You know Daniel LaRusso. You know Mr. Miyagi. You know Johnny Lawrence. And you know that, even after all this time, The Karate Kid is a bona fide classic. But do you know the whole story?
After all, the Karate Kid world is larger than just one movie. In addition to two sequels, a soft reboot, a non-canon animated series, and a remake, there's Cobra Kai, a modern continuation of the story that began all the way back in 1984. In Cobra Kai, long-time rivals Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso face off just like they did all those years ago, except this time, the stakes are even higher.
Cobra Kai is a treat for Karate Kid fans, but it's also accessible to newcomers, thanks to the frequent use of flashbacks, which replay scenes from the original Karate Kid movies. Still, you'll get much more out of Cobra Kai if you understand the surprisingly complex Karate Kid timeline. Whether you've seen the movies before and need a quick refresher or if you want a crash course so you can jump straight to Cobra Kai, here's what you need to know.
The Karate Kid saga doesn't begin when New Jersey-native Daniel LaRusso moves to California. If you want to know where the story really started, you have to go back 400 years and pay a visit to Tome village, a small fishing community in Okinawa , Japan.
There, you'll find a fisherman who came to be known as "Miyagi Shimpo Sensei," although he wasn't always a martial arts master. In 1625, after a particularly slow day at sea, Shimpo fell asleep on his boat, and continued slumbering as winds guided his vessel from Okinawa to the Chinese coast.
After that, Shimpo lived in China for ten years. When returned to Okinawa, he brought two things with him: his new family, and a small, ceremonial drum, which became the basis for the Miyagi family's unique form of karate.
Miyagi's origins | 0:00
Mr. Miyagi's tragic past | 2:03
The rise of Cobra Kai | 3:26
Daniel LaRusso arrives | 4:15
Wax on, wax off | 5:26
The big day | 6:19
The aftermath | 7:33
Cobra Kai strikes back | 9:10
The tables turn | 10:48
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