Cobra Kai garnered a massive following of fans of both The Karate Kid movies, for which it serves as a sequel, and a new generation of fans following its move to Netflix after the death of YouTube Red. Now five seasons in, the show has a solid group of main characters and introduces new characters each season.
Some of the earlier introduced “new” characters aren’t totally new to the franchise, but rather have returned from the original movies like Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence did. These include characters like John Kreese, Terry Silver, Kumiko, and Ali. Others are entirely new to this show, joining the next generation of Karate masters. In terms of new characters in season five, however, they include an interesting mix of both.
Kim Da-Eun
A completely new character, Kim Da-Eun is still tied to the original Karate Kid movies, said to be the daughter of Kim Sun-Yung who trained both John Kreese and Terry Silver. At the time, she was a little girl but grew into a talented and fierce martial arts expert and sensei.
However, she comes across as being worse than Kreese and Silver put together. She follows the same “no mercy” mantra, and is cruel, ruthless, violent, and even sadistic. If Silver and Kreese were to be feared, the fact Silver enlisted Kim to help train his students speaks volumes about her personality. Needless to say, there is nothing likable about her beyond her confidence and skill.
Sensei Odell
Sensei Odell was a menacing, terrifying sensei who came to work with Silver. He arrived alongside Kim and was present, often in the background, during pivotal moments of the season, including when Silver took over Topanga Karate.
Fans might not realize that the character was played by former UFC Welterweight Champion and professional mixed martial artist Tyron Woodley. While the character was an impressive fighter, fans did not like the fact that he fought Johnny in Silver’s home, even though he was defeated by the former All-Valley champion. It ranks among the best fights in Cobra Kai so far, and while the brawl ended in Johnny’s favor, Sensei Odell was on the wrong side of it.
Hector Salazar
There was a lot of build-up to the identity of Miguel’s father, leaving fans to wonder if it might be another returning character from The Karate Kid movies. So, it was disappointing when he was revealed to simply be a shady businessman who was everything Carmen told Miguel he was.
When Miguel first saw Hector, he came across as a wonderful family man. But it didn’t take long for his true colors as a horrible person to be revealed. The young boy was not Miguel’s biological half-brother but rather Hector’s wife’s son from a previous relationship. He was so unsavory and dangerous that Miguel didn’t even see a point in revealing his true identity to the man who was his biological dad.
Mike Barnes
One of the latest returning characters from The Karate Kid franchise on Cobra Kai, Mike Barnes appeared in the second Karate Kid movie as one of Silver’s students whom he brought on to help terrorize a lost and ambitious Daniel. In Cobra Kai, Daniel and Chozen go to visit Mike, thinking he might have been recruited by Silver to help revive Cobra Kai to its former glory.
In reality, Barnes had long moved on, running his own successful furniture business and leaving his troubled karate past behind him. Fans felt sympathy for Mike, however, when he became collateral damage in the fight between Daniel and Silver. He lost both his business and family, yet still remained on Daniel’s and Johnny’s sides, defending them in the big final fight.
Devon Lee
Devon was technically introduced in the fourth season of this show, recruited by Johnny to join Cobra Kai. But fans only really got to know the character in season five. Similarly to Tory, she had a chip on her shoulder due to having suffered a tremendous loss. She was a quick study and a fabulous talent in karate. She has the potential to go all the way.
Devon – who had some of the best quotes from season 5 of Cobra Kai – redeemed herself in the end by helping Tory and Sam, finally realizing that Cobra Kai was not what it seemed. But she still spent much of the season going by the gospel of Silver and trying her best to both learn from and become better than Tory. Her ambition was admirable, but her naivety was not.
Gunther Braun
While Gunther only appeared in a few scenes, they were pivotal ones for both dojos. Excited to qualify and enter the worldwide Sekai Taikai tournament, mostly so the other dojo could not, all the senseis did their best to impress the representatives. Head among them was Gunther, who seemed intrigued by the marked differences between the two dojos and their teaching techniques.
Fans loved when Gunther proved to be more than just a button-up serious suit, laughing away with Johnny about pop culture, including their mutual appreciation for Rocky Balboa. He became an instant fan favorite when he recognized that both dojos had something to offer and agreed to allow them both to enter the tournament. He was fair and surprisingly likable given his position of power.
Jessica Andrews
Another returning character from The Karate Kid Part II, fans will recall Jessica as a close friend of Daniel’s who was planning to return to her ex and thus rebuffed Daniel’s advances to date. But they remained close friends, nonetheless. Jessica was there for all the antics Terry and his crew pulled on Daniel, even being a victim of some of them herself.
Fans loved not only that the character was brought back for Cobra Kai, but also how she was weaved in: she is Amanda’s cousin who, as it turns out, introduced Daniel to his wife-to-be. Not only was it a perfect way to bring back a character, with the pair of cousins having one of the best relationships on Cobra Kai, but Jessica proved to be just as cool now as she was back then. She not only got into a bar fight with Amanda (with the woman, keen-eyed fans might recognize, her boyfriend decades prior cheated on her), but she also convinced Amanda to cut Daniel some slack. She explained to him how awful Terry was to Daniel so many decades ago and why his feelings and obsession with taking Terry down were justified.
Chozen Toguchi
Chozen might not necessarily be a new character, per se, having first appeared in the third season, reprising his role from The Karate Kid movies. But he’s worth not only including on and list, but also topping it. That’s because he came off as a very different person in season five than he did in the ones prior. The stone-faced man who first reunited with Daniel in Okinawa and declared sternly that he “did not drink” was throwing back cocktails in a nightclub, dancing the night away, and declaring his long-time love for Kumiko.
He demonstrated not only his skills in fighting using karate but also in teaching it. He became a member of the LaRusso family and put himself on the line for Daniel more than once, fully redeeming himself from his actions as a young man.
