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Sylia Stingray Priscilla S. Asagiri Nene Romanova Linna Yamazaki
Sylia Stingray
Seiyuu: Sakakibara Yoshiko
Sylia Stingray starts Bubblegum Crash pretty much the same as she did in Bubblegum Crisis - enigmatic, distant, perhaps even cold and emotionless. But Sylia develops a little from that in this series where she developed very little beyond that characterization in Bubblegum Crisis. Sylia proves that she is an excellent hacker, especially when she hacks the computer game that Nene was playing and uses it as a comm terminal instead of using a standard phone or similar item. In addition, where Sylia really wasn't much on baiting and trapping her opponents, she traps the Illegal Army with false information on the location of the final AI component and she baits Dr. Yuri, knowing full well that he'll try to kill her instead of going to jail. In return, she kills him, a particularly cold form of veangence. But in an interesting comment, Sylia seems to be a little sensitive to Nene's comment that she was "still cute back then", implying that Sylia isn't cute anymore.
By the end of the final episode, Meltdown, Sylia is smiling quite a bit, laughing, and generally much more personable than she has ever been before. Generally more human than she has ever acted before, for reasons which seem to relate to Mackie, the other Knight Sabers, and even to her conversation with the enemy at the end of Meltdown.
The hardsuits underwent a major change in their physical appearance between the end of Bubblegum Crisis and the beginning of Bubblegum Crash. Sylia's, however, underwent the fewest changes. The laser sword appears to be more powerful, but it is still the extruding version from Scoop Chase. The overall appearance of the hardsuit changed a little too.
Priscilla S. Asagiri
Seiyuu: Tashikawa Ryouko
Priss has changed quite a bit from Bubblegum Crisis to Bubblegum Crash. Unfortunately, very little of the change can be considered improvment. The reason is because Priss' character has reverted to the point that she was at in Tinsel City, the first Bubblegum Crisis episode, perhaps even farther back. What this means for Priss is that she starts Bubblegum Crash with a total, uncompromising hatred of Boomers, a totally different and, in my opinion, less appealing musical style, and generally less appealing personality. It's still Priss, but it's less than she was originally.
That having been said, Priss does develop some during the series. She refuses to sell out her music for money and she's still as impulsive as always. Not only that, but Priss cannot allow herself to be on the losing side of an argument - if you win, then you weren't really arguing to begin with. She grows out of her all-incompassing hatred of Boomers some through her interaction with ADAMA, although the speed she moves at in Geo Climbers streches disbelief a lot.
Priss' hardsuit underwent a lot of changes. Instead of the railguns being mounted in the forearm gauntlet as they were in Bubblegum Crisis, they are much more powerful and mounted over the shoulders. Her suit also is the one most capable of being refitted when a mission requires some differente weaponry. For example, in Geo Climbers, her suit is outfitted with two extra-powerful arms to fight Yuri's crab Boomer, and in Meltdown her suit is armed with a more powerful beam cannon than the gauntlet has normally. Finally, her suit appears to be capable of true flight now, and her gauntlet is armed with a laser sword much like Sylia's suit.
Nene Romanova
Seiyuu: Hiramatsu Akiko
Nene is the character who's the most different in this series. Not only that, but Nene's character was changed in some ways that, unlike all the other characters in Bubblegum Crash, I actually enjoy. Most importantly, she is capable of holding her own in a fight, and she's nothing like the near-coward she was in most of Bubblegum Crisis.
However, almost all other aspects of her personality are much less deep. She's arguably less mature than she was in Crisis, and she has reverted back to the point where she feels that the AD Police are totally useless. The fact that the AD Police actually are almost totally useless in Crash doesn't help, of course. In addition, Nene was able to hold her own in insult exchanges between Priss and Linna, but in Bubblegum Crash, she almost always loses or backs down.
Nene doesn't get a chance to really strut her stuff with regard to hacking, although she does tell Daley in Illegal Army that she had extracted information from a Top Secret NATO system, indicating that she's still pretty good with computers. She's still impulsive and she still has a huge mouth, and she's the only Knight Saber who really feels that the Knight Sabers are vitally important. But in another change I liked, she is also willing to gang up on Priss with Linna.
Nene's hardsuit is the most significantly different from the Bubblegum Crisis counterpart. To start with, her ECM and tech scanners are powerful enough that they can literally take control of an enemy's missiles and redirect them back at the shooter. In addition, her electronics suite now has the ability to link up with any other hardsuit when necessary. That same suit somehow can also read seismic vibrations and track them. She also has ultrasonic blasters built into her shoulders that can shatter and kill a Boomer easily. And the biggest change was Nene's suit somehow generating an energy shield which deflected a Boomer's laser blasts in Meltdown.
Linna Yamazaki
Seiyuu: Tomizawa Michie
Linna starts out Bubblegum Crash as a stock broker, working for an unnamed brokerage firm, and fully engrosed with the selfish pursuit of money. She's left her aerobics instructor job behind her, and with a little help from Nene's occasional tips on up and coming corporations, she's doing relatively well. Linna's character has been reduced to a much lower level of personal complexity, just like all the other characters. She's greedy, impulsive, and even insulting, especially toward Nene, a pretty significant change from her Bubblegum Crisis personality. Linna never really understood Nene, but she was rarely actively mean to her, and she has become mean. In another change from her Crisis personality, Linna appears to be the Knight Saber who is romantically interested in Leon, rather than Priss.
Linna's hardsuit design is quite a bit different from the final Bubblegum Crisis suit. It appears to be capable of sustained flight, which it wasn't originally. In addition, both of Linna's forearms mount spined, conductive cables which, when thrown and embedded in a target, conduct powerful electrical currents. These currents are powerful enough to electrocute a standard Boomer very quickly. Her suit still has the thermowhips which can cut through just about everything, but the knucklebomber appears to have been removed.
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Revised - September 21, 2000
