History YMMV / TheKarateKid

* FirstInstallmentWins: While the second film received its fair share of positive notices, the first entry in the series is the one that everyone remembers. The first film's impact was so large that Pat Morita earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.

** Miyagi's habit of calling Daniel ''[[PhraseCatcher "Daniel-San"]]'' is a lot funnier if you know a little bit about the Japanese language. The suffix ''"-san"'' ''(さん)'' is an honorific (roughly akin to "mister" or "sir") used to address one's elders or social superiors, and not the sort of thing that an older man would typically use to address his teenage student (those would usually be "kun" and "chan"). When Miyagi says it, he's not just being charmingly exotic--he's subtly mocking Daniel for being young and inexperienced.
*** At the same time, Japanese names frequently list family name first, given name second. "Daniel-san" is basically "Mr. Daniel," not unlike Kreese calling Johnny "Mr. Lawrence."

** When you pay attention to the fine details of the story, Daniel instigates some of the conflicts such as the Halloween party incident (even if Johnny and his group went farther than necessary). This became famous after being discussed in a [=YouTube=] video essay. That said, Johnny was harassing Ali at multiple points and at several points even his own goons felt he would take things too far in his retributions of Daniel's own and admittedly less extreme aggravations.
*** This fan theory seems to be the starting point around which ''Series/CobraKai'' was built. While Johnny has to admit that he acted poorly, the humiliation Daniel put him through had an impact on the rest of his life. Daniel himself had to admit some fault in the matter but the end message of the series is like Miyagi said, there are no bad students, only bad teachers.

* {{Sequelitis}}[=/=]ToughActToFollow: The third movie, common complaints involving that Ralph started to show his age, and the fact that [[ItsTheSameNowItSucks it was a rehash of the first movie]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Freddy would've been a great sidekick to Daniel.

** When you pay attention to the fine details of the story, Daniel instigates a lot of the conflict with Johnny and while Johnny is something of a psycho in training, he is still being provoked. This includes the incident at the beach and the Halloween party. This became famous after being discussed in a [=YouTube=] video essay. At the same time, Johnny was harassing Ali at multiple points and at several points even his own goons felt he would take things too far.

* DracoInLeatherPants: Johnny Lawrence is perhaps the only antagonist in the franchise to get this treatment.
* FanonDiscontinuity: Fans of the second film could just view it as the GrandFinale of the Karate Kid franchise while ignoring the rest that follows completely... until ''Series/CobraKai.'' Amusingly, ''Cobra Kai'' treats the third film as canon, since Daniel's second tournament win is acknowledged and Johnny is asked about Terry Silver and Mike Barnes, though he claims he doesn't know them.

*** This fan theory seems to be the starting point around which ''Series/CobraKai'' was built. While Johnny has to admit that he acted poorly, the humiliation Daniel put him through had an impact on the rest of his life. Daniel himself had to admit some fault in the matter but the end message of the series is like Miyagi said, there is no bad student, only bad teacher.

* CompleteMonster: Short of actually murdering people, John Kreese is this through and through. An ammoral martial arts instructor who believes in MightMakesRight and SecondPlaceIsForLosers above all things is a sure recipe for disaster, as his training basically amounts to giving teenagers license to be troublemakers. And ''Cobra Kai'' shows he learned absolutely nothing over the years.

** Miyagi's habit of calling Daniel ''[[PhraseCatcher "Daniel-San"]]'' is a lot funnier if you know a little bit about the Japanese language. The suffix ''"-san"'' ''(さん)'' is an honorific (roughly akin to "mister" or "sir") used to address one's elders or social superiors, and not the sort of thing that an older man would typically use to address his teenage student. When Miyagi says it, he's not just being charmingly exotic--he's subtly mocking Daniel for being young and inexperienced.

*** Cobra Kai seems instead to be (mostly) based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Soo_Do Tang Soo Do]] (the style of the film's fight choreographer Pat. E. Johnson) based on its heavy use of kicks, Terry Silver mentioning a Kim Sun-Yung (and stating he is Korean) as his and Kreese's teacher, and Johnny's use of commands in Korean when teaching in ''Series/CobraKai''.

* GeniusBonus: Miyagi's habit of calling Daniel ''[[PhraseCatcher "Daniel-San"]]'' is a lot funnier if you know a little bit about the Japanese language. The suffix ''"-san"'' ''(さん)'' is an honorific (roughly akin to "mister" or "sir") used to address one's elders or social superiors, and not the sort of thing that an older man would typically use to address his teenage student. When Miyagi says it, he's not just being charmingly exotic--he's subtly mocking Daniel for being young and inexperienced.

** Daniel is a violent jerk who starts the conflict with Johnny and Johnny is defending himself. Discussed in a [=YouTube=] video essay.
*** This fan theory seems to be the starting point around which ''Series/CobraKai'' was built.
*** Johnny isn't just a bully, he's a psycho in the training. He refuses to leave Ali Mills alone when she tells him to multiple times. He tries to run over Daniel on his way to school the day after that and continues to constantly provoke Daniel. He straight up sexually assaults Ali at a party. He would have beaten Daniel to death if Mr. Miyagi hadn't shown up, refusing to listen to his friends that Daniel had enough and all over a small prank (''Series/CobraKai'' would more or less shoot this one down-- Like Miyagi said, there is no bad student, only bad teacher).

* FanonDiscontinuity: Fans of the second film could just view it as the GrandFinale of the Karate Kid franchise while ignoring the rest that follows completely... until ''Series/CobraKai.''

*** Johnny isn't just a bully, he's a psycho in the training. He refuses to leave Ali Mills alone when she tells him to multiple times. He tries to run over Daniel on his way to school the day after that and continues to constantly provoke Daniel. He straight up sexually assaults Ali at a party. He would have beaten Daniel to death if Mr. Miyagi hadn't shown up, refusing to listen to his friends that Daniel had enough and all over a small prank.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Fans of the second film could just view it as the GrandFinale of the Karate Kid franchise while ignoring the rest that follows completely.

** This fan theory seems to be the starting point around which ''Series/CobraKai'' was built.

*** Johnny isn't just a bully, he's a psycho in the training. He refuses to leave a girl alone when she tells him to. He tries to run over Daniel on his way to school the day after that and continues to constantly provoke Daniel. He straight up sexually assaults her at a party. He would have beaten Daniel to death if Mr. Miyagi hadn't shown up, refusing to listen to his friends that Daniel had enough and all over a small prank.

*** Johnny isn't just a bully, he's a psycho in the training. He refuses to leave a girl alone when she tells him to. He tries to run over Daniel on his way to school the day after that. He straight up sexually assaults her at a party. He would have beaten Daniel to death if Mr. Miyagi hadn't shown up, refusing to listen to his friends that Daniel had enough and all over a small prank.

** Mr. Miyagi is the real main character of the film series. Community even theorized that The Karate Kid was more about Mr. Miyagi than about Daniel.
** Daniel is a violent jerk who starts the conflict with Johnny and Johnny is defending himself. Discussed in a youtube video essay.

** ''Glory of Love'' would've been a super ultra narmy and cheesy love song that TastesLikeDiabetes... if it wasn't performed by a pro like Peter Cetera, who makes it really charming.