Kato Rena, alongside
Abe Maria,
Iriyama Anna,
Izuta Rina,
Nakamata Shiori,
Fujita Nana, and several others, were announced as AKB48's tenth generation in March 2010. Together they passed the selection exam several months later, and although they made their debut, this new generation of kenkyuusei flew mostly under the radar until the 2012 Saitama Super Arena concert in 2012 and Rena joined Maria, Shiori, Anna, and our fresh lemon, Ichikawa Miori, all of whom had been promoted a year earlier to the ranks of
Oba Mina's Team 4.
Manatsu no Sounds good! came out in May 2012. The original MV is still unavailable on youtube as it was kind of bleak, something that surprised me for a summer single. At the time, I was really enthusiastic as we'd just got the very heartfelt
GIVE ME FIVE! in the same year, but I was a little embarrassed by this single being a summer bikini single. The video doesn't shy away from its focus, and I find it uncomfortable seeing the members on the beach in white bikinis before the dancing starts. At the same time, this discomfort is what I really like about AKB. It's easy to dismiss AKB as the mainstream, certainly they were absolutely the mainstream in 2012, but this sense of antagonism and subversion runs through the images for these releases, and
Manatsu no Sounds good! is no exception in either of its forms. Although Renacchi was one of the last of her generation to be promoted into Team 4, someone in management clearly had an eye on her as she was immediately drafted for the media senbatsu amongst the big names and alongside Iriyama Anna, whilst other members of Team 4 were left to make up the numbers. It feels wild to talk about
being in the senbatsu in such a way but that's where we were in 2012.
During her eleven years, almost twelve years in AKB, Renacchi had a good run in the senbatsu, appearing on fourteen singles, some of which—
Labrador Retriever,
Kibouteki Refrain—were really big songs for the group, some of which—
Tsubasa wa Iranai,
11gatsu no Anklet—she was also in the media senbatsu for. On the B sides of these singles, Renacchi also appeared frequently, and whilst she never had a solo centre position, she did appear on
Kaisoku to Doutai Shiryoku with Suda Akari as part of a Wcentre and had no less than three joint centres with Kizaki Yuria.
In late 2012, she was moved to
Team B, but returned to Team 4 in 2014, now brought back under the captainship of Minegishi Minami, and then between 2017 and her graduation in 2022, went back to Team B, then to
Team A, then to Team B again. Last year, several years after leaving, she announced her marriage.
Renacchi was always one of the hardest workers in AKB during her years in the group, continually going back and forth between the senbatsu and the Undergirls, she was one of those girls who was popular enough to be recognisable in the lineup of each single, but was also someone you could meet properly as the Kami 7 became ever more distant and then eventually began to graduate. Coming off the 20th anniversary celebrations, it is easy to be blinded by nostalgia for what we remember AKB to have been, but it was members like Renacchi who got us through to where we are now, we helped us reach a place where we can comfortably celebrate that anniversary.
Kato Rena made her mark in AKB48. The ninth and tenth generations gave us Team 4, and though we did not appreciate it at the time, they very much bridged the Homeric golden age of AKB antiquity with the modern day. Renacchi might not be the first name you think of when you recall AKB48 in 2012, but I have no doubt that it is her you will remember when you think back on those PVs and see past the Kami 7, and for this, for working so hard for the group, we owe her a debt of thanks.
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