Reno



Reno (レノ, Reno) is a prominent member of the Turks who appears in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and is always accompanied by fellow Turk, Rude. In battle, he wields an Electro-Mag Rod, a nightstick with a taser on one end. Reno also has a penchant for gossiping and is a competent helicopter pilot. In recent projects, Reno is voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in the Japanese version, with in the English version.

Appearance and personality
Reno has a lanky physique, unkempt red hair terminating in a long ponytail (though the ponytail was absent during Before Crisis and the first half of Crisis Core), and two symmetrical red marks on his cheek bones (apparently tattoos). He wears goggles, pushed up onto his forehead, an unbuttoned suit jacket, and an untucked dress shirt. He is cocky, cynical, and somewhat lazy. Despite his appearance and attitude, Reno is regarded to be a relatively prominent worker; while second in command he takes his job with pride and obtains skills that allow him to surpass many of his fellow Turks. He works hard and dedicates his life to Shinra and as a Turk he does as he is told without hesitation. He possesses a rebellious temperament and his actions are in turn quite sadistic, which can be contradictory to his laid back personality. Although shown to be predominantly left-handed, Reno can be thought to be ambidextrous, as a photo of him from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children shows him wielding his electromagnetic rod in his right hand.

Reno possesses a distinct speech pattern in Japanese, speaking in a drawling, slangy manner and, most notoriously, ending most of his sentences with zo to (ぞ, と), yo to (よ, と), or simply to (と). Tifa receives a phone call near the beginning of Advent Children, and, although the caller's voice is not heard, the audience understands it is from Reno, as Tifa jokingly replies, "Oboeteru, zo to" ("I remember you, yo"; "Yeah, I remember you" in the English dub). The official page for the film also makes a nod to this. Speech patterns such as Reno's are impossible to translate directly into English and can only be approximated by attempting to capture the same "feeling" as the original, which the game's English translation and the movie did not attempt to do.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
Reno appears as an unplayable character in Before Crisis retaining his nightstick taser, and his talent in piloting helicopters.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
When Genesis Rhapsodos' clones begin to launch an attack on Midgar, Zack Fair makes his way to Sector 8. Upon arriving at LOVELESS Avenue, he finds Cissnei taking on a Genesis Clone. Zack is stopped by Reno who tells him that Sector 8 is the Turks' turf. Rude backs Reno up and states there will be no need to worry about Cissnei. Tseng, arriving around the same time as Zack, asks for a status report on Midgar from the two. Reno claims that monsters are crawling all over Midgar, and Rude states that even SOLDIER has been called out. Soon after, they make their way to the other areas of Midgar.

Aside from a Digital Mind Wave flashback scene occurring randomly during the Lucky Stars and Air Strike Limits, Reno is not seen again until the end chapter. Flying a helicopter in the musty desert skies of the Midgar outskirts, Reno and Rude attempt to find Zack and Cloud. Reno tells Rude he thinks that in this wasteland it would be impossible to locate the targets. Rude on the other hand has a different opinion, and states to his partner that they always get their job done. Before he is able to complete his sentence, Reno says it for him, "because they are Turks". Rude begins to speculate that Tseng has something to give to Zack, and so Reno tells him it was because of a failed postman's job that took a year to deliver the letters Aerith Gainsborough had been sending. Cissnei's voice is heard on the helicopter's radio, and asks if there had been anything. Both tell her that there is nothing, and she, too, tells them the same. Telling them their next set of coordinates, they all report out, and head for their designated locations.

Zack and Cloud are found by Shinra infantrymen, and Zack is ultimately killed.

Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-
Reno makes a cameo appearance in Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-; he is seen communicating with the Turks, presumably also searching for Cloud and Zack.

Final Fantasy VII
Reno is first encountered when he comes to the slums church with soldiers in an attempt to capture Aerith. Not long after, he sets the bombs that blows up the Sector 7 pillar, but not without fighting Cloud, Barret, and Tifa, which leaves him temporarily incapacitated. He later confronts them outside of Gongaga Village with his long-time partner, Rude, to settle the score, but once again has to back down. Despite this rivalry, he is not beyond teaming up with Cloud and the others in Wutai, where both parties had a bone to pick with Don Corneo, who had taken Elena and Yuffie hostage. Reno and Rude can also be found observing the Sunken Gelnika, and fight Cloud and his party once more.

Reno is encountered one last time when the Turks are in the Midgar subway tunnels. Reno says he is "not really up for" fighting, even though he and the others were ordered to terminate the protagonists; if the player completed the Wutai sidequest they have the option of not fighting them.

Advent Children/Advent Children Complete
Along with Rude, Reno has a prominent role in Advent Children. Reno makes his entrance flying the Shinra helicopter over the Northern Cave, where the Turks are in search of Jenova's head. He escapes when Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo interrupt their investigation. Reno is seen attacking Cloud when he first arrives at the Healen Lodge, although this seems a bit halfhearted; consistent with his attitude at the end of the game, Reno possesses no true hostility towards his former enemies. He and Rude are on the same side as the protagonists and join the fight against Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo. He is seen near the opening of a tunnel with Rude, explosives in hand, having a lighthearted conversation, despite the fact they may be caught in the explosion. As soon as Cloud rushes by on his motorcycle, Reno drops the bomb he was holding with a smile. Loz, Yazoo, Rude, and himself are all caught in the explosion and implied to have died. However, this is shown to not be the case as both Loz and Yazoo shot Cloud near the end of the film, albeit mortally wounded. Reno and Rude are also shown to have survived as they are seen with the surviving members of Shinra, taking witness to Rufus' Geostigma disappearing.

Reno is shown to be a fearsome fighter by attacking Yazoo without warning. However, they primarily serve as the comic relief, exemplified by the cartoon violence during the same fight in Edge (such as Reno accidentally hitting Rude with his weapon). Interestingly, Reno's design overhaul for the film eliminates the somewhat sly and shady air he had in the original game. He still acts in a somewhat sly manner, however he is far more lighthearted and playful in the movie than he was in the game.

Battle
Reno can be fought four times during the course of Final Fantasy VII. However, only two of these fights are set, the others are the player's choice. In Before Crisis Reno is fought in the Training Mode.

Trivia

 * Reno shares a lot of similarities with Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series. They both have spiky red hair, facial markings, and similar personalities. Both have the same voice actors in the English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese versions. The similarities are intentional; Tetsuya Nomura has commented that he wanted to experiment by placing a familiar character in a new environment and role.
 * Reno is apparently quite nimble, at least during Advent Children, where he is seen scuttling up the side of a building at high speed, and later climbs the canvas sheeting around a skeletal building without any real handholds.
 * In Before Crisis, Reno is considered third in ranking in the Turks, Tseng being second, and Verdot first. However, actual status is unknown, for Rufus' standing within the Turks may not be official. After Verdot's leaving, Tseng took up Verdot's position as the Turks' leader, bumping Reno up to second-in-command.

Reno