Characters / The Karate Kid: Daniel LaRusso

The Karate Kid Main Character Index
Daniel LaRusso | Johnny Lawrence | John Kreese | Terry Silver | Miguel Diaz | Robby Keene | Samantha LaRusso | Eli "Hawk" Moskowitz | Tory Nichols | Demetri Alexopoulos | Kyler Park
Dojos and Others
Miyagi-Do and Associates | Cobra Kai and Associates | Eagle Fang and Associates | The LaRusso Family | Other Characters

Daniel LaRusso

"If you have hate in your heart, then you've already lost."

^{Click here to see him as a teen}
"I mean, every time I see those guys, they're gonna know they got the best of me. I'll never have balance that way. Not with them, not with Ali. Not with me."

Played By: Ralph Macchio

Appearances: The Karate Kid (1984) | The Karate Kid Part II | The Karate Kid Part III | Cobra Kai

"When I was a kid, you... seemed to always have all the answers. And I guess I thought when I got older, I had it all figured out too. But now, I guess... like I'm clueless."

The Karate Kid himself.

Back in 1984, he was just a teen who ends up being trained in the art by Mr. Miyagi after moving to the Valley and meeting Johnny Lawrence.

34 years after his victory against Johnny Lawrence, Daniel's (professional!) life couldn't be better, but the return of his hated rival and the dojo that made him threaten to upset Daniel's balanced life.

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A-F

• The Ace: There's a reason Daniel is considered THE Karate Kid, which shows up in Season 3. After witnessing the disarming technique only once, which Chozen inflicted on him, and presumably a bit of practice in between. Daniel is able to perfectly execute the move on Kreese which leaves him without the use of his arms and at Daniel's complete mercy. Season 5 shows him to be the only one (besides Chozen) capable of defeating Terry Silver in a straight duel. Using the latter's own techniques, no less.
• Action Dad: Daniel has two kids by the time of Cobra Kai, Samantha and Anthony.
• Amicable Exes: Season 3 sees Daniel reconnect with two of his past flings: Kumiko and Ali. Both actually help Daniel get his life back on track; Kumiko helps him reconnect with Mr. Miyagi on a spiritual level, reconcile with Chozen, and save his business, and Ali helps him truly move on from their past relationship and to see that he and Johnny weren't so different.
• Anti-Mentor: Downplayed. While he succeeds in passing down Mr. Miyagi's fighting skills to his students and the lesson to prioritize inner peace and self-control over martial abilities, his inability to view Cobra Kai as anything but a Villain by Default Thug Dojo is also passed on to them, which ultimately culminates in an all-out battle royale between the two schools with disastrous results for his daughter and Miguel. As the seasons progress, Daniel makes strides towards becoming a better mentor. This is ultimately subverted in Season 5 when Robby dismisses Daniel's protests to the contrary and explains how his influence and mentorship improved the latter's life, stopping him from going down a bad path.
• Appeal to Familial Wisdom: 99% of all life advice Daniel offers has him first citing Mr. Miyagi, to the point where it's practically a Character Catch Phrase.
• Arc Villain: In a Good Versus Good situation, he is the main antagonist to Johnny Lawrence in the second half of Season 1, as he attempts to prevent Cobra Kai's lifetime ban from the All-Valley from being lifted (justified, given his experience with them in the original Karate Kid movies), looks down upon Johnny for his current lifestyle, and serves as the coach to Miguel's Final Boss in the All-Valley (Robby Keene).
• Arch-Enemy: He sees the Cobra Kai dojo as this, both past and present. Justified, as they've downright tormented him (through their senseis and star students) and his loved ones throughout the entire The Karate Kid franchise.
  • On a personal level, Johnny Lawrence starts out as one being Daniel's first bully throughout the franchise and the very reason why he desires to learn karate from Mr. Miyagi just so that he could defend himself from the bastard. It pays off with a championship victory in the 1984 All-Valley, but this was only the start of a downward spiral that Johnny goes through — giving the (former) bully every reason to resent Daniel for getting the victory and the long-term glory that came along with it. 34 years later in Cobra Kai, Johnny still resents Daniel but their animosity becomes mutually reignited when Johnny triggers Daniel's Trauma Button by re-opening Cobra Kai and Daniel himself re-opening Miyagi-Do with Robby (Johnny's own son) as his top male student. They clash multiple times throughout the franchise despite a few heartwarming moments, but eventually come to an accord throughout Season 3, 4, and 5 when John Kreese and Terry Silver becoming bigger threats to both of them.
  • Speaking of bigger threat, Terry Silver easily surpasses Johnny (and Kreese) by a wide margin as Daniel's greatest enemy. Yes, Daniel certainly has made plenty of adversaries throughout the entire The Karate Kid franchise (i.e., Johnny, Chozen, Mike, Kreese, Sato, even Tom Cole in the auto business), but nobody can press Daniel's Trauma Button like Terry can (especially when you consider that he was the only one out of Daniel's adversaries that pretended to be Daniel's friend). Silver paid off the Ax-Crazy Mike Barnes to antagonize him, intentionally caused a rift between him and Mr. Miyagi, manipulated him into joining Cobra Kai, subjected him to Training from Hell and a whole lot of psychological torture, personally beat and humiliated him and then encouraged Barnes to keep winning and losing points during the All-Valley Tournament just so he could inflict even more pain on Daniel. If their reunion in Season 4 is any indication, it's clear that Daniel still carries the scars he got from his time with Silver and sees him for the unstable psychopath he is. Terry likewise seems to remember Daniel VERY well and delights in reminding him of their time together. Season 5 confirms it as Daniel spirals further and further, trying to do anything in his power to take Silver out but at the cost of his health, sanity and family. Silver, to his own credit, takes sadistic glee in turning Daniel's life into a living hell.
• Ass Kicking Pose: The Crane Technique. It makes a return in the Season 5 finale!
• Awesomeness by Analysis: After some time, he is able to point out the flaws in others techniques and improve upon them.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Played up in his TV commercials.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: While it was largely unintentional, by the end of Season 2 his efforts to keep Cobra Kai in check have made him almost exactly like Kreese in some ways: a man who has weaponized the teenagers he teaches because of his own personal grudge against the other dojo.
• Benevolent Boss:
  • In Season 1, Daniel is a delight to work for, and Robby — who only began working for Daniel to spite Johnny, and had planned to quit afterwards — ends up becoming Daniel's willing protégé.
  • In Season 2, this trope falters, as Daniel becomes consumed in his feud with Cobra Kai, to the point that Amanda and Anoush are forced to pick up his slack at the dealership. The burden of this ultimately causes Anoush to defect to Daniel's rival Tom Cole.
  • Reinforced in Season 3 when Anoush jumps ship back to LaRusso Autos despite Daniel’s financial troubles, just because at least Daniel actually bothers to know his first name.
• Berserk Button: If you damage or steal anything that was handed down to him by Miyagi (such as his prized car and Medal of Honor, respectively), all bets are off. As of Season 3, also add in attacking any of his family. Season 4 adds objectifying his wife, as a team of hockey player were unfortunate enough to find out.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Barring his grudge with Cobra Kai, Daniel is a genuinely nice, levelheaded man who tries to avoid violence. But threaten his family and he just might kill you. Kreese only survives thanks to Sam and Miguel showing up.
• Big Damn Heroes: Daniel leaps in to save Robby from his former friends, literally, with a stance and moves which invoke Mr Miyagi. In Season 3, he jumps in to save Johnny from Kreese as he’s actually aiming to kill his former student. In Season 5 Daniel arrives at the Cobra Kai dojo in time to to diffuse tensions, then defeats Terry Silver in a duel.
• Big Good: Daniel hovers around this trope throughout Seasons 1-4, often not reaching it. But when everyone finally accepts that he is right about Cobra Kai in Season 5, they realise that only Daniel can lead them to victory. He finally steps into this role and reinforces the fact that he was the original hero of the saga.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Daniel refuses to view Cobra Kai as anything but a Villainous by Default Thug Dojo and frequently assumes the worst about Johnny and the students' motives even when it's clear Johnny genuinely wants to make his version of the dojo better than Kreese's and the students, one of whom is a family friend he's known for over a decade, are all bullied outcasts who just want to learn to defend themselves. He winds up passing this view down to his students and it leads to tragedy in Season 2. While he does come to recognize he was wrong about Johnny and his students when they split off to become Eagle Fang, he doesn't extend this to the remaining Cobra Kai students. When he learns Anthony has been dealing with one of their members at school, Daniel automatically assumes the dojo has began bullying his son when the truth is Anthony has actually been bullying Kenny and his harassment drove the kid to learn karate there.
• Brick Break: The ice-breaking scene in Part II
• Broken Ace: He remains one of the best karate masters, his business is doing fine and he has a loving if spoiled family. He almost loses it all by being unable to let go of his grudge toward Johnny and Cobra Kai.
• Butt-Monkey: He goes through a lot of crap in the movies.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • After Daniel disturbs Sam and Kyler's alone time in an empty classroom during the Halloween party, he tries to warn his daughter that Kyler is bad news. Sam shoots her father down for not keeping to his promise of not humiliating her, and furiously storms off. As the next scene establishes, Daniel saved Sam from an attempted date-rape, as Brucks is seen saying to Kyler "You had her in the palm of your dick", more or less establishing he would've raped Sam had Daniel not busted them. Sam later learns for herself what a jerkass Kyler is when she overhears him bullying Miguel's friends, and then he tries to date rape her when she calls him out.
  • Daniel's vendetta against Cobra Kai largely falls on deaf ears because most people assume Daniel simply can't let the past of his getting bullied by Cobra Kai students go.
  • Daniel is horrified when he learns that Johnny brought Kreese back as his assistant sensei at Cobra Kai and asks Johnny directly how he can even consider it after Kreese brutalized him after the 1984 tournament. Because of his past issues with Daniel though, Johnny blows him off.
  • Amanda ignores Daniel's claims about Kreese because she's seen that Johnny is a fairly level-headed adult and knows Daniel has exaggerated his stories about most things related to Cobra Kai (and Daniel never told her anything about his experiences with Terry Silver). It's only in Season 3 after Demetri gets his arm broken and Sam has a meltdown that she realizes that in this case, Daniel wasn't exaggerating how horrible Kreese is.
  • Daniel warns Robby of the dangers Silver poses, not wanting Robby to be corrupted by Silver the same way he himself was in 1985. Robby doesn't take any of Daniel's warnings to heart and surely enough, he ends Season 4 in tears.
  • This happens with Amanda and him yet again when it comes to Terry Silver in Season 5. At least it's more justified in this instance as Silver has always been much better than Kreese at keeping a fantastic public image, and not making any overt moves without making it look like he was provoked first. This fracture almost costs Daniel his entire marriage and personal life.
• Character Catch Phrase: Anything to do with "balance". Also "Mr. Miyagi always said..."
• Character Development:
  • After several seasons of trying to get rid of Cobra Kai, only to make things worse, he finally realizes in Season 5 that it's not his job to rid the world of monsters and that getting involved in a fight before it is absolutely necessary often leads to your loved ones and innocent people being hurt in the process. He also comes to understand it was this very reason that Mr. Miyagi always chose to walk away from fights and only got involved when he had no choice.
  • Over the course of the series, Daniel also comes to understand that as great as Mr. Miyagi's lessons and techniques were, they're not the only and correct way of practicing karate and other methodologies have value as well. Tellingly, in his final showdown with Terry Silver Daniel uses Miyagi-Do and Eagle-Fang moves, as well as Silver's own "Quicksilver-Method" to defeat him.
• Combat Pragmatist: Not in tournaments, but outside those he was taught by Miyagi to neutralize his opponents by any means necessary.
• Commonality Connection: To Miguel. They have very similar backgrounds and personalities, coming from a poor family background and being raised by a single mother, and finding new purpose in karate after undergoing torment from bullying. Their bonding becomes almost inevitable.
• Condescending Compassion: His advertisement to attract students away from Cobra Kai, which outright labels the students who study there "snake[s] in the grass", winds up insulting most of the kids rather than inspiring them. Thus they begin to resent him just like Johnny does.
• Cultured Badass: He's a wealthy business owner by Cobra Kai with a new affluent lifestyle to match ("Ketel Martini, staright up, couple of olives, ice, ice cold", anyone?). He even recognizes the painting Mike Barnes stole from Terry Silver's estate as a Rembrandt despite this particular piece being one of the rarest in the world and not been seen for possibly decades.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: While it's strongly downplayed (as Daniel is the overall hero of the franchise), he's shown as not being above making (or pretending to make) deals that have negative effects not just on Johnny but on the other tenants of his strip mall. This is more of a moment of weakness than a defining character trait and his wife calls him out on it. ^note It's worth mentioning that because of laws passed when Reagan was governor of California, just becoming a car dealer in Southern California requires, at minimum, shades of this (territorial exclusivity).
  • Although he is able to successfully save his business in Season 3, he did so by way of an obvious Conflict of Interest.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • In Season 2, he takes down Trey and Cruz, along with their big buddy, in less than a minute.
  • Has another one in Season 3 with him and Johnny teaming up in a car warehouse to take down a bunch of thugs when searching for Robby.
  • He ups it in Season 3's finale by curb-stomping KREESE using the technique he learned from Chozen. It should be known that this was pretty much the one and only time in the series up to that point that Kreese actually looked scared out of his wits for once, knowing Daniel had him dead to rights.
  • Has yet ANOTHER one in Season 4 against a hockey team after they start talking about how they want to steal and rail his wife. Of note is that this is the first time Daniel tried Johnny's "strike first" policy and did it against a men's hockey team. Despite the age AND numbers difference, he CLEANLY mops the floor with them, just in time for Johnny to return with a pretzel in hand to admire his work.
  • His most cathartic comes in Season 5. After the entire cast has been endlessly punked, humiliated and broken to within an inch of their lives the whole season, Daniel finally beats the holy hell out of Terry Silver once and for all in the season finale. There is a bit of a Curb Stomp Cushion as Silver had just gone through a Duel to the Death with Chozen so he wasn't in top condition, but seeing Daniel mop the floor with him and end him with the CRANE KICK is an out-of-body experience.
• Determinator: Even if put through punishment that would put another teenager in the hospital, he won't stay down and will do what it takes to stop the threat that Cobra Kai poses to the Valley.
• Disappeared Dad: Cobra Kai expands from Part II that Daniel's unnamed dad died from an illness when Daniel was only eight. Unlike the other examples of the trope in this series, he seems to have been a good parent. Lucille speaks very lovingly of him and never remarried (though, in season 4, Daniel mentions her going on dates).
• Dramatic High Perching: Daniel stands on elevated structures while practicing his Finishing Move in both of the first two movies.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Johnny and the Cobra Kais (John Kreese included) repeatedly throw Gendered Insults at him during the events of the original The Karate Kid (1984), most notably "Danielle," or "prima donna." The Karate Kid Part III has Terry Silver repeatedly calling Daniel "Danny-Boy" when mocking him, something he continues to do 34 years later.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Although Daniel initially finds balance at the beginning of Season 2, he loses it after his dojo is trashed. At that point, his obsession with beating Johnny and destroying Cobra Kai for good leads to him making several moves that pour gasoline on the fire and turn an old bitter high school rivalry into an outright war between the current generation that ends with his own daughter being maimed, her ex-boyfriend comatose and her second boyfriend in juvie.
  • Additionally, Daniel never grasps the Miyagi-Do karate tenet of "always try to solve your problems non-violently and only resort to karate if your well-being is threatened and there is absolutely no other choice". Thus, he completely fails to teach this to his students and it results in his students contributing to the rising tensions (they won't throw the first punch, but they'll gladly goad the Cobras into doing so) and several students being injured in the season two finale. This changes in Season 5 when Daniel finally understands why Mr Miyagi would never fight unless he absolutely had to. It's this understanding and balance that allows him to defeat Silver in the finale.
  • Because of his own baggage from his youth with Cobra Kai, Daniel continually reinforces the idea into his students' heads that Cobra Kai is villainous by default. This mixed with several of his students' individual antagonistic interactions with Cobra Kai members helps to fuel the brawl. This also bites him hard during Season 4; while he forges an alliance with Johnny's Eagle Fang, Daniel takes umbrage with his teachings, which still maintain Cobra Kai's aggressive philosophies to some extent. This inability of his to accept something perceived as the opposite of Miyagi-do's own teachings - not helped by Johnny's own hangups about Daniel's slower and passive fighting style - leads to a split between their two dojos, allowing Cobra Kai to win the All-Valley again.
  • His psychological need to be Mr. Miyagi. His desperate desire to honor his mentor has him constantly trying to emulate him in his approach to teaching his students, but because he views Cobra Kai as the bad guys by default, he thinks by default everything he teaches in opposition to Cobra Kai is right, to the point that he forgot about one of Mr. Miyagi's lessons about adopting his own method of doing karate. Again, in Season 5 Daniel finally moves past this and adopts the true meaning of Mr Miyagi's teaching when he uses Miyagi-Do, Eagle-Fang moves and the 'Quicksilver-Method' to defeat Terry Silver, therefore adopting his own style of Karate at last.
    Mr. Miyagi: Just like bonsai choose own way grow because root strong, you choose own way do karate, same reason.
    Daniel: Yeah, but I do it your way.
    Mr. Miyagi: Hai. One day, you do own way.
  • His impulsiveness. His fallouts with Johnny and Robby in the first two seasons come after he lets his anger get to him in the heat of the moment. While he later realizes he overreacted, it usually takes someone else for him to make the realization. Throughout Season 2, he neglects his duties at the dealerships when he makes any semblance of progress with his dojo, which nearly ruins his business. In Season 3, it's revealed his relationship with Ali was ruined when he immediately assumed the worst of a harmless situation (Ali even pointed out that she was likely egging him on at the time).
  • Paranoia. Daniel has since become more wary of Cobra Kai since its revival, culminating with the return of Kreese, and finally Silver. However, this paranoia puts him at odds not only with Johnny, but also Amanda. This comes at full circle in Season 5, his intent in taking out Cobra Kai reaches its peak now with Silver taking over the dojo and seeking to expand worldwide. And Silver seems to be fully aware of Daniel's paranoia regarding Cobra Kai and decides to exploit that flaw by isolating Daniel from his family in the same way he drove a wedge between the latter and Mr. Miyagi, leading up to the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Silver gave Daniel left him physically and mentally broken, at least until his family and friends rally up to continue the fight against Cobra Kai.
• Finishing Move:
  • The Crane Kick that he uses to defeat Johnny Lawrence in Part I
  • The Drum Technique that he uses to pin down Chozen Toguchi in Part II
  • The Kata Technique that he uses to distract Mike Barnes in Part III
  • The Pressure Point technique that he uses to defeat John Kreese in Season 3 of Cobra Kai.
  • The QuickSilver method that he uses, topped by the Crane Kick once again to defeat Terry Silver in Season 5 of Cobra Kai.
• Foil:
  • Daniel's the polar opposite of his son, Anthony. Anthony is what Daniel would have been if he grew up with wealthy parents. Daniel is a kind Self-Made Man who rose out of being a poor kid with a struggling single mother and uses karate for his self-defense, and doesn't take his new luxuries for granted. Anthony is a Spoiled Brat, having grown up with the wealth Daniel can only dream of when younger, who constantly makes demands and is only interested in karate for the violence and how he can brag about Daniel's fighting prowess. He also derides the Miyagi-Do Wax On, Wax Off style that Daniel learned and now teaches. And by Season 4, while Daniel was the one being bullied by his peers, Anthony is the bully. The fact that Anthony very much takes after Daniel in looks makes the contrast all the starker.
  • Despite their similarities in their love of karate and Determinator attitudes, Daniel and Johnny's personalities, upbringings and lives since they left high school make them as different as night and day.
    • Both were raised by single mothers, but while Johnny never knew his father, Daniel knew his and had to deal with his death when he was 8 years old. Johnny’s mother ended up marrying again when she married Sid Weinberg, while Daniel’s mother remained single and unmarried after husband’s passing. Sid, the main father figure in Johnny's early life, was an emotionally Abusive Parent, while Daniel has nothing but positive memories of his father.
    • Johnny was a rich kid growing up due to his wealthy stepfather while Daniel had been a poor kid whose mother had to work several jobs. Ironically, these roles are reversed for them as adults, as Daniel grows up to become a rich and successful owner of a successful car dealership (which is number 1 in the Valley) and lives in a big house while Johnny now lives in a run-down apartment in Reseda and bounces between various menial jobs before becoming a sensei.
    • Johnny has has gotten in trouble with the law multiple times and has ended up in jail while Daniel has never had any law trouble and never was in jail.
    • Though both dated Ali Mills in the past and have had several relationships since, Johnny's failure to move on from Ali has ruined all of his relationships until he gets together with Carmen. Daniel, on the other hand, has been Happily Married to Amanda for many years. Johnny has neglected his son Robby his whole life, leaving him to be raised by his mother, Shannon, as a single parent, while Daniel has been around for Samantha and Anthony their whole lives and is a very devoted father to them in a traditional, stable family.
    • Johnny is completely stuck in The '80s and ignorant of modern culture, while Daniel has done a much better job of keeping up with the times, being a huge fan of Game of Thrones and expressing shock at Johnny not knowing what Facebook is.
    • Daniel is a polite and cultured man, while Johnny is a rude, boorish slob. This is demonstrated through their drink orders when they talk at the bar in "Different but Same". Daniel orders a fancy Ketel Martini, while Johnny orders a Coors Banquet, an inexpensive American beer.
• For Your Own Good: He turns Robby in to ensure his sentence is reduced. Sadly his efforts to protect Robby only lead to a resentful Robby turning on him, and leave him in the headspace to be corrupted by Kreese.
• Foreign Culture Fetish: Daniel is notably enamored with Japanese culture, giving away a free bonsai tree with every new vehicle purchase at his business and meticulously crafting sashimi for special occasions. This is justified in that his mentor and father figure, Mr. Miyagi, was a transplant from Okinawa and taught Daniel everything he knew. This gets lampshaded when Daniel finds out that he's being criticized online for supposedly appropriating Japanese culture.
• Forgot About His Powers: Daniel suffers greatly from this trope in Part III, almost to Too Dumb to Live's levels at moments. Keep in mind, this is the same Daniel who got out of a fight to the death with Chozen in the previous movie.

G-N

• Generation Xerox: He's pretty much become his late mentor of the current generation: a car-loving sensei of Miyagi-Do Karate who favors teaching the Wax On, Wax Off method of chores in karate (much to some of his students' dismay) and the philosophy of karate being for "defense only." For added bonus, he is the One True Love to Yukie's Generation Xerox (Kumiko).
  • Daniel truly cements himself as Miyagi's successor when he fights Silver in the season 5 finale. He fights Silver not to simply be the hero beating the villain, but because Silver has gone off the deep end and is too dangerous to be left standing at this point. He recites a philosophical metaphor to quickly and clearly get his point across, and not to simply sound wise like Miyagi. He keeps his cool and stays focused on what he is fighting for. And most tellingly, he finally fights his own way, by taking everything he has learned (including from Silver himself), and doing what is necessary to win, rather than stubbornly sticking to his own style and trying to keep to the moral high ground. In short, he has finally learned to follow the spirit of Miyagi's teachings, and not just the word.
• Glory Days: Downplayed in that Daniel is pretty satisfied with his life now due to his successful business and loving family. However, he still clings on to his status as a two-time All Valley Karate Champion and incorporates it into his business image even though he achieved the feat 34 years ago. It's particularly notable when one remembers Mr. Miyagi saw the tournament as a means to an end and in The Karate Kid Part II scoffed at the idea of Daniel-san being any kind of competitive fighter.
• Good Counterpart: To Terry Silver. Both are influential businessmen and the wealthier counterparts of their co-senseis (Johnny and Kreese). However, while Daniel and Johnny have an on and off animosity towards one another, Kreese and Silver have nothing but respect for one another. On the flip side, while Daniel has engaged in unscrupulous activities as a businessman, his actions are largely misconstrued attempts to do what he thinks is right, whereas Silver engages in illegal business practices simply because he can and can bribe his way out of trouble.
• Good Parents: A loving father to both his children.
• Graceful Loser:
  • He congratulates Johnny on winning Cobra Kai the All Valley Tournament, and parts ways with no feelings of animosity (though it can be interpreted as sarcasm).
  • In season 3, Chozen defeats Daniel with a pressure point technique, and then makes it look like he's going to kill Daniel in vengeance for their fight in Part II, only to reveal that he was only joking (while laughing at Daniel's terrified expression). Daniel is only momentarily indignant before expressing amazement at Chozen's technique and sincerely asking to learn it.
• Happily Married: Daniel and Amanda may occasionally have a few domestic disputes, especially in regards to Daniel's beef with Cobra Kai, but their relationship is stable and they are both clearly happy with one another.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Played with in Seasons 1 and 2. As soon as he hears that Johnny reopened Cobra Kai, he becomes so obsessed with willing to take down Cobra Kai by doing such things as banning Cobra Kai from the All-Valley Championship Tournament, raising up Johnny's rent so that cannot continue Cobra Kai, and invading Johnny's house in search for his daughter. He does eventually stop himself from doing worse actions which is the reason why he went to Okinawa in Season 3.
• Heartbroken Badass: After the brawl injures students from both dojos and Daniel is forced to give up teaching karate, he can only apologize to his mentor's portrait in despair of what he inadvertently caused.
• The Hero: In the first three movies, Daniel is the central character and a decent but flawed person who always tries to do the right thing. He takes Mr. Miyagi's lessons to heart, learns the true meaning of Miyagi-Do Karate and becomes a better and more mature person thanks to his mentor's guidance. Even many years after the events of the original movie trilogy, he remains the overall hero of the Miyagi-verse, upholding the legacy of his late mentor's teachings and passing them down to a new generation.
• Hero Antagonist: Believes himself and Miyagi-Do to be the "good side" in his conflict with Cobra Kai for the first two seasons. While his antagonistic attitude towards Johnny frequently veers into petty and hypocritical territories that make him little better, Daniel is ultimately proven right about the dangerously toxic attitudes Cobra Kai instills in its students, especially with Kreese at the wheel.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • During the tournament final in Part III, when Barnes has him so intimidated that he's ready to forfeit the match.
  • At the end of Season 2, after his rivalry with Johnny leads to a school-wide brawl that hospitalizes Miguel and Sam, with the former potentially crippled or dying and the latter maimed, all he can do in the elevator is share a quiet BSOD with Johnny.
  • Gets his worst one in Season 5. After getting goaded into ruining a social opportunity for Amanda, she leaves and takes the kids with her after finally having enough of the Karate War. He decides to drink himself to hell and is quite clearly not in his right mind for a while. He re-rights himself a bit after visiting Johnny, who sets him straight... before Silver beats him to a bloody pulp, which mentally breaks him further. While Amanda does come back and is wholly supportive of him, alongside Chozen, Sam and Johnny, it takes him quite a while to break out of his depression and submission.
• Heroic Neutral: In Season 2, Daniel tries to be this initially when he says that the Cobra Kai kids are not the problem, just the teacher, and he attempts to avoid confrontation. Sadly, this attitude is undermined when the Cobra Kai kids trash his dojo and 'steal Miyagi's Medal of Honour!' He goes on the warpath before trying to return to this stance again.
• Heroic Wannabe: Subtle and not necessarily a conscious goal, but Daniel does legitimately believe Miyagi-Do is the "good side" opposing Cobra Kai's corrupting influence (Johnny's good intentions notwithstanding). He’s not entirely wrong though, seeing how Cobra Kai turns out.
• Hidden Depths: Season 2 reveals he's a Game of Thrones fan, which helps him encourage Demetri, who is also an avid viewer, through references to the show to believe in himself and not give up on the training.
• Holier Than Thou: He is quick to assume the moral high ground over Cobra Kai and anything associated with it and quite stubborn before accepting he may not always be right. This comes to a head in Season 4 where he insists that Johnny's style, being a derivative of Cobra Kai, is wrong and that he and his students should just abandon it altogether and adopt Miyagi-Do.
• Honor Before Reason: Particularly in Season 4, Daniel always insists on sticking to the lessons and practices of Miyagi-Do even when it's clear that it's actually detrimental. Sam calls him out on this during the All Valley when he insists on sticking with their strategy even after they learn Robby taught Cobra Kai all of Miyagi-Do's moves and they know how to counter them, and Sam had only just defeated Piper because she chose to use what she learned from Johnny instead.
• Hot-Blooded: Daniel's been known to be a very hotheaded individual but his hardheadedness and passionate nature can be used as a strength when it comes to achieving his goals.
• Hypocrite:
  • His constant blanket dismissals of the teens who join Cobra Kai as bullies and punks comes across as this given that he himself was once seduced by their philosophy (as he admits to his students in Season 2). After this admission, he tries to overcome this attitude by teaching his students otherwise. It doesn't work.
  • He gets offended at Tom Cole making condescending potshots directed at his auto dealerships, then makes a commercial for Miyagi-Do that not-so-subtly insults and undercuts Cobra Kai.
  • Despite his repeated insistence that karate should just be a discipline and not something you seek for glory and validation, Daniel gets increasingly agitated over the fact that Cobra Kai is more popular and easily recruits more members (though at least part of this is due to his not-unjustified fear that the dojo is turning good kids into ruthless bullies).
  • He calls out Johnny for beating up Kyler and his friends when they attacked Miguel, saying that an adult shouldn't be fighting teenagers. Never mind that Mr. Miyagi saved Daniel under similar circumstances years ago from Johnny and Cobra Kai and Daniel didn't have an issue with it then, though he wasn’t aware of the circumstances.
• Hypocritical Humor: He takes Robby out to the woods to get him away from the internet and all the noise and distractions of the city. Once he's given Robby his training regimen, he takes out a tablet so he can watch hockey.
• Improperly Paranoid: Daniel's crusade against Cobra Kai for the first four seasons boils down to the point of paranoia. Daniel has good reason to be paranoid and he was proven correct when Kreese returned. But, the real kicker comes with the mere sight of a returning Terry Silver made Daniel shudder. This paranoia puts him at odds with Johnny to the point they could hardly collaborate for the 2019 All-Valley and eventually alienate his family. Silver exploits Daniel's paranoia by driving a wedge between him and Amanda in the same vein he did to the latter and Mr. Miyagi, culminating with the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that left Daniel temporarily physically and psychologically broken.
• Inadequate Inheritor:
  • Played with and ultimately played straight. Despite showing genuine flashes of inspired teaching as a Sensei when he starts to embrace his own style, his failure to avoid antagonizing Cobra Kai and teach his students how to resolve their problems nonviolently only escalates the conflict. The aftermath of the school brawl in the finale of the second season drives Daniel to give up teaching karate at Miyagi-Do, while also at the same time apologizing to a portrait of Miyagi for failing to uphold his philosophy.
  Daniel: I tried my best. I thought I was doing the right thing. I'm sorry.
  • This happens again at the end of Season 4 when Miyagi-Fang lost the 2019 All-Valley, Daniel can only kneel down before Mr. Miyagi's grave in despair that he has to honor an agreement with men who have none by giving up teaching karate. However, now that Daniel's bet with Kreese is rendered moot thanks to Terry Silver's betrayal and decided to bring in Chozen to continue his battle against Cobra Kai.
• Intergenerational Friendship:
  • Throughout the course of the trilogy, he comes to develop a strong friendship with the elderly Mr. Miyagi, akin to a father-son relationship, and views him as the father Daniel never had. Mr. Miyagi in turn views Daniel as the son he never had.
  • As an adult in his fifties he develops this with some of his students, particularly Robby, Demetri, and later Eli and Miguel.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Right before giving Chozen a punch in the nuts in Part II.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • While Amanda is right to question Daniel's sudden 180 on Sam going out with Kyler after hearing from Johnny about how Kyler was bullying kids half his size, Daniel is also right to suddenly be suspicious of Kyler, because he sees Kyler as cut from the same cloth as Terry Silver. Sure enough, Daniel unknowingly interrupts Kyler's first attempt to date rape Sam.
  "Yeah, I've known plenty of guys who seemed harmless that were real pieces of crap behind the scenes."
  • While his methods of trying to take down Cobra Kai border on being a Corrupt Corporate Executive (and end up screwing over innocent strip mall tenants), his concerns about the danger of teaching the Cobra Kai philosophy to teenagers are ultimately proven correct, especially as these particular teenagers are bullied outcasts who've taken on a method of self-defense that doesn't factor in the restraint necessary to keep them from using it for revenge. By the end of Season 2, the Cobra Kai defectors, Miguel, and even Johnny himself seem to agree with Daniel's point of view and by the end of Season 3 Johnny teams up with him so they can get rid of the dojo for good.
  • And his argument against resurrecting Cobra Kai? He wasn't wrong about asking why Johnny would want to revive a dojo that had too many bad memories to count, and he's talking specifically about the damage Johnny had suffered, not his own. Rather than denying him a right to his business, Daniel was specifically concerned about the Pandora's box the move would trigger. Especially considering Daniel's own experiences with Terry Silver.
  • While Daniel will begrudgingly concede that Johnny is trying to be a better person, he completely changes his stance the moment he finds out that Johnny has brought Kreese back to assist him in teaching his students. While from Johnny's point of view, he's trying to give his teacher a second shot, but as Daniel sees it, Kreese hasn't changed his ways at all and is manipulating Johnny the same way he and Terry Silver manipulated Daniel in 1985. Eventually, Johnny finally realizes that Kreese hasn't changed at all and cuts ties with him, but not before Kreese backstabs Johnny to usurp complete control of Cobra Kai.
  • Terry Silver seemed genuinely offended when Daniel rejected his (possibly) sincere apology to him for what he had done to him in The Karate Kid Part III, but given the torture and manipulation Daniel had to endure, as well as this being the first time they had spoken in over three decades, Daniel has every reason to be not so forgiving.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • In Season 3, he finally realizes that he misjudged Miguel and most of Johnny's students, and that Johnny's actions throughout the series were never as big a problem as he thought they were.
  • During the All-Valley Tournament in Season 4, he finally realizes that some of Johnny's teachings can have a positive impact on their students, and that he never gave them an honest chance due to his need to preserve Mr. Miyagi's teachings.
• Joisey: An Italian-American originally from New Jersey.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: The Karate Kid himself is now an adult, dealing with problems like being a father, running a business and mentoring a new generation of karate students just as Mr. Miyagi once did for him.
• Kung-Fu Kid: Probably the Trope Codifier. He's a young kid who finds inner balance through karate.
• Like Parent, Like Child: His daughter has inherited his hotheadedness and willingness to protect others they care about, and engage in intense rivalries with people their age while having to deal with fear, to the point of Amanda calling her Daniel's "Mini Me".
• Lovable Jock: Even before becoming a martial artist, he was quite skilled in soccer and he is the lovable protagonist of the series.
• Made Out to Be a Jerkass:
  • When Johnny explains his side of the story concerning his very first encounter with Daniel to Miguel, Johnny insinuates that Daniel was the asshole for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong (i.e. interfering with Johnny and Ali's conversation).
  • Daniel appeals to the school in a PTA meeting that he was bullied during his time as a student in West Valley High and that karate saved him, but an infuriated parent calls bullshit and accuses him of being the real bully.
    Daniel: Wait. You don't need to turn this into some kind of karate Footloose! Karate is not the problem! When I went to school here, I was bullied, and karate saved me.
    Infuriated parent: Bullshit! I heard you were the real bully!
• Martial Arts Headband: Given to him by Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid.
• Martial Pacifist: If his training of Robby is anything to go by, he's inherited, retained, and upheld many of Miyagi's philosophies and tactics (though, as vividly indicated in the second-season finale, definitely not all of them). It is perhaps noteworthy that Daniel is the only martial artist in the first season who never hits another person (boba tea notwithstanding)... and even in the second season when the dojo war is in full swing, he only throws a punch when Robby is about to be stabbed by Cruz and when he thinks that Johnny is holding Sam captive at his apartment.
• Mirror Character: Despite their many differences, Johnny and Daniel are revealed to have had very similar upbringings. Both lost their fathers at a young age, both turned to their karate senseis as a new father figure, and both considered Ali Mills to be their First Love. After talking things through, the pair will frequently come to the conclusion that they could have had very similar lives in slightly different circumstances, although this usually doesn't last long before the universe contrives to have them back at each others' throats. Season 3 has Ali return, and she blatantly tells Johnny and Daniel they're more similar to one another than they care to admit, and that they see parts of themselves in each other that they don't like.
• Mistaken for Racist: His Season 2 advertisement for Miyagi-Do karate gets him in hot water with internet users unaware of his close connection to Mr. Miyagi, with them accusing him of cultural appropriation and nicknaming him "Daniel LaRacist".
• Mr. Fanservice: While he was never as well built as Johnny or Chozen or even the younger kids, Ralph Macchio was still an Older Than They Look teen heartthrob and he got a Shower Scene in the second film.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Has one of these realizations in the Darkest Hour of Part III.
  • Shares one with Johnny at the end of Season 2 as a result of the school brawl.
  • His reaction at the end of season 3 to seeing that Robby has joined Cobra Kai.
• Nice Guy:
  • Daniel is wonderful to his staff, apologizes for his mistaken overreaction to a mistake made by Robby who was tricked by Daniel's cousin and even initially welcomes Johnny, who made his life hell and repairs his car for free. He finds it difficult to be as kind to Cobra Kai, but this is the exception, not the rule.
  • Daniel's status as a Nice Guy is Deconstructed throughout the series, as while he is a genuinely friendly person who always tries to do the right thing, he does so based on what he considers the right thing, and often makes things worse for everyone by not thinking clearly about the consequences of his actions.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • In Season 3, he alerts the police to Robby's location so the kid will get a lighter sentence for what he did to Miguel. However, he does this before he can successfully convince Robby to turn himself in and the police show up right in the middle of their conversation. Thus, Robby feels like his teacher betrayed him and it eventually leads to him joining Kreese and Cobra Kai by the season finale.
  • In Season 4, he insists not once but TWICE that Johnny fall in line under him at Miyagi-Do, rather than give much of any respect to Johnny or Eagle Fang. Johnny...takes it about as well as you could expect. He's so bullheaded about Miyagi-Do being the only true way to perform karate that the dojos split and his relationship with Sam becomes even worse, ultimately leading to Cobra Kai winning the All-Valley and the bet in the process due to the weakened dojos.
  • In Season 5, despite Silver and Cobra Kai effectively leaving the Alliance alone after they won the All-Valley (beyond Kenny continuing to bully Anthony because It's Personal) and both Amanda and Johnny feeling they should just take that as well as Kreese's imprisonment as a win, Daniel brings Chozen in to try and take them out by any means necessary. Unfortunately, Silver is far too crafty and every attempt only makes things worse for everyone, with the Magnum Opus being Daniel's attempt to cut off Mike Barnes from entering the fray ending with Mike getting his store burned down by Silver in response. These series of events are part of what pushes him to his Heroic BSoD.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech:
  • He gives one of these to Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid after having his knee taken out by Bobby, which convinces Mr. Miyagi to use the pressure point healing technique on him to get him back in the tournament.
  • In Season 3 of Cobra Kai he gives this to Kreese after the latter sends his students to his house.
• Not So Above It All: He's pretty much the Straight Man of the show, he also has a dorky side and can be just as petty, immature and stubborn as Johnny is.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • A running theme of the show is that Daniel and Johnny are more alike than either are willing to admit. This comes full circle by the third season when it gets revealed that Daniel's relationship with Ali crashed and burned for the exact same reason Johnny's did. Notably in the finale, Ali says this to him and Johnny, which pretty succinctly gets to the root of their entire rivalry.
  Ali: And the truth is, you guys are more alike than you want to admit. Maybe you recognize parts of yourselves in each other, and maybe you don't always like what you see.
  • Daniel finds that Miguel is basically himself in his youth: living in Reseda with his single mother and no father, bullied by jerkasses, turning to karate as a means of self-defense, and using those skills against those who tormented him. Winning the All-Valley Karate Tournament is the cherry on top. These revelations allow Daniel to see Miguel in a better light than initially. Miguel's later relationship with Sam and general good-naturedness do allow him and Daniel to develop a stronger relationship of their own come Season 3 and 4, and in the latter, Miguel takes to Miyagi-do teachings very quickly.

O-X

• Oh, Crap!: His reaction when he learns that Johnny has resurrected Cobra Kai. Bonus points for "Ain't That A Kick In The Head" playing.
• Older Than They Look: The actor, not the character. Daniel LaRusso was born in 1966, which means he's 17 years old during the All Valley Karate Tournament in 1984, and one year older during Karate Kid III, which is taking place in 1985. Ralph Macchio was born on November 4 1961, making him 21-22 years old during the shooting of the first movie, and about 26 years old during the shooting of the third part (only five months older than Terry Silver's actor).
• One True Love: To Kumiko, as she never married despite mentioning to have had many pursuers since she and Daniel had separated decades before.
• Only Sane Man:
  • While Daniel's far from perfect as he's just as stubborn and hotheaded as Johnny is, he's still the most lawful and rational of all the masters and is the only one to believe that karate should only be used so people can defend themselves and others and to show mercy to their enemies.
  • He is also this in the Season 5 finale “Head of the Snake” when he tries to convince Johnny, Chozen, and Mike that confronting Silver at this moment would be near suicidal. Sadly, the trio is too drunk and enraged to listen.
• Parental Favoritism: Is clearly much closer with Sam than with Anthony. In season four, his cousin Vanessa tears into him for this, asserting that Daniel and Amanda's failure to take an active role in Anthony's life is a major factor in how he turned out.
• Parental Neglect: After learning about Anthony being a bully in Season 4, he and Amanda are forced to confront the fact they didn't take enough of an active role in parenting him and depended to screen technology to keep him occupied.
• Parental Obliviousness: Like his wife, Daniel selectively ignores the fact that Sam's taste in friends and boys is not that great. Once he starts paying more attention to his family life after Cobra Kai comes back, they start reconnecting and Sam pays more attention to the people she's surrounded herself with as well. Then it goes to the other scale, where his biases against Cobra Kai lead him to fail to realize that his Miyagi-Do students having friends (or in Sam's case, boyfriends) in Cobra Kai doesn't mean said friends are bad people. Something he has to come around to when he happens to walk in on Sam making out with Miguel, and she has to persuade him to sit down and get to know Miguel.
• Parental Substitute: He effectively becomes the father figure to Robby that Johnny couldn't be.
• Pop-Cultured Badass: A well-trained karate master, and like Demetri, he's fond of making pop-culture references like Friends, Seinfeld, Game of Thrones and Scarface (1983).
• Precision F-Strike: He claims three of them in Season 5.
  • When discussing Silver's plans to bring on board a number of "old friends" to help him with Cobra Kai's expansion throughout the Valley, Daniel speculates "Mike Fucking Barnes" is one of them.
  • After Kreese discloses Silver's plans for Cobra Kai to gain global recognition via the Sekai Taikai, Daniel presents a note with his lawyer's number on it. Kreese is instead greeted with a merry "NO MERCY, MOTHER FUCKER!" and left to rot in jail.
  • A level-headed Daniel tries to rein in Johnny, Chozen, and Barnes, who are all under the influence, when they propose storming Silver's residence as payback for everything he put them through. Daniel chews out on them for going "out of their fucking minds" for entertaining the idea of an all-out assault in the state they're in.
• Pretty Boy: Especially as a teenager. Even as an adult he hasn't lost his good looks.
• Put on a Bus: Doesn't appear in The Next Karate Kid. The Bus Came Back in Cobra Kai.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • In the Season 3 finale, Daniel has finally had enough of Kreese’s bullshit and beats the crap out of him for all he’s done.
    Daniel: [after kicking Kreese off of Johnny] YOU SENT THEM TO MY HOUSE?! You came after my daughter?! You wanted a fight you son of a bitch, NOW YOU GOT ONE!
  • Daniel crosses another one in Season 4 courtesy of Anthony. Anthony is grounded in his room with no screen devices for his role in bullying Kenny, and Daniel has finished giving him a measured talking to about wanting him to be a better person...and then Anthony's hidden tablet goes off. Daniel (deciding for once to utilize Johnny's way of doing things) gets so pissed off that he snatches said tablet, snaps it in two over his knee, and proceeds to verbally lay in to Anthony in a way he has clearly never done before, given how taken aback Anthony is. It actually works too, as Anthony later apologises to Kenny. Not that it does him any good.
  • Anything to do with Terry Silver is enough for Daniel to begin acting irrational and impulsive. However, Silver himself is more than happy to take advantage of Daniel when he is in this rage-driven mindset.
• Rags to Riches: In 34 years, Daniel has gone from growing up in a working class household to a wealthy entrepreneur.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Two-time All Valley champion, longtime practitioner and sensei of Miyagi-Do karate, able to fight and defeat numerous opponents singlehandedly... and a die-hard Peter Cetera fan.
• Relative Button: Though uninvolved with Miyagi's passing, Kreese loves to taunt Daniel about the late Miyagi every opportunity he gets. During their climactic fight at the end of Season 3, Kreese tells Daniel he'll be joining Miyagi soon as he attempts to stab him with a shard of broken glass, triggering Daniel's Heroic Second Wind and seeing him subduing his opponent with the secret Miyagi pressure points taught to him by Chozen.
  Kreese: Time for you and Miyagi to reunite!
• Reluctant Warrior: Daniel avoids fighting whenever possible, and appears most content when he is simply practicing Kata to find balance. This is further emphasized when he says that he won't attract students by using Robby's video showing off his Curb-Stomp Battle against the thugs. He even says in the films that he's training "so [he] won't have to fight."
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Daniel's vendetta against Cobra Kai is fueled by his belief that their philosophies inherently makes them a Gang of Bullies. While Daniel's Black and White views on this doesn't help to quell the growing hostility between the kids over the course of the seasons, he is right that the influence that Johnny (unintentionally) and Kreese (very intentionally) instills their students turn them into violent thugs.
• Rotating Protagonist: Shares the protagonist role with Johnny in Cobra Kai, and most of the series follow their respective Character Development.
• Self-Made Man: He went from being a poor kid from Reseda to being the owner of five luxury car dealerships all over the valley. Given he made his own wealth rather than be born into or married into it, he doesn't take for granted the various privileges he has.
• Shadow Archetype: It's clear that Johnny and Daniel both see each other as this. Johnny sees Daniel as the embodiment of his failure in the 1984 All Valley, which caused Kreese to turn on him and started the chain of events that led him to become a broken mess of an adult, while Daniel sees Johnny as a reminder of the bullying he suffered at his hands in high school, and of his own seduction by Cobra Kai in The Karate Kid Part III. With both men associating each other with so many painful memories, it's almost impossible for them to admit how similar they really are.
  Ali: And the truth is, you guys are more alike than you want to admit. Maybe you recognize parts of yourselves in each other, and maybe you don't always like what you see.
• Skewed Priorities: Deconstructed. Daniel's fixation on training Miyagi-Do all in the name of stopping Cobra Kai backfires hard, as it concludes in not only Anoush ditching the LaRusso Auto Group for Tom Cole, but also an all-out school brawl between the two dojos in the Season 2 finale, which ends in disaster for both sides, including his daughter being hospitalized and his marriage strained.
• The So-Called Coward: Chozen and his goons repeatedly call Daniel a coward throughout Part II because of his reluctance to fight them. But when a typhoon hits the village, Daniel and Miyagi risk their lives to rescue Sato when he is trapped inside his dojo, and Daniel further tempts fate by going back into the storm to rescue more villagers. Chozen, on the other hand, cowers in the shelter and refuses to help, even when ordered by Sato to do so. Sato is so impressed with Daniel that he offers to oblige Daniel any request, and he is so disgusted by Chozen's cowardice that Sato disowns him in front of everyone.
• So Last Season: As is tradition for Daniel, the ultimate technique he learns gets handled not too long after he uses it successfully. In Season 4 the pressure point technique he learned from Chozen is negated by Johnny. He just simply neutralized Daniel before he got to his other 3 limbs.
• So Proud of You: While Robby gets second place in the All Valley Tournament, Daniel is no less proud of him, and goes on to add that Robby is the real winner because Miguel fought unfairly.
• Straight Man: Of the show, he's more reasonable when interacting with impulsive and immature Johnny and very patient when relating to whiny and neurotic Demetri.
• Supporting Protagonist: During Part II. While Daniel is still The Hero (being the one who fights in the Duel to the Death during the film's Final Battle ), the film's overall plot is driven by Mr. Miyagi's backstory and Character Development.
• Sword over Head: At the climax of Part II, when he has Chozen at his mercy and asks him, "Live or die, man."
• Tautological Templar: Because of his view of Cobra Kai, Daniel believes everything he teaches in Miyagi-do is the "better way".
• Temporarily a Villain: Considers his time training under Terry Silver this and uses it to convince his students to be more forgiving of the former Cobra Kai's since anyone can fall under a corrupting influence. In Season 1, Daniel arguably becomes a this for real for a little while.
• Took a Level in Badass: Was once a kid often jumped by gym rats for no reason while walking home and could barely defeat his villain of the week, let alone multiple opponents. Over the course of the films he becomes someone decently trained in martial arts who can hold his own and even win against traditionally trained martial artists in a duel. Now fully trained, Daniel is capable of taking on multiple opponents at once and emerging without a scratch. In addition, he is now capable of taking down Kreese at the end of Season 3.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • Daniel, while having his share of flaws, was still likable enough. Which is why it is baffling to see how the first and second act of the third movie take away every quality that made the audience want to cheer for him. Thankfully, he comes to his senses during the final portion of the movie.
  • As an adult, he’s still a nice guy but when the Cobra Kai Dojo is involved, he goes into full Jerkass mode and does things his wife has to call him out on. He gets better about this towards the end of the first season as he re-dedicates himself to the Miyagi-Do method and takes in a wayward teenager to train. Although he still remains petty, bitter and condescending towards Johnny and the Cobra Kai, his time with Robby seems to help him understand them more. It's just that what they're doing is less wrong than how they're going about it.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sushi — he serves it to Kyler to try and make a good impression and he serves it in Season 2 to try and get back on Amanda's good side. On the drink end, Daniel favors martinis.
• Training from Hell: Especially what Terry Silver puts him through in Part III, which is more like torture disguised as training.
• Trauma Button:
  • When he first sees the reconstructed Cobra Kai dojo, Daniel has a Heroic BSoD, remembering every beatdown and assault he ever endured from the students of that ruthless discipline.
  • Seeing Miguel in face paint and a skeleton costume disturbs Daniel, as he recalls the moment when Johnny's gang attacked him in them during the '84 Halloween party.
  • He also gets this from seeing (or even thinking about) his other rivals, Chozen Toguchi and Mike Barnes, who were clearly much more vicious than Johnny when it came to bullying him in The Karate Kid trilogy. Daniel has nothing but fear and anxiousness when Chozen calls him out in the bar at Okinawa (after Kumiko secretly invites him), followed by flashbacks of Chozen viciously beating Daniel and threatening to kill him. Daniel becomes hate filled when thinking of Mike Barnes after Chozen suggests Daniel to reach out to a potential old friend of Terry Silver. All of this becomes moot when they both revealed themselves to have changed for the better, and are on cordial terms with him.
  • Arguably the worst one so far is seeing Terry Silver again in Season 4. Daniel is HAUNTED by Silver's memory and the pain he inflicted on him throughout and he treats Silver with nothing but contempt. It's telling that Silver is the only one Daniel refused to talk about during the series and is horrified that he's back again. Seeing Silver unbalances Daniel so badly that it causes the dissolution of his alliance with Johnny.
  • Terry presses Daniel's button once again in Season 5. During their confrontation at Stingray's lavish new apartment, their ensuing fight (which Terry handily wins) leaves Daniel with bloodied and bruised knuckles when he punches the wall as Terry dodges (to his credit, the wall had dents in it from his punches). Seeing this makes Daniel recall the Training from Hell he endured at Terry's hands, which throws him off to the point Terry finishes a brutal thrashing against him that leaves him too frightened and beaten down to continue his war against Silver (for a time).
• Trickster Mentor: Just like his own mentor, Mr. Miyagi, Daniel likes taking the roundabout way to get to a point. He's not quite as good at it as Mr. Miyagi was, but he helps provide a support system to a floundering Robby and finds peace himself doing so.
  Robby: This is bullshit! [storms off]
  Amanda: I think you're enjoying this a little too much.
  Daniel: God, I love this part!
• Troll: His note to Kreese in Season 5, ostensibly with the number of a good lawyer.
  NO MERCY, MOTHERFUCKER!
• Underestimating Badassery: One gets the impression throughout the series that people believe Daniel is an old champ relying on past victories, or even doubt he has any karate skills at all. This is somewhat understandable, but let’s recount for fun:
  • Tom Cole mocks him ("I'm not really a Revolutionary soldier, you're not really a karate guy") right up to the moment he kicks his Boba tea out of his hand.
  • Trey and Cruz mock him as an old man before he kicks their asses.
  • Kreese seems completely dismissive of him, despite the fact that Daniel inadvertently, with Miyagi, destroyed his reputation 30 years ago (this is less straight though). Plus, despite Kreese's confidence that their fight, and presumably Daniel's defeat, is inevitable Daniel renders him helpless at the end of their duel.
  • The ice hockey players laugh derisively at his fighting ability to take them on. Just like before, he is able to kick their asses without breaking a sweat.
  • Finally, even Johnny is dismissive of him. He is eager for a fight and is confident he would kick Daniel’s ass in the first season when he confronts him at his house. In the second season, he has no problem taking on Daniel but during the course of their brief duel, Daniel lands a kick and punch in quick succession. In contrast, Johnny gets an initial kick as Daniel tries to move past him, and a final kick once Daniel turns around to find Sam. Their tournament-style fight proves that both are each other's equal.
  • Silver also does this to Daniel in the Season 5 Final Battle, when he recalls him kicking his ass in their initial fight at Stingray's house. While this is mitigated by the fact that Silver's fighting ability is hampered from his exhaustion after his fight with Chozen, Daniel still delivers an epic Curb-Stomp Battle by utilizing everything that was taught to him, finally pinning him down in the process.
• Unreliable Narrator: Season 3 reveals that his account of his breakup with Ali to Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid Part II wasn't accurate. The "football player at UCLA" she supposedly dumped Daniel for was actually an old family friend she was chatting with. Daniel had assumed the worst and overreacted, just like he did when he saw Johnny forcefully kissing her at the country club. Although Ali does concede that she may have exaggerated her relationship with her friend out of spite. Meanwhile, Ali wasn't the one who damaged Daniel's car. Daniel actually crashed it because he'd ignored her warnings that the brakes were faulty and he lied to Mr. Miyagi to save face.
• Unstoppable Rage: Kreese and Silver fall victim to this after pushing Daniel's buttons one too many times. Kreese in the Season 3 finale ends up on the receiving end of a beatdown and a pressure point attack that leaves him at Daniel's mercy. In Silver's case, this is completely subverted in Season 5 as Daniel's mind and composure were completely unbalanced after Silver meticulously began destroying Daniel's marriage and personal life. Daniel's attempt at fighting Silver in a fit of rage and unbalanced mindset ended in him being soundly beaten, Silver baiting Daniel to this trope so that he can have an easier time in defeating him.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His repeated jabs at Cobra Kai in his Miyagi-do commercial infuriate not only Johnny, but also all the students and causes them to brand him and the dojo an enemy. It eventually culminates in an all-out school brawl between the two dojos that leaves his daughter and Miguel in the hospital.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Played With, as it is repeatedly shown that he and Johnny would be great friends if they could just let bygones be bygones and put their rivalry to bed, but both are too stubborn to do so. Then played straight in Season 3, where they finally bury the hatchet (with a little help from Ali) and team up to take down Kreese once and for all.
• Wax On, Wax Off: Since this is how he was trained by Miyagi, it can't have been a surprise that he'd train Robby this way. Season 2 actually deconstructs this when he tries this on a dojo-level; his students assume he's using them for free labor and jump ship for the Rule of Cool-compliant Cobra Kai. The Trope Namer lives on.
• What the Hell, Hero?: He gets quite a few of these after some of his bigger Jerkass moments. Especially from his wife, Amanda.
• What Would X Do?: Much of his Character Development, both as a parent and as a master, is understanding that what there was between him and Mr. Miyagi is not what there is now between him, his children and his students. Up until the end of season 4, for Daniel there's no right fighting or teaching style apart from Miyagi's. This obsession is so strong that he ends up alienating his children and some of his students, until he's able to remember one important thing Miyagi explained to him, which is the fact that Daniel as well needs to find his own style, because there's no bad or wrong style as long as the practitioner is fair and honorable.
• Would Harm a Senior: Justified on so many levels, as those "seniors" just so happened to be ruthless karatekas who are two of Daniel's biggest enemies: John Kreese and Terry Silver.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Despite everything the Cobra Kai students do to his family and his own students, Daniel has no interest in fighting them himself because he doesn't want to attack a bunch of kids. Luckily for him, when a group of them confronts him in the Season 5 finale, Stingray is there to handle them for him.
• X Must Not Win: This is his attitude with the revived Cobra Kai. It's made increasingly clear that this stems from his own experiences with them just as much as, if not more, than the outcomes of the dojo's philosophy.

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