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Cobra Kai Goes Anime with New Take on Netflix Series Intro

Given the drama, action, and ass-kicking, it should be to no one's surprise that Netflix gave Cobra Kai its own anime-style introduction- even if it's for a series that will never happen. No, there isn't any rotoscoping involved or redrawn anime versions of the actors. These are scenes recut from the actual series with the Japanese theme starting with the Cobra Kai chants building up. It starts off with Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) strapping his headband on. When he tightens it ready, colors shift to a red and black scheme with a shift of frame to the right while it transitions to the season one Valley High tournament shot of prized student Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) readying his fight stance.

Cobra Kai Gets Anime-Style Intro Courtesy of Netflix
Image courtesy of Netflix

The shot cuts away to the ominous John Kreese (Martin Kove) when he was reintroduced to the series with his cigar on his left hand, shifting from the darker and sepia tone to black and white. As his image shifts left, a shot of his new prized student Robbie (Tanner Buchanan) is shown, also from season one at the Valley High Karate Tournament. The third sensei in Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is in a blue background wearing his Miyagi-do headband with the right frame of his daughter, Sam (Mary Mouser) training. The opening then cuts away to the trophies from the karate trophies before it shows a sequence of shots of everyone tightening their black belts on their respective gi with one final shot of Cobra Kai students in line before the title is revealed in Japanese.

Cobra Kai Gets Anime-Style Intro Courtesy of Netflix
Image courtesy of Netflix

As the vocals begin, it shows Johnny drinking his bottle of liquor from a paper bag on a beach at dawn with credits starting to appear. The next couple shots show Daniel training Robbie during the day from season one followed by Sam and Miguel playfully sparring at night. It cuts away to Eli (Jacob Bertrand) rebranding himself as Hawk as he gets a tattoo of the bird on his back and to a panning shot of Tory (Peyton List). The next shot frames Johnny and Daniel in blue lightning before it shows them making contact at the garage where they're trying to track Robbie.

Cobra Kai Gets Anime-Style Intro Courtesy of Netflix
Image courtesy of Netflix

We're then treated to a training montage from Sam with yoga and Miguel performing a push-up. The opening cuts to season three sparring scene between Chozen (Yuji Okumoto) and Daniel in Okinawa then Tory and Sam in their season three climactic battle at the LaRusso home. Make no mistake, Netflix really went all out for this as we then see Hawk train on a punching bag with added anime lighting and sound effects for strikes before the opening really starts showing off the action similar to what you see in your favorite shounen anime like Boruto or Dragon Ball. After the recap of all the awesome fights throughout all three seasons, we're treated again to the climactic moment from The Karate Kid (1984) before Daniel delivers his crane kick to Johnny to win as we get the redone-rendered art for Cobra Kai in a poster style with two flaming snakes striking the screen for good measure. It's a shame that Netflix doesn't make Japanese audio an option for the US.


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Tom ChangAbout Tom Chang

I'm a follower of pop culture from gaming, comics, sci-fi, fantasy, film, and TV for over 30 years. I grew up reading magazines like Starlog, Mad, and Fangoria. As a writer for over 10 years, Star Wars was the first sci-fi franchise I fell in love with. I'm a nerd-of-all-trades.
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