Inagaki, Kusanagi, and Katori compete in a serious cooking contest for the first time in 7 and a half years! They forget about the competition and talk about cats, giving it an "NHK Educational TV feel" feel

■ “When I cook like this, the cats come over.” (Gorou Inagaki)

“Nanani Underground Abema” is a regular Abema program featuring Inagaki Goro, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (the official spelling of “nagi” is the old-style character for “bow” with the character for “front” and “sword”), and Katori Shingo.

The theme of episode #29, which will air on June 9th, is “Food terrorism galore! The ultimate buzz recipe special.”

Following the broadcast on June 2nd, guests Babayashi, a cooking influencer who boasts an astounding 54 million followers on social media, Kenty Kento, who has been making headlines for his recipes that can be made using just a hot plate, and Kasumi Moai, a popular cooking researcher and registered dietitian known for her healthy recipes that require few ingredients and a minimum number of cooking steps, have all devised cooking recipes that can be made in “7.2 minutes or less” for the day.

Inagaki, Kusanagi, and Katori, along with three guests, took on a serious cooking competition for the first time in seven and a half years.

Additionally, the Nanani members watched the outcome of the battle as judges, along with the guest for the day, Ryuji, a popular food expert whose cookbook has sold over 1.5 million copies.

The battle began with Kusanagi making “appetizing, chewy Korean-style meat-wrapped rice balls” with Kenty Kento, Katori making “8cm thick! Ham! Spam! Cheese! 17 layers of shiso leaves! Super naughty cutlet” with Bayashi, and Inagaki making “a bonus bowl of eggplant-filled minced eggplant nanban” with Moai Kasumi.

Just when it seemed like each team was making steady progress with their cooking, Tomoai Inagaki got really excited talking about cats. As if she had forgotten about the competition, she continued to talk, “I’ve been keeping a cat lately,” and “I have two at home too.”

When asked by Moai what kind of cats he had, Inagaki replied happily, “A Persian, a Minuet, and a British Shorthair,” and when he found out that Moai had two Scottish Folds, he smiled and said, “You get along well.”

Furthermore, when asked by Moan, “What is your favorite vegetable?”, Inagaki responded with his typical answers, “Whenever I go to the supermarket, I always buy radishes,” “I also buy arugula and broccoli sprouts,” and livened up the conversation.

Then, MC Michopa, who was watching the match, appeared and commented, “It looks like fun.” Inagaki bashfully laughed and asked, “Were you listening?”, and then enthusiastically talked to Moai, saying, “You have a cat, don’t you?” and “You want to cook cat food, too?”

Seeing Inagaki like that, Michiopa further commented, “He’s getting too excited…”, which got the studio excited.

With their usual skill, the two quickly completed the “Bonus Bowl of Eggplant and Minced Eggplant Nanban” – or so you’d think. But then Inagaki resumed his cat talk again, saying, “When I cook like this, cats come over,” and “It’s dangerous for cats.”

Kyaeen’s Amano, who was watching from another studio, couldn’t help but comment, “It’s a story centered around animals,” and “This part has an NHK Educational TV feel,” causing the studio to erupt in laughter.

Finally, the finished dish was served to the Nanani members and guest Ryuji. The studio members who tasted it shouted rave reviews, saying, “It’s delicious!”, “The flavor has soaked into the eggplant,” and “The sauce is good.”

Later, Inagaki, who also took part in the cooking competition, talked about the best features of this recipe, saying, “It’s delicious, and the result was better than I expected,” and “It’s really easy, and there’s not much washing up to do,” and Ryuji, having heard this, also gave it his stamp of approval, saying, “This is delicious.”

What will be the outcome of Inagaki, Kusanagi, and Katori’s first cooking battle in seven and a half years? Episode 29 of “Nanani Chika ABEMA” is currently being streamed on “ABEMA”.

The next episode of “Nanani Underground Abema” #30, which will be broadcast on June 23rd, will have the theme “Amazing Journalists Gathering SP.”

The show will feature guests including a cosmetic medical journalist, a Kabukicho writer, a North Korea journalist, and a private investigator, who will have in-depth discussions with the Nanani members about current hot topics and other interesting questions.