I am so sad! My favorite show is now ending. What will I do without my comfort show coming out with new episodes?
Coming from a martial arts background, I have always had a personal tie to the Karate Kid franchise. The tournaments and the training involved in the show are a reality of what it was like to be involved in the sport of karate.
Looking at the entirety of season six, this has to be the best season yet that the franchise has put out. From the intensity of the fights to the tearful goodbyes, I would say that by the end of the season finale, I had some tears coming down my face.
The Cobra Kai series went through the split episodes route, where part one will be released first, with part two coming out some time later. The first part of the season explored the Sekai Taikai tournament, which is the most prestigious international karate tournament in the world. It showed Johnny Lawerence and Daniel Larusso’s Dojo Miyagi Do beginning to train for the biggest tournament of their lives.
They go through a series of challenges to determine who the best fighters in the Dojo are. Those challenges brought Miguel, Robby, Sam, Tory, Demetri, and Devon to be chosen to represent Miyagi Do in the tournament, with Robby and Sam chosen as captains.
They end up traveling to Barcelona, Spain, where the tournament is going to be located. In the first few days of the tournament, they struggle a bit, as Robby is very off-balance due to Tory rejoining Cobra Kai.
The name Terry Silver may ring a bell if you’ve watched any of the other Karate Kid franchise movies, as Silver is one of the main protagonists in the show. He is back in this season, and his main goal is to destroy Johnny and Daniel’s dojo. Silver now owns the Iron Dragons dojo, which is Miyagi Do’s enemy.
Devon later withdraws from the tournament, and Kenny joins in on the action. Robby gets his mind back on track. With the balance back, Miyagi Do starts climbing up the leaderboard.
During Robby’s semi-final fight with Axel from the Iron Dragons, an all-out brawl occurred where all of the dojo’s at the tournament attacked one another. This brawl ended abruptly as Kwon from Cobra Kai was unintentionally killed when he tried to use Kresse’s eunjangdo knife to murder Axel.
The aftermath of Kwon’s death struck many people, especially Miyagi Do students. Meanwhile, the senseis of Cobra Kai and Miyagi Do agree to bring back the tournament, but this time locally in the Valley. The tournament will be held where the well-known All Valley Karate Tournament has been held for the past century.
Starting off where they started before the previous tournament is the semi-final matchup between Robby and Axel. Again, Robby is still off-balance and is the underdog in this matchup. Axel is destroying Robby. Axel’s sensei, Feng Xiao, encourages Axel to intentionally break Robby’s leg, which Axel ends up doing This ends the matchup, and Robby has to forfeit due to injury.
Right before Tory takes the mat, Zara from Iron Dragons taunts her to get in her head, which ends up working. Tory is very off-balance and doesn’t start off on the right foot. Tory steps to the side to take a second to breathe, and Robby tries to comfort her. He uses the three magical words, “I love you,” to help Tory get her groove back and take the win over Zara in a knockout.
The last match is Miguel versus Axel. The anticipation is here as this is the first time Miguel is in a Cobra Kai gi in about two years. It brings back memories of how Cobra Kai started with Miguel and how it will now close out with Miguel.
Both Axel and Miguel show off their power to start the match, but Miguel gains the first point. Throughout the match, Axel isn’t as powerful as he has been throughout the tournament. His sensei encourages Axel to hit Miguel in the back — in season two Miguel broke his back and was in a wheelchair — which can be a slight advantage to win the match. There’s a lot of intensity and back and forth, and Miguel is down, wondering if he wll be able to win as Axel is too strong. Johnny encourages Miguel to go with all of their might and use everything he knows.
That piece of advice brings flashbacks to Johnny and Miguel’s training over the years, from when Miguel was learning karate as a rookie to regaining strength in his legs and walking again. Miguel regains momentum to pump up the score to tie it up.
15-15. The next point is the champion. As they both stare into each other’s eyes, Miguel looks back to the time when he realized he could walk again, when he thought he wouldn’t ever walk or step on a mat to compete again. Miguel starts to lift off the air and attempts to land a whip kick, which lands and knocks out Axel. Miguel wins the tournament.
The end of an era has come. Two karate champions, now what’s next?
Well, Robby and Tory receive a marketing deal with Icon Branding, which changes their lives forever. Miguel gets into Stanford, and Sam studies abroad in Okinawa. But there’s one more match to happen, and that is between the two senseis from Cobra Kai and Iron Dragons to see which dojo will become the overall champion of the tournament. The match starts with Feng from Iron Dragons overpowering Johnny until Daniel speaks about Cobra Kai’s other motto to help bring Johnny’s confidence back. Johnny has a comeback and wins, and Cobra Kai wins the Sekai Taikai.
This season was a great way to bring all of the characters together. Overall, it was my favorite season as it concluded all of the storylines that the series has mentioned for the past seven years.
Seeing Johnny win a match and the biggest karate tournament in the world makes me think of the first Karate Kid movie and how much he went through with his sensei Kreese verbally abusing him. I’m seeing just how much Miguel has grown from repairing himself from injury to being the best fighter in the world. This had to be my favorite season of all time as it gave me a lot of nostalgia about the series’ first season and the first Karate Kid movie.
Upcoming later this year in May, the franchise will continue its storyline in a film called Karate Kid: Legends. This is very interesting because the two Karate Kid movies will merge, with Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan portraying Mr. Han. Both characters were the primary senseis in their respective films and had the same storyline, so seeing them merge into one film is very exciting to me. I’m still curious how they will merge, as both were entirely different films.
I’m sad that the show is over, as it has been a part of my identity for years, but I am glad I was able to experience it, as it represented my love for martial arts on screen. The term “Cobra Kai never dies” is a term I’ll always connect with in the series because the franchise will always continue.