Prismriver Sisters

Main Profile

Lunasa Prismriver	Name:	ルナサ・プリズムリバー Lunasa Prismriver

	Species:	Poltergeist
	Abilities:	Can play a violin without physical contact
	Age:	Unknown
	Occupation:	Violinist of a musical performance ensemble
	Location:	The Prismriver mansion
	Description:	(Touhou 7,9) Gold eyes, short blond hair, always seen with her violin floating nearby. Band uniform is black, with white and red trim. Her hat has a red crescent moon decoration at the peak. (Touhou 9, alternative outfit) Same as above, except her dress is black.
	Relationships:	Merlin Prismriver (Younger sister) Lyrica Prismriver (Younger sister) Yuyuko Saigyouji (Employer)
	Appearances:	Perfect Cherry Blossom (Stage 4 Boss) Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Playable Character, Possible Opponent)
	Titles:	See Character Titles

	Name:	メルラン・プリズムリバー Merlin Prismriver

	Species:	Poltergeist
	Abilities:	Can play a trumpet without physical contact
	Age:	Unknown
	Occupation:	Trumpeter of a musical performance ensemble
	Location:	The Prismriver mansion
	Description:	(Touhou 7,9) Blue eyes, wavy light-blue hair, always seen with her trumpet floating nearby. Band uniform is pink, with blue and black trim. Her hat has a blue sun decoration at the peak. (Touhou 9, alternative outfit) Same as above, except her dress is cyan, and her trumpet is silver.
	Relationships:	Lunasa Prismriver (Older sister) Lyrica Prismriver (Younger sister) Yuyuko Saigyouji (Employer)
	Appearances:	Perfect Cherry Blossom (Stage 4 Boss) Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Playable Character, Possible Opponent)
	Titles:	See Character Titles

	Name:	リリカ・プリズムリバー Lyrica Prismriver

	Species:	Poltergeist
	Abilities:	Can play a keyboard without physical contact
	Age:	Unknown
	Occupation:	Keyboardist of a musical performance ensemble
	Location:	The Prismriver mansion
	Description:	(Touhou 7,9) Brown eyes, short light brown hair, always seen with her winged keyboard floating nearby. The keyboard has "L.P." (her initials) written. Band uniform is red, with pink and black trim. Her hat has a green shooting star decoration at the peak. (Touhou 9, alternative outfit) Same as above, except her hair is lighter in color, clothes are yellow, and her hat's shooting star is blue. Keyboard has now "Prismriver" written on it.
	Relationships:	Lunasa Prismriver (Older sister) Merlin Prismriver (Older sister) Yuyuko Saigyouji (Employer)
	Appearances:	Perfect Cherry Blossom (Stage 4 Boss) Phantasmagoria of Flower View (Playable Character, Possible Opponent)
	Titles:	See Character Titles

During the events of Perfect Cherry Blossom the three Prismriver sisters are preparing to play a concert for the flower viewing at Yuyuko's mansion. They attempt to stop the player from entering the Netherworld together, and the progression of the battle is affected by which sister the player decides to focus on attacking during their first spellcard. The dialog they bounce back and forth between each other and the player is actually quite comical, and shows their very individual personalities. Lunasa is mature and mellow, Merlin is happy-go-lucky and clueless, and Lyrica is a sly smart-aleck.

In Phantasmagoria of Flower View Lyrica, the youngest of the three, goes off on her own to collect material for her songs. She's not really interested in solving the flower incident and would rather focus on her performance, but unknown to her, she's not alone...

Fun Facts

The surname "Prismriver" is sometimes written as "虹川"(nijikawa), which is regarded as the name meaning “prismriver”, although the fact is that it really means “rainbow river”.
It may be coincidental, but Lunasa's name is similar to that of the J-Rock band "Luna Sea".
Lunasa's spellcards, "Guarneri del Gesu," "Stradivarius," and "Pseudo Stradivarius" make references to some of the most famous violin makers of all time, Giuseppe Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari. Oddly enough, the Amati family of luthiers are left out, despite making a fair share of equally good instruments.
Merlin has a bug in her programming in Perfect Cherry Blossom that sometimes causes her to behave improperly during the sisters' final spellcard. As a result fans have portrayed her as being occasionally rebellious or even crazy.
A mutation of a computer-programming meme on the Japanese message board 2ch called ぬるぽ or "Nurupo" (short for "Null Pointer Exception", which basically means "Disregard everything I just said") resulted in someone changing it to めるぽ or "Merupo". This almost immediately became a popular nickname for Merlin, although it could also be described as her alter ego.
Merupo is depicted by replacing Merlin's head with a smiling Shift_JIS head with a squiggle of hair down one side of its face, like so: ξ・∀・）. As far as Merupo's personality goes, think Merlin, only twice as stupid and twice as crazy (the only word Merupo seems to be able to say is her name).
Merlin has a great tendency of being drawn with a larger chest in fanart, perhaps because of the remarks in PMiSS about her being the tallest and most eye catching, similar to Komachi
Their spellcard background has an image of a score for Last Spring, from Two Elegiac Melodies by Edvard Grieg.
Layla Prismriver, the youngest of the original four sisters, has never had any known official art. Her only mention seems to be in the Prismrivers' official profiles.
Because these three sisters are created Poltergeists who were only made by Layla Prismriver to have the appearance and personalities of her three older sisters from whom she had been separated, they are technically all the same age since they were presumably created at the same time. They only act out the roles of oldest, middle, and youngest sister based on whichever one they were made to resemble.
It is known based on their official profiles and from comments by Sikieiki that none of the original four sisters are still alive today, though it is unknown how long ago the events that spawned these three poltergeists occurred.

Official Profiles

Perfect Cherry Blossom - キャラ設定.txt

　○騒霊三姉妹
　　長女　ルナサ・プリズムリバー
　　次女　メルラン・プリズムリバー
　　三女　リリカ・プリズムリバー

　　４面のボス、騒霊にして演奏隊。騒々しさ×３である。
　　主に手足を使わずに楽器を演奏する程度の能力×３を持つ。

　　西行寺家に召集されては演奏をし、報酬としてお花見が約束されてい
　　る。３人は何か宴があるたびに呼び出され、演奏で場を盛り上げる。
　　いわゆる幽霊ちんどん屋である。今回は、西行寺家で大花見会が行わ
　　れるとの事で、いつもの様に召喚されていた。

Three Poltergeist Sisters
Eldest Sister: Lunasa Prismriver
Middle Sister: Merlin Prismriver
Youngest Sister: Lyrica Prismriver

Stage 4 boss, the Phantom Ensemble. Noisiness times 3. They mainly have the ability to handle musical instruments and give musical performances without using their hands and feet—times 3.

The Saigyouji family enlisted the Prismriver sisters to provide music at a convention, promising them a flower-viewing in return. The three of them are always summoned to banquets and such; their music stirs things up. They're like ghostly versions of publicity-generating cultural icons.

This time, the Saigyouji family is holding an extravagant flower-viewing festival, so they would naturally be invited.

　　ルナサは何をやっても優秀な優等生タイプ。何事も曲がったことが嫌
　　いで、正々堂々と勝負して、なお強い。性格はやることはやるが暗い。
　　さらに素直で騙され易い。
　　得意な楽器は弦楽器、特にヴァイオリンを使用する。普段はソロ演奏
　　を好む。

Lunasa is an honour student type who excels at everything she does. She hates cheating, and confronts all challenges with fairness and great strength.

Her dark personality makes her somewhat pessimistic. After all, her honesty makes her easy to deceive.

She is most skilled with stringed instruments, especially violins. She usually prefers solo performances.

　　メルランはちょっと変ったタイプ。魔法の力は最強だが使い道を誤る。
　　性格は、余裕たっぷりの明るい性格。躁病の気がある。
　　得意な楽器は管楽器。特にトランペットを使用する。

Merlin is an erratic type. Her magical power is the strongest but she often slips up when using it.

Her personality is overflowing with good cheer. When she picks up an interest in something, she obsesses over it like a maniac.

She is most skilled with wind instruments. Trumpets in particular.

　　リリカは狡猾な性格。普段は姉達にけしかけて自分から戦おうとしな
　　い。最小限の力で、最大限の利益を取ることしか考えていない。
　　性格は、調子が良く、賢い。態度や行動は３枚先まで計算されている。
　　全ての楽器が得意であるが、普段は鍵盤楽器かパーカッションを担当
　　する。

Lyrica has a sly personality. She usually spurs her older sisters into battle because she doesn't like to do her own fighting. Using minimal effort for maximum gain is the only thing she thinks about.

She knows herself well and is smart. She doesn't act without first thinking 3 moves ahead.

She is very skilled with all kinds of instruments, but usually works with either keyboards or percussion.

　　３人の生まれは遥か昔に遡る。その昔、人間の貴族、プリズムリバー
　　伯爵という人がいた。伯爵には四人の娘がおり、たいそう可愛がられ
　　ていた。

　　だが、とある不幸な事故により、四人は家族を失う。身寄りの無い娘
　　達は、それぞれ別々に引き取られていったのだが、四女のレイラだけ
　　は思い出の屋敷から別れる事が出来なかった。
　　レイラは最大限の力で、姉達の姿をした騒霊（ポルターガイスト）を
　　生み出し、この屋敷と騒霊と共に消えた。

　　時代は流れ、四人はとうの昔の亡くなっていたが、屋敷はいまだ騒霊
　　屋敷として幻想郷に残っていた。騒霊三姉妹は、今もその屋敷で騒が
　　しく暮らしているのである。

　　三人の演奏は、色々な場所で披露されるが、軽快なリズムとクラシカ
　　ルな楽器の組み合わせが、陽気な冥界の住人に好まれる様である。
　　なお、演奏自体に付加効果は無いし、癒されもしない。

The three of them were born long ago. At that time, there was a human noble, Count Prismriver. The Count had four daughters, whom he cherished.

However, due to an unfortunate accident, the four daughters were orphaned. Without any other relatives, each daughter went her own separate way. The fourth daughter, Layla, was unable to leave the mansion that held so many of her memories. Using her strongest power, she conjured poltergeists with the appearance of her older sisters, then vanished along with the mansion and the poltergeists.

Time moved on, and the death of the four people from those old days came to pass; the mansion, now called the Poltergeist Mansion, remained in Gensokyo. The three poltergeist sisters continue their noisy lives in that mansion to this day.

The musical performances given by those three, at various places of announcement, a fusion of casual rhythm and classical instruments, are loved by the inhabitants of the cheerful Netherworld. Yet, the performance itself provides no additional effect, and does not heal.

Phantasmagoria of Flower View - キャラ設定.txt

　○騒霊キーボーディスト
　　リリカ・プリズムリバー
　　Lyrica Prismriver

　　種族：騒霊
　　能力：幻想の音を演奏する程度の能力

　　　あちこちに言っては、コンサートを行ったりしている霊体アーティ
　　スト、プリズムリバー三姉妹の三女。
　　　鍵盤楽器を得意とし、この世から無くなった幻想の音を使う。

　　　花の異変は余り眼中に無く、ただお祭り騒ぎになっていた幻想郷を
　　みて、姉さん達には黙って音ネタ集めに出ていた。

Ghostly Keyboardist
Lyrica Prismriver

Species: Poltergeist
Abilities: to put on an illusionary musical performance

The third daughter of the Prismriver Sisters, who are always
busy going to and fro to perform in concerts.
Specializing in keyboards, she uses illusionary sounds not of this world.

She didn't think much of the "flower incident"; all she saw was Gensokyo
in a hubbub, so she went out to collect sound material without telling her sisters.

　○騒霊トランペッター
　　メルラン・プリズムリバー
　　Marlin Prismriver

　　種族：騒霊
　　能力：躁の音を演奏する程度の能力

　　　あちこちに言っては、コンサートを行ったりしている霊体アーティ
　　スト、プリズムリバー三姉妹の次女。
　　　金管楽器を得意とし、精神を高揚させる音を使う。

　　　花の異変は全く眼中に無い。

The Ghostly Trumpeter
Marlin Prismriver

Species: Poltergeist
Abilities: Noisy musical performance

The second daughter of the Prismriver Sisters, who are always
busy going to and fro to perform in concerts.
Specializing in brass instruments, she uses sounds that can uplift the soul.

She has absolutely no interest in the flower incident.

　○騒霊ヴァイオリニスト
　　ルナサ・プリズムリバー
　　Lunasa Prismriver

　　種族：騒霊
　　能力：鬱の音を演奏する程度の能力

　　　あちこちに言っては、コンサートを行ったりしている霊体アーティ
　　スト、プリズムリバー三姉妹の長女。
　　　弦楽器を得意とし、気持ちを落とさせる音を使う。

　　　花の異変は全く眼中に無い。

The Ghostly Violinist
Lunasa Prismriver

Species: Poltergeist
Abilities: Melancholy musical performance

The oldest daughter of the Prismriver Sisters, who are always
busy going to and fro to perform in concerts.
Specializing in stringed instruments, she uses sounds that depress the spirit.

She has nothing to do whatsoever with the "flower incident".