Like “Cobra Kai,” “The Karate Child” movies current Mr. Miyagi as an amazing martial artist and a reasonably cool man. In contrast to the primary 5 seasons of “Cobra Kai,” additionally they take some pains to level out that he’s a nuanced one that’s removed from the one-dimensional previous grasp archetype.
Miyagi is a extremely unconventional sensei with a quiet humorousness, and he likes to check his college students’ resolve with seemingly mundane duties. He can get genuinely irritated when somebody beats him at one thing, resembling when Daniel catches a fly with chopsticks earlier than him. He’s additionally not above humiliating these he deems unworthy. John Kreese (Martin Kove) finds this out the exhausting means in “The Karate Child Half II” when Miyagi beats him with a few dodges and a nostril honk. Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) will get the same remedy in “Half III” when Miyagi returns his infantile taunts after totally dominating him in a struggle. One scene in “The Karate Child” that arguably goes too far even reveals Miyagi karate-chopping beer bottles to intimidate a pair of racists after politeness fails.
Mr. Miyagi’s mysterious backstory unfolds little by little over the course of the flicks, and his persona and tragic historical past are on full show in moments just like the ingesting scene in “The Karate Child.” Nevertheless, it’s price remembering that the franchise by no means even implies that Miyagi might be a nasty man earlier than “Cobra Kai” Season 6, Half 1 introduces the thought. As such, Elements 2 and three will seemingly forged a extra benevolent mild on the teases about his shady previous … however for now, it’s refreshing to see the present deal with Miyagi as a human being for as soon as.
