The Karate Kid Part II

Welcome back to “The Karate Kid Month,” where today we will look at the 1986 sequel, “The Karate Kid, Part II.”

Much like how the “Rocky” series started with each sequel, this one opens with a recap of the first movie. After the recap, it starts immediately after the fight where Mr. Miyagi and Daniel are leaving the tournament and see John Kreese taking all of his anger out on his students, even strangling Johnny. That is until Mr. Miyagi comes in and puts Kreese in his place. Why does Daniel ask Mr. Miyagi why he didn’t kill John Kreese? You think Mr. Miyagi wanted to go to prison for murder? I like Miyagi’s response though: “Because for person with no forgiveness in heart, living even worse punishment than death.”

The movie than cuts to six months later where Daniel arrives at Mr. Miyagi’s house livid. Daniel tells how bad his prom went, Ali borrowed his car and caused a mechanical problem, Ali found a new boyfriend and his mom accepted a temporary transfer to Fresno and Daniel will have to go with her. Mr. Miyagi calms him down, but gets a letter in the mail that his father, played by Charlie Tanimoto, is on his deathbed and Mr. Miyagi books his ticket to go back to Okinawa to see him. Mr. Miyagi tells Daniel the reason he left home was because his best friend, Sato (Danny Kamekona), and Mr. Miyagi were in a love triangle with Yukie (Nobu McCarthy). Sato wanted to fight Mr. Miyagi, but Mr. Miyagi left, never to return since he hates fighting.

The next day, Daniel arrives at the airport with his baggage, saying that he persuaded his mother to let him go to Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi, using the money in his savings account, which was meant for his college tuition. When they arrive, they are greeted by Chozen, played by Yuji Okumoto, who happens to be Sato’s nephew.

Similarly to how the first “The Karate Kid” movie was all about Daniel, this one is all about Mr. Miyagi. When Mr. Miyagi’s father passes away, there is a very emotional scene where Daniel talks to Mr. Miyagi about his experience when his father passed away. When you watch that part, it is hard not to get choked up when watching it.

While Daniel is on this trip, he meets Yukie’s niece, Kumiko, played by Tamlyn Tomita, who becomes his love interest. Although I don’t understand why all of a sudden Daniel has a rivalry with Chozen as soon as he arrives. Does Chozen hate Americans, or was he taught to hate anyone that is associated with Mr. Miyagi? Maybe he has a crush on Kumiko and wants to compete with Daniel for her, similar to how Mr. Miyagi and Sato did with Yukie. These are just my speculations, I don’t know completely. I understand the rivalry and grudge between Mr. Miyagi and Sato since they have had this rivalry for years.

I agree with James Rolfe when he says that during a typhoon, Mr. Miyagi saves Sato from the dojo and the next day, Sato asks Miyagi to forgive him. Really, it all comes down to an act of nature to reconcile? Why didn’t you understand that Mr. Miyagi hates fighting? Plus, you’re his best friend, it should have stopped right there. Why did it come to Mr. Miyagi saving Sato that he decided to ask for forgiveness? I do like that Sato doesn’t hold his grudge against Mr. Miyagi anymore, but the reason to ask for forgiveness did not seem right.

However, Chozen still wants to fight Daniel at the O-bon festival. Plus, unlike the Karate Tournament from the first movie, this is a fight to the death. Just like how Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel a lot of Karate moves from the first movie, like waxing the car, sanding the floor, painting the house and fence, and even the Crane Kick, this movie has Mr. Miyagi teach Daniel the drum technique.

One thing that I noticed is that this movie had a lot of influence for the video game on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). I never played that game, but I did see James Rolfe play it as the Angry Nintendo Nerd at the time. The first level was taken from the Karate Tournament at the end of the first movie. The rest of the game was influenced from this movie, like the handheld drum training, breaking the glass, catching the flies with chopsticks (which is also in the first movie), and the village levels that are both in the sunshine and in the rain, and so on.

Even though James Rolfe and Nostalgia Critic say that this movie isn’t as good as the first movie, this is actually my personal favorite of the franchise. It tells the next story, develops the characters further in a good way, and it was overall a very humanizing movie. Not only is this my personal favorite of the franchise, it is another one of my favorite films of all time. Definitely check this one out, especially if you liked the first movie, and I promise you, you will also like this one as well.

Do you want to know what I thought of the third movie? You will have to wait next week in my next installment of “The Karate Kid Month.”