ガスワン presents 田中みな実 あったかタイム · Education
「田中みな実、吉祥寺ルーザーズ２を望んでいる」2026年9月26日放送：片桐仁さんゲスト回
Actor Katakiri Jin (片桐仁) joined Tanaka Minami (田中みな実) to look back on their time filming TV Tokyo's drama 'Kichijoji Losers' (吉祥寺ルーザーズ), sharing behind-the-scenes stories including Tanaka's makeup-ruining cry over her dog and Kunimura Jun's (国村隼) unforgettable Hong Kong anecdote. Tanaka also made clear she desperately wants a second season. The episode also covered the surprisingly male-free reproductive biology of the stick insects kept by Katakiri's wife, and the couple-friends dynamic the Katagiris share with Hoffdylan's (ホフディラン) Yuhi (ユウヒ).
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What this episode answers
What brought Tanaka Minami and Katakiri Jin closer together?
TV Tokyo's drama 'Kichijoji Losers' was the catalyst — with no individual dressing rooms, the entire cast waited and ran lines together in one shared space, which naturally deepened their bond. Tanaka calls her role Sakura the best-fit part of her career and still strongly wants a second season some four years after broadcast.
What kind of person did Hoffdylan's Yuhi come across as in the conversation?
A devoted foodie and drinker who made three separate trips to Vladivostok just to eat the Chinese-Russian fusion cuisine there, Yuhi always shows up precisely on time no matter how long he has been drinking the night before. That said, he tends to repeat the same stories when drunk and wander off unpredictably, which is why Tanaka strictly limits their meetups to a one-hour lunch and refuses to see him at night.
What surprising biology do the stick insects kept by Katakiri Jin's wife have?
Stick insects reproduce parthenogenetically, meaning females can lay and hatch eggs without any male at all. Males are born by mutation only about once every ten years — rare enough to make the news — and even the offspring of a male-female pairing turn out to be genetic clones of the mother.
Why did Tanaka Minami break down crying during the filming of 'Kichijoji Losers'?
Just before a rehearsal she mentioned she had left her dog with a breeder for three days, and Katakiri and Masshu told her straight-faced, 'Three days? Then it's not really your dog anymore,' causing her to cry so hard her makeup ran. The bluntness hit especially hard because the day before she had joked with the same two that she liked being told things directly.
What impression did Kunimura Jun leave on the set of 'Kichijoji Losers'?
He was warmly attentive — showing fellow cast members the script and carefully explaining how to read unfamiliar characters — and he delivered his lines almost flawlessly with barely any retakes. He also shared a story from his action-actor days in Hong Kong, where a freshly boiled egg would be pressed against his face after being punched in order to reduce the swelling, an image that has stayed with both Tanaka and Katakiri ever since.
Couple-Friends with Hoffdylan's Yuhi
Katakiri Jin's wife was originally a fan of Watanabe Baby (渡辺ベイビー) from the band Hoffdylan, and after attending so many of their concerts she grew close to Watanabe Baby's wife. That connection eventually extended to a couple-friends relationship with Hoffdylan's other member, Yuhi. A passionate devotee of food and drink, Yuhi has traveled to Vladivostok three times purely to eat the Chinese-Russian fusion cuisine there — dishes similar to dumplings that differ markedly from standard Russian food — making him a gourmet by any measure.
Tanaka keeps her outings with Yuhi strictly to a one-hour lunch window and has a firm rule: "I absolutely never meet him at night." When drunk he loops through the same stories and has a habit of wandering off without warning, which worries her. That said, he is reliably punctual regardless of how long he has been drinking beforehand. Tanaka recalled one New Year's Eve soba dinner: despite drinking until morning, Yuhi arrived right on time with a bright-red face, sat down — and proceeded to drink rather than touch his soba at all.
Katakiri Jin's Shrinking Tolerance and His Wife the Kitchen Drinker
Katakiri recently confessed that two pints of draft beer are now enough to make him feel unwell, and that his tolerance has dropped sharply. He still cannot bring himself to eat a meal without beer, though Tanaka dismissed the habit with a flat "It's stranger to drink beer with every meal." His wife is the exact opposite: known around the house as a kitchen drinker (キッチンドランカー), she routinely finishes off whatever he cannot. Katakiri described the ideal marriage as one where the wife is "strict enough that the husband is always chasing after her," and Tanaka agreed wholeheartedly.
The Stick Insect That Has No Need for Males
Katakiri's wife keeps multiple species of stick insect (ナナフシ) at home — insects famous for mimicking twigs and leaves. Stick insects reproduce parthenogenetically: females can lay fertilized eggs and hatch offspring entirely without a male. Males are born only by rare mutation, roughly once every ten years, and are so unusual they make the newspaper — one in tens of thousands. More remarkably, when scientists examine the DNA of offspring produced by a male-female pairing, the young turn out to be simple clones of the mother.
"Are humans gradually heading in that direction too?" Tanaka asked. Katakiri replied with a wry smile: "Men are becoming unnecessary — I suppose there's nothing we can do." The conversation drifted to present-day topics like egg freezing and artificial insemination, and the two spent some time musing together about a world where males are optional.
The Tight-Knit Set of 'Kichijoji Losers' and the Big Cry
Tanaka Minami and Katakiri Jin first grew close while filming TV Tokyo's drama 'Kichijoji Losers.' Based on an original story by Akimoto Yasushi (秋元康) and scripted by Ikeda Tetsuhiro (池田鉄洋), the show followed three men and three women sharing a single house. There were no individual dressing rooms; the entire cast — including Kunimura Jun, Hamada Mari (浜田真理), and Meru-chan (メルちゃん) — waited together in one shared space and ran lines as a group, creating a stage-like closeness that naturally built strong bonds.
The most talked-about on-set moment came just before a rehearsal, when Tanaka mentioned she had left her dog with a breeder for three days. Katakiri and Masshu (マッスー) immediately responded, entirely straight-faced: "Three days? Then it's not really your dog anymore." Tanaka burst into tears hard enough to ruin her freshly finished makeup. The timing made it worse: the day before, all three of them had been joking about how she liked being spoken to bluntly. Receiving that same energy in earnest the very next day hit her completely off guard. The two men quickly moved to comfort her and asked the cameraman to reshoot from the previous scene.
Tanaka's Drive for Season 2 and the Cast Nobody Could Name
Tanaka says the role of Sakura — a former top women's-magazine editor who loses her job but cannot relinquish her pride — is "the role that fits me better than any other," and watching the show back always makes her want to do it again. Katakiri played a struggling infomercial salesman and part-time comedian named Hatamanta (波田マンタ, 波田マンタ); Masshu's character was Abiko Satoshi (アビコサトシ), Mari-san played Kurumizawa Midori (くるみ沢みどり), and Kunimura played Ikegami Ryuji (池上隆二) — though almost none of them could remember their own character names until they were looked up.
Both Tanaka and Katakiri praised Kunimura highly: he would carefully show fellow cast members the script and explain unfamiliar character readings, and he almost never needed a retake. He also shared a Hong Kong story — during his action-actor years there, a freshly boiled egg would be pressed against his face after being punched in order to bring down the swelling, a striking detail neither of them has forgotten. When Katakiri observed that "TV Tokyo doesn't really do second seasons," Tanaka pushed back with real feeling: "I genuinely want to do it. I really, truly do."
Takeaways
- Tanaka Minami calls her role in 'Kichijoji Losers' the best-fit part of her career and still passionately hopes for a second season four years after the show aired.
- Katakiri Jin's wife keeps multiple species of stick insect at home; they reproduce parthenogenetically without males, and even the rare offspring of a male-female pairing are genetically clones of the mother.
- The 'Kichijoji Losers' set had no individual dressing rooms — the whole cast waited and rehearsed lines together in one shared space — forging tight teamwork and producing unforgettable behind-the-scenes moments.
This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.