Tag Archives: cobra kai

Paying It Forward, Correcting the Past: Final Thoughts on Cobra Kai

Posted on by

Cobra Kai finished earlier this year after six seasons, and it has me remembering when I started the Karate Kid spin-off. Back then, it really surprised and impressed me with how much it avoided being a regressive nostalgia fest and tried to put out new ideas, and all while having the old characters look over a new generation of karate students. But like with so many popular things, a bad ending can really sour a series as a whole, so I was still a bit cautious. There’s a reason I’ve never really written about Game of Thrones.

Thankfully, despite the later seasons dragging in places and sometimes forcing drama in certain places like there was an obligation to do so, Cobra Kai finishes strong both emotionally and thematically. It also understands something very fundamental: A show based on The Karate Kid needs to begin and end with karate.

Everything I wrote in my previous review still holds up. Cobra Kai stresses the importance of finding balance, but that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Sometimes, the aggressive approach of Cobra Kai is exactly what a person needs, but following it to the extremes can cause more harm than good—something Johnny Lawrence (the main character of the series and original bad boy of the franchise) knows all too well. Miyagi-Do, the style and life philosophy of the “Karate Kid” himself, Daniel LaRusso, is more defensive and less likely to lead someone down a dark path, but it might not have the sheer force to break through to the hearts of those who aren’t receptive to it.

There are numerous moments in the show that stress this point, but I think one of the most powerful comes when the character Tory Nichols is facing Sam (daughter of Daniel) to see who will represent Miyagi-Do in the women’s division of the world karate tournament, the Sekai Taikai. Tory’s mother has just passed away, and the girl is distraught and emotionally unstable during the match. The LaRussos see this fact and try to stop Tory, but Johnny understands that Tory needs to let out her emotions through this fight. While Daniel’s heart is in the right place, it’s Johnny who better understands what Tory is going through, and the former’s failure to recognize that causes Tory to abandon Miyagi-Do.

Eventually, pretty much all the characters get their happy endings, which might feel a bit hokey, but the nature of each one really speaks to the unique qualities of each individual. With the setting of a tournament to determine the world’s greatest karate dojo, each person must achieve their balance. 

Robby Keene (Johnny’s once-estranged son) has had a rough past with negligent parents and getting roped into the wrong crowd, and Miyagi-Do has helped him temper his anger. When his opponent in the semifinals, Axel Kovačević, purposely breaks his leg, however, Robbie is forced to forfeit. Yet, while he wishes he could have won in front of the world, he also knows in his heart that he had what it took to do so, even if a dirty trick stopped him.

Sam LaRusso decides to quit in the semifinals and give Tory a bye to the finals, it’s because she realizes that she never got into karate to prove that she was the best or the greatest. It’s helped her find good friends, a great boyfriend (despite some Teen Karate Drama), and even mend fences with her rival in Tory. Karate opened the world to her, and she ends up going to college in Okinawa (the birthplace of karate).

Tory Nichols, however, is not like Robby or Sam. She has a chip on her shoulder, guilt over causing so many problems, and a burning desire to beat the crap out of Zara: the arrogant, man-stealing, social media darling waiting for her in the finals. Zara knows how to get into Tory’s head, but an “I love you” and a kiss from Robby brings her back to take 1st place. What Tory needed was to realize that she had people on her side no matter what. When she and Robby also get offers for karate sponsorships, she gains the stability she’s always been searching for. 

Miguel Diaz, Johnny’s first student and in many ways the heart and soul of the Cobra Kai series, finds balance in bringing together all the experience he’s gained from not just karate but bonding with everyone. He’s no longer the weak, bullied kid he once was. At the same time, all the challenges he’s faced and the lessons he’s learned from both Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do unite in him to win the finals against Axel.

As for Axel, he might have been responsible for Robby’s injury, but he ultimately refuses to let the toxicity of his own sensei control him. Despite having strong romantic feelings for Sam (who is Miguel’s girlfriend), as well as being told that his life is worthless without victory, he chooses to be the better man and fight honorably. He helps highlight another key aspect of Cobra Kai: The purpose of teachers and mentors is to pass on the good lessons and understand what should remain in the past. And this isn’t just subtext—it’s stated outright.

Nowhere is this idea more ironically poignant than the original big, bad villain of The Karate Kid: John Kreese. He is responsible for so much of the misery brought forth by the Cobra Kai dojo. The Cobra Kai series delves into his past as a traumatized Vietnam veteran who tried to instill in his students the mantra of “strike hard, strike fast, no mercy” as a way to make them invincible, and it isn’t until the very end that he realizes how much damage he’s caused in the process. 

I find the moment of Kreese’s inner revelation interesting, because it doesn’t seem to click until he sees the real master of the Cobra Kai style (an elderly Korean man) using his weaker students as fodder to train the stronger. Even Kreese wanted only to drive weakness out of his students, and not to sacrifice them on the altar of strength. When he remembers his own commander in the Vietnam War (and the one who originally taught him Tang Soo Do) allowing his subordinates to fight to the death as POWs instead of acting as a leader, Kreese decides to end the cycle of abuse, albeit decades after he already traumatized Johnny, LaRusso, and many others. However, he can’t stop being the man he’s been, so his ultimate act of closure is to stop his former friend and literal comrade-in-arms Terry Silver from kidnapping Johnny’s family by fighting Silver and blowing up his yacht. (Whee.)

It all comes to a head when Johnny has to face another teacher, the Iron Dragons’ Sensei Wolf, to determine the overall winning team of the Sekai Taikai. Wolf is younger, stronger, faster, and more skilled, making Johnny the complete underdog, and he’s overwhelmed by fear during the match. But Daniel, knowing Johnny all too well, goes against his normally gentle demeanor and tells him that fear does not exist in Cobra Kai and to “stop being a pussy.” When it comes down to the last point, Johnny sees himself in the same position he was in when he lost to Daniel back in 1984. This time, however, Johnny takes a defensive stance. He looks like he’s about to perform Daniel’s move, the Crane Kick, but instead sweeps the leg and uses the advantage he gains from that to finish Wolf and win it all. 

Daniel came to realize that the crass and aggressive philosophy of Cobra Kai was what he needed to successfully communicate with a panicked Johnny, but he used it to communicate a lesson Mr. Miyagi taught him: You can lose the match, but you must not lose to fear. Johnny, in turn, used the patient defense of Miyagi-Do but adapted it to his own style, changing the context of the iconic “sweep the leg” line that is one of the most lasting pieces of pop culture from The Karate Kid.

Overall, through the ups and downs, Cobra Kai sticks the landing magnificently. It understands that it has old fans watching, but also a new audience who don’t know anything about Karate Kid. It stresses that the young can learn from the old, and that the old can learn from the young. 

As a final note, I think one thing that really gets across the positive vibes of the series is the sheer number of cameos from the old movies. They seem to be there to give props to as many people who were involved with The Karate Kid, no matter how big or small their roles were. It’s a celebration in the best way: One that knows that when the party ends, there’s still more to do to make life better.

New York Comic Con 2022 and the Long-Lost Hand of New York Anime Festival

Posted on by

The story of New York Comic Con has long been a move increasingly towards mainstream nerd culture. But what happens when that culture changes into one where comics have ascended?

For years now, I’ve associated this convention with prestige TV shows and superhero movies above all else. Comics are still paid lip service and the Artist Alley still brings some of the biggest names you can imagine, but my attendance and attention have waned over time. Even this year, I only went one day when in the past it would have been three or four. But when I was there, I couldn’t help but notice the remnants of New York Anime Festival, once upon a time absorbed into its bigger and more popular brother we call NYCC, emerging with new life.

It would be inaccurate to treat NYCC like an anime con, but the industry presence in the Exhibition Hall was very noticeable. Big booths for Gundam, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and various anime and manga companies littered the space. And when it came to cosplay, the amount of Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, etc. was hard to ignore. There were plenty of other things (including some very excited folks in Cobra Kai uniforms eager to meet John Kreese’s actor, Martin Kove), yet it felt like Cool Japan stepped one foot out of a casket.

I have to wonder if this stems from the big boost anime and manga have gotten during the pandemic. Ever since COVID-19 forced major changes on how people live, one consequence was that people’s entertainment habits changed. Among these shifts were a massive increase in book sales, and among them graphic novels blew up. But among the boom of graphic novels, manga had ascended even further. Anime and manga are almost undeniably mainstream now (at least when it comes to certain major titles), and perhaps it’s only natural for the mainstream-chasing New York Comic Con to follow suit to some degree.

Write Like an Eagle: Cobra Kai

Posted on by

I’m one of those people who wrote off Cobra Kai back when it was first announced. I’ve always liked the movies well enough, and the premise of a series focused on original antagonist Johnny Lawrence seemed interesting, but I wasn’t sure there was much to explore in the Karate Kid universe. Years later, I’ve taken the plunge and binged all four seasons currently out—and I have to express just how impressed I am with how much love, care, and respect the show’s staff and cast clearly put into this.

Cobra Kai continues the story of The Karate Kid series. True to its name, however, this new series focuses on the rival from the first film, Johnny Lawrence. Ever since getting crane kicked in the face by Daniel LaRusso and losing the 1984 Under-18 All Valley Karate Tournament, Johnny’s life has been stuck in the past and on a downward spiral. The fact that he’s living paycheck to paycheck while Daniel has gained (minor) fame and fortune only rubs salt in the wound. But when a selfish Johnny inadvertently rescues his new next door neighbor’s teenage son, Miguel Diaz, from a group of bullies, he finds himself in the role of “Mr. Miyagi”-type mentor to this boy. Only, instead of dispensing wise proverbs, Johnny’s approach is more School of Hard Knocks and 80s metal references, albeit while attempting to remove the cruelest elements from the Cobra Kai karate he was taught.

The premise of Daniel’s old tormentor becoming a sensei who doesn’t want to repeat the mistakes of how he was taught is intriguing in itself, but Cobra Kai does a remarkably solid job of taking the bits of depth present in Johnny in the original film (like how he had some sense of honor and limits to his antagonism) and expanding upon them. Essentially, what was once a largely two-dimensional character is fleshed out into a three-dimensional one.

The cast is split between adults and teens, with a roughly even focus on each group, giving a kind of inter-generational appeal to the series. Cobra Kai does a good job of outlying the contours of both the parents’ and kids’ respective concerns in their lives. Characters like Johnny and Daniel are able to use their experience to give valuable advice to the new generation, but there’s a limit to what they understand about what life is like for teens in an age of social media and greater social awareness.

Each season builds on the previous, adding twists and turns that highlight how the path to improvement is rarely problem-free. Sometimes the developments feel overly dramatic, as if they’re creating conflict for the sake of conflict—though that’s not surprising, given that Cobra Kai is an American-made drama about karate. Even if that element feels a little forced at times, though, the characters end up with interesting arcs where they learn and grow but also falter she stumble. 

The themes of Cobra Kai are poignant and valuable, though they are anything but subtle. When Miguel needs to learn to take initiative in life beyond karate, he’s told by Johnny to remember the Cobra Kai mantra of “strike first.” When the inherent aggressiveness of Cobra Kai’s style starts to create as many problems as it solves, the show contrasts it with Daniel’s defensive Miyagi-Do karate. And when the show wants to explore the need for balance in both life and karate, the show talks at length about that too. 

Ultimately, there are two important messages. First, it’s never too late to change for the better, but people need to change at their own pace. Second, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to finding confidence and balance. Some need to learn a Cobra Kai mindset, while others need the Miyagi-Do philosophy, and everyone eventually has to pick up at least a piece of each.

To say I’ve become a fan of Cobra Kai is a bit of an understatement. It’s far exceeded my expectations, and I genuinely look forward to each new chapter in the story of past and future generations of karate practitioners evolving physically, mentally, and emotionally.