Cobra Kai season 6 can be even bigger than season 5 in terms of scale, thanks to the Sekai Taikai, but that risks missing what makes the show so good. While Cobra Kai season 5 could have worked as the show’s ending, the Sekai Taikai tease and Kreese’s prison break both suggest that the stories of Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso are not over yet. Cobra Kai set the bar high for what each season can offer, especially after season 5 was able to combine the Karate Kid nostalgia with an emotional, action-packed adventure in what was arguably the best Cobra Kai season.
Cobra Kai tends to alternate between seasons than have a tournament as the story’s main driving force and seasons in which the “final battle” is difficult to predict. Cobra Kai season 5 is an example of the latter, as Terry Silver’s Cobra Kai had just won the All Valley. Cobra Kai season 6, on the other hand, will most likely involve a tournament – the global competition Sekai Taikai. Not much was revealed during Cobra Kai season 5 regarding how the Sekai Taikai will work, but both Cobra Kai and “Miyagi-Fang” have been selected to participate in the competition after impressing the judges.
Cobra Kai Season 6 Will Cover The Sekai Taikai Tournament
Nothing has been revealed about Cobra Kai season 6’s story yet, but it’s safe to say the next Cobra Kai season will focus on the Sekai Taikai. Unlikely the previous All-Valley editions, which happened at the end of seasons 1 and 4, a global tournament competition like Cobra Kai's Sekai Taikai cannot possibly be resolved in just a couple of episodes. It would be no surprise if Cobra Kai season 6 takes place mostly outside of Los Angeles, with the Sekai Taikai being the main storyline for the entire season. Having a tournament-focused season would also be something new for Cobra Kai, as seasons 1 and 4 were more about training.
Given how most of the Cobra Kai characters are now part of the combined dojo created by Daniel, Chozen, and Chozen, the Sekai Taikai already has an antagonist challenge ahead of it. While Cobra Kai season 6 is expected to feature new characters as the Sekai Taikai competitors from all over the world, the Cobra Kai dojo itself has to have a significant presence in what could be Cobra Kai’s endgame. However, following the events of Cobra Kai season 5’s finale, all of Terry Silver’s Cobra Kai students left the dojo. In fact, Terry Silver might be in prison and Kreese is on the run.
Cobra Kai’s Best Moments Didn’t Involve Tournaments
As exciting as a global tournament can be, Cobra Kai’s best moments did not involve tournaments at all. Cobra Kai season 1 may have been a great Karate Kid revival, but it was only during season 2 that the show found its identity. Instead of a rerun of the All-Valley Karate Tournament from 1984 like season 1 did, Cobra Kai season 2 went for something completely unexpected and ended on a karate war at school. Cobra Kai’s school fight is arguably the best fight scene in the entire show, and it only happened because season 2 did not have to end in a tournament as season 1 did.
Likewise, Cobra Kai season 3 did not involve a tournament and allowed the show to once again be creative with how the story would play out. Johnny and Daniel teaming up to fight Kreese after an intense Johnny vs. Kreese fight that intercalated with Kreese’s flashbacks was not something easy to predict would happen, yet Cobra Kai made it work. The Miyagi-Do vs. Cobra Kai fight at Daniel LaRusso’s house during Cobra Kai season 3’s finale also confirmed how much better the show can be when there is no tournament involved. Cobra Kai season 4, which featured the All Valley, was slower and more predictable.
Returning to the tournament tropes in Cobra Kai season 6 will be even trickier after how good season 5 was. Though Cobra Kai season 5 sidelined the show’s original characters, it offered the Karate Kid legacy crossover the show has been building up to since season 1. Every Karate Kid villain, at least from the Daniel LaRusso movies, returned for Cobra Kai season 5 in a story that risked over-relying on nostalgia but still worked. Seeing Johnny, Chozen, and Mike Barnes joining forces to fight Terry Silver showed how far Cobra Kai had come, and how much more creative the show can be without a tournament.
Cobra Kai Season 5 Eliminated Most Possible Conflicts
More than returning to the tournament pacing, a potential problem for Cobra Kai season 6 is how season 5 wrapped up most possible conflicts. The Daniel Larusso and Johnny Lawrence rivalry, a feud that has set the tone for Cobra Kai since the beginning of the show, no longer existed by the end of season 5. Daniel and Johnny may forever be rivals when it comes to karate, but they are now friends and co-senseis of their still unnamed dojo. As a consequence of Daniel and Johnny’s rivalry in Cobra Kai coming to an end, other conflicts between the original Karate Kid characters have also been resolved.
Miguel and Robby punched out their differences as Daniel suggested and have now become friends for the first time since season 1. Sam and Tory, who had been enemies since Cobra Kai season 2, have also finally found common ground despite still not being friends. Even Hawk and Robby, who could not stand each other for most of the show, were now laughing together. The only rivalry left in Cobra Kai appears to be Anthony and Kenny’s, although Kenny has now left the Cobra Kai dojo. In terms of unresolved storylines, apart from the Sekai Taikai tournament, John Kreese’s prison break was Cobra Kai season 5’s only cliffhanger.
Cobra Kai S6 Has To Keep Its Conflicts Personal (Despite The Sekai Taikai)
Cobra Kai season 6 must not lose track of what makes Cobra Kai so good – the personal conflicts. That is not to say that Cobra Kai has to reignite all rivalries and throw all the season 5 character development away, only that leaving all emotional stakes for the Sekai Tournament alone is not a good idea. Cobra Kai has to keep its conflicts personal, especially if season 6 were to be the show’s last. Granted, if Cobra Kai plans to continue past season 6, then using the Sekai Taikai to introduce new characters who may carry on the show might be a good idea.
If not, then just a competition to see who Cobra Kai’s strongest character is will not be enough for the show. Ending Cobra Kai season 5 on a cliffhanger was a risky decision, as it was almost a perfect ending for the show. If rivalries are no longer on the table, then Cobra Kai season 6 should focus on the emotional connections between its characters. The stories of Johnny and Miguel, for example, as they’re now father and son as much as they are sensei and apprentice. Putting Miguel at the center of the story would also help Cobra Kai season 6 go full circle, as this journey started with Miguel.