Why it's hard for me to ship Ren with anyone but Jeanne
As well as why it's also hard for me to ship Jeanne with anyone but Ren
It's no surprise to anyone at this point who follows me, knows that I am very well known to be one of the most notorious diehard, insane toxic monoshipper for the RenMei pairing as well as I am also very notorious for not being into SK multishipping neither I am a multishipper just like everyone else in the SK fandom who heavily multiships 99% of the time
So why don't I multiship Ren or Jeanne but only strictly monoship RenMei?
Well, for many multiple reasons:
BL isn't my main forte- When it comes to SK, BL shipping is heavy in the fandom scene majority of the time and there is of course, nothing wrong with this as it's normal for BL/GL shipping to be present in fandom spaces. However, BL has never been my main forte for the longest time as I am just not interested enough shipping two guys together and this is just a personal preference of mine. In fact, the biggest reason why I never got into BL because I grew up with Naruto as a kid and it was my first Anime fandom way back in the mid 2000s. Growing up, I have always been a huge fan of the SasuSaku pairing as well as I absolutely loved Sakura. It was very super obvious that HL was my main preference when it came to shipping fictional couples. While I shipped SS and loved Sakura, it wasn't always peaceful being a fan for the both of them as back in the day, SasuSaku and sakura as well as both SS and Sakura fans gotten a lot of extreme hate especially from BL shippers that hated Sakura for getting in the way of their ship (S@sunaru) Naruto isn't the only fandom that had toxic BL shippers but this was heavily common everywhere in a lot of fandoms back then where hating and bashing on female characters for getting in the way of a BL ships was severely common from the 2000s-2010s (notable examples of fandoms of this were FMA, Death note, Prince of Tennis, Digimon, Sonic, Gundam wing, Kingdom hearts, etc) Because of this constant treatment I have seen over and over countless times in every fandoms I see from afar, this became a massive turnoff for me for never shipping BL ships and SK is unfortunately is a big prime example of why I can never get into any BL ships involving Ren as his most popular BL ship, H0r0Ren and their shippers constantly bash on Jeanne for getting in the way of their ship in which again, is no a surprise and I have always hated to see my favorite female character getting bashed on because she got in the way of a fanon BL ship. Not only Jeanne got hate but so did RenMei shippers too for shipping Ren with Jeanne and making fanworks for the pairing. (This is one of the biggest reasons why H0r0Ren is my NOTP. It's not the ship itself but rather it's the toxic shippers horrible treatment and rampant cyberbullying and the endless incidents and ship hate drama they would stir up invading RenMei shipper's spaces over the years. In the end, their toxic shippers ended up making me hate the ship) However this does not mean I hate BL entirely. As a matter of fact, I have drawn at least 3 BL drawings before in the past (One being a rarepair pairing I liked of Rito x male Run from To love Ru while two others being Ren x Male Jeanne lol) as well as I have one BL pairing I like from gnshn (Fl1ns x 1llug@) so again, I don't hate BL entirely, there are very few BL ships I quite like and it's quite very rare for me to have BL ships. But for SK's case, I'm just not interested enough to get into most BL ships, especially for Ren as I am personally not a big fan seeing him presented as a uke majority of the time (which is one of the most popular fanon depiction of him I personally cannot stand) but I of course, always block things I don't like and stay in my own lane as people are completely within their own rights to portray Ren in any way they see fit. To me personally, whenever I see Ren BL ships, I feel like it's very cliché and very predictable; I can understand the appeal for why most people loves Ren BL ships but again, I just can't get behind it. I'm just not interested.
I don't like most ships with Jeanne except Ren - If I haven't made this clear enough on my blog, Jeanne is my ultimate favorite number one SK character. I care A LOT about Jeanne's happiness more than anything else in the entire SK series. Most Jeanne ships personally for me can either be way too extremely boring for me or they're just straight up platonic and screams platonic because very clearly, their moments doesn't come across as "romantic" to me (SergJeanne) or just straight up the most worst abysmal dogshit ship that pisses me off to the ends of earth and makes my entire blood in my body boil because Jeanne does not deserve any of that and I feel Jeanne deserves way much better (H@oJeanne). Other times, I also hate it when other "toxic" Jeanne shippers (T@maJeanne) bashes on both RenMei and us shippers just for merely existing and they invade our space for no fucking reason just to be a major debbie downer and major asshole, making ME hate the ship because of their toxic shippers. Normally I like GL ships but I can never see T@maJeanne in a romantic light but more in a platonic light because I personally headcanon that Jeanne is straight/demisexual and I believe she deserves to have actual friends at her age since all her childhood, she had no friends except Marco, which is a grown ass adult lol. She deserves to have actual REAL friends at her age. And that's why I can't really ship Jeanne with anyone except Ren
I don't like most HL ships with Ren except Jeanne - Nope. Just no. As a matter of fact, I actually hate at least two fanon HL ships involving Ren. For starters if we look at most female characters near his age (Pirika, tamao and Anna), none of them fits his description on the type of girls he likes. Remember, Ren likes girls who are much shorter than him and that they shouldn't bother him too much or get in his way. If we look at each girl's personalities, Pirika is way too bossy, Anna is both extremely bossy and has an attitude 24/7 (plus she's already engaged to Yoh so why tf would I want to support adultery, yuck) and Tamao, while she almost kind of fits the bill, I still can't get behind RenT@ma because 1.) I personally think her being shy 24/7 all the time is extremely super dry and boring for Ren, 2.) I am a huge astrology believer and Tamao and Ren romantically WOULD NOT WORK OUT because she's a Gemini and he's a Capricorn, they don't actually have a very good high romantic combability (The same can also be said for RenP1ri as she is an Aquarius) 3.), she has a crush on yoh and 4.) they never even interacted in the series and the same can also be said for RenP1ri. Not a single time has Ren ever interacted with Tamao or Pirika, the closest girl we've seen him interacting with or exchanged very small interactions with is Jun and Jeanne as apparently for those who don't know, this panel exists from chapter 277 where Joco mentions Ren talked to Jeanne in “secret” in which Ren replied that he didn’t want to bother responding to his question. It's been heavily implied that Ren and Jeanne interacted when Jeanne revived him the 2nd time in the plants arc
And also number 5: Tamao and pirika are all both taller than Ren in the start of the series. Sure you can argue Ren is taller than all of the girls when he's an adult but no matter how much I look at it, I still think none of the girls are compatible with him when it comes to his personal preferences in girls. Personality, zodiac signs and overall compatibility as a couple matters a lot to me and none of them fits the bill for Ren's preferences (I am just that petty about astrology, fucking fight me)
Ren completes Jeanne. And Jeanne completes Ren. They were made for each other - RenMei has everything that makes for my favorite diehard ultimate OTP which being the following:
My favorite shipping tropes: Age gap, size difference, height difference, Sugar and Ice Personality, Brooding boy x gentle girl
Not only that, they match each other's type of people they ACTUALLY like:
Ren likes short petite girls, girls that doesn't get in his way neither they shouldn't bother him so often
The petite short girl in question:
Jeanne likes people with pure hearts (Aka pure hearts meaning she likes those who are honest)
The honest person with a "pure heart" in question:
Ren was very brutally honest to Jeanne when they met for the first time. You have to remember that Jeanne grew up all her childhood always being treated wayyy too nicely in a cult full of grown adults who worshipped her as their "god" and "savior" 24/7 and treating her like a saint and never treating her like a normal person. No one ever gets mad at her or scolds her, they all treat her as if she's the most perfect holy being in existence. Jeanne deep down has always been curious for the longest time wondering what it was like to be "free" and "normal" as she has been raised in a very abnormal higher class all her childhood but very obviously, she keeps these thoughts to herself. So when she finally meets someone near her age that actually treated her like a normal person and doesn't treat her "nicely" just like the rest of the grown adults around her does and actually gets angry and yells at her, this has leaves a very HUGE impression on Jeanne as again, she has always been intrigued for the longest time wondering what it was like to be "normal" and Ren is one of the very first people to have treated her like actual normal human being. Ever since their first meeting, Jeanne has been greatly intrigued about Ren and harbors positive feelings towards him (And if you think about it, Marco LIED to Jeanne ALL her childhood. Meanwhile Ren is one of the very first people to have treated her with genuine honesty, even if it was brutal)
Ren and Jeanne are both tragic people and has very similar childhoods- They were indoctrinated by hatred at very young ages and were taught how to kill and take other people's life's in preparation for the Shaman Tournament. Love was something that was never heavily present throughout their terrible childhoods. You can argue that Marco and Luchist gave some love to Jeanne but however, Luchist left the both of them and neglected Jeanne. For Marco's case, his love is pretty twisted and fucked up familial love since he literally abused Jeanne by manipulating and brainwashing her into torturing herself in the Iron Maiden device 24/7 and basically used her as a weapon. So many prominent adult figures in their lives has failed Ren and Jeanne and because the two children murdered and taken so many innocent lives, they have to live with the permanent scars, trauma, shame and guilt for the rest of their lives because they both truly believe they don't deserve anything good or happiness because they are murderers (which was never their fault, it's the adults fault in the first place and they're the ones to blame).
If you think about it, Ren and Jeanne carries a lot of pain and guilt but as they get older, their issues continues to eat away at them and they don't have anyone to confide in or talk to about. Shaman fight ends and everyone sets on a long mission to change the world and change Hao's mind. Ren has no one to confide in or share his pain and such because he's busy attending school and have plans to go to college. Jeanne on the other hand, while she somewhat now gets along with her new reformed X-Charity members and can talk to them normally, I personally headcanon that she's the type of person to keep everything to herself and never once confided her deep darkest pains with anyone else and she believes she must keep on atoning for her sins for as long as she lives because she thinks she deserves this punishment, so does Ren.
So after a couple years later when the Shaman Fight tournament ended and two broken souls comes together, reuniting when they're older once again in Europe of 2005 (in my headcanon) their lives changes forever: going from business partners to eventually slowly getting to know about each other and bonding over world peace and confiding in one another about their pains/issues to becoming friends, to slowly falling in love with each other and becoming a couple, learning the preciousness of love and life being blessed with Men- Ren and Jeanne went from being full of hatred to eventually being saved by love in the end and finding love in one another. This is exactly the sole reason why I am extremely attached to this couple.
They have everything: Angst, hurt, comfort and happiness all in one including the ship tropes I've mentioned earlier. RenMei is a very complex couple and it's why I am extremely a very diehard monoshipper for them. I love both characters very much and I truly want nothing but eternal happiness for the both of them. If I'm going to be very biased here however, Jeanne is my most favorite character in all of SK and she is my #1 favorite with Ren being 2nd place right behind her. I love Jeanne so much and I want nothing but so, so so many good and happy things for her. She's been through a lot of horrific shit and I believe she deserves the entire world and I just love her so so much. This is the very biggest reason why I can never ship Jeanne with anyone else but Ren. And this is also the biggest sole reason why I can never ship Ren with anyone else but Jeanne
And that is pretty much it on why I have been extremely insane for RenMei for the past 8 years. Technically I've shipped them for 11 years since 2015 but I became even more of a diehard fan in 2018 when Takei released their official wedding art and Red Crimson, giving us fans on how their dynamic worked. I hope this post helped you understand much better from my perspective as to why I am such a big diehard monoshipper for a very niche, underrated and over-hated canon ship
Jeanne is literally Ren's hero. She saved his life two times in the past. She inspires him in the blank period era and they both learn from one another, picking up each other's traits and new found beliefs and influencing each other in the process. She lights up and warms up his dark cold life and in return, Ren becomes more soft and gentle around her and he learns how to empathize with others a lot more. She earns his respect as an equal, something no one else in the series can accomplish except Yoh.
Ren is also Jeanne's hero in many ways, he was one of the very first people to actually treated her like a normal human being and not some holy saint, he helps her charity organization and made them world-wide famous ever than before, he's also someone that Jeanne can truly only fully be herself around and is the person she can confide herself to, letting out her true deepest feelings and sharing the same experiences she has with him. To Jeanne, Ren is her peace. Ren's such a dynamic character who changes more than any other figure in the story, and it’s because of both Yoh and Jeanne but especially Jeanne. She has such a profound influence on him that I can’t imagine him being truly happy or satisfied without her, much less settling for anyone else.
They were made for each other