Almost half a generation after the Bruce Lee craze, came along a delightful, yet different kind of martial arts saga of the
troubles of
teenager’s life and how he chooses to overcome them.
The story begins as Daniel LaRusso, a fatherless teenager, moves home from Newark, New Jersey to Reseda, California with his mother. Daniel, not yet recovered from the loss of his father, now has to deal with settling into a new city and start afresh, needless to say, he begins to have his share of
troubles. On the day of his shifting into a new apartment, he meets a neighbour who, impressed with his first interaction, thinks Daniel to be a decent enough boy to befriend, so he takes him to the annual school ‘farewell to summer’ beach party. In an effort to befriend others of his age, he demonstrates some of his soccer skills, which catch the attention of a young girl, Ali. Unknown to Daniel, she was the love interest of Jonny, the leader of a menacing team of Karate black belts known as ‘Kobra Kai’, who, Daniel starts off on the wrong foot with right from the start. However, the evening ends in a promising love affair but Daniel meets his nemesis.
Daniel’s apartment building maintenance was handled by a Mr. Miyagi, who unknown to Daniel, was an honoured WW2 veteran and a top exponent of Okinawa Karate.
Joining a new school also challenges Daniel, as he finds out that the boys of the ‘Kobra Kai’ were his schoolmates, but, if this was any consolation, his love interest Ali was there too. The ‘Kobra Kai’ team starts to give him trouble, as a result of which he is not selected for the school soccer team. Daniel thinks that his physical abilities are lacking so he starts physical training at home. This catches the attention of Mr. Miyagi, who is at Daniel’s house fixing some plumbing.
As time passes, Daniel’s interaction with Jonny and the ‘Kobra Kai’ boys increases and he often gets physically hurt, until finally he decides to look for a good Karate institute, but finds Jonny & his ‘Kobra Kai’ boys there too. On the way home he falls very badly down a hill, as a result of distraction from the ‘Kobra Kai’ boys chasing after him. Annoyed with himself he throws his bicycle away and moans his way home. Mr. Miyagi, being an experience man, understood the disturbed state of Daniel’s mind, and fixes his bike for him. As Daniel goes to thank Mr. Miyagi, the old man is found plucking at his Bonsai trees. Accepting nothing in return, Mr. Miyagi sets Daniel on plucking a fresh tree, but Daniel, unknowingly is being taught a lesson of self belief in the little task in front of him.
Daniel becomes more acquainted with Mr. Miyagi. Then came the day of the school Halloween fancy dress party in which Daniel
takes on the ‘Kobra Kai’ boys , and then runs from the party, with the ‘Kobra Kai’ boys in hot pursuit. A stone’s throw from home, the ‘Kobra Kai’ boys beat up Daniel, only to be themselves beaten up by Mr. Miyagi who stealthily creeps up behind them. Daniel, almost feinting, gets a brief glimpse of the old man in action. Upon recovery, Daniel asks Mr. Miyagi to be his Karate instructor, but the latter refuses because he believes that Karate is for defence of life & integrity only.
The two go to the ‘Kobra Kai’ training school the next day, where Daniel & Mr. Miyagi discover that, in actual fact, their coach, Sensei Kreese is the one who teaches them the violent street style of Karate. Mr. Miyagi tries to reason with Sensei Kreese that five-to-one fighting is futile, and if they want to prove a point, it is better to settle differences at the annual ‘All-Valley Karate Championships’. He also demanded to leave Daniel alone to train. Sensei Kreese agrees. However, in the midst of all his troubles, he falls out with Ali.
Mr. Miyagi, now realizing this to be a matter of Daniel’s integrity & self-respect (including his own), agrees to train Daniel in the root and the philosophies of Karate from which he can self develop. For this, he has Daniel wash and polish cars, sand decks, paint fences, paint houses and dive into stormy seas. Little does Daniel realize that all these seemingly useless chores are strengthening his body and mind. He is about to walk out of his ‘training’ when Mr. Miyagi reveals that the hand movements of all these chores are actually the blocking techniques of Karate. During his training, Daniel learns the flying kick techniques of the crane as well as balancing on the bow of a rowboat as well as effective punching technique. On his birthday, Mr. Miyagi gives him a gi as well as a car. Daniel makes up with Ali and they all go to the tournament.
Daniel starts off well, but the ‘Kobra Kai’ team cheats their way up the ranks so that Jonny fights Daniel in the finale. Daniel is injured and is almost out, but Mr. Miyagi’s bone healing brings him back into the tournament, only to win against Jonny by using the crane flying kick. Daniel wins both the tournament and the respect of the ‘Kobra Kai’ boys, especially Jonny.