Daniel LaRusso

The List of The Karate Kid characters are fictional characters from the films The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part II, The Karate Kid Part III, The Next Karate Kid and the 2010 remake.

Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) The main character of The Karate Kid film series, with the exception of the fourth installment, The Next Karate Kid. LaRusso's mother is Lucille LaRusso. Due to his mom's job transfer, Daniel and his mom move to Los Angeles where Daniel was bullied by the Cobra Kai. After nearly being killed on Halloween night by the Cobra Kai after a prank gone wrong, Daniel is saved by his apartment's maintenance man, Keisuke Miyagi. After saving Daniel, Miyagi begins to teach him the ways of karate. Daniel later defeats his Cobra Kai opponents at the "All Valley Championships" despite the latter being instructed to use illegal and unethical tactics. After this tournament, Daniel seems to have won the respect of the Cobra Kai dojo. In the later movies of The Karate Kid Series, Daniel learns more from Mr. Miyagi about karate as they face new and more highly skilled enemies.

Mister/Staff Sergeant Kesuke Miyagi (Pat Morita) teaches Daniel karate in the first three movies and goes on to teach karate to Julie Pierce in the fourth installment. In his youth, Miyagi and his best friend, Sato learn karate from his father. Miyagi later fell in love with a young woman named Yukie, who was arranged to marry Sato. Upon announcing his intentions to marry Yukie, Sato felt dishonored and challenged Miyagi to a fight to the death. Rather than fight, Miyagi left Okinawa. Mr. Miyagi is a veteran of the United States Army, having served in Europe during World War II and decorated with the Medal of Honor. His wife and newborn son died at the Manzanar Relocation Camp on November 2, 1944 while he was fighting in Europe. After his family died, Miyagi had fallen into a state of drunkness and depression. Miyagi later trains Daniel in karate in his way to help him defeat the Cobra Kai, a vicious gang of karate students who bully Daniel. After Daniel succeeds, Miyagi continues to train him in karate.

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