Before I start this essay I want to make it clear that I am not trying to prove that Sylia and Priss are in love. What I am trying to do is to give reasons for the tension between the two of them and try and explain some of the events which seem to imply that they did, at one point, have a relationship.
This is based on the English dubbed version of Bubblegum crisis Tokyo 2040. I know the series very well and before I began to write this I re-watched the whole thing so any references I make to the show should be pretty accurate. If you have any questions or you think something I have written is wrong please email me.
+ To begin with Priss seems to dislike Sylia and for no apparent reason. Although her feelings towards Sylia change thought the series and some of her hate seems to disappear, for the most part there is a lot of unexplained tension and you get the impression something happened between them. Could possibly be the result of a relationship which broke up before the show started and the two of them are going through the awkward stage after a break up? Priss obviously joined the knight sabers before the series began and she really seems to hate Sylia, It would not have made sense for her to have started working for her in the past if she had always felt this way.
+ “Why risk your life if you don’t care?” - (Linna) - Priss says she fights because of the money, she often uses money as an excuse to others, and to herself, for why she continues to fight and this is also what she tells Sylia when she agrees to help find the lab. Her life style isn’t an expensive one and she probably makes enough from singing so money couldn’t be the full reason.
She seems to think she has to give a reason for being there, she feels Sylia was using her and she would not like to appear to care about what Sylia did or care about Sylia, she is ashamed of allowing herself to be in that situation, to be week and used: so she uses money as a reason for staying and denies that she cares about Sylia or the other girls - she doesn’t want to care as it would show signs that she still had feelings for Sylia. In the final battle she is working for free - (“why am I here? No ones paying me.”) this is after she has started to open up and seems to be getting over her past.
(Sylia, Priss, Nigel love triangle - kind of explanation)
For the first Part of the series Priss seems to have a crush on Nigel, right? But this could be to cover up feelings for someone else or possibly a way of getting back at them…
+First of all Priss never really ‘tries anything’ with Nigel, she is either talking to him about motorcycles (which is perfectly normal as he is fixing hers) or asks questions about Sylia as if to try and find out weather they are together. This could mean that she isn’t really interested in him and she just wants to know if she still has any chance with Sylia or possibly to get back at her for the pain she has caused. Her being around Nigel seems to have more of an effect on Sylia than him, Nigel continues to act uninterested and take little notice of Priss whereas Sylia gets extremely jealous of it.
Priss finds out that the two are definitely together when she over hears Sylia saying that she loves Nigel, she doesn’t hear anything from Nigel, but this seems to be all she wanted to know. From where she was standing it is unlikely that she would have been able to see anything and its when Sylia says she loves Nigel that you see her hurt expression. This is also the point where she starts to open up to Leon, she needed to know she had no chance with Sylia anymore in order to let go and find someone else. When she tells Nigel to go spend time with Sylia this is showing that she is over it and accepts that they are together and she wont get either of them.
+ In vol 11 when she talking to Leon - “For the longest time all I could think about was leaving, my singing was going to take me all around the world, then this thing happened. I was making good money, killing boomers, but I kept putting it off, I had my bags packed every night but I never went anywhere. Now even this place is gone.”- Priss
“sometimes you need a kick in the teeth to get out of the rut your in. Its like falling in love with someone who’s taken, as long as you stay near her you cant see anyone else.” - Leon.
Priss doesn’t give Leon a chance until she over hears Sylia saying she loves Nigel and she knows they are definitely together. - (“falling in love with some one whose taken.”) She starts to get nicer and starts to open up a little to Sylia when she’s ‘with’ Leon, she is over her and has someone of her own now.
(How Priss and Sylia act towards each other)
+ Priss yells at Sylia a lot and although Sylia doesn’t really fight back she becomes very defensive when Priss is mad at her - As a comparison when Sylia gets angry with Nene she usually yells at her. She could be so different with Priss as she feels guilty about something she has done, she feels the need to justify what she’s saying/doing and prove that she is right. There’s lots of tension between the two of them and Priss often avoids looking at Sylia. If there was a relationship it probably broke up around the time the show began and the tension and awkwardness between them could be the result of this break up or maybe feelings which they still have for each other or aren’t sure about. The time it takes for Priss to ‘Get over’ what ever happened before seems like the recovery period after a relationship.
+ Priss is very sensitive to the Knight sabers only working together and not being friends. She may be uncomfortable with it or doesn’t want any more work relationships, friends or more - also may be reason why she isn’t easily won over by Linna. She doesn’t want to repeat past events and avoids the subject when Nene asks her what she knows about Sylias past - this could be because she is a part of it and she doesn’t want to have to get in to details, as Priss isn’t the kind of person who likes to talk about these things.
+ “What I need Nene dear…not in the way I think you and maybe Linna are.” - Priss is more mad than the situation needs, she is angry at Sylia for lying to her as much as what was lied about. She is more upset about this than Linna and Nene would have been simply because it meant more to her than them. Sylia was more important to her and she most likely already felt used and betrayed by her from past events and has allowed it to happen again.
“How can you just sit there and pretend any of us mean anything to you.” - Priss. Sylias threatening to kiss Nene may have hurt her as it shows Sylia isn’t taking a matter which means a lot to her very seriously (“you knew how I felt about boomers and you still lied to me, you bitch”) Sylia was important to her and knew her feelings about boomers, but lied to her and used her a second time around. Priss is quite sensitive and doesn’t brush things of as easily as she would like people to think. She also seems to trust Sylia more than most people - because of this it would have made her very angry when she was lied to. She always asks Sylia if something is true e.g. when Nene is explaining about the lab and earth quake also when they were looking for the wiz lab she could have gone in, but instead listens to Sylia - She uses the excuse that her batteries going - she seems to feel the need to make excuses for everything this is because she is in denial of her feelings that she still has for Sylia.
(why didn’t anyone else know about the relationship, and why isn‘t it mentioned?)
Neither Priss or Sylia are the kind of people who would want to tell everyone that they were/are together and neither of them appear to have any friends which they would want to tell. Even Priss isn’t completely sure if Sylia and Nigel are together until she overhears Sylia saying she loves him, which shows Sylia is quite secretive and quiet about her love life.
Nene didn’t join till after Priss, though as she says in episode 13 - (atom heart mother) it was around the same time, although she may have been around when they were together she doesn’t seem to have any knowledge of the possible, past relationship though she makes comments about Priss not wanting her to join the team and being territorial, which means Priss would have wanted to work alone with Sylia and wasn’t to keen on having any one else around.
Sylias main goal was to destroy Galatea, If she had needed Priss to achieve this she would have used whatever means were necessary, she could easily have used Priss. This would also help to explain Priss‘ anger towards her.
(Overall Conclusion)
My personal opinion is that Sylia and Priss were a couple and could possibly be one again! There is enough evidence in the series to back up the fact that they were and there are several scenes which seem to imply that they might still have feelings for one another such as the scene where Priss is watching Sylia swimming; this at least shows a kind of physical attraction, and right after that with the beer can - I bet if Priss wasn’t Priss she would have been blushing there! ^_^
But like I said in the first paragraph, I am not trying to prove that they are in love, as much as I might like to think so ^_~
The reason I didn’t want to make this a ’shrine of love’ or similar is because I think that more of the evidence seems to point towards something that has happened rather than something that will happen. The pairing with Leon and Nigel at the end is enough to convince most people that they don’t still like each other in that way, also it shows a kind of closure between them. As I said before it is at the point where Priss gets together with Leon that she really starts to become more friendly and relaxed around Sylia, I think both of them have moved on by the end of the series and seem happy with their current lovers! Well I think that pretty much sums it up but if you have any comments or questions please sign the guest book or email me.