", Noisy Funeral "Stygian Riverside", Great Funeral Concert "Ghostly Wheel Concerto Grosso", Great Funeral Concert "Ghostly Wheel Wonderous Concerto Grosso"
String Performance "Guarneri del Gesù", Spirit Strings "Stradivarius", Fake Strings "Pseudo Stradivarius", Noise Sign "Noise Melancholy", Noise Sign "Lunasa Solo Live"
Trumpet Ghost "Hino Phantasm", Dark Trumpet "Ghost Clifford", Noise Sign "Soul Go Happy", Noise Sign "Merlin Happy Live"
Dark Keys "Fazioli Dark Performance", Key Ghost "Bösendorfer Spirit Performance", Noise Sign "Soul Noise Flow", Noise Sign "Lyrica Solo Live"

Write-up:
An ode to times past, echoing eternally where their souls cannot rest.

When Count Prismriver died, a long, long time ago, his four daughters were forced to go their separate ways. Only the sentimental youngest sister Layla could not get herself to leave her birthplace behind, and so stayed in the mansion. And yet, she missed her sisters so. It is not known how she did it, but to alleviate her loneliness, she created three poltergeister in the image of her beloved sisters.

Today, the mansion stands in Gensokyo, and is still haunted by the ghostly echoes of the three artificial sisters who survived their youngest who created them. Perhaps it is their bond to this place that filled it with magic and made it migrate to the land of Gensokyo. The frail of heart might find it fearsome to enter into the mansion, surrounded by ghostly noise... But those with courage and those with no fear will have no hard time contracting the famous sisters to play at their events. Yuyuko Saigyouji in particular often employs them for any occasion she can find.

While the sisters are technically of the same age, their character is modeled after the sisters they represent. Lunasa is a serious, honest and hardworking type. Merlin is a bouncy, enthusiastic kind of person. Lyrica is a mischievous one, always thinking three steps ahead to figure out a way that suits her.

With such different personalities and appearances, how true are they still to the original sisters? Has their being become lost in time? What truth lies within Shikieiki Yamaxanadu's judgment of the three?

Three phantom images of a memory long past, leaving only questions.

Relations:

• Layla Prismriver (their creator)
• Yuyuko (frequent employer)

Alternate Character Interpretations:
Songwriting the Poltergeist Way
-by asterism

Sisters going Solo - Lunasa
-by asterism

Sisters going Solo - Merlin
-by asterism

Sisters going Solo - Lyrica
-by asterism

For A Song
-by Bocaj

Noisy Funeral "Stygian Riverside"
-by Clarste

Ghosts' Band
-by Horselesshorseman

The Prismrivers Three
-by Metaflare

Some Ramblings about Prismrivers
-by Otherarrow

Poltergeist Examination
-by Pulse

Phantasmal Resonance
-by Pulse

The Show Must Go On
-by raigakuren

Prismriver Sisters ~ Musing on The Quality of Glue
-by yarrunmace

edited 14th Oct '11 3:31:17 PM by Fawriel

Post 9009. I guess that's kinda cool.

Sorry I took so long. Today just wasn't a good day for writing a profile. Or for anything, really.

I kinda love the Prismrivers, but I need to try and focus on other things now. I'll just leave this here, since it can't be linked too often.

PS: Fun thing I just learned regarding their spellcards.

edited 28th Aug '11 12:14:57 PM by Fawriel

What Shikieiki seems to say is that they have to determine the purpose of their existence if they don't want to disappear, since their existence previously depended on Layla, who is no longer there. Anyway, they were born as spirits without a foundation, as she calls it.

Welp! Let's do this thing! 3 girls, 3 notes, 3 overviews. Let's do this thing!

Of Note: Lyrica

Lyrica is the youngest of the Prismrivers. She plays keyboard and percussion. She plays the least solo performances of the sisters.

Her ability is the ability to play her keyboards without touching it, that's it.

Her keyboard is a synth so she can play sounds that no other instrument can.

Her keyboard has no known effects, unlike her sisters' instruments. I personally believe she has to ability to cancel their abilities.

She prefers to have her sisters fight first, and likes to think of herself as something of a chessmaster.

Her hair changed color from light brown to so light it's almost white in between her two appearances, but it is far more common to portray her as a brunette.

Hmm... didn't the band Akyuu listened to play synth instruments. Perhaps Lyrica's use of technology helps the band's popularity.

Overview: Lyrica

I guess Lyrica is something of the band's manager. She's clever, though probably not as much as she believes, so I imagine if the band did have finances of some sort she would handle them. Her sisters decided to follow her in P o FV, so maybe they think she's weak, or maybe they just wanted to see what she would do. She is definitely the most logical of the sisters, too what degree the sisters use logic.

I don't have time to finish this right now. So enjoy some nice Lyrica notes, but now I can, I just didn't feel like editing this line.

Of Note: Merlin

Merlin is the middle sister. She specializes in wind and brass instruments. (They are different, mind you.)

She has a trumpet she can play without touching it. Now that's slightly more impressive, where does it get the vibrations to make sound?

Merlin has the most fans of the three sisters, in-universe. She is the tallest of the three sisters.

Merlin is ever-cheerful and optimistic.

According to Akyuu, she sometimes blurts out unknown words. Maybe she's just that hyper, perhaps they are other languages? ZUN does say she has a habit of obsessing over her interests. If such an interest was language... this is so much guessing, not professional at all.

She creates sounds that uplift the spirit, Akyuu makes it sound like this is her instrument's power, but maybe she just plays really cheerful music? Wait, that ruins my Lyrica's power hypothesis, so then I must agree with Akyuu.

Because of a glitch in PCB where Merlin doesn't act correctly during the sisters' final spell, she is considered to rebellious or crazy. ZUN has fed this meme in subtle ways in side material and P o FV.

There some meme about Merlin involving this face, ξ・∀・, that is all I have to say.

Merlin's name has nothing to do with Arthurian lore, it's just a romanization of her name.

Overview: Merlin

Continuing my metaphor, Merlin would be the publicity agent. She's hyper, and stands out. While she's not really good at talking to people, she is good at getting people excited. Her standing out among the sisters is definitely something interesting about her. I like to see the sisters portrayed as separate entities, not some loud music playing hive mind. A band is the sum of it's parts. She's without a doubt the most energetic of the sisters.

Of Note: Lunasa

Lunasa is the eldest sister. She plays string instruments. She plays the most solo performances of the sisters.

Lunasa has a violin she can play without touching it. Lunasa has to work the bow and move the strings to play, so she's certainly close to Merlin in impressiveness, but creating the trumpet's vibrations still holds my respect, because that's what sound is.

She excels at all she does, except beating the PC.

She is extremely pessimistic, and somewhat gullible.

She looks down on cheating and optimism. Well, we certainly wouldn't get along. How she can even live with Merlin is beyond me.

She is the leader of the Prismrivers; to what degree they are led.

She creates sounds that deflate the spirit causing people to become melancholic and depressed, of course she's the one who likes to play solo.

She is the most popular sister, real-life, as of the most recent popularity poll.

Overview: Lunasa

To finish my analogy, Lunasa is the composer. She is quiet and prefers what sound she makes to be made by an instrument. She seems to be the only sister who seems to focus on practice and composition. A composer is something of a band leader, though she has better reasons for being the leader though. The whole "concertmaster" thing, but it didn't really fit my analogy, because, well, they're a band not an orchestra. Wait, you're telling me they do count as an orchestra. Well, I'll be...

Music

If Phatom Ensemble isn't my favorite Touhou song, it's at least my second. ZUN mentions in the song comments that he considered making them solo themes. I really, really wish he did. I'd love to hear the three sisters interpretation of their theme. Maybe the three instruments used make the song, maybe it would still be awesome. I guess we'll never know.

edited 28th Aug '11 2:27:11 PM by Horselesshorseman

Noisy Funeral "Stygian Riverside"

Recently we've had a number of discussions regarding the "purpose" of youkai. Well, the Prismrivers are purpose incarnate. Created for a purpose, living for that purpose, and by all indications they will die for that purpose. They themselves may not have been granted knowledge of what that purpose is, being given only the knowledge needed to fulfill it, but they have no choice but to do so, for that's all they are.

Their purpose is of course to entertain Layla Prismriver. They exist to keep her company, to play with her, to keep her eternally reliving the memories of times long past, and above all else to make noise. For what greater evidence of a lively house can there be other than an eternal racket? They are poltergeists after all. While there's certainly something to be said about Layla's state of mind given that her sisters were still around and she probably could have visited them or whatever, ultimately this is irrelevant. The Prismriver sisters were created to keep the house alive, and that's what they do. That's all they can do.

Of course, Layla was not immortal, so in the end and despite her best efforts her household dies with her. As Eiki says, Layla was the sisters' foundation, the reason for their existence. They exist to entertain her after all, so without her what meaning can they have? I think Eiki is wrong though. Layla's wish was not quite so transient. Layla didn't wish to hear her sisters play music with her, she wished for there to be music. For her house to be alive. For what was once lost to keep on living, forever. So that's what the sisters do. That's all they ever knew how to do, and that's all they will ever do. They'll keep the household alive forever, despite its missing piece. A noisy funeral.

I've always wondered, how do you just make poltergeists anyway? Or was that Layla Prismriver's fancy Touhou power? Wouldn't be surprised if these was some myth reference I missed there though.

Also, if the original sisters were still alive and met the poltergeist sisters, what would happen? (Heck, what would happen if the original sisters died, went to the Netherworld, and saw the poltergeists perform?) Talk about awkward.

Also, Prismriver is a very nice name. Very nice. These three qualify for Awesome McCoolname in my book.

Also, I like that video, though it does make me tear up. Poor Prismrivers.

edited 28th Aug '11 12:35:43 PM by Otherarrow

A very awkward moment as the poltergeists come to terms with their existence as spirit clones of three dead people?

Do they not know? I got the impression that they knew what they were, even if they're not quite up to speed on spiritual metaphysics.

Interestingly, Merlin is the only one who doesn't name her spellcards after instrument manufacterers, prefering to name them after musicians.

Here's the breakdown:

Lunasa: Giuseppe Guarneri, Antonio Stradivari

Merlin: Terumasa Hino, Clifford Brown

Lyrica: Fazioli Pianoforti, Bosendorfer. Note that Lyrica's are named after companies, not people.

edited 28th Aug '11 12:42:33 PM by asterism

And here's a small picdump.

• Sparkly.
• Shiny.
• Sparkly AND shiny.
• Touchy-feely.
• This one was disqualified from being the profile picture for being too cute.
• An entirely different direction, with a little addition.
• Merlin looks so dreamy here. Oh my.
• And this one has a really nice Lyrica.
• For chibi fans.
• It's the Prismrivers in pajamas. I... I really don't know what else one could ask for.
• Jamming with Mystia.
• And fluffy feelings abound.

PS: Clarste, that was surprisingly sweet.

edited 28th Aug '11 12:43:34 PM by Fawriel

I always assumed they knew, or at least would have an idea after living with Layla. Of course, it's still be awkward. It'd be like meeting your own clone, only you never knew the clone was made. Or, in their case, being that clone and having to explain yourself to your originals.

Of course, that also raises the question of how "accurate" recreations the Prismriver sisters are.

I think that even if they were "accurate", they'd be different enough from the "real" Prismriver sisters if they ever met. The real ones changed, aged and eventually died, while the poltergeists keep playing music and staying within the "roles" Layla made them in. (Which is not a bad thing, mind you)

EDIT: As for my earlier question about "creating" poltergeists, that is apparently how they come to be in the Touhouverse. Kana for the PC-98 games was a poltergeist who was "created" as well. Still wondering how that works exactly though.

edited 28th Aug '11 12:51:14 PM by Otherarrow

I get the impression that Kana wasn't willingly created, but was a product of the disturbed girl's mind that came to life somehow.

Maybe it was similar for Layla?

That makes it even more depressing! Layla wasn't just a poor girl who had to watch her siblings leave the mansion she loves after the death of their father, but she also ended up conjuring up the Prismrivers we know and love out of her unstable mind's belief that her sisters were still by her side?

Either way, the Prismrivers have a sad story to tell. Poor Prismrivers.

edited 28th Aug '11 1:02:15 PM by Otherarrow

I figured this might crop up, so here's details and answers to questions by ZUN (in an email).

Aren't I an annoyingly useful fellow, crushing theories and interpretations just like that? Though now that I look at this, whoever made that PV Fawriel linked(thanks for that by the way, I've been looking for it forever) seems to have read this beforehand too, what with all the striking similarities and that magic prism object too.

edited 28th Aug '11 1:17:14 PM by hassanico

When I first heard Phantom Ensemble, I'll admit that I didn't care for it that much.

Until I realised the three main instruments in the song were a piano, a violin and a trumpet, and from then until now, I cannot listen to it without imagining the sisters playing it during battle.

Incidentally, Lunasa the violinist being the group leader could be a reference as to how in orchestras, the concertmaster is always the lead violinist.

The Prismrivers weren't originally musicians? Now that IS interesting.

edited 28th Aug '11 1:13:46 PM by asterism

This may provide the key to a generalized Youkai Clothes Theory.

Hmm. Interesting. So the Prismrivers were made by a combination of Layla's power and the fancy magic object? Wonder what happened to that thing?

I also find it interesting that they didn't become performers until after Layla passed on. I can see them just playing the instruments to cause a ruckus (probably upset at Layla's death?), when someone hears them and notices, "hey, they got talent! It's crude now, but the people haunting this house could make some excellent music." And the rest is history.

Of course, how did Layla and the Prismrivers and their mansion get into Gensoukyou in the first place?