Chozen Toguchi - Blog Posts

Hypothetical Cobra Kai Musical Songs (Season 3)

Sorry this took a while, school was cooking me like turkey. 

What if Cobra Kai was or had a Musical? Well, this is what I think a couple of the songs in Season 3 would be like.

First up is DEFINITELY a song about the community reacting to the whole karate war situation. It ranges from negative takes to positive takes, basically a bunch of random people singing and maybe some of the secondary characters can throw in their two cents. As a base, think Hatchet Town from Nerdy Prudes Must Die. Wow, crazy how that’s not the first time I’ll be referencing NPMD.The second to last verse is a mashup of everyone else’s. Anyway, I’m thinking maybe Johnny can have the last verse as he laments over what could’ve possibly gone so wrong. I’d just call it Aftermath, after the episode. 

Now, Episode 1 has a ton of moments that could be musicalified, but I narrowed it down to just two, the second of which being a reprise of Fall Again from Season 2, but this time sung about and to Miguel as he’s in comatose.

Okay so, I completely forgot that Miguel wakes up from his coma in Episode 1, I had a song idea for that I guess I can just put it here. It’s like Courage in Me (Christina Vee Cover) from the Miraculous Movie had a baby with Scarface. It’s a blood-pumping, dance-rock track about Miguel fighting to wake up from the coma, lighting the fire within him to win in the mind tournament his comatose-ness was portrayed as. I’d call it Power In Me, and yes I know it’s dangerously close to Courage In Me, shush.(Off topic but I’m surprised they haven’t used Scarface on the show yet).

Now, to Episode 2. This episode is kind of all over the place in terms of events, so I was only able to find one place where a song would be appropriate. Remember that hypothetical Kreese solo I mentioned in Season 2. Here it is, at the tail end of the episode. It’s called Black and White, and it’s inspired by Be Prepared and military rock. He basically sings about his world view, about how all their lives they’re told to be good, but good is a matter of perspective. He tells his students that their enemies view themselves as heroes, and them as villains, and that they must shed their weakness like true cobras. It’s basically just Kreese’s villain song.

Hmmm, from what I’m thinking, I can’t come up with a song for Episode 3. This might change as I continue through the doc. For now, just imagine a reprise of Clockwork.

Next is an admittedly odd choice, but it’s a Kumiko song. It’s a ‘Colors of the Wind’-esque song about their past and their connection and how far Daniel’s come. I don’t have many thoughts on it and honestly it’s just a song I put in because 1, I feel like this musical’s become too rock heavy, and 2, I didn’t want to leave two episodes in a row songless.

However, what I will NOT call an odd choice is my next song, a Chozen solo. It’s basically Chozen telling Daniel about Miyagi’s forced-to-kill scenarios, and teaching him how to do pressure points. He explains that defense takes many forms. I’d probably name it True Devotion, but it’d be one of those songs where the name doesn’t pop up in the actual song because I’m not too sure about the name.

HAZBIN HOTEL SEASON 2 LEAK SPOILERS ALERT 

Now, I don’t know where to put this, but I’d really like to fit a Tory villain song somewhere, I mean, she’s a genuine cartoon villain in Seasons 2-3. Her song would be….okay, I know it’s very bad to spread leaks, I myself was pissed after I watched this because I thought it was a fanwork and later realized it was a leak, but it’s just perfect for comparison. It would be almost exactly like Like Gravity from the Hazbin Hotel S2 leaks. I imagine it would have Kreese as ad libs pulling her to the dark side. I’d call it Run Dry, with the lyric “And now the patience well’s run dry”.

ALRIGHT LEAK SPOILERS OVER

Afterwards, a Sam solo taking place after the arcade fight, all about how afraid she feels of Tory after the school fight. She admonishes herself for being too cowardly to save her friend, admits that she’s terrified of being hunted and hurt like that again. She also links fighting Tory to Miguel’s injury, which is just not great for her. It’d probably be similar in genre to Familiar from Steven Universe, a soft, boopy, sad song that makes you feel bad for the gorl. Maybe I’ll call it Frozen, link it with the lyric “Frozen in fear” maybe? Not exactly sure. I’d probably base it on like, the first verse and chorus of Speechless, the hopeless tone of it would be pungent in this song. A unique idea for this is that it’d be short, like a minute and a half, for reasons you will find out later in this post.

And now…for the Binary Bros.

After the arm-breaking thing, you’d expect me to have a song idea for them right. WRONG. I have THREE song ideas for them, but they can’t all coexist because giving them like, 3 songs seems like dragging the issue out. One of them is a duet, and the other two are solos for both of them, so I’ll dive into them now.

The duet first. Kind of off-topic but did you know that Diary of a Wimpy Kid has a musical? Well, there’s a song in this musical called ‘Dear Diary’, and that song has the exact vibe I want for this one. I want it to be both of them lamenting and wondering how their friendship could’ve gotten to this point, and how they both still yearn for each other (platonically or romantically if you’re into the ship), despite being on opposite sides of the karate war. 

It would first show Hawk alone trying to convince himself that what he did was right, but then the mask comes off and he sullenly sings about how much he regrets what he did, and how the nature of his actions in the past few months are slowly starting to set in. It would have remnants of his sonata from Season 2 and it would all be about the regret.

And then Demetri’s verse would kick in, and it would have the structure of Under The Radar, but be as sullen as Hawk’s verse. Demetri is singing that he physically cannot believe that they’ve stooped this low as he looks over old pictures of the two of them, reminiscing on the old days and how good they used to be. He looks inward, thinking about how he could’ve stopped this, how he could’ve helped his friend before he turned to the dark side. 

And then the last chorus would start and it would just be a crushing duet between the two of them, both of them essentially saying the same thing with different words: I miss my friend.

I don’t talk about the visuals of these hypothetical songs enough, let me do it now. The visuals would be of them soaring through the universe, dodging planets and astroids and other astronomical objects to get to each other, which would represent how they’ve overcome every obstacle in their friendship until now. And then they would get to one planet, one half of it is black with the Cobra Kai logo, and the other is white with the Miyagi Do logo, and no matter how much they fly around it, the planet rotates to keep them both on their respective sides. They plant their hands on the planet, and the colors of their sides start to take over their bodies as they passionately sing the final lyrics. And then, when they repeat the last lyric, all of the visuals fade away and it shows them just standing with their heads against the wall, but it’s shown in a split-screen kinda way so it looks like their touching foreheads.  I don’t know if I explained that well enough, but this section is long enough.The song would be called My Other Half. 

On to the solos, first, Demetri’s, a few weeks ago I wrote a Demetri version of All 2 U from Helluva Boss, it’s not perfect but I put my whole writerussy into it. Anyway, I think this hypothetical song would be like a cross between All 2 U and Lost In The Woods from Frozen 2. In my mind, it has the emotional rawness of All 2 U, but the message is a mix of both. You know that one interview where Gianni says that Demetri can’t function without Eli, so I’m taking that and running with it. This song is basically Demetri’s mini-mental breakdown, where the mask comes off and he reveals just how much he has been hurting emotionally, having had his other half ripped away from him. It would have guitars, drums, just like the songs I mentioned as basises, it would be all around depressing. But it would end on a sort of happy determined note of Demetri saying he’ll wait for Eli to come back to him and see the light.The song would literally be called Back To Me. 

And then, Hawk’s solo, Hawk would try a little bit harder to keep the mask on, singing about how this is the right way and he deserves to be strong after everything he’s been through, he needs to be strong after all the ways he’s grown. And then it comes off as he sings, “But what if I’m the monster?” It’s basically everything his verse in My Other Half is but longer. I think it’d be similar to Loser Geek Whatever (casually steals @embryoed’s idea), but like, crossed with Micheal in the Bathroom. I’d just call it Monster. 

WOO finally, that section’s over. God DAMN. After that absolute trio of terror, I think we deserve a fun song.

This next song is called Who Are We, and it’s centered around Johnny, Miguel, and the rest of the soon-to-be Eagle Fang coming up with a cool name. It’s a kooky, chill, pump up fun song of Johnny trying to get the eagles hyped up in hopes that they’ll help him come up with a name. Everyone suggests horrid names. 

And then, next a Carmen solo. It’s basically that moment where she apologizes for blaming Johnny and that she was hurt by what happened. She exposits almost the whole story about their life, how they immigrated in from Mexico because Miguel’s father was a horrible man, and how he’s had complications his whole life and how she’d do anything for him, yada yada. I’d probably call it Historia De Nuestras Vidas, or ‘Story of our Lives’ in Spanish…probably, idk I used Google Translate because I cheated my way through spanish class last year. It’d sound slow and sultry like something you’d hear in a musical episode of a telenovela. Oddly I’d want the verses to sound like the verses in Bum Biddy from Eight Crazy Nights, which is funny as hell. That song just has a really good structure.

After that, a song that takes place in the appeal. It starts out with Kreese pulling a Kreese, waving his ex-military status and PTSD around like a get out of jail free card and claiming that Miyagi-Do started the violence, painting them as the villain and infuriating Daniel and Amanda.Then, Daniel steps in, singing about the true story of how it all started, which not a lot of people actually believe because of Daniel’s history. Then, Johnny interjects, actually supporting Daniel (partially), and sharing about how Kreese’s methods destroyed his life and sent him on a downwards spiral. It devolves into an argument until Miguel shows up, singing the last verse about how he was bullied before he started learning karate, about how there will always be bullies and karate is all about standing up to them. I’d call the song Karate Belongs In Northridge, but the title wouldn’t show up in the song lol.

Then…alright, you’ve had a break from the emotional hits, it’s time for another. 

Robby’s pseudo-villain song, let’s GO. I call it a ‘pseudo-villain’ song because honestly, compared to what I have coming up for this guy, this song is child’s play.

Anyway, it’s basically Crossing the Line from Tangled with more guitars, it takes place after he finds Miguel and Sam kissing, and he’s on his way to Cobra Kai. Like Clockwork, it starts with him singing about everyone who’s screwed him over, starting with Johnny, the sperm donor who abandoned him for years, made a weak attempt to reconnect just to be able to say that he did, and then replaced him with another teenage boy.

And then Miguel, who he felt he could never measure up to for anyone, the boy who took everything away from him.

And then Sam, who made him feel like he could be loved and then it turned out he was basically a placeholder to her.

And finally, the one that stung the most: Daniel. He made Robby feel important and that he had potential, only to throw him away at the slightest inconvenience. 

After that, he launches into the chorus, singing about how he’s putting the walls back up stronger than ever before, about how he’s learned from every betrayal and figured out that he can only trust and look after himself. He’s been the scapegoat for far too long, so he’s taking his life back, and Shifting the Narrative. (That’s the name of the song if you couldn’t already tell, which you probably could)

And then, no more songs. That’s right, Episode 9 doesn’t get a song, because we have to prepare for the next and final song: a Sam-Tory duet (kind of).

It starts with Tory, singing in a similar manner Hawk did when hunting Demetri in Season 2’s finale. She’s singing about how karma’s caught up to Sam and now she pays for everything she’s done. She calls Sam a snob, a nepotism baby, one of those people who thinks the world should all that usual rhetoric she used to throw around to excuse her actions, and Sam’s taking the brunt of her rant and attacks…until she shatters the Miyagi Do picture.

Every memory she’s had of Miyagi flashes through her mind at once, and she gets so pissed off that the trauma literally gets scared and leaves. It’s like an unforgiving, cold rage, which leads me into my next sentence: the reason Frozen is so short is because it’s the first half of this song. And now, we enter the second half: Avalanche. 

I literally wrote up these lyrics:

Every sting, every lesson, every tear, every second wasted petrified and fearing for my life

Every dream, every vision, every nightmarish decision piercing straight through my psyche like a knife

I’ve listened to all your baseless accusations, your bold and faceless condemnation

And it’s built up in my soul with the goal to take control until it all bubbles over like an avalanche

So yeah, this song is intense. It’s Sam saying she is DONE with Tory’s bullshit and beating her ass while singing. Honestly, I’d probably compare it to Stronger Than You in terms of message. Tory thinks she knows exactly who and what Sam is, but she hasn’t even begun to understand who Sam is, everything that she’s been through, everything that’s made her who she is today. And now, she’s going to show her. 

And yeah, that’s the last song of the season. An intense bop about Sam owning tf out of Tory. 

This was honestly the funnest season to conceptualize for so far. I especially liked thinking about Avalanche, if someone takes my idea and makes it a reality, that song is going to be therapeutic. And I do hope I broke some hearts with the trio of terror that is the binary bros’ songs.

These posts got a lot more attention than I though they would. Off topic, but sometime in the near future I’m thinking about writing a kind of Cobra Kai parody/rewrite fanfic, it would exaggerate some plot points for laughs while completely changing others, and I would structure it like a normal TV show (26 episodes per season). It would also be a jukebox musical, probably using the songs I used as basis’ in these post.  Would y’all read that? Let me know. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and as always, if you have suggestions, don’t hesitate to share.

Miyagi generation of "should have taken you"

Miyagi-Do Theory

I theorise that a lot of Mr Miyagi's teachings revolve around his own experiences, or are fuelled by them. I think that the tradition of passing it from father to son had to do with a father wanting to protect his son from the horrors of the world. I believe each son (and daughter?) experienced some kind of hardship, and learned from it. Yes, their father probably preached to them, but they didn't understand what was being preached until they went through it themselves.

The Miyagi-Do way is tied to living and learning. It's why the training process is doing basic everyday chores as a routine, instead of outright practising moves from the first jump. It is why peace and balance is so important to them.

I think rebellion plays a role in this as well. In the 3rd film, Daniel is being harassed and assaulted by Mike Barnes, so he wants to be retrained. Mr Miyagi is against it, so Daniel rebels against him and trains with Silver. Mr Miyagi forgives Daniel and then agrees to retrain him.

Mr Miyagi was against the tournament, but gave in once he saw for himself how severe Daniel's situation was. I'm pretty sure he had his suspicions, and went to the dojo to investigate for himself.

I think what happened here is that Mr Miyagi could see where this was going. Following the Sekai Taikai storyline, he probably met plenty of competitors like Mike Barnes in his time. I believe that's why he was against using karate for tournaments. There's no point wasting your life away competing in a sport that you will always look over your shoulder for. Once you lose after getting so close to the top, you will begin to lose yourself. That almost happened with Mike.

If we're really going to be real about it, we should address that he killed his opponent. Going back to the fight with Sam and Tory for the captain spot, Daniel rightfully stops the fight whereas Johnny says it should've continued because it was what Tory 'needed'. Anyone with a brain should know that what Johnny said wasn't correct.

Grief does not belong in competition. Mr Miyagi lost his wife and son during his enlistment. He left Okinawa, was fighting for his life in a war, and lost his wife and child. What does he do? Goes to the deep end. After becoming a thief, he might as well get into fights, right? Joined the Sekai Taikai, and look how that ended? All that frustration and anger he had at the world ended with someone's death.

I headcanon that this event was a turning point to him turning back to his ancestral teachings.

The other side of Miyagi-do is rooted in rebellion.

Rebellion can come in all kinds of ways. It can be extreme, or even the small stuff. Mr Miyagi told Daniel that one day he would make his own karate. This gives the idea that each Miyagi son made it adaptable to fit themselves. Yes, they all have the same lesson, but how they use it will be different.

One example that I will bring up is that the Capoeira we have now is different to one that was created centuries ago. It is a martial art from Congo that the Brazilian slaves had to disguise as dancing. Break dancing was inspired by Capoeira. Like a language, it changes over time.

Mr Miyagi trained Daniel and Julie Pierce even though neither of them were his children (biologically). Thing is, Miyagi-do wasn't supposed to be taught to anyone outside the family, maybe not even to women (considering how sexist things were back then). Mr Miyagi requested his father make an exception for Sato. Sato went on to teach it to Chozen.

Thus, the balance of Miyagi-do. Peace and rebellion. Going against conformity, tradition, and living a life of learning. Yeah, that's all I got for this essay.

KK2 Chozen Analysis

I'm not gonna say anything that has already (probably) been said, and I'm just going to make some quick points.

In Karate Kid 2 Chozen talks about honour and so on, and how he needs to reclaim it. Now I've read some opinions on Chozen where people have demonised his actions (for good reason), but I got the impression that they didn't understand him. What I mean by this is that Chozen's culture and perception of honour is different from ours (westerners). He comes from a place where Senppuku used to be a thing, so when Chozen is talking about his honour and stuff... it feels like a double edged sword when we, the audience, judge his character.

To make things technical or complicated depending on your opinion, Senppuku is the act of deleting one-self in real life, and Samurais would do it to avoid dishonouring themselves. If a Samurai did not commit Senppuku then they would be labelled a Ronin which wasn't good. Being a Ronin was a great dishonour, and a worse life than death. There's also Jigai, the female version of Senppuku, though I'm not sure why it was done.

In the Yakuza there's a thing called Yubitsume, where a member would cut off one of their fingers as an apology. Yakuza, as most of you know, still exists today. And there's evidence that members in the 80's and onwards have done this ritual. So with that being said, honour is a touchy subject regarding Chozen and not something that can be easily spoken on as a western audience.

The slight issue in this argument is that Okinawa and Japan are two different places. Okinawa, while a part of Japan is not in Japan. It's an island located between Taiwan and Japan. This makes me believe that how honour is perceived and practised in Okinawa is much different, in the sense that it may have been very important even when Japan banned certain practice before the 50's.

To be fair, I don't know how many teachings of honour were drilled into him, nor do I know when people stopped prioritising it. But just something I wanted to touch on.

Analysis 2:

In the final showdown between Chozen and Daniel I always saw it as a severe thing for Daniel. Not just because they're fighting to the death, but because Chozen is wearing black and yellow, which is something I always deemed to be a Cobra Kai colour before the Cobra Kai show came out and made it red. The only difference between Johnny and Chozen's karate gi is that Chozen has more yellow to his. Chozen's gi even makes him look like he's imitating a snake judging by the patterns, and I've always wondered if this was intentional by the director or whoever designed it.

The diamonds made me think of scales. So when Daniel is going up against him it feels like Johnny Lawrence all over again, just much worse. There's no cheering crowd, and there's no rules.

Before I watched Karate Kid 2 or found out what the plot was I saw this picture of Chozen and thought it was Daniel vs another Cobra Kai member. And then I watched the movie only to be genuinely surprised that wasn't the case. (I was 13-14, but still)