Matori & Kyoken Episode 1 Review
Director: Hiroshi Shinagawa
Date Created: 2026-02-02 20:15
3.5
Matori & Kyoken Episode 1 Review: Under the direction of Hiroshi Shinagawa, the Japanese crime series マトリと狂犬 plunges into the Tokyo drug scene with a gritty and realistic approach. The show features Daigo Nishihata as Umezawa Kyonosuke, a former child actor whose life has taken a dark turn, along with Yoshihiko Hosoda as Kurosaki Toru from the narcotics division and Osamu Mukai as police officer Katsuragi Akito. The show’s gritty aesthetic and crime storyline immediately set it apart as a realistic crime series as opposed to a more polished procedural.
Matori & Kyoken Episode 1 Recap
Matori & Kyoken Episode 1 kicks off with a bang, setting the tone for the series with a disturbing opening scene at a Roppongi nightclub. A man, clearly high on cocaine, asks for more drugs from a waiter. However, when he’s asked to pay first, things quickly go awry. In a flash of violence, the customer pulls out a knife and stabs the waiter, finds the drugs, and proceeds to take them in a reckless manner. He then collapses and dies moments later. The whole ordeal is recorded on video, which soon goes viral on the internet, prompting widespread outrage and the attention of both the police and the narcotics division.
As the video goes viral, the audience is also made aware of Umezawa Kyonosuke, a petty drug dealer who immediately recognises the victim as one of his clients. While watching the video, Umezawa Kyonosuke thinks the victim is foolish, but it is clear that he is nervous. The video also reaches the authorities, leading to simultaneous investigations. This particular case is the spark that brings a number of different characters into the same perilous circle, each with their own motivations.
Matori & Kyoken: Men in the Back Alleys Episode 1 continues with Kurosaki Toru, a narcotics police officer whose fixation on drug cases borders on the pathological. Upon his arrival at the nightclub, Kurosaki makes it abundantly clear that he is not part of the same police force as the rest of the officers, foreshadowing conflict within the police ranks themselves. It is at this point that he encounters Katsuragi Akito, a police officer whose complicated relationship with Kurosaki is evident from the start.
However, Umezawa’s personal world is also disintegrating. He was a child actor with genuine talent, but ended up in debt when his acting career went sour, and he was recruited by a drug ring. Following the nightclub incident, he is beaten up by his own associates, making it abundantly clear that there is no escape. With a looming deadline to pay back what he owes, Umezawa is caught in a desperate situation between the drug syndicate and the police.
Kurosaki stays ahead of the situation as he follows a suspected drug dealer to an apartment where drug packaging takes place. Umezawa recognised danger, which forced him to collect all illegal drugs before he escaped from the situation. Kurosaki keeps him separated from all others as he takes control of him. A major conflict breaks out between the two fighters, in which Kurosaki keeps Umezawa restrained while he forces cocaine into his body, which leads to Umezawa experiencing a panic attack. Umezawa pleads for help because he believes he is about to die from an overdose.
Kurosaki uses fear to control Umezawa while he investigates Umezawa’s network of contacts. Umezawa finally names Matsubara as their superior after he faces initial opposition. Kurosaki wants to take down Umezawa, but he demands a dangerous deal which requires Umezawa to work as an informant for the cartel. The only option he has available to him requires him to comply because if he refuses, Kurosaki will expose him as a traitor, which will result in his death or imprisonment.
Episode 1 of Matori & Kyoken concludes on a chilling note, where another dark character is introduced, luring a woman into trusting him, drugging her food, and leading her to a hotel room. The message is clear: the drug syndicate is much larger than what has been revealed so far, and there are likely to be more heinous crimes waiting to come to light.
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Matori & Kyoken Episode 1 Review
Episode 1 of Matori & Kyoken Men in the Back Alleys shows that this series appreciates the value of a good opening. From the opening scene of chaos, the episode shows that it has real stakes and is committed to its crime-based storyline. Instead of introducing viewers to the series gradually, the series drops them in at the deep end, with violence and moral complexity used to immediately establish the series’ world. This is a successful tactic for the episode, which creates a sense of urgency and emotional investment from the very start.
The emotional centre of the episode is Daigo Nishihata’s performance as Umezawa Kyonosuke. He conveys the character’s fear, regret, and sense of helplessness effectively, making Umezawa seem more like a man who is being forced into circumstances rather than a crime lord. His scenes with Kurosaki are very interesting, as they show the disparity between a man who is upholding the law and one who is being forced to break it. Kokoro Morita gives a chilling performance as Kurosaki, a man whose sense of justice is perilously close to obsession.
Matori & Kyoken Japanese drama ep 1, also shines in terms of atmosphere. The juxtaposition of the bright neon-lit nightlife and the dark, foreboding back alleys of Tokyo is a great reflection of the dual nature of Tokyo itself: a city of glitz and glamour on the surface, but also one of darkness and violence. The episode’s pacing is also well-balanced, allowing the scenes to unfold without feeling rushed or slow, but with the tension mounting to a crescendo. There are, however, points in the episode where it feels like it’s relying a little too much on genre knowledge, assuming that the audience will automatically know what’s going on in terms of certain power struggles without having enough explanation.
Where the episode could improve is in its use of exposition. There are points in the dialogue where it feels like it’s being used strictly for the purpose of advancing the plot, rather than for furthering any kind of character development. There are also points in the episode where the tonal changes between the gritty realism and the more dramatic moments don’t feel entirely smooth. While these are minor issues that don’t necessarily stop the episode from being enjoyable, they do prevent it from reaching its full potential.
Matori & Kyoken Men in the Back Alleys Review: Summing Up
On the whole, episode 1 of Matori and Kyoken is a great start. It gives the audience a morally ambiguous protagonist, a dangerous world, and enough seeds to plant the audience’s interest. Although it has areas where it can improve its narrative and tone, the beginning is successful in making the world seem dangerous and unpredictable. With the upcoming episodes ready to develop these elements, there is great eagerness to see how Umezawa’s situation as an informant will add to his already precarious life.
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