Application for [realityshifted]
Character: Renge Houshakuji
Series/Fandom: Ouran High School Host Club
Deviance: 1
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Species: OtakuHuman
Canon Used:
Technically, both the anime and the manga! Since Renge appears a lot more in the anime, it definitely leans towards that, but as the rest of the cast, Renge will be on this timeline.
Appearance:
This is Renge. On first appearances, she is a well-mannered young lady. Renge has dark brown eyes and lighter brown hair. She always wears a pink ribbon in her hair with her school uniform. The Ouran girl's uniform is a plain yellow dress with a white collar and cuffs, with a full petticoat underneath. A red ribbon is tied at the collar.
However, there's a chance that you may never see Renge in this outfit, or looking quite that polite. Because boy does she love her cosplay. Renge dresses up in a variety of outfits, especially those from anime, manga, or video games. Because cosplay is awesome. But she'll only go all out (meaning, wig, props, contacts, etc.) when she's attending the mecca of otaku: Comiket. ♥
Psychology:
There is a common theme in Ouran about some of the characters. It's pretty universal, and applicable to many series indeed. What is that theme, you ask? Well, it's simple.
French people are crazy.
And, being French, Renge is a very special kind of crazy. This special kind of crazy is called otaku! Otaku, for those of you not in the know, is a somewhat derogatory term for an obsessive fan of anime/manga/etc. And this term is a good way to start off what makes her "Renge." Renge is defined by obsession. Her obsession is mostly harmless, though amusing. Renge is the kind of person who is very passionate about one thing, and will be captivated by that obsession until she finds something new to obsess over. Renge's life is just a series of obsessions!
But while otaku are characterized as fat, smelly neckbeards or fat, smelly (and pantless?) women, Renge is obviously neither. The first time we meet her, Renge has some of these tendencies and isolates herself in her room to surround herself with her obsession, but she obviously has no problem leaving her isolated world. Renge isn't socially awkward by any measure, either. Instead, Renge is very social, emotional, and enthusiastic about everything.
Renge is obviously quite smart, as evidenced by being in class 1-A, but we never see her book smart tendencies. Instead, we see her social genius. Renge is able to pinpoint a person's personality after very little interaction. Because of her familiarity with fictional media, this largely comes from character stereotypes and archetypes, but at least in Ouran's world? She's never exactly wrong. Renge is sociable and loves to be the center of attention. It's basically her whole deal with the revolving stage and grand entrances. Renge will jump into any social situation and be able to use it to her advantage, as slight as they may be.
It's this set of character traits that makes her so valuable to Kyouyathe Host Club. Renge should be a consumer advisor for a large company when she grows up, because Renge has a wonderful ability to figure out what people want. Then it's up to everyone else to cater to that, though Renge will often provide helpful advice along the way. In a way, Renge's ideas are ingenious for the Host Club, at times. But in the same stroke, you can't help but laugh at the lengths that Renge will go to so that she can see her favorite collection of pretty boys in some new setting or costume that she thought up. In fact, for when real life fails, Renge even came up with the Moe Moe Ouran Journal, a doujinshi that lets her do just the same thing, but less realistically.
So, in a sense, Renge is business minded, though in a weird way. Renge is business minded as long as it's also her business. When the Host Club's customers are elated by some new idea of Renge's, she's right there with them. Her ideas are mostly selfish--they just happen to correlate wonderfully with all the other girls' desires. That's not that surprising, considering the girls of Ouran are all largely cut from similar pieces of cloth. Renge is spoiled, selfish, and focused on selfish fulfillment, but this is nothing that unusual. It's what the Host Club caters to, and they are quite popular.
Also like many of the girls, Renge is a hopeless romantic. She dreams of falling in love dramatically, just like in her favorite shoujo manga. Renge has a penchant for the dramatic, and is in love with the tragedy of conflict. However, if any of those things were to turn on her, it would be quite the opposite. Renge is a cheerful and bubbly girl whose life hasn't been plagued by any trauma. Every one of her whims has been answered, and they continue to be. Yet despite that, Renge is a nice person. Though she might do it in admittedly odd ways, Renge will help a person that needs it, and is interested in making everyone around her happy. So it's really no surprise that she ended up the manager of the Host Club, is it?
Other Skills/Abilities:
Renge has the power of hammerspace. That's a legit power, right? I think so. Anyways, Renge will pull things out of nowhere to demonstrate a point (such as posters). It's never anything big, but enough to make you maybe go "wait renge where did you get that"
She also has the power of ℳℴℯ on her side. If you know what this is, then you know this is terrifying. If not, then you don't want to know.
(spoiler: it's otaku powers)
Other Weaknesses:
Renge is a normal sixteen year old girl. If you punch her, it'll hurt, and she would cry. You jerk.
History:
Once upon a time, Renge was born, presumably in Japan because she's fluet to her parents. She has a father, but who knows what happened to her mom. Renge grew up in Japan and always had a love of the culture because of that, but when she was a teenager, she moved with her father to Paris, France. She lived a life of luxury, of course, but because all of her whims were answered, Renge became a shut-in. Perhaps because she missed her childhood home, Renge became obsessed with the otaku subculture. She became especially enamored with one dating sim/otome game called "Ukidoki Memorial." Renge fell in love with one of the fictional characters and literally surrounded herself with all the merchandise related to that one character. However, one morning, Renge discovered something wonderful: her prince from Ukidoki existed for real!!
Renge immediately flew off to Japan and entered the Ouran academy to meet her one true love, who was actually known as Kyouya Ootori. Oh, and declare that she was his fiancée. The problem was, her hero from Ukidoki and Kyouya were absolutely nothing alike. But reality could not stop her love!! So Renge basically just ignored the facts and fawned over Kyouya and declared herself the manager of the Host Club so she could stay close to Kyouya. She tried to darken all of the "characters" of the hosts, but Tamaki basically had to slap a ho, and Renge learned the value of true friendship!!!!!!! Or something. Whatever, she went back to France for a while.
Problem is, when she tried to start a Host Club at her French school, no one understood the moe aesthetic. This was a travesty, so Renge immediately returned to Ouran to resume her former position as the manager of the Ouran Host Club.
As it turns out, this was excellent for the Host Club. Because of Renge's excellent managing of her favorite sort-of-brothel with her partner in moecrime Kyouya, the Host Club became more popular than ever. Renge helps the club by helping come up with ideas for events, recommending costumes and "acts" for each host, as well as promotion. Promotion comes in many forms. Renge takes pictures for the exclusive photobooks, or her more personal effort, Moe Moe Ouran Journal, a doujinshi for all things moe at Ouran Academy.
Renge appears sporadically and not at all importantly in either the anime or the manga, but more to comment on the events or to act as the moe mastermind behind the Host Club. Outside of school, Renge hosts a sentai show over the summer, but is also a financial guru in a weird way. Renge is business minded in a different way from Kyouya, but she manages to secure a major filming crew and buy spoilers. DEDICATED OTAKU! So, by that idea and her being rich, Renge bought lots of stock in any company related to creating otaku merchandise. So she actually owns the Japanese entertainment industry---just so she can get her spoilers. This is not canon at all, but it is so true and you know it.
Canon Point:
Between episode 17 and episode 18! For the manga correspondence, check the timeline.
Reality Description:
Though Renge may be from France originally, she's now living quite contently in Japan. This Japan is (mostly) normal and not at all different from the real world, just with a little addition: Ouran Academy. Ouran is a prestigious private school that is apparently in Tokyo, but I have no idea how they can fit such a huge anything into Tokyo. I mean, really. Which is the important part about Ouran: it's huge. Ouran Academy is on a large campus, and is a K-12 school. Most of the buildings are Western style (other than for plot things, but who cares about that), and the school itself is not that weird, all things considering. Classes are conducted as they would be in Japan, and the students do work hard to succeed. After all, the students of Ouran are considered to be the next generation of prestigious leaders!
But as for actual school stuff, most people forget it completely. Well, the series does, anyways. You never see them actually learning, or rarely doing...you know, school work. Instead, the focus of the series (and Renge's rabu rabu) is the Ouran Host Club. This is a club of handsome young men (+1 girl, but that's a secret) where the female students essentially "pay" to spend time with them. It's just a club for...drinking tea and holding events. It's cute, really. Renge is the at first unofficial and self-declared manager of the club, but because Kyouya really likes making money, Renge is now the official manager. This basically means she advises them on how angsty to be, or what outfits to wear.
We also never see Renge's home, but I assume that she lives in a large mansion like everyone else in the series but Haruhi. Her dad is still in France, but her mother is never mentioned. So it's quite possible that Renge's mom suffers from Disney syndrome where she just died or something, but whatever. Renge's is "the daughter of an important business partner of the Ootori family," whatever that means, so I'll assume they have a home in Tokyo, where Renge is now living. Complete with maids! And stock tickers so she can continue to buy the Japanese entertainment industry fufufu