Cobra Kai has no right to be this good and it definitely has no right to make me cry every episode. But here we are in 2025 and I am weeping bountifully over Robby and Tory’s redemptive love, while cheering every slow motion spin kick to the face.

Cobra Kai is full of lessons, which every human should adopt into their life.

Karate Fixes Everything

Are you lonely? Take karate. Are you feeling bad about yourself? Take karate. Do you love yourself too much? Take karate. Do you have uncomfortable indigestion? Yup, karate.

Karate gives you balance (as Daniel tells us over 100 times). If you can balance, you can do all sorts of things like: take down opponents who have trained much longer than you, stop an evil karate gym owner from taking over your dojo, stand on various logs and beams, make friends, figure out which college you are going to, restore friendships.

Karate makes you into a bad ass (Johnny’s phrasing). If you can run at things fist first, you can do all sorts of things like: take down opponents who have trained much longer than you, stop an evil karate gym owner from taking over your dojo, break various logs and beams, make friends, figure out which college you are going to, restore friendships.

Let us not forget, if you have no college or career hopes, like Robby and Tory, getting in second place lands you a full salaried career. Anyone who even dabbles in karate should expect some kind of monetary reward and bright future.

When I say karate, I don’t mean learning drills, gaining muscle memory, and learning practical self-defense. I am talking about Cobra Kai’s karate which is either balancing on a log or running at things angrily. If only someone told me those two lessons I wouldn’t need 6 years of karate.

    Karate Ruins Everything

    Simultaneously, karate also ruins everyone’s life. It is an unhealthy outlet for a man with PTSD, it inspires your bullies to learn evil karate, it ruins friendships, breaks up marriages, picks fights with the wrong people, puts high school students in the hospital, causes riots and blows up yachts.

    Season 6 illustrates this point perfectly with the Sekai Tekai. 90% of the senseis in the tournament are blood thirsty maniacs with the unstable rage of a hornet nest on Red Bull. Not only is every sensei one action away from causing a mosh pit, but all of them are trained to kill and have no qualms with doing said action.

    This series is a cautionary tale. If you want your kid to increase their bullying with higher efficiency, have the maiming of a student on their permanent record, obsess over a sport that destroys relationships, or freely start riots in public areas, then karate is their fast track.

    Non-Martial Arts Adults Cannot Help You

    By law, an adult in the Cobra Kai universe cannot help a child unless they know karate or are karate adjacent. Principals have no power over bullying, police have no jurisdiction to enforce the law, concerned parents have no influence over any community that has karate in it.

    If you are being bullied then your only recourse is finding a karate trained adult with an ancient philosophy. Then you will learn under them for 7 years, and fall into a spiral of life ending situations to finally learn the lesson that the real treasure is the friends you made along the way.

    You think a simple PTA meeting or a parent’s discipline would have sway, but you would be wrong. Karate is life.

    Peptalks Activate Physical Perks and Buffs

    In a normal life, the competitor that has the best training and muscle memory should be the victor. Not in Cobra Kai. The competitor that has the best heart wrenching peptalk to inspire them has the greenlight to beat their opponent. Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence give over 12 peptalks to their students and each one ensures a victory. Enemies become weaker, less trained, and unprepared as the inspired grow faster and stronger.

    If you are an evil sensei (90% of the world), then you are not allowed to encourage your students. You are required to hit them, call them worthless, and encourage them to cheat. This also adds perks and buffs to the competitor, but can be overriden by an inspiring peptalk.

    Karate Competitions Are Lawless Wastelands

    Karate tournaments have a blank check and federal authority to do whatever they want. There are no weight classes to protect smaller students from larger ones. Likewise, no moves are banned from any organization; back flips, spin kicks, and bone breaking are acceptable. Similarly, tournament refs are bound to a strict code where points are only scored if it looks awesome. A simple judo takedown–lame! No points. A sweet spin kick to the face, causing lacerations–awesome! Ten points.

    Because tournaments have more legal freedom than a billionaire running for office, tournament committees can feel like any idea is feasible. Students can fight on tilting towers, leaning logs, or in quicksand with alligators. It’s all legal. And because the governing authorities behind martial arts follow no moral compass, a 250 pound college black belt is free to kick a 110 pound junior high girl in the face. She knew what she was getting into.

    Flights From California to Spain Are Easy and Affordable

    The secret that world travelers do not tell you is that Spain always accepts flights from California (and vice versa). At any time of the day and at a criminally low price, anyone has access to the world’s fastest flight. Johnny Lawrence and Miguel can pop from Spain to California on a Tuesday and then go to California to Spain on a Wednesday. It’s an unwritten rule that all airports follow.