Chances are, you have seen "The Karate Kid" and you rooted for Daniel LaRusso as he learned karate under Mr. Miyagi.
The entire plot of the movie revolved around Daniel defeating his rival, Johnny Lawrence. Johnny, who had been instructed to fight mercilessly, had been a constant bully and antagonist throughout the film.
However, YouTube has announced a new original show that stars both characters as grown men, and it will explore Johnny's character in a much deeper way.
34 years later
Things seem up for the grown Daniel-san, who owns a very successful car business in this spin-off series, but Johnny appears to be down on his luck.
He sports an unshaven face, seems to be living in a filthy motel room, and beats up teenagers. Yes, in the trailer, he smacks around some teenage punks (irony at its finest), while defending his car and a victim of bullying. His protective moment is not exactly like Mr. Miyagi's in 1984 because he attacks these kids with clear Cobra Kai training, which is pretty brutal (and awesome).
Johnny decides to start training a new generation of Cobra Kai students, but these are cut from a different cloth than Johnny and his old friends. Johnny begins training the new Cobras so they can stand up to bullies, but as he says, "I'm going to teach you karate the way I was taught." Daniel is not exactly pleased that the dojo has returned, and it looks like the two will inevitably come to blows.
'No such thing as bad student, only bad teacher'
Mr. Miyagi informed Daniel in the original movie that the way Johnny and his friends behaved was because of their teaching under John Kreese. Johnny seems to still believe in a more offensive fighting than Miyagi, but his intentions come across as nobler than his teacher's. He is far more lackadaisical and witty, which lends itself to the series apparent comedy-feel.
Speaking of bad students, Daniel may not have turned out the way Mr. Miyagi would have wanted. He does not come across as the best guy since he acts a little corny and cocky, which drives Johnny to start instructing teenagers in karate. Daniel has definitely kept up his karate training, though, but he does not use it in a very traditional manner.
He yells "Bonsai!" and chops prices in half for his dealership's commercials, and he does not seem to want to give Johnny a chance to explain himself when he finds out that he has reignited the Cobra Kai schooling. So just who is the protagonist here?
The show is set for ten episodes and will premiere on May 2, 2017.
