Name
As given in KeroKero Ace September 2011, Ren's surname Suzugamori, is written with the kanji used for the historicalSuzugamori execution grounds (鈴ヶ森刑場, Suzugamori keijō). These execution grounds were used by the Tokugawa Shogunate in the Edo period to execute criminals, anti-government conspirators and Christians. Despite being Japanese, Ren's forename (レン) is written in stylized katakana, a writing system usually reserved for foreigner's names.
Ren Suzugamori
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Character Information
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Season 1
Ren Suzugamori first appears in ride 23 at the invitation of the card shop PSY, and is challenged by Kourin in a Vanguard mirror match, using identical all-female decks mixed from Oracle Think Tank,Bermuda △ and Megacolony. Being the previous years' national champion, Ren crushes Kourin by gaining and maintaining a heavy card advantage.
Ren returns for rides 30, 32 and 33 as the leader of Team Foo Fighter AL4, as well as a participant on two other (unseen) Foo Fighter teams. In the final match of the national championship (Ride 33), Ren defeats Kenji of Team Caesar without riding to grade 3, by using a powered-up Blaster Dark. He later comments on broadcast television that the tournament was boring, and refers to other players as "wasting their time and effort."
Ren is shown to have PSY Qualia which allows him to predetermine the outcome of Vanguard fights. Before fighting Kourin he identifies two Blazer Idols as the trump cards for the upcoming fight, and he seemingly predetermines drawing Blaster Dark in his fight with Kenji.Aichi appears to have a similar or identical power, as he can tell when Ren is using his, and performs similar drawing feats with Soul Saver Dragon. In ride 23, Ren's use of his power appears to cause Aichi physical pain, and following the end of the match Ren stares directly at Aichi.
In episode 49, a part of Ren's past is revealed - his teenage years. He immediately seems to take interest in Kai immediately, and meets up with him after class, with Tetsu accompanying him. He comes off rather silly, like when Tetsu asks for Kai's name - Ren gives his own, or when Tetsu corrects him with Not you, that guy!, Ren says "Thatguy"? no they wrote his name on the board and it was way longer than "Thatguy". After Tetsu battles Kai, Ren asks him if he would like to join, and asking if he could take a look at Kai's deck.
Disregarding Aichi as a failed project, Ren returns to his original goals. While perturbed by Aichi's staunch refusal to use PSY Qualia against Team Caesar, Ren disregards Team Q4, stating that "the gate to hell is already open before all of you. "The evening preceding the match between AL4 and Q4, Ren is once more approached by Suiko of Ultra-Rare. Having previously warned him that it is time for "final judgment", Suiko offers Ren a choice of contracts; a card of darkness or a card of light. Ren firmly sides with darkness without a moment's hesitation, and is gifted several copies of Phantom Blaster Overlord , the crossridden form of his preferred grade 3. Ren demonstrates the card's strength, along with his PSY Qualia's final state, by crushing his old rival Kai Toshiki beneath his heels. Against Dragonic Overlord the End , a crossride of comparable power, Psy Qualia is the difference that confirms Ren's absolute belief in his powers. Walking away from their clash satisfied, Ren declares that this is "The End" of their friendship, and all he needs now is the limitless power of PSY Qualia.
Ren stands on the sidelines for the first two matches of the National Tournament finals where he sees a win from Tetsu Shinjou and a loss from Asaka Narumi who he then tells is no longer a member of AL4 since she lost her fight. He then takes the field to battle Aichi Sendou in the last battle of the finals. He spends the majority of the match tempting Aichi to use PSY Qualia while making Aichi feel the pain from the attacks of his Shadow Paladin's. After Aichi calls Blaster Dark and succumbs to PSY Qualia, Ren is dealt similar blows of pain from Aichi's units that Ren had dealt to Aichi. After Kai brings Aichi back from PSY Qualia's control once again Ren proceeds to Crossride Phantom Blaster Overlord and use his skill to push Aichi into a corner, breaking his guard and proceeding to deal the finishing blow to Aichi. Thanks to a Heal Trigger from Aichi, Ren is now forced to face Majesty Lord Blaster , whose skill brings together Blaster Blade and Blaster Dark , much to Ren's shock. During Majesty Lord Blaster's attack, the unit proceeds to drain Psyqualia from Ren, effectively causing Ren to lose the power. After he loses the match to Aichi, he proceeds to allow Asaka back onto AL4 and states that Foo Fighter's battle isn't over yet. As he walks away he looks at Kai and states that next time they fight that he will win.
Throughout the first season, Suzugamori is firmly established as one of the most powerful cardfighters, representing the pinnacle of evolution for PSY Qualia and the final stage at which a PSY Qualia-bearing fighter may ascend to. He has never been featured as having lost a fight until the season finale, and has some capacity to predetermine the future.
Season 2
During this season, he uses a Gold Paladin deck. Ren will be taking part in Asia Circuit and will travel around Asia to fight different fighters, with Asaka Narumi and Kai as Team New AL4.
At the Seoul Stage, after the defeat of Team Movie Stars, Ren appears once more as the leader of a new team, Team New AL4 along with Asaka, Kai and himself.
Ren appears to be on very good terms with Asaka and is up against Aichi in their match with Team Q4. After his first turn, Ren regained his Psyqualia through Takuto after seeing the image of his Spectral Duke Dragon attacking Aichi's Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel.
Ren uses the Vortimer ride chain's ability to fill up the field and Sleygal Daggers to boost his unit's power to high numbers. When he rides Spectral Duke Dragon, he dealt 3 damage to Aichi and successfully guards against Ezel's power up on Aichi's turn. Ren finishes the match by activating Spectral Duke Dragon's Limit Break, winning his team the 2nd round of the stage.
Team New AL4 moves on to the finals of the Seoul Stage, facing Team Caesar and Ren faces Kenji. Ren uses Dark Irregulars in this match by borrowing Tetsu's deck, with Blade Wing Reijy as his vanguard. He fought hard in the match but eventually lost to Kenji's Ultimate Dimensional Robo, Great Daiyusha, saying that their match was fun and makes a face. Despite losing the match, Team New AL4 won the Seoul Stage as Asaka and Kai won theirs and Ren said he might try out Pale Moon as Dark Irregulars doesn't suit him.
Team NAL4 went to the summer resort island which they are invited by the Tatsunagi Financial Group. For dinner, Ren cooks delicious hashed beef rice given how he threw food in whole into the pot. He decides to do a Test of Courage where half of them becomes scarers and the others being scared. Ren and Asaka are shown looking for people to play beach volleyball and managed to get Misaki into the game. He then borrows Morikawa's and Emi's deck to find out which clan suits him the most with Misaki. NAL4 stays behind in the resort island while the rest and Q4 goes back to Japan in preparation for the next stage.
Ren and the rest of the winning teams gather in Japan, the last stage of the VF Circuit. NAL4 wanders around the amusement park where the final stage is held. After the winning ceremony, all the teams gather in a room that has a portal that creates a space connected between Cray and Earth to fight a mysterious empty power, Void. NAL4 gets seperated with the other teams by Leon Soryu not long after their arrival in the space. Ren uses his PSY Qualia to sense Leon's in order to find him. After finding Leon, Ren lets Kai challenge Leon to a battle since he could not stop Kai when he's this furious. He and Asaka were challenged by Sharlene and Jillian to a tagfight. He declined it initially due to him being tired from the "sniffing" to track Leon's PSY Qualia but accepted it as he wonders how it is like to be up against an Aqua Force deck. Ren rides Conviction Dragon, Chromejailer Dragon on his turn during the tagfight. However, it was soon interrupted by the crumbling of the fight table as Kai lost his fight against Leon. Ren and his team were sent back to Earth as Kai lost and defeated cardfighters cannot exist in the space.
Season 3
Ren appears in season 3 as Fukuhara High School's Cardfight Club's captain (although this is due to Tetsu forcing the position on him). He tells Aichi that he will face him during the VF High School Championship and is seen with the Shadow Paladin clan along with Blaster Dark Revenger.
In the finals of the VF High School Championship against Aichi and the Miyaji Academy Cardfight Club, he stood toe to toe against Aichi. In the end, Ren manages to overpower Aichi with his Shadow Paladin Revengers and advances his team.
After Kai leaves the Foo Fighter headquarters, Ren returns from a walk and meets Suiko outside. Ren wants to know what is happening when a group of Reverse Fighters from Fukuhara surrounds him while Suiko heads inside. Ren crushed all of the fighters with Brilliant Stars as his next obstacle. Kyou and his other two team mates appear in Fukuhara uniforms to carry out their plan: To infiltrate Fukuhara and enter the VF High School Championship. Kyou willingly takes on Brilliant Stars with Reversed Fukuhara fighters substituting Brilliant Stars while Ren walks in the building, asking Suiko to tell him what is with all the cardfighting. Suiko then challenges him to a cardfight and in order to get information, Ren must defeat her.
The fight starts. Suiko explains more about Reverse, Void and Link Joker during the fight and demonstrates the clan's abilities, Lock. When Ren figures out that Tetsu and Asaka were Reversed from Suiko's hinting, he goes into his serious mode. Ren finishes the game with Revenger, Raging Form Dragon. He runs over to a knocked out Suiko, who is released from Reverse, and gently places her on the stairs. Ren now knows of a way to deal with the situation. After Suiko wakes up, both of them go to Asaka's room for Ren wants to challenge Asaka and release her from the clutches of Reverse.
As Ren and Suiko walks beyond the curtain that acts like a door to Asaka's room, Ren is greeted by 4 daggers thrown at his feet by Asaka which he avoided. They find Asaka on a trapeze, reversed. Asaka comes down, greets them and soon challenges Ren to a fight. Midway through the fight, Asaka tells Ren how she felt about him not noticing at her the way she wanted him to. After listening to Asaka, Ren feels offended that she says he doesn't notice her. He remembers when they were preparing for the Asia Circuit and states he was counting on Asaka. Their fight continues. Asaka says that she wants Ren to obey her and call her "Queen". Ren was surprised when he sawSilver Thorn Dragon Queen, Luquier "Reverse" as it is his first time seeing a Reverse unit. He successfully guarded against Asaka's ruthless attacks and counterattacks. Ren tells Asaka to stay with him and through his convincing, he manages to free Asaka from Reverse as well as winning the fight.
Ren and Suiko then teases Asaka about her being "Queen" for she has no recollection of being Reversed. The trio then set off to find Tetsu and Ren figures that Tetsu is at the rooftop, an appropriate place for a last boss and ascends the elevator and faces Tetsu for a match to free him from Reverse's hold.
During their cardfight, Tetsu insists on Reversing Ren and have him take his place as "King" though Ren states that that position is not his to take. After being pushed into the corner with Demon Marquis, Amon "Reverse", Ren manages to pull off a victory when he drive checked Raging Form Dragon and Superior Persona Ride him. After saving Tetsu from the Reverse, Ren says that he's no fit to be a leader and that he depends on Tetsu to hold him up. The group then travels to Miyaji Academy to check on Kourin to see if she's been Reversed. After meeting with Aichi, Kourin and Rekka, he is relieved to find all of them not reversed but hopes they are going to be okay.
Ren and the Fukuhara High team are seen in the High School Finals defeating Leon Soryu. Afterwards, they discussed the Reverse phenomenon with one another.
In the Manga
Ren first appears in Chapter 5 of Volume 1, alongside silhouettes of Tetsu, Asaka and Kyou, as the leader of the Foo Fighters. Here Ren is shown to be highly dexterous, throwing his cards like darts into the walls of the Foo Fighters' hotel room. Ren is not seen again until the end of the chapter, in which he's seen standing atop a building, looking down at Kai in the city below. It has been revealed, that Ren, while in younger age, has been physically abused by his father, because he failed to meet his expectations of a perfect son.
While Ren makes several more appearances in chapter title illustrations and passing reference by the characters, he is not personally seen nor expanded upon until Chapter 10, where Tetsu and Kai discuss Ren's past in detail. Ren has brought the Foo Fighters to Aichi's town to sate his boredom, longing for more exciting cardfights, and to that end has the Foo Fighters using the fight gloves to induce pain in whomever takes damage in a fight. Ren's mysterious powers from the anime are referred to in the manga as "PSY Qualia", a power that many people share with him. Just as with his use of the Vanguard fight gloves, Ren has been gathering people with PSY Qualia into the Foo Fighter gang to relieve his boredom. Tetsu refers to Ren as having an "ultimate PSY Qualia," a property that makes Ren invincible.
As with the anime, Ren appears intent on convincing Kai to rejoin the Foo Fighters. Tetsu refers to Kai as having "once surpassed Master Ren"; however, he believes that at this current level of strength, no one can stop Ren.
Characterization
Personality
In the anime, Ren is depicted as relaxed and controlling, acting almost exclusively through his Foo Fighter teams. He only takes the field by request or for sensitive matchups; as seen in ride 33, Ren only fought Team Caesar because AL4 lost one of the opening two matches. Outside of a fight Ren hardly moves, maintaining a lethargic composure. In battle, Ren drops this persona completely, becoming highly animated, as seen when he throws his cards at Kourin during a guard in ride 23, and during the final match of the national championship, where he slams Blaster Dark on the table for his ride phase.
Ren shows shades of sadism at times, enjoying Aichi's depression in ride 33 and goading him further into the idea that Team Q4's losses was all his fault.
When Ren is in his natural self, he has fun in Vanguard fights and is joyful than before. He can also be an air head at times.
In the third season, Ren acts his natural self most of the time, but when it comes down to Vanguard or something related to his close friends, he gets into his serious mode.
Playstyle
Ren originally uses a Shadow Paladin deck, composed from cards in BT04 and BT05. Ren is shown to be highly skilled; he is national champion twice over, he also won the Seoul Stage of the VF Circuit with his team NAL4. His signature card is Blaster Dark, a shadow counterpart to Blaster Blade. In Season 1 we see Ren with his regular deck, he is shown as a player geared toward offense, taking down Kenji's Super Dimensional Robo, Daiyusha using the lower-graded card, Blaster Dark.
Throughout season 2 he uses a Gold Paladin deck, centered around Spectral Duke Dragon as opposed to Aichi who's Gold Paladin deck focused around Ezel. He maintains a similar playstyle, skillfully lining up his units to achieve his image of victory. Aichi even notes at the end of their match in episode 81 , that even with Psyqualia it's unlikely that he would be a match for Ren.
In season 2, Ren is also shown skilled with decks other than the ones he usually plays. In the final round of Seoul Stage, he made a bold decision, as remarked by Kenji, changing his deck to Testu's Dark Irregulars. Throughout the match he was shown skilful with the deck, effectively mounting attacks even with the match's Special Rule in effect, despite never having used it before. Despite eventually losing to Kenji, spectators commented on his ability to use the deck as world class.
When using the all-female deck Kourin supplied him with, Ren plays a defensive game, focusing on card advantage and stonewalling his opponent with massive guard scores. Once his opponent has exhausted them self against his guards, Ren moves in with Blazers' Pleasures to boost his units' power and deal the finishing blow.
In season 3, much more of his strategic side is shown with the return of his Shadow Paladins using the Revenger sub-clan. He places great importance with utility using Mordred Phantom, Tartu and Dark Bond Trumpeter to set up an ideal field, Blaster Dark Revenger to disrupt an opponent's field, and finally set up his field Raging Form Dragon to exhaust his opponents defences and land a finishing blow.
Physical Appearance
Ren has only been depicted in one outfit in Season 1 and manga, a black mantled trench coat paired with a long sleeved shirt and jeans, both red during his first appearance and black jeans from his second appearance onward. Ren also wears a black choker around his neck. Beneath his coat Ren wears a small half-skirt around the waist that serves to hold his deck. His fight glove color is dark red, the same as Kai's.
Ren takes off his trench coat while the rest of it remains the same in the second season. In the third season, he wears the Fukuhara school uniform often draping his jacket over his shoulder, he also ties up his hair in a ponytail.
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