シーズン22-9「ごら岡ゴリラ」

The Shoe-Fitting Dilemma: Is the High-Knee March Actually the Right Move?

The episode's "Is It Just Me?" segment tackled a question every shopper silently wrestles with: when trying on shoes, how far are you actually supposed to walk? Some shops lay down a small mat and leave it at that, giving no clear signal as to whether stepping outside or roaming the full floor is acceptable. "You can't really tell anything from just shuffling back and forth a little," one member said—but neither do you want the staff to think you're being absurd by pacing the entire store.

The result: both members confessed to performing high-knee lifts, foot stamps, and other movements they would never make on an ordinary street. "You'd never move like that in daily life," one laughed, while acknowledging that even those exaggerated tests don't produce a confident verdict. The shoes still end up going home on a vague "feels about right" impulse. A side comparison to clothes shopping added another layer: when a staff member says "try it over by the light," you wander in that direction only to realize you have no idea where the mirror even is.

Touch the Darkness: Is Takoyaki Being Fair to Ika-Yaki?

The "Touch the Darkness" corner—reserved for uncomfortable truths—kicked off when one member spotted ika-yaki at a food stall for the first time and immediately thought: shouldn't takoyaki work the same way? Ika-yaki is about as minimal as it gets: squid, heat, done. Takoyaki, on the other hand, folds in tenkasu (tempura scraps), coats everything in batter, and cooks the result in a round iron mold. "The squid side never agreed to those regulations," he argued. "If it had been a fair fight, ika-yaki might have won."

The thought experiment then expanded: what if takoyaki were filled with squid instead of octopus? Squid is cheaper, so a "Kin-Ika" chain—essentially the squid answer to Gindako (銀だこ)—could undercut rivals on cost while maintaining the same beloved round shape. Sausage-filled takoyaki exist, he noted, but an ika version has never really caught on. "Someone should try it," they concluded.

Hunter × Hunter's Return to Hiatus — The Happy Days Are Over

Hunter × Hunter wrapped up ten-plus weeks of new chapters and went on hiatus again. Both members were effusive in their praise—"absolutely insanely good"—and described the ritual those weeks had imposed on them: read on Jump+ (ジャンプ＋) the moment it updated at midnight, sleep, then watch YouTube reaction videos around noon the following day. "Togashi-sensei (富樫先生) has this rare ability to make people happy in this very specific way," one said. They signed off with the wish that he continues at whatever pace works for him.

King of Conte 2026 — A 1,000-Yen Bond and the Strength of Miyazaki

The King of Conte 2026 finalists were announced on September 10. Because comedians tend to hear results early through industry connections, the members noted that it can be a delicate topic to discuss openly before the official announcement.

One member's pick is Jererdone (ジェラードン), and the reason is a 1,000-yen bill. On a past KOC day, he ran into Kuuki Kaidan's (空気階段) Katamari by chance in Akasaka (赤坂), and Katamari handed him 1,000 yen "to build good karma." He recently told that story to Jererdone's Nishimoto (西本さん), who immediately produced his own 1,000-yen bill on the spot. "I can only root for Jererdone now," he declared. He also mentioned watching footage of Kamichi (カミチーさん) attempting to treat Muraoka Gorilla (村岡ゴリラさん) to tsukemen noodles only to have the bowl knocked over entirely, which only deepened his warmth toward the group.

The other member named Iwahara-san (岩原さん) and Kaeru-tei (カエル邸) as his picks, noting how performers "get an almost frightening edge" in the weeks surrounding KOC. The conversation drifted to the number of finalists from Miyazaki Prefecture—"there's a strength there that sweeps everything else aside," one said. Younger acts Yahoi (ヤッホイ) and Naru-chan (なるちゃん) also got a mention; Naru-chan, a fine-arts graduate building an audience on X and YouTube, was highlighted as someone whose work one member has been actively enjoying—"hearing about new acts organically like this is something that didn't really happen before."

One Member's Father Becomes PE Fund Chairman

In the final stretch, one member revealed that his father had stepped down from his previous company and been appointed chairman of Advantage Partners (アドバンテッジパートナーズ), a private equity fund. The member himself explained the business model: the fund acquires stakes in unlisted companies, takes a hands-on role in management to raise corporate value, then sells for a profit. The other member offered a spectacularly off-base analogy—"like buying a Monday Jump before it goes on sale, making it better somehow, and then selling it?"—which was met with laughter and a patient correction, stretching the segment into an affectionate back-and-forth to close out the episode.