Prediction Blog: Rena Ryuugu vs Yuno Gasai (Higurashi: When They Cry vs Future Diary)

 

(Strunton)



(T0m)



(ishi_yuki)



(Ed)


(Kaiser)



(Serge)


“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”

 – Nathaniel Hawthorne


Introduction


Rena Ryuugu, The Cleaver Girl and Yangire with a love of cute things.


Yuno Gasai, The Second Diary user and Yandere with an unhealthy obsession for Yukiteru.


At a glance, these two are happy-go-lucky, innocent anime schoolgirls—a presumption which couldn’t be farther from the truth. After losing their happy days due to family trauma, they truly had nothing to live for….until they found their newfound happiness! Whether it is for a sense of belonging or for the sake of love, one thing is clear: Don’t mess with them. They will defend their personal happiness through any means possible, even murder. So, when these two are pitted against each other, could Rena be demoned away in this bloodbath, or will Yuno’s chances of victory arrive at a DEAD END?

Before We Start…

As those of you who are familiar with Higurashi and Future Diary may know, there are many versions of Rena and Yuno that have appeared over the course of their respective series. Because every version of Rena and Yuno are essentially the same character no matter the timeline, we will be compositing all of their variants into one. For Rena, she will have access to feats and abilities from the original series, anime, manga, Daybreak, and Mei. For Yuno, she will have access to feats and abilities obtained by her 1st and 3rd World counterpart.


In the case of Higurashi Mei, while all the crazy stuff happening in it may seem to be out of Higurashi’s usual ballpark, Higurashi has featured several supernatural elements for a while in other arcs or games(Daybreak, Outbreak/Kamikashimashi-hen, Higurashi Jan, etc. the list goes and on), not to mention a lot of scenarios behind these games are written by Ryuukishi07 and Kiichi Kanou and even include important story details like who Rena’s half-sister is. So it’s not like this is some random one-off non canon story where the author isn’t involved. Mirai Nikki Paradox and Mosaic will also be included for Yuno, as these are meant to be scenarios set before or during the main story where Minene and Akise are featured as the main characters.


Background

Rena Ryuugu


(“Well then…. Are you ready for a story? This is the story of how Rena Ryuugu did her best.”)


Happiness. This is what young Reina Ryuugu felt for the seven years she lived with her parents in the small rural village of Hinamizawa. The beginning of the end was when they moved away to Ibaraki due to her mother’s work as a fashion designer. Reina loved to help her father with cooking and all the other chores in her new home, and her mother, despite her constant work, took Reina out to many expensive restaurants and park rides. On these excursions, Reina regularly met Akihito, a man from her mother’s work—a man whom her mother was cheating on her father with. After several of these trips, her mother asked Reina to leave her father behind to live with them, which Reina of course rejected. It was incomprehensible to her why her mother would leave with another man. And this wasn’t even the end of it…her mother was pregnant with his child. 


Reina felt incredibly guilty that she wasn’t able to do anything back then to reject Akihito. So, in a fit of rage, she destroyed each and every belonging in her house related to her mother. The ensuing divorce only worsened Reina’s mental health. She started to take out her rage in school, beating up her classmates and shattering windows with a baseball bat. She was promptly expelled and put into psychiatric evaluation. When Reina begun hallucinating that maggots were crawling inside her body, her hatred towards her mother had escalated to the point that she saw her own blood as “cursed.” In her absolute anguish, she would also seemingly hallucinate the voice of Oyashiro-sama, the guardian deity of Hinamizawa telling her to come back to her former home. Reina believed that Oyashiro had cursed her life to go on a downward spiral as punishment for leaving. So, as a suggestion to her father, they both moved back to Hinamizawa, and she changed her name to Rena Ryuugu, removing the “i” that reminded her of icky things.


With this new name, Rena built a new identity in Hinamizawa. She met unforgettable friends such as Keiichi and Mion in the Hinamizawa Branch School, and from there, she spent her days studying, playing some of the craziest club games, and doing…“take home antics,” i.e., treasure hunting, and taking things (or people) home. Above all, she constructed this new identity, this fresh life, to bring happiness to both herself and her friends.


Yuno Gasai


(“Don’t worry Yuki, Yuno will protect you.“)


Left without a family, young Yuno was adopted by the Gasai family, enjoying her childhood as an ordinary schoolgirl. That was, until her adoptive parents were sent into an inescapable depression due to monetary issues (despite owning a bank). Her mother would lock Yuno in a cage as an attempt to “train” Yuno into becoming an “elite member of society.” As for her father, he rarely came home from work, struggling to solve their financial insecurity. Unsurprisingly, Yuno got tired of the abuse she suffered at her mother’s hands. One day, she taught her parents a lesson by making them eat the very same sleeping pills she took, and imprisoning them in the very same cage she’d been in. This eventually led to their death, as Yuno starved them for one month, neglecting to open the cage.


Without her parents around, Yuno thought she had no hopes or aspirations for the future if nobody was there to emotionally support her. Then a boy jokingly promised to marry her “when they were adults.” That boy—the one who gave her hope when she’d lost it all—was Yukiteru Amano, and the day she met him at school was the day that kickstarted a deep obsession that Yuno cranked to ten—nay, definitely eleven. For a year, Yuno crazily stalked Yuki with the hopes of growing closer and closer to him ... and she’d get her chance to do so after fighting off a serial killer. They’d both been drafted into a death game held by Deus Ex Machina, the God of Time and Space. His demise was nearing, and so he sought a new successor to inherit his throne and powers. In this game, 12 participants would fight with the aid of their Diaries to be the last man standing, these “Diaries” allowing their users to predict the future. Yuno’s Yukiteru Diary was the perfect match for her obsessive love, allowing her to track Yuki’s every move.


Eventually, Yuno and Yuki teamed up and killed all of the Diary users coming their way. However, they couldn’t both win the death game; only one could rule as Deus’s successor. They therefore attempted a double suicide with two cyanide pills, since neither could decide. Yuno, however, had other plans: she faked her death so that she could become god and revive Yuki. But this was all for nought, as when she gained the powers of Deus, she was unable to revive him; she could only reconstruct the body, not bring back the soul. This led the despaired Yuno to travel back in time and kill her other, past self in a second world, taking her place and hoping to save Yukiteru in this new world’s death game.

Weapons and Equipment

Rena Ryuugu

Japanese Nata


Rena’s weapon of choice is her Nata blade, also known as a traditional Japanese mountain knife. This big hatchet—which is intended for yard work—is most likely made out of an iron or steel, and it seems to be substantially larger than most real-world Natas. Rena’s model is shaped like a machete, and it even has sharp tip at the end of it, all of which ensures its murderous potential—and this potential has proven itself throughout the series. Not only is it great for chopping at a person over and over again like wood, but Rena can also throw the weapon in a spinning fashion for a ranged attack (which can also summon other Natas, out of thin air??). She can even curve the trajectory of her Nata while it’s thrown or throw two at once to hit an opponent from two different angles.


Ironclad Cleaver


(Rena, you’re NOT Guts from Berserk)


Rena has a comically large Nata as well. Being about two or three times the length of her body and quite heavy, it limits Rena’s movement speed to deal twice as much damage as her common Nata. Additionally, because of its weight, it helps Rena keep herself in place and not take knockback from any attacks. Rena can also throw it like a boomerang and can even strike it on the ground to dislodge chunks of rubble. Swinging this Nata with enough force can generate gusts of air that Rena can use to launch or damage opponents.

Knives


A knife! Nothing special about it…outside of her stabbing Keiichi enough to cover a whole room in blood!

Axe


A large axe that Rena wields. Good for chopping trees (or people’s heads)!


Toy Hammer


It’s as stupid as it sounds. In Higurashi Daybreak, Rena has an unlockable toy hammer she can whack people with, as well as throw hard enough to leave people dizzy.

Firebombs


A pair of plastic oil tanks that Rena prepared to burn up the school. She can also use them as a projectile, as in Higurashi Daybreak.

Grenades


Rena throws small grenades as long ranged attacks to create explosions that send enemies flying into the air (it’s very funny sometimes).

Time Bomb


As part of her plan to take her school hostage, Rena devised a bomb, that combined with the oil tanks, would easily level the entire school. (We even see the aftermath in other timelines, where she dies in the resulting blast.)

Colonel Sanders Bomb


…yes, really. 


Rena has a giant prop that (SOMEWHAT) looks like KFC’s Colonel Sanders. It can be thrown through the air and explode in a giant ball of fire about a dozen feet in diameter when it hits a solid object. Peak.


Role Cards


Role Cards are a special series of cards that allow people to either transform or use different weapons. These cards often boost the power of its user to take on Tsukuyami, the beasts that serve as enemies in Higurashi Mei, such as boars. Role Cards also give the user an outfit of whatever it’s based on, such as Hello Kitty, Symphogear, and many other things a Japanese schoolgirl is probably into. Rena has made use of her fair share of Role Cards. Here are some of her notable ones, and a list of descriptions on status effects if you wanna catch up.
















Yuno Gasai

Knives


Over the course of the series, Yuno runs through a variety of different knives, them being her main go-to weapon. Whether it is kitchen knives or a combat knife, her exceptional proficiency with them allows her to get the job done with whatever she picks up.

Katana


A Japanese katana. Despite seemingly having no formal training, Yuno is somehow fairly adept at using it.


Machete


A broad blade typically used for agricultural purposes, Yuno used it to….. Cut up a bunch of orphans!

Axe


A small axe Yuno picked up from the Church of the Seer. Good for chopping trees-, I mean….. slicing the necks of wanna-be tokusatsu heroes!

Crossbow


A 50 lb. crossbow that can fire arrows up to 122-136 mph.

Smith and Wesson 36 Revolver


A lightweight six-round revolver that Yuno stole from the police force. It carries .38 caliber shells and can fire up to a muzzle velocity of 850 mph at an effective range of 150 feet.


Beretta 92FS Pistol


A standard semi-automatic pistol with an effective range of 160 feet. It has a muzzle velocity of 850 mph and can hold up 15 or 32 parabellum bullets per cartridge. Yuno used this in an attempt to shoot John Bacchus during a speeding car chase.

MP5 Submachine Gun


A full-auto submachine gun that can fire up to 30 parabellum bullets in a single cartridge. It shoots with a muzzle velocity of 950 mph and at an effective range of 300 feet.


Flashbang Grenade

(Think fast chucklenuts)

A stun grenade that Yukiteru borrowed from the Eighth Diary user. It incapacitates/stuns whoever is near its vicinity.

Taser


A mini stun gun that sends a 50,000 volt shock on average, enough to make a normal person fall unconscious. Though, rubber makes it ineffective (like ONE PIECE???????)

Yukiteru Diary


As mentioned prior, in Deus’s game, every player is given a Future Diary which helps them to predict the future in some way. Yuno’s diary is the Yukiteru Diary, which lets her see up to 10 minutes of Yukiteru Amano's future actions, allowing her to predict and know where he will go and what he will do in order to alter what’s written. If Yuno is to ever end up in a future where she meets an untimely demise, her phone displays a message saying DEAD END. It’s relatively useless in a 1v1 combat scenario though, as it only predicts Yukiteru’s future and requires him to be there with his diary in order to create a complete prediction.

Skills and Abilities

Rena Ryuugu

Intelligence


Despite acting like an airhead, Rena is noted to be one of the most intuitive and intelligent people within her school club. She’s not only capable of memorizing/differentiating cards by merely their scratch marks, but she can also think of insane plans on the fly, like how she held her school hostage and had chosen different methods (such as a time bomb she herself created) to blow it up were one of her other methods be sabotaged.


Her aforementioned intuition and deduction skills are incredible too. She can tell what you’re thinking or if you’re lying just from a slight change in expression, or even by just looking into your eyes (to the point that people wonder if it’s a power of hers). She’s also figured out the identity of a murderer just based on the state of the food/fridge, and manipulated the flow of entire conversations in which she dragged out her interlocutors' deepest secrets. Rena is so capable that she was able to see through Bernkastel acting as a fake Rika.(VN version for more context)


In terms of combat and deception, Rena doesn’t fall too far behind either. She has successfully lured people into traps to kill them. She’s also quite resourceful, using the environment to her advantage. One time, when Rina tried to choke the life out of her, she got the upper-hand over her by slicing her with a glass shard. She proceeded to senselessly beat her with a metal pipe she took from the dumpster with her home advantage. There’s also the time that she got cornered in a water-gun fight by Satoko, to which Rena destroyed her own back-up water gun and redirected the water back to Satoko. (VN version)

Flight


For some inexplicable reason, Rena can take to the skies and start to fly. While she’s limited by the in-game stamina bar, the game’s intro shows all the characters flying with no such limit.


Hinamizawa Syndrome


Discovered by Dr. Hifumi Takano during WW2, the Hinamizawa Syndrome is a parasitic brain virus that has resided within the residents of Hinamizawa since ancient times. Though its origins or how people come into contact with the disease are simply a mystery, or have differing explanations, it is often brought up by situations where the patient is extremely stressed. This stress is to the point where patients have no hesitation on committing various heinous acts such as murder or suicide. Hinamizawa Syndrome slowly deteriorates the victim’s mental health and alters their perception of reality. Victim’s decline is signified by 5 stages:

  • Level 1 & 2: More or less the “normal” state for the people in Hinamizawa and their everyday lives. At these levels, the virus’s effects remain “dormant.”

  • Level 3: Patients’ mental state will start to severely deteriorate, causing them to grow emotionally unstable.

  • Level 4: Patients will start to hallucinate, often hearing the footsteps of Oyashiro (Hanyuu) behind their backs or seeing everyone around them as enemies.

  • Terminal Level 5: Patients will start to repeatedly scratch their throat due to feeling the incredibly itchy sensation of maggots in their neck. After a long enough time, victims will scratch out their throat and die.


Despite the virus being incredibly dangerous, Rena’s own will was so strong that she was able to hold the virus back for a while and retain some of her sanity. It even sort of benefits its victims, as it gives them a boost of adrenaline and ignores any incoming pain they might feel.


Kyute Mode



Whenever Rena sees something that she finds “kyute,” Rena will enter a state called “Kyute Mode,” where she loudly exclaims that she wants to take them home, whether “them” refers to objects or people. But, more interestingly, Rena becomes notably stronger and faster while in this mode, being capable of performing feats such as punching at supersonic speeds and catching airsoft bullets before they hit her. She can also generate some sort of after-images. “Kyute Mode” is so weird that it has even been said to break the laws of physics by doing things that are normally impossible—such as allowing her to grow incredibly giant—and by being stated to be unbound by all physical laws. 


Yuno Gasai

Intelligence


To avoid her dear Yuki from ever meeting another DEAD END in Deus’s game, Yuno had to be pretty sharp. She’s incredibly attentive to minor details within her surroundings, which ensures she doesn’t often fall into traps. For example, she was able to: tell that something was “off” with a tomato (that was poisoned) just by the fact it was heavier than before; figure out brainwashed cultists were hypnotized into acting like they were dead; and realize that Akise Aru wasn’t a diary user by the lack of static in his diary. She was even able to determine Reisuke Houjou’s intention to “accidentally” stab her and stopped him with a pillow


Yuno is just as incredibly manipulative to match, and she has frequently tricked people, even Yukiteru himself. There’s the time that she used Yukiteru’s diary to make his friends fall into a trap, sealing them in a locked room to drown in concrete; or the time that she figured out and made use of the Twelfth’s own senses against him. Finally, she once used the Second World Yuno’s diary to trick Akise Aru, letting him destroy it and leave himself open for a counter-attack. And prior, she even manipulated him

God Powers


After winning Deus’s game in the First World and becoming worthy to be his successor and govern the world, Yuno became the new God of Time and Space (twice after regaining her memories). As an immortal god controlling time and space, she is able to seize and adjust the world’s law of cause and effect (though Yuno nor Deus have weaponized this to their advantage). Moreover, if a god is killed or otherwise meets their end, the world they govern will be slowly destroyed, as it loses control of its causality. Although Yuno hasn’t shown some of these powers herself, nor had much experience with them as far as we know, she gained the full capability of Deus’s powers by end of series, and so she theoretically should be able to use some of the powers that Deus, Muru Muru, and Minene have shown. These include:



Feats

Rena Ryuugu

Overall



Strength


Speed



Endurance



Yuno Gasai

Overall


  • Won Deus’s game in the first world and became God of Time and Space

  • Figured out who the 12th diary user is by throwing a rock to mess with his hearing

  • Killed Eleventh's gunmen and several police officers

  • Adapts incredibly well to almost any weapon she uses

  • Killed Fifth and Eleventh

  • Became a finalist in the second world’s Deus game

  • Regained her memories and reunited with Yukiteru after 10,000 years

  • Became God of Time and Space of the Third World, yet again.



Strength



Speed



Endurance



Weaknesses

Rena Ryuugu


While Rena is powerful is definitely her own right. She has died plenty of times in the series, whether it be from a baseball bat, volcanic gas, bullets, and…. an alarm clock?????, safe to say despite her incredible feats she’s not invincible. Rena also definitely has a few screws loose, growing emotionally unstable especially under the Hinamizawa Syndrome. And despite holding the syndrome back it still causes hallucinations on her, often leading to Rena making herself fall into her own delusions. Not to mention if the syndrome is to ever progress up to the Terminal Level 5 stage and it stays that way for a long while, patients will repeatedly scratch their neck to the point that they will tear out their throat and die.

Yuno Gasai


Despite Yuno’s incredible dedication to her happy end, this girl definitely is pretty flawed ... First and foremost to address the yellow elephant in the room: she’s pretty cuckoo crazy. This often leaves her tired and at limits even her own body can’t handle, particularly because of her past and…. creepy emotional dependency on Yukiteru. It should also be noted that every time Yuno uses her future diary she risks the possibility of it being destroyed, leading to her death.


Her goddess form also isn’t immortal nor that far off from a human, as a god’s immortality at least extends exclusively to their extended lifespan of 10,000 years at minimum. So they can very much still die by conventional means, for example: Yukiteru was able to tackle her and prior to stabbing herself (which literally led to her death) was threatened by a bullet. And speaking of such, many of the “cosmic” feats done by the gods are done through the manipulation of causality. Making it questionable if she physically scales to them.


Before the Verdicts

About Goddess Yuno


To address the pink elephant in the room, yes, God Yuno is being included. It is Yuno’s final state by the end of the series when she reunited with Yuki, and Yuno herself has lost and gained these powers more than once (a total of three times in fact). However due to the vague nature of Deus’s powers as the God of Time and Space and his control over causality, not to mention Yuno’s own lack of use of these powers even during situations where they could’ve helped(i.e Energy Manip, Existence Erasure and even something as basic as Flying where she needed help). This has led to certain high-end interpretations of Yuno during this state even when she nor Deus haven’t physically some of these capabilities. Like being omnipresent, omnipotent, immortal, physically universal, etc. Let’s address some of these and their legitimacy.


Omnipotence and Omnipresence

Throughout a good chunk of the series, Deus is quite literally unaware of Muru Muru and Yuno’s cooperation during the game or that he is the Second World’s Deus. It isn’t until the very end of the Second World’s game that Deus suspects that the current Muru Muru may be from a previous Time Leap, manipulating the Second World’s game behind the scenes to just specifically favor Yuno. If Deus was truly omnipotent he would have realized Muru Muru’s intentions far earlier and shut all her weird shenanigans, nor would he have needed to create Akise Aru. Who was literally meant to be his observer born from his own will, gathering information for Deus in the survival game. Not to mention, Yuno herself also doesn’t fare much better. Yuno with Deus’s core needed her diary to keep up with Yukiteru’s movements, and Muru Muru with some of Deus’s powers needed Yuno’s diary to even tell her where Yukki was located. And if she truly was also omnipresent she wouldn’t have taken 10,000 years to reach for Yukiteru.


Universal Yuno


Now, there’s both arguments for why Yuno would and wouldn’t physically scale. But I think it’s pretty apparent that it might be the latter case, first and foremost: many of the god’s “cosmic” feats are done through the control of causality(which requires no physical effort). If a god dies or they abandon the world they govern, it will lose its causality and be slowly destroyed by those weird big balls of doom, leading me to believe that this is caused through a chain reaction rather than it being a physical toll or destruction by their own means. This is also how the first world was destroyed, since Yuno abandoned it to time travel to the second one and lost those very same powers. Now you might be thinking… “Didn’t Yuki survive the destruction of the 2nd world?” or “didn’t Yukki and Yuno together recreate that second world?”

It’s pretty unclear whether Yukiteru really survived the universe being destroyed in the original manga, nor do we have an exact timeframe to even guess how much Yuki took as its destruction happens overtime rather than instant destruction. It could have been destroyed by the time he went back already for example. Leaving him alone with Muru Muru in the empty space of the second world. And even though this is anime-only, Yukiteru returned and became the god of the second world, all the orbs destroying everything disappeared with some of the world and planet intact. So even with anime info it’s way too vague to use as a durability feat to make an exact assumption, given we have no way to know how it was destroyed fully or how much Yukki exactly took.


And as for Yukki and Yuno recreating the Second World together, similar logic as before applies. While we don’t have an exact timeframe it shouldn’t have taken much time to recreate the world, however it is questionable if this process of recreation can be scaled back to Yuno’s own physicality. Likely only applying to her control over causality and there’s a way to prove it, when Yuno had Deus’s Core in her she was capable of creating a sort of illusionary pocket universe to trap Yukiteru in. But there’s plenty of anti-feats in this state, to give several examples:

So it’s safe to say her physical stats aren’t too far off from her normal self, even if she’s as superhumanly strong as the other people who had Deus’s powers. It’s unlikely she’s at such a high level physically.

Verdict


Stats

Starting with stats, Rena has certainly shown more impressive strength feats than Yuno herself has directly. These include being able to break statues and make craters with just her punches, both netting 0.003 tons and 0.044 tons respectively, which is more than slicing people in half. However, to her credit, Yuno could very much be relative in strength when we scale her to other characters like Minene, who broke a part of a whole stage from just an arm wrestling match! And her Muru-Muru sphere, with its massive weight, gets pretty close to what Rena can output and can survive, 0.006 tons of TNT to be exact. So while the two may be tied in strength, the same can't be quite said about speed and endurance.


In terms of Speed, a normal Yuno can casually deflect knives thrown by Ai which is Mach 0.12. With her Goddess powers, Yuno could potentially scale to Muru Muru, who has been shown to block bullets, which nets a little under Mach 1. Impressive, but Rena has consistently shown far faster capabilities. Rena has shown to both dodge and block bullets, something a normal or even goddess Yuno hasn’t personally done herself. And when scaling her to Mion cutting that bullet, she can gain speeds of Mach 3, making her about 3.5 times faster than Yuno’s best. And if she were to somehow enter her Kyute Mode, she has had several instances where she has moved faster than the eye can see or shown supersonic speeds, not to mention her catching airsoft bullets reaches a speed of Mach 5.7, increasing the speed gap to a 6.7 times difference. Safe to assume, Rena’s got speed down. 


Endurance may seem tricky to gauge at first considering that both have been shown to be vulnerable to stabs, bullets, and bludgeoning, but there’s more to it than just that. Rena has been shown to survive getting both her arms broken, taking a bullet to the shoulder, and even surviving rockets from Satoko’s rockets, which have a yield of 0.007 tons. Not too shabby. Yuno’s been shown to survive getting stabbed by a thrown knife, having her knife wound get kicked directly, and survived the shockwave of Minene’s bomb. Yuno’s also comparable to Minene, who’s crashing into a building has a yield of 337 kilojoules. Impressive, but still lower than the rockets that Rena survived. There’s also a difference in the kind of pain they can endure. Rena has been bludgeoned repeatedly, lost a ton of blood and an eye, yet she was still able to ignore the pain and keep fighting Keiichi. Yuno can survive some nasty things, but these can still knock her out for the time being, such as the aforementioned knife stab putting her in the hospital. Yuno even needed help from Akise one time to avoid dying. Rena has shown far tougher pain tolerance than Yuno ever has. Not to mention that Rena once fought villagers for three days straight, giving her a massive edge when it comes to stamina. In comparison, Yuno has been worn down fighting lesser, like when her own body was at its limits in the Church of the Seer, making it likely that Rena would win the long game in a battle of attrition. Overall, while both girls prove to be equal in strength, Rena’s advantages in speed and endurance give her the edge in the stats department.


Arsenal and Abilities

Yuno's weapons are definitely more lethal in the sense that they're meant for harming or killing people like her Taser, Katana, and numerous fireguns. Her pistols and submachine guns could keep normal Rena at bay for some time before they quickly run out of ammo. Rena's weapons are normally more just farming tools meant for work or toys, so if Yuno got the jump on Rena, she could potentially get a well placed headshot to kill her. Despite that, Rena's weapons are ironically more destructive than Yuno's arsenal and suited to last more on a prolonged fight. Her cleaver and ironclad nata have shown to work pretty effectively for throwing ranged attacks: throwing an unlimited amount or several at the same time, throwing them at two different sides or redirectioning where they go, or throwing massive gusts of wind to slash her opponents. Not to mention her other options like that... weird toy hammer that can stun people. Rena is also packing more explosive firepower like with her grenades, various oil cans, and that exploding Colonel Sanders that could do Yuno in. To be fair, Yuno has also fought off people who have used explosives before, so there's a chance she could work around it, and it's possible Rena could also harm or even die herself with them like with her time bomb if she’s not careful. But Rena has also similarly fought off people with guns too, and with her better and more consistent reaction speed, she'd get that chance first.


In terms of Abilities, Yuno at first glance theoretically might have a notable leg-up with all the abilities she should get from her god mode and the fact that Rena’s Kyute Mode on activation is a 50/50, as it sometimes depends if Rena is to see something she considers cute (but tbf her definition of “cute” is wide). At bare minimum Yuno should get the ability to fly and hover around the place. Depending on her mental state under the Hinamizawa Syndrome, Rena could even be fooled by Yuno’s illusions or her Muru-Muru sphere if she were to get sealed, or even worse be crushed under its massive weight. The issue however is that outside of sealing and flying, many of the abilities and knowledge like Teleportation, Energy Manip and Existence Erasure that Yuno could possess are abilities she hasn’t personally shown or had much experience with, so we don’t even know if a peak Yuno would reliably go for the abilities that other people like Minene have used. None of the gods or demi-gods in Future Diary have weaponized their ability to control the law of cause and effect in any way.


Believe it or not, Rena can match or counter several of Yuno’s abilities even if she thought to use them, and similarly overwhelm her with many more abilities. Especially with the various abilities and weapons she gets from her Role Cards: 

  • With her flight in Daybreak, she can already match Yuno’s flight, and could avoid the Muru-Muru sphere for some time.

  • Boost her strength, defense, resistances and the effects of her abilities with many passive and non-passive stat boosts such as Blood Flower Garden, Nocturne of the Crimson Moon, Evening Part-Time Job, etc.

  • Has a numerous amount of skills that make her take less damage by Slice attacks, making Yuno’s bladed weaponry far less effective. Though this very likely would not apply to Yuno’s firearms.

  • Multiple methods of healing, like being able to passively increase her health with Monster from the Dark or being able to restore health based on damage dealt with Patterned Umbrella Gale. Yuno’s closest equivalent to “healing” is restoring her limbs by fusing Deus’s power onto an object, much less reliable

  • Potentially able to resist existence erasure, as Rena’s spirit in Minagoroshi was able to survive long enough for being in the Sea of Fragments. Normally, due to its almighty pressure, the Sea of Fragments is able to spread out the minds and bodies (in this case spirit) of any normal person.

  • Overwhelm Yuno with a variety of status effects, like being able to inflict her with dizziness, paralyze her with abilities like Cheer Par and Surging Archery, blind her with Darkness through Mad Blossoming(Kyousaki), poison her with Snow Star Meteor, and most importantly,  seal Yuno’s goddess powers away with Dual-Sword Round Attack for a total of 20 seconds. And given how Yuno’s god powers have gone away more than once and they can be passed from person to person, this is likely, giving Rena enough time to deal the killing blow.


Tertiary Factors

Now comparing their intelligence, it’s pretty clear that both match each other in a lot of ways. Both can deduce someone’s intentions right away from body language and are pretty attentive to extremely minor details, and both have shown to be fairly resourceful in dangerous situations. However, Yuno has an advantage in the sense that she has used this intelligence on more dangerous and combat based situations than Rena’s own wits being used on daily life and club games, and she had even better and just outright more cruel instances of manipulation like with Twelfth or Akise. It's safe to say Yuno has better wits in that regard, especially since she comes from a more combat focused series and has been able to take advantage of enemy weaknesses more often. Granted, it is questionable if normal Yuno could use some of these methods to trick Rena with her sharp intuition and distrust of lies.


In combat skill, Yuno has certainly been able to hold her own against Sakurami’s police officers/Eleventh’s gunmen and is able to quickly adapt to some of the weapons she uses. Granted, Yuno has consistently had instances where she completely failed to go mano a mano against more skilled close ranged combatants like Marco and Minene without tactics or assistance. In contrast, Rena’s own skill is so crazy to the point that her friends wonder if she’s a martial artist. Sure, this may be an exaggeration from Keiichi, but she has consistently held her own and even defeated martial arts masters like Mion, the heiress of a yakuza family who absolutely wrecked Yamainu soldiers like Okonogi with combat expertise at close quarters. Rena also easily defeated a fat otaku who knew “minor martial arts”, and though this is in Daybreak’s story modes, she was even able to fight and beat Akasaka Mamoru, a police investigator who is an expert at karate. So with all this taken into account, it’s safe to say Rena would have a notable advantage at close quarters with her more consistent instances of skill.


Summary

Rena Ryuugu

“It’s unfortunate, Mii-chan. …That you were caught up in the middle of this. Do you know what comes next on Rena’s schedule? …Killing you.”


Advantages:

  • Matches Yuno in strength

  • Consistently higher reaction and combat speed

  • Greater stamina and endurance

  • Has a much larger amount of explosives and incendiary weapons at her disposal

  • More skilled at close range combat and consistently performs better against martial artists than Yuno

  • Role Cards gives Rena a resistance to Yuno’s bladed weaponry and multiple ways to heal damage

  • Role Cards can be used to poison, paralyze, blind Yuno, or seal her God Powers

  • Kyute Mode is likely stronger and can grow larger than Yuno…

  • Could potentially resist Yuno’s existence erasure, assuming that Yuno would even use it 

  • Can sing opera, I guess…

Disadvantages:

  • …but the chances of Rena entering Kyute Mode in a serious fight are extremely low given that Rena needs to see something cute to activate it

  • Yuno has more combat experience than most versions of Rena. The opponents Yuno fights tend to be more dangerous than Rena’s lineup as well

  • Could be crushed by or sealed into Murumuru’s spheres if she’s not careful

  • Higurashi Kira episode 1

  • Is somehow still mistaken to be yandere


Yuno Gasai

“I was practically dead, but you gave me a future. Yukki is my hope in life, but if it won’t come true then I will die for Yukki, and even in death I will chase after Yuki.”


Advantages:

  • Matches Rena in strength

  • The opponents Yuno has to face are more dangerous than Rena’s 

  • Has shown herself to be just as intelligent and resourceful as Rena, and typically during more intense/dangerous situations as well

  • Yuno typically has to play babysitter to Yuki throughout most of Future Diary, while Rena has more competent teammates giving her backup during most dangerous situations

  • While Yuno has never used most of Deus’ abilities in a combat scenario, the ones she has displayed will likely be useful for SOMETHING if pushed in a corner. She could seal Rena into an illusionary space or create illusions, which would be a great way to screw with someone who has Hinamizawa Syndrome

  • That banger opening


Disadvantages:

  • Slower

  • Lower stamina and pain tolerance

  • Less skilled at close range 

  • Lacks an equivalent in explosive weaponry

  • Role Cards can disable Yuno’s god powers long enough for Rena to get a fatal blow

  • Not the best girl of her own series (#MineneSweep) 


Conclusion

When all is said and done, it’s not hard to see with all these advantages as to why Rena takes the victory more often than not. Sure, Yuno is from a more combat focused series than Rena and has definitely fought more dangerous battles than her opponent ever has. On paper, she looked like she initially would have had the advantage, especially with all her superior wits, ranged weapons and some of her god powers. But alas, Rena was quite literally the perfect match and had far more chances to score a brutal victory. Being able to fight for longer than Yuno ever has, take far more pain, fight better, react and dodge faster and having a plethora of abilities to similarly fight on range or shut down her powers.


As Cleaver as Yuno may have been. Her only Future was a Dead End.


The winner is Rena Ryuugu.


Tally


Team Rena Ryuugu (5) - Strunton, ishi_yuki, T0m, Ed, Serge


Team Yuno Gasai (0) - 😔


Team Yukako (1) - Kaiser

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