Reno

Reno is a prominent member of the Turks who appears in the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and is often 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 is absent during Before Crisis and the first half of Crisis Core), and two symmetrical red marks on his cheek bones. He wears goggles pushed up onto his forehead, an unbuttoned suit jacket, and an untucked dress shirt. He is cocky, cynical, somewhat lazy and rather friendly. Despite his appearance and attitude, Reno is regarded to be a 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 has a rebellious temperament and his actions can be sadistic, which can be contradictory to his laid back personality. Reno is left-handed; even if he is occasionally seen holding his weapon in his right hand in promotional images, he only ever uses it left-handedly in any media he has been depicted in.

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.

Reno and Rude primarily serve as the comic relief in Advent Children, exemplified by cartoon violence. 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, but is far more lighthearted and playful in the movie than he was in the game.

Combatting AVALANCHE
As part of their duties as a new member of the Turks, the Player Turk is sent on patrol of Sector 8. Encountering the AVALANCHE organization by chance while they were attempting to infiltrate the sector, after a brief skirmish, the Player Turk informs Tseng on their PHS who instructs them to investigate the group further, and in turn notifies his superior, Veld. Discovering that they are intent on destroying the sector's Mako Reactor, Reno is sent in to support the Player Turk as they enter the reactor to prevent AVALANCHE from detonating their bomb. While enabling them to do this, Reno encounters Shears for the first time in combat and is soundly defeated by him. As Shears also defeats the Player Turk, who had returned after successfully preventing the bombing, he is ordered to withdraw to Junon where President Shinra is currently residing to hold a news conference. Noting their movements, Tseng sends Reno and the Player Turk to protect the President.

While the pair manage to reach the President before the attack, the President's military escort proves ineffective against AVALANCHE's soldiers, who infiltrate and secure the President's hotel. As Reno stays with the President, the Player Turk clears the building before the President insists on leaving for the conference in spite of the danger.

Forced to act as the President's street escort when Reno is separated from them, the Player Turk protects the President from numerous attacks until they enter the conference building where, dressed as Shinra troops, AVALANCHE manages to dupe and momentarily capture the President before the Player Turk fights their way back to him as Reno returns to help. Cutting the power to the building and causing a black-out, Fuhito arrives to meet Reno and Shinra. While Reno manages to escape with the President, the Player Turk is defeated by Fuhito while attempting to distract him, whereupon it is revealed that AVALANCHE has hijacked the Sister Ray cannon.

As Reno returns the President to his quarters, Rufus Shinra calls and notes the new Turk's progress before Veld informs them of the Sister Ray's hijacking. The President sends Reno to liberate it, leaving him open for Fuhito to enter the room and shoot him. Still alive, the President orders Veld to send in Sephiroth to destroy AVALANCHE. With AVALANCHE intending to use the Sister Ray cannon to destroy Midgar as a message to Shinra, Reno leads a contingent of Shinra troops against AVALANCHE's street forces and the Player Turk enters the cannon facility from an underground passageway. Lead by Tseng over the PHS, they work their way through the facility's security countermeasures and AVALANCHE personnel into the control room to turn off the cannon.

With President Shinra deciding to dedicate SOLDIER to deal with the threat of AVALANCHE, the Turks are instructed to locate new SOLDIER candidates. Reno, Rude and the Player Turk travel the globe, employing any potential fighters for the SOLDIER program. In Costa del Sol, the Player Turk enters a fight club called Club Duel and beats the strongest fighter, known as "King", into submission and captures him for the SOLDIER process. On the trip to Midgar, the entire candidate population is killed by a sole candidate called Azul, who the Player Turk is forced to confront. Azul is eventually suppressed by Rude.

While on the docks, the ship is attacked by a contingent of AVALANCHE soldiers lead by Shears. Attempting to free the SOLDIER candidates Shears boards the ship and frees the candidates, defeating Rude while the Player Turk attempts to recapture them. As the Player Turk returns, Rude goes after Shears and, partnered up with Reno, manage to defeat the AVALANCHE commander while a freed Azul returns to the Shinra ship willingly to finish his fight with the Player Turk and become a SOLDIER to become stronger. Following the theft of confidential documents from the 45th floor of the Shinra Building, Reno and Rude are sent to guard the room and search for clues to the missing files. While the pair continue their investigation, an intruder sets off the alarm and the Turks must defend themselves against the building's security system, which had been sabotaged by the intruder. While Shuriken (Female) looks into the sabotage, Reno and Rude are ordered to continue their investigation. When Reno notices a bearded man in a lab coat watching them from the shadows, the pair chase after him; concluding that the man was the person who stole the data.

Escaping into an elevator, Reno continues pursuing; jumping onto the elevator roof only to discover that the access door is locked. As Reno is forced to fight another malfunctioning security robot, the suspect manages to escape the building. Recalled by Veld, Reno and Rude are ordered to continue their investigation as well as help stop the malfunctioning security robots, which have escaped onto the streets of Midgar and begun attacking civilians.

On the streets of Sector 8, Reno and Rude split up to try and find the machines. After finding and destroying a number of the machines, Reno helps out Rude and together the two make their way to LOVELESS Avenue where they find Shuriken (Female) cornered by two Genesis Copies. Tseng arrives, along with newly promoted First Class SOLDIER Zack Fair, to assist, however, Shuriken manages to defeat the clones on her own.

Continuing their hunt for rogue robots, Reno and Rude again spot the man in the lab coat. Gaining Veld’s permission to follow him, they chase him into the sewer systems, where they are attacked by numerous robots, which seem to take orders from the scientist, concluding that it was the scientist who tampered with the Shinra control system. Cornering the man, they discover him to be Professor Hollander, and as they close in, two Genesis Copies appear from a hidden passage and distract the pair, giving Hollander time to escape. After the battle, Veld orders the pair to return to Sector 8 as SOLDIER has taken over the investigation of the stolen documents.

Curious over Rude's unexplained disappearances after work, Reno orders the Player Turk to follow after him in Sector 8 to discover that he was leaving to go on dates with a woman named Chelsea. While the Player Turk deals with a monster infestation in the sector, Reno follows Rude to one of his dates and discovers Chelsea attempting to place a bug on his PHS. Reno follows her from the date and discovers her working with AVALANCHE, however, she claims to her contact that she was unable to place a wire tap on Rude's PHS in spite of Reno noting that she had plenty of time to do exactly that during the date.

The next day Reno informs Rude about his girlfriend's affiliations, however, Rude already knew. When the Player Turk returns from destroying the monster nest they come across Chelsea attempting to quit AVALANCHE and defends her from her angered comrades. Chelsea explains herself to the Player Turk and asks that they inform Rude that she would not be coming to meet him anymore, stating that, although she wished it otherwise, the Turks and AVALANCHE were enemies and cannot be together.

Meanwhile, President Shinra is growing impatient to destroy AVALANCHE. Veld sends Reno and Rude to gather information on Fuhito's new Ravens while the Player Turk is to gather new Turk candidates.

Conflict with Shinra
Four years after the Nibelheim Incident the fugitives Zack and Cloud are hunted by Shinra. The Turks, along with Reno, attempt a Priority-S retrieval attempt, but are unable to acquire them before the Shinra military ambushes them.

After Veld has been taken to Midgar to be executed, Tseng, Rude and Reno attempt to discern the location he is being held. While Reno, Rude and Tseng free Veld, the Player Turk commandeers a helicopter to chase after AVALANCHE before they use the support Materia to summon Zirconiade. Crashing the helicopter into the truck the Ravens were using, the Player Turk witnesses as Fuhito gathers the support Materia around a limp and weak Elfé on the highway and summons Zirconiade above Midgar. While managing to save Elfé, the Materia inside her fuses with the support Materia on its own and Fuhito ascends to give the newly formed Materia orb to Zirconiade.

As the Player Turks chase after Fuhito along the construct created by Zirconiade's summoning, Tseng, Reno, Rude, Veld and an awakened Elfé are captured by the Shinra military. Confronted with the offer that the Turks would be spared from capture and execution if Veld and Elfé are killed, Tseng turns his gun on the pair and fires. As Tseng leaves with the bodies of Veld and Elfe, Reno and Rude wait for their remaining comrades still fighting Zirconiade. While destroying Zirconiade, the shockwave emitted from its destruction destroys the construct on which the attacking Turks were standing. Reno and Rude watch in horror as the entire construction vanishes in an explosion of light.

Fighting the second incarnation of AVALANCHE
Reno is first encountered in Final Fantasy VII when he comes to the Sector 5 Church with soldiers in an attempt to capture Aeris, who manages to escape with Cloud. Since this encounter Reno is met frequently by the second incarnation of AVALANCHE, who are fighting against Shinra and Sephiroth, trying to stop the latter from destroying the Planet with Meteor. During Shinra's plan to wipe out AVALANCHE for good, Reno 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 have a bone to pick with Don Corneo, who has taken Elena and Yuffie hostage. Despite company orders for Reno and Rude to track down Cloud and his group, Reno ignores this order because he is still on his day off. 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 after Diamond Weapon's raid on the city and Professor Hojo having gone rogue. Reno says he is "not really up for" fighting, even though he and the others were ordered to terminate Cloud and his party; if the player completed the Wutai sidequest they have the option of not fighting them. Even if the player does fight the Turks, they depart after the battle and are not seen again in the game.

During Meteorfall, Reno oversees the evacuation of Sector 4 while Rude clears Sector 2 and Elena clears Sector 3. Moving to clear Sector 5 together with Tseng, the four are met and assisted by the previous Turks and Veld returning to assist in the evacuation of the citizens.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Along with Rude, Reno has a prominent role in Final Fantasy VII: 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, Yazoo, and Loz interrupt their investigation. Reno is seen attacking Cloud when he first arrives at the Healen Lodge, although this seems 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. Reno 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 holding with a smile. Loz, Yazoo, Rude, and Reno 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 shoot Cloud near the end of the film. Reno and Rude are also shown to have survived as they are seen with the surviving members of Shinra, taking witness to Rufus's Geostigma being healed.

Final Fantasy VII
Reno can be fought four times during the course of Final Fantasy VII. Only two of these fights are set, the others are the player's choice.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-
In Before Crisis Reno is fought in the Training Mode.

Last Order -Final Fantasy VII-
The Last Order -Final Fantasy VII- OVA illustrates the events surrounding Zack Fair and Cloud Strife's escape from Nibelheim's mansion, overlapping with incidents depicted in Final Fantasy VII and Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-.

The OVA particularly covers the Turks' role during both the Nibelheim Incident and events leading up to Zack's Final Stand against the Shinra military; addressing the Turks' pursuit of Zack and Cloud through the Mythril Mine and their ill-fated search for the pair in the Midgar wasteland.

Trivia

 * Reno's name is depicted as "Leno" in few official data books releases, such as Official Establishment File, which include name romanizations.
 * Reno shares a lot of similarities with Axel (and by extension, Lea) 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.
 * In Before Crisis, Reno is considered third in ranking in the Turks, Tseng being second, and Verdot first. His actual status is unknown, for Rufus's 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 is the only minor character from VII to have a Playarts figure.