Cobra Kai Explains What Happened To Chozen After Karate Kid 2

Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 3

Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) makes his long-awaited return in Cobra Kai season 3, which fills in what happened to Daniel LaRusso’s deadly arch-enemy since The Karate Kid Part II. Chozen succeeded Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) as Daniel’s primary antagonist in the 1986 sequel to The Karate Kid, but Cobra Kai reveals that after their bloody conflict in Okinawa during the summer of 1985, Chozen and Daniel hadn’t seen each other in over 30 years since.

In The Karate Kid Part II, Chozen met Daniel and his sensei, Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita) at the airport when they arrived in Okinawa. The nephew and student of Sato Toguchi (Danny Kamekona), Chozen pretended to be a kind and friendly person, but he soon showed his true colors since he supported his uncle’s decades-old grudge against Miyagi, whom Sato wanted to fight to the death. Meanwhile, Daniel and Chozen quickly developed their own rivalry when LaRusso disrupted Chozen’s dishonorable practices of cheating the people of Miyagi’s home, Tomi Village. The animosity between Daniel-san and Chozen continued to escalate, even after Sato and Miyagi settled their differences. During a typhoon, Chozen showed no honor and Sato disowned him because he refused to help Daniel save a little girl. Chozen tried to earn his honor back by holding Daniel’s girlfriend Kumiko (Tamlyn Tomita) hostage and challenging LaRusso in a fight to the death. But Daniel defeated Chozen and fans never learned what became of him – until Cobra Kai season 3 finally brought Chozen back.

Cobra Kai season 3 saw Daniel travel to Japan to try to save his struggling car dealership, which then prompted him to go to Okinawa to reconnect with Mr. Miyagi’s roots and find guidance. To his shock, not only did Daniel-san meet up with Kumiko again but she actually called Chozen, who appeared to be an unlikely candidate to help LaRusso find the right path forward. Luckily, Chozen had truly changed; although he pretended to still hate Daniel, he was really there to help LaRusso, and Toguchi even imparted secrets about Miyagi-Do karate that Mr. Miyagi never told Daniel-san about. Afterward, Daniel finally forgave Chozen for the events of summer 1985 and the two Miyagi-Do senseis parted as friends, with LaRusso musing about how he wished his other lifelong grudge against Johnny could be resolved so easily.

To hear Chozen tell his story, he was suicidal after his self-inflicted disgrace at the end of The Karate Kid Part II. However, his Uncle Sato saved him and gave him the opportunity to redeem himself. Sato had also undergone a profound change of heart during The Karate Kid Part II after Miyagi saved him during the hurricane, and he then watched Miyagi’s pupil perform a selfless act of heroism. Literally overnight, Sato abandoned his hatred of Miyagi and turned over a new leaf, becoming a benevolent benefactor to the people of Tomi Village.

It’s heartwarming to hear that Sato decided not to abandon his lost nephew and he helped Chozen see the light that Sato, himself, saw. Once he proved himself to his uncle, Chozen then spent his life continuing Sato’s good work and teaching Miyagi-Do karate as a sensei, which he has been doing for decades longer than Daniel. When Sato died, he left Chozen all of the Miyagi artifacts in his possession, and Chozen has carried the flag for Miyagi-Do ever since. In addition, Chozen asked for and received Kimiko’s forgiveness and friendship as well. These were all facts Daniel was not aware of until he visited Okinawa for the first time since the summer of 1985.

Amusingly, Chozen mimicked his uncle Sato by pretending to still be a villain and frightening Daniel-san. But when he finally dropped his act and revealed his true self, Chozen spoke in a happier, friendlier manner, just as the tenor of Sato’s voice and his hostile demeanor completely softened when he became friends with Mr. Miyagi again in The Karate Kid Part II. The change Chozen has undergone shows what happens when Miyagi-Do’s teachings are fully embraced in order to lead a better life. It also showed Daniel that if he can make peace with Chozen, a man who literally once tried to kill him, he can have the same with Johnny in Cobra Kaiseason 3.

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