Cobra Kai season 6 presented the Sekai Taikai, and here’s the origin story of the karate tournament to end all karate tournaments. In Cobra Kai‘s final season, Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai competed in the Sekai Taikai against other international dojos like the Iron Dragons. Ultimately, Tory Nichols (Peyton List) and Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena) won the girls’ and boys’ divisions, and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) defeated the Iron Dragons’ Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) to clinch the Cobra Kai dojo as the overall winners of the Sekai Taikai.
At Newport Beach TV Fest‘s Cobra Kai panel, executive producers Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg were joined by Ralph Macchio, Yuji Okumoto, and Mary Mouser, where Macchio received the Artist of Distinction award from Tamlyn Tomita. During the panel’s Q&A, Heald detailed how he and his fellow showrunners conceived Cobra Kai season 6’s epic Sekai Taikai tournament. Read Josh’s quote below:
We already had the All Valley in season 1, we had the terrible school fight in season 2, we had an even more terrible house fight, and dojo fight, and fight to the death over a snake pit in season 3… We had another All Valley in season 4, and played around with that, because that was the first time we had boys and girls brackets. So we found a way of not repeating ourselves.
But as we got to season 5, we started saying we can’t just beat the All Valley to death. We’re gonna be going up against audience expectations, and they’re gonna be ahead of us. So we started to introduce the idea of the Sekai Taikai in season 5 as this mythical world tournament that has lived in the shadows. It’s like in Bloodsport. It’s like, “Ooh, people have died there.” And you’re just setting the stage for, “You can make a lot of money, or maybe die.”
When we eventually arrived at [the Sekai Taikai], we had to discuss amongst ourselves, in the writers room, and with the performers, what is this thing gonna look like? What we didn’t want to have happen was, we’re going to the world tournament, but guess what? It looks exactly like the All Valley, because that would be a letdown. So then it became, what other types of activities and competitions exist in karate tournaments?
And then we just stretched that truth a little bit. They’re fighting on a floating platform! They’re getting thrown off onto the hard stage floor. And then tag team tournaments where you can tag in and out. We wanted it to be frenetic. We loved the idea that every year they host the Sekai Taikai, there’s kind of this rotating possibility of events that might get sprung on the competitors so they don’t know what to prepare for, which kind of evens the playing field. And also, occasionally, there’s a new event. So [the Sekai Taikai] became a grab bag of anything we could imagine, within reason…
But we knew it would eventually come back to one-on-one [fights], and we’re going to have a champion, and it’s gonna be the language of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai.
Why Cobra Kai Season 6 Needed The Sekai Taikai Tournament
The All Valley Had Been Done To Death
Cobra Kai season 6 needed to go big, and the final season needed a tournament showdown notches above the All Valley Under 18 Karate Tournament. After The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part III, Cobra Kai season 1, and Cobra Kai season 4, the All Valley was a well that Cobra Kai had run dry. The Sekai Taikai tournament, which took place in Barcelona, gave Cobra Kai season 6 an international flavor and allowed for the introduction of several new adversaries from other dojos, meaning Cobra Kai didn’t repeat its young protagonists fighting each other.
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Miguel And Tory Are Cobra Kai’s Best Fighters, And Not Just Because Of The Sekai Taikai
Cobra Kai season 6 establishes Miguel and Tory as the titular dojo’s best fighters of all time, but the show’s final tournament only cements it.
The Sekai Taikai spanned the length of Cobra Kai season 6, parts 2 and 3, and the sheer novelty of the world tournament’s ‘gimmick’ fights added a freshness to Cobra Kai‘s trademark karate showdowns. The Sekai Taikai also allowed Cobra Kai to weave in the untold history of Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita). Lastly, the Sekai Taikai gave Cobra Kai the means for Johnny Lawrence to achieve a victory he waited almost 40 years for, redeeming his 1984 All Valley loss in The Karate Kid, but this time with Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) as his sensei and friend.
Our Take On Cobra Kai’s Sekai Taikai Origin
Cobra Kai’s Creators Outdid Themselves
Josh Heald’s explanation of the Sekai Taikai’s origin underscores the level of thought and humor from Cobra Kai’s creators to ensure they didn’t repeat themselves and closed out Netflix’s hit karate opera in the grandest way possible. True to Cobra Kai’s 1980s movie inspirations, the Sekai Taikai has echoes of the kumite in Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport, and its wild, multi-person format and gimmick fights have odes to professional wrestling, which has also been an inspiration to Cobra Kai.
The Sekai Taikai in Cobra Kai season 6 was over-the-top, insane, and a lot of fun.
Taking Cobra Kai to Barcelona for the Sekai Taikai also opened up the scope of the series beyond the San Fernando Valley, and it was a breath of fresh air. As was introducing international karate villains like Axel Kovačević (Patrick Luwis) and Zara Malik (Rayna Vallandingham), who could return in future Cobra Kai spinoffs. The Sekai Taikai in Cobra Kai season 6 was over-the-top, insane, and a lot of fun.
Source: Newport Beach TV Fest
8/10
- Release Date
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2018 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix, YouTube Premium
- Showrunner
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Jon Hurwitz
- Directors
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Hayden Schlossberg, Jon Hurwitz, Joel Novoa, Jennifer Celotta, Steven K. Tsuchida, Sherwin Shilati, Marielle Woods, Steve Pink, Lin Oeding, Michael Grossman
- Writers
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Josh Heald, Ashley Darnall, Chris Rafferty, Bill Posley