Thanks to the marketing for Cobra Kai season 6, Johnny and Daniel look to have a realistic shot at the Sekai Taikai. Though the two boast some talented fighters in their roster, the prospect of their students going all the way and winning the Sekai Taikai has long seemed far-fetched. After all, going from the All Valley Karate Tournament to the Sekai Taikai is a massive leap for all parties involved.
The competition at the center of The Karate Kid franchise, the All Valley, is known to be a local karate tournament. The Sekai Taikai, on the other hand, is an international event that will feature dojos from all over the country. With that in mind, it can be hard to imagine Johnny and Daniel’s dojo coming out on top, even though the series may be headed in that direction after Cobra Kai season 5’s ending regardless. The notion that out of all the rosters competing, it would be Johnny and Daniel’s that would emerge victorious in Cobra Kai season 6, felt like one that would require a huge suspension of disbelief.
In light of what was shown in the Cobra Kai season 6 trailer and the official photos, it’s much easier to see the main characters as legitimate contenders at the Sekai Taikai. What’s driving that is the number of new players brought onto the board. From the looks of things, Tory, Kenny, Shawn, Johnny’s old Cobra Kai students, and possibly even Kyler will be on the good guys’ side going into the Sekai Taikai. Not only that, but several new faces have been spotted as well, proving that Johnny, Daniel, and Chozen have been quite busy when it comes to recruiting.
For a while, it looked like their chances of winning were going to hinge on just a small handful of students: Miguel, Hawk, Robby, and Sam. Now, though, it’s become apparent that the dojo will boast other formidable fighters, as Shawn was good enough to give Robby all he could handle in season 3, even without formal martial arts training. Kyler, despite his repeated defeats, is a skilled fighter in his own right, given that he made it to the semifinals at season 4’s All Valley. And with Tory, plus multiple new female fighters, they should boast plenty of talented competitors when the Sekai Taikai rolls around.
A lack of depth has long been an issue for Johnny and Daniel’s roster. It was a massive problem for Johnny in particular in season 4, considering that his second-best student was Devon, someone who had only been with them for a few weeks. The depth issue also extended to their female students, as all they had at the end of season 5 was Sam and Devon. Were an injury to befall Sam in the Sekai Taikai, winning a potential girls division could quickly become unfeasible. Having Tory and several unnamed new female characters around should alleviate some of the pressure on Sam and Devon to win by themselves.
With more depth to the roster, more trained fighters joining the fold, and Chozen sticking around in season 6, Johnny and Daniel’s students no longer come across as the heavy underdogs they once were. With their current strength, they’d be perceived as shoe-ins for a new All Valley, given that it should have six or seven fighters now capable of winning at that level. In fact, that kind of talent is actually necessary when looking at what they’re going up against in season 6. The Sekai Taikai is an international tournament, meaning they’ll be facing fighters considerably better than those they’ve encountered in years past.
What Johnny and Daniel will have available to them prior to the start of the tournament will go a long way toward establishing some believability when it comes to the possibility of one or more main characters winning it all. The size of the dojo in the trailer doesn’t reflect that of a group of students hastily put together for a local tournament, but that of a large, well-organized team that has been at this for many months, if not years. Clearly, Johnny, Daniel, and Chozen have put a lot of time and effort into developing them.
All of these factors should help limit whatever competitive advantage their rivals will have in the Sekai Taikai in Cobra Kai season 6. Some of the other dojos may have been around longer and may employ instructors with decades of experience, but the number of real fights Miyagi-do and Eagle Fang have been involved in, the range of expertise offered by their three senseis, and their greater level of depth should give them a real chance at becoming Sekai Taikai champions. Because of that, Cobra Kai can deliver a satisfying ending without there being a sense that their win defied reality.