Cobra Kai: Why Chozen Is Terry Silver’s Real Season 5 Enemy

Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 4.

In Cobra Kaiseason 5, it could be Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) who poses the biggest threat to Terry Silver’s (Thomas Ian Griffith) plan to takeover karate in the San Fernando Valley. Silver ended Cobra Kai season 4 with the total victory that eluded him in The Karate Kid Part III: Not only did Cobra Kai win the All Valley Grand Championship, with Tory Nichols (Peyton List) become the first-ever girls’ All Valley Champion (thanks to Terry bribing the ref), but Silver framed John Kreese (Martin Kove) for attempted murder so that the ponytailed mastermind now completely controls Cobra Kai. In retaliation, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) asked Chozen to come to America and join his fight against Terry Silver’s Cobra Kai.

Chozen and Terry Silver were LaRusso’s enemies in The Karate Kid Part II and Part III, respectively. Chozen hated Daniel-san on sight when he and Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki “Pat” Morita) visited Okinawa in 1985, but Chozen was also taught Miyagi-Do karate by his rich uncle, Sato Toguchi (Danny Kamakona). Yet Sato moved past his lifelong grudge with Mr. Miyagi while Chozen lost his honor when he challenged Daniel to a fight to the death and lost. When LaRusso and Miyagi returned to the United States, Terry Silver was waiting for them. At the behest of Kreese, his old Vietnam war buddy, the cocaine-addicted millionaire exacted an insane scheme in The Karate Kid Part III to force Daniel to defend his All Valley championship. LaRusso ultimately beat Cobra Kai once again and Silver’s dreams of taking control of karate in the Valley went up in smoke – until he finally won 34 years later in Cobra Kai season 4.

Chozen changed his ways since his humiliation in The Karate Kid Part II and reconciled with Daniel-san in Cobra Kai season 3. LaRusso now sees Chozen as his “karate cousin,” so it makes perfect sense that he called Toguchi for help against Cobra Kai. Crucially, Terry Silver has no idea who Chozen is, which gives Toguchi and LaRusso an edge when Cobra Kai season 5 begins. Chozen is a dangerous enemy for Silver because he’s an expertly-trained Miyagi-Do sensei who has kept up his skills for decades, unlike Daniel, who retired from karate for 20 years. Chozen also knows more about Miyagi-Do than LaRusso, including ancient secrets Mr. Miyagi never shared with Daniel-san. If Chozen were to fight Terry Silver, which is a strong and exciting possibility in Cobra Kai season 5, the imposing, ponytailed sensei could find the Okinawan master’s martial arts skills exceed his own.

Tactically, Chozen is more than a match for Terry Silver as well. Toguchi is an offense-minded fighter bred from a different and more violent form of Miyagi-Do. The very reason Daniel turned to Chozen is that he knows from experience that the Okinawan knows how to “strike first,” and Toguchi could help Miyagi-Do Karate place Cobra Kai at a disadvantage. In the meantime, Chozen has never met any of Daniel-san’s American enemies before so, for longtime Karate Kid fans, Cobra Kai season 5 has the inherent thrills of seeing first-time confrontations between Chozen, Kreese, and even Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Chozen is arguably a better martial artist than any of them, including LaRusso, and Toguchi could prove to be an ideal “secret weapon” against Terry Silver’s Cobra Kai.

Terry Silver may be a billionaire and a businessman who owns a company called DynaTox but Chozen could match him in the corporate setting as well. Sato ran a powerful conglomerate in Okinawa and, presumably, Chozen took over the family business when his uncle died. Toguchi is likely also extremely wealthy and could equal the vast resources Silver calls upon in his various machinations. And, unlike Daniel, who still bears the emotional scars of his dealings with Terry in The Karate Kid Part III, Chozen has no fear of Silver. Cobra Kai season 5 set the stage for an intriguing clash of The Karate Kid sequels’ villains and Chozen could turn out to be Terry Silver’s worst enemy of all.

Cobra Kai Season 4 is streaming on Netflix.

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