Elijah Hagood has jumped over many obstacles in the martial arts community. He has been with Championship martial arts for over a year. An experience that was dramatic and has stuck with him throughout his experience is when he was sparring with a blue belt while he was a yellow belt, he got roundhouse kicked in the throat and couldn’t breathe. He said, “I couldn’t breathe, I kneeled and took a minute but I made a good recovery and came back stronger and pushed myself more. “ Though this experience was dramatic, it wasn’t as dramatic as Cobra Kai.

    Xavier Rivera said, “In my personal opinion Cobra Kai does portray martial arts pretty well, at least on the combat side of things. With the dojos and the training, I of course would be all over it too. To keep the audience hooked besides that, pretty well portrayed.”

Cobra Kai is known for its good guys and bad guys. Cobra Kai is also known for its over-dramatization of scenes, which people can argue if they are necessary to hook in the watchers or not.

Fight Scenes Accuracy

A fight scene that Rivera in his opinion was accurately portraying martial arts was the final episode in season one, the final episode was the dojos going against each other at the all valley state tournament. Rivera said, “It’s just all accurate from abusing an opponent’s weakness and how the tournament was set up is very accurate. Of course, the obnoxious noises are fake. But the rest was well put together.” “Episode 10, Season 1.” Hagood adds saying, “Most of the scenes are pretty accurate.”

Fight Scenes Inaccuracy

Other Fight Scenes that both Hagood, and Rivera see that weren’t accurately representing martial arts was, “Season 2 Episode 10.” This scene takes place at the high school they attend where all the kids start fighting each other and end up with serious injuries. Rivera said, “No way the school will allow all of that. And no one would ever take karate that far. Especially to think they can get away with it at school.” This scene shows that in Rivera’s opinion, it was very over-dramatized because a fight like that would never happen and it was just to hook the audience in. Hagood adds on to say in “Episode 9 Season 4.” Was The All Valley Tournament and Miguel Diaz, while doing a thunder kick ends up injuring his back. Hagood said, “When Miguel does a tornado kick or thunder kick at the second All Valley Tournament, I feel that you can’t break your back from doing that unless you land extremely wrong.” Hagood says this because of the experience and how long he has been in martial arts that what happened in the episode is very unlikely.

Accuracy 

Many argue over whether or not Cobra Kai is accurate, or shows what martial arts is. Some key points of the arguments are that the senseis aren’t realistic to what it would be like in real life, as it is shown in the show. To add on is that the 3 dojos going after each other is very unrealistic and drama filled. Hagood said, “To be honest because the fact that the dojos are having a rivalry between each other and that’s not how it would work in the real world but it’s just the show adding some type of conflict.”

Characters

Miguel Diaz is the main character in Cobra Kai. He is known to be the popular one, the one that everyone envies. But is he all that great as a character? Hagoods opinion on Miguel, answers this question. He said, “I would definitely love to be in Cobra Kai and I would wanna be Miguel because I feel like I could relate to him in some way you know? Like all the problems in his life and trying to find answers”. Another character who isn’t looked up to like Miguel, is Roby Keene, he is the villain for the first 3 seasons that many didn’t favor. Rivera said that he would love to be Keene because of his work ethic and dedication. River said, “ Robby because they have such a drive and a dedication to what they do and I love their characteristics and their potential.”

Conclusion

   Looking in a positive light Cobra Kai does show that martial arts should be used for self-defense and not for violence. Daniel LaRusso starts his Dojo so he can teach his students not to fight for violence, pride, or for popularity but for self-defense, and safety. Hagood said, “Oh man, I really wouldn’t change anything, to be honest, everything was done perfectly in my opinion.”  

   Cobra Kai may overdramatize scenes, but the show does help real-life situations, may educate people on self-defense, and promotes the martial arts community. Many people that haven’t even thought of joining martial arts before watching the show may have thought of it now. Cobra Kai overall is a dramatic show, but the purpose is to hook viewers and is a show that many are intrigued in.