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Daniel LaRusso is the titular main protagonist of The Karate Kid franchise.
In the first three films, Daniel had to deal with vicious bullies while he was helped by his kindly mentor Mr. Miyagi who he was incredibly loyal to. In Cobra Kai, Daniel displays more corrupting traits but remains a kind and selfless man at heart.
He is potrayed by Ralph Macchio.
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
The Karate Kid[]
- He defended Ali Mills from Johnny Lawrence after he broke her radio.
- By defeating Johnny at the All Valley, his actions led to all of John Kreese's students deserting him and being free of his corrupting influence.
The Karate Kid II[]
- He used the money meant for his college fund to accompany Miyagi when he went to visit his sick father and comforted him when he died.
- He risked his life to save a young girl from a storm.
- He saved Kumiko from Chozen and spared the latter after defeating him.
- He used his ice-breaking winnings to open a bonsai tree store for Miyagi, which had always been his dream.
The Karate Kid III[]
- He quit training with Cobra Kai when he realised it was corrupting him.
- He thwarted Terry Silver's plans to expand Cobra Kai by defeating Mike Barnes at the All Valley.
Cobra Kai[]
Season 1[]
- He tried to be a good father to both his son Anthony and daughter Sam, and taught Sam karate so she knew how to defend herself, as well as trying to be a good husband to his wife Amanda.
- He treats his employees at LaRusso Auto with respect and kindness in contrast to Tom Cole, who sees those under him as a means to line his pockets and treats them like dirt.
- After finding out about Johnny's troubled childhood he gained sympathy for him and the two almost ended their rivalry.
- Though he was mad with the fact that Robby didn't tell him he was Johnny's son, he ultimately forgave him and even encouraged him to forgive his father, despite his issues with Johnny.
- Comforted Robby when he lost the All Valley to Miguel.
Season 2[]
- He helped Robby with his difficult home life by taking him in and letting him stay with him and his family.
- Saved Robby from Trey and Cruz.
- When he and Robby run into Johnny at the hardware store he leaves them alone, genuinely hoping they'll be able to reconcile despite still disliking Johnny at that point.
- He was a patient and supportive mentor to Demetri, which led to him becoming a competent martial artist, despite how much he struggled at first.
- He allowed Cobra Kai students who defected to join Miyagi-Do, despite his students being against it.
- After meeting running into Johnny at a restaurant they were able to bond and agreed to put their differences aside, even if it didn't last.
- He paid for the rehab of Robby's mother Shannon.
Season 3[]
- Forgave his cousin Louie for destroying Johnny's car and let him have his job back after Louie visited Sam in hospital.
- He tried to help Sam cope with the trauma she had from her fight at school with Tory Nichols.
- Teamed up with Johnny to find Robby after he went on the run.
- Though he turned on Robby, he was acting with good intentions, as he was trying to get him a lesser sentence and paid the fees for his lawyer.
- After seeing that Chozen had really changed, Daniel forgave him, even though he tried to kill him in the past.
- When Robby gets out of prison, Daniel tries to bring him back to Miyagi Do.
- As Kreese had put up a snake on his shop (that could had been venomous), he made sure to evacuate all of his workers.
- He saved Johnny from being killed by Kreese.
Season 4[]
- He helped Miguel fixed his mother's car and taught him how to drive.
- He dismissed his son's behavior when he saw him becoming a bully against Kenny.
- Tried to redeem Robby and convince him to leave Cobra Kai.
- He encouraged Hawk to use both Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai moves to defeat Robby in the finals.
Season 5[]
- Honored his word to close down Miyagi-Do in order to protect his students from having a target on their backs and get put in danger from Cobra Kai.
- He forgave Mike Barnes after seeing he had reformed.
- After destroying Stingray's playstation he felt guilty and bought him a new one to make up for it.
- He encouraged Chozen to talk to Kumiko, insisting he deserved to be happy after all he had done to redeem himself.
- Refused to fight the Cobra Kai students due to their age.
- He defeats Terry Silver once and for all.
Season 6[]
- Tried to stop Johnny and Chozen from fighting.
- Helped Johnny by getting Chozen to come with him when he was looking for an apartment.
- He comforted Chozen about Kumiko not returning his feelings.
- He stopped the fight between Sam and Tory after learning the Tory's mother died, out of concern for the latter (though this led Tory to rejoin Cobra Kai and resulted in a new rift between him and Johnny).
- Despite the recent tensions between him and Johnny, he thanked him for the voicemail he sent from the other day when he missed the previous Sekai Taikai event due to his kidnapping.
- He's supportive of Johnny when Johnny tells him Carmen has been taken to hospital and genuinely promises to take care of everything until he gets back.
- He went with Johnny and Chozen’s plan to mess with Kreese and Silver’s minds, by making them accuse each other for stealing Kreese’s eunjangdo knife.
- He reconciled with Johnny after Miguel reminds them of their past success and everything they’ve done together.
- He and Johnny team up to fight Sensei Wolf during the Sekai Taikai all-out brawl.
- He tried to stop Kwon Jae-Sung from killing Axel Kovacevic with Kreese’s eunjangdo knife.
- He checked on Kwon’s body to see if he’s okay when the latter accidentally killed himself.
- After trying to move on from the events at Barcelona, he decided to let the Sekai Taikai continue.
- He comforted Chozen when he learns that Kumiko, who finally received his voicemail, is in a relationship.
- He accepted Sam's decision of the following:
- Heading to Okinawa's study abroad program for one year instead of UCLA.
- Withdrawing her semifinal match which results with Tory advancing to the finals to fight Iron Dragon student, Zara Malik.
- He eventually came to accept that Cobra Kai’s style of karate has its place in the discipline as long as it’s properly managed, even if he doesn’t agree with it himself.
- He also buys the dojo hall that he tried to take from Johnny in the past and returns it to him.
- When Tory tells him, Amanda, and Sam how remorseful she was on leaving Miyagi-Do to fight for Kreese again before the Sekai Taikai started, they assure her that everyone makes mistakes.
- During the short break on the day of the finals, he doesn't let Silver's taunts bother him due to him being proud of Johnny's progress of leading Cobra Kai to win the tournament.
- He happily accepts Johnny's request to train him for his tiebreaker match against Wolf.
- He uses a reference from the first Rocky film to inspire Johnny to regain his focus on training.
- When Johnny's confidence is shaken during the match, he uses the Cobra Kai mantra to re-energize him.
- During the last timeout, he advised Johnny to let go of his strike first mentally and switch into defense mode which allowed him to win his match.
- He continues his partnership with Johnny, running Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai respectively.
- While having lunch with Johnny, he tried to catch a fly with chopsticks, recalling one of Mr. Miyagi's first lesson.
Karate Kid: Legends[]
- He helps Mr. Han, an old friend of Mr. Miyagi, trained his student Li Fong to win the Five Boroughs Tournamet in New York.
- After Li advances to the finals, he and Mr. Han defend him from four of O'Shea's men at the semi-finals.
- He and Mr. Han helped Li Fong master a new variation of the Dragon Kick that he learned from his late brother, Bo.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He has some lethal moments, as he was prepared to kill Kreese in the Season 3 finale, but stopped himself because of Miguel and Sam. But it was a somewhat justified/self-defense so this is a minor prevention. He also apparently killed the people who trapped him in the cage and left them to be eaten by dogs, although they deserved it.
- He also does some manipulation on Kreese, extracting information from him about Silver in exchange for a lawyer he doesn't bring, as well as supporting Chosen's idea of using Silver as a sacrifice for Kreese who beats him, although it's pretty clear that they deserved it.
- He is a bit of a prideful braggart, proving this when Tom Cole, his business rival, belittles his karate skills and in response he kicks his coffee cup.
- He has several moments throughout the franchise in which he reacts angrily and impulsively, with it being too recurring for him to be PG or NPG and it's unclear whether he's shaken them off by the end of the season:
- At the beginning of the series, he reacts with excessive suspicion towards both Johnny and Robbie, without giving the latter a chance to respond to him. He also breaks into Johnny's house to rescue his daughter after she drinks at a party. When Johnny resists him, he almost fights with him.
- He also reacts with suspicion towards Johnny when Kyler, who was Sam's girlfriend, shows him that Johnny hit him and proves the latter wrong, even though the latter hit Miguel.
- In the third film is when Daniel is more inconsistent and contradictory:
- When Daniel returns to Mr. Miyagi’s house after training with Silver, he hides his bruises, which were caused by Silver’s extreme training methods. Miyagi, noticing Daniel's increasingly aggressive behavior and physical injuries, grows suspicious and tries to talk to him. Daniel, influenced by Silver’s philosophy but still aware of his own words, reacts impulsively and cruelly—telling Miyagi to stay out of it in a harsh and disrespectful way. This moment reflects a clear inconsistency in Daniel’s character, as he lashes out at the person who has been his moral guide, showing how far Silver’s manipulation has pushed him into becoming irrational, hostile, and disconnected from the values he once held.
- He reacts with hostility to the boy and punches him in the nose (although the boy deserved it for willingly harassing Daniel and Jessica and a random girl, in which he violently pushed her to the wall, but fortunately she escaped from him), whether Silver paid him to harassing these two or not) as part of a confrontation that Silver tried to arrange in the third film (although he feels regret for it, he apologizes to Jessica (who, although initially annoyed, forgives him) and she encourages him to also apologize to Mr. Miyagi, whom he had treated harshly shortly before.).
- Daniel feels guilty and apologizes for punching a boy who was verbally harassing Jessica at the nightclub, even though the boy clearly provoked him and Daniel was defending someone he cared about. This self-blame feels excessive, as the act of defending Jessica was justified regardless of Miyagi’s teachings or Jessica’s initial anger, making him contradictory.
- It's worth noting that the boy was already displaying abusive and aggressive behavior before Terry Silver's involvement, suggesting he acted of his own volition and wasn't just a pawn, The violent behavior of the boy was already evident before Terry Silver paid him, as seen in the scene where he physically intimidates his girlfriend. Daniel’s reaction, while impulsive, was justified under the circumstances and shouldn’t necessarily require guilt or apology, making this a minor prevention.
- Despite having reasons to question Terry Silver's character, Daniel willingly trains with him for an extended period. While it's true he was pressured by Mike Barnes, Snake, and Dennis to sign the tournament form, Daniel never informs either Silver or Miyagi about the physical threats and near-assaults he faced. (Terry Silver never ordered Mike and the others to nearly kill or sexually threaten anyone—his plan was to pressure Daniel with his three lackeys into signing up for the tournament. Daniel’s failure to report the extreme threats adds to his inconsistent behavior.) His silence unintentionally allows the manipulation to continue unchecked.
- Daniel apologizes not only to Jessica and Miyagi personally, but is implied to feel remorse even toward the boy he punched (who end up in a hospital) and the boy's family by the phone, despite the fact that the boy was behaving inappropriately. This level of contrition seems disproportionate and undermines his justified actions.
- When Daniel decides to quit training with Silver and not compete in the All Valley Tournament, he chooses to go alone and explain everything to Silver in person—even after suspecting his manipulative nature. Rather than asking for Miyagi’s help, investigating Silver’s connection to Barnes, or finding a safer and smarter way to withdraw (such as faking an injury). Rather than avoiding confrontation, Daniel exposes himself to danger by going alone, putting himself at risk again. His decision reflects emotional immaturity.
- The film suggests that Miyagi's refusal to train Daniel was to protect him from becoming aggressive or violent. However, after repeated harassment, home invasion, and threats of serious harm, Miyagi still does nothing, which inadvertently drives Daniel deeper into Silver’s influence. One could argue that earlier intervention from Miyagi might have prevented the spiral altogether, so this is a minor prevention on Daniel not telling Miyagi about it.
- Daniel’s character fluctuates between being overly apologetic and being impulsively aggressive, which undermines his moral consistency and clouds the audience’s perception of his growth.
- He also falls for Silver's manipulation when it hurts his image in front of his family and employees and almost breaks his hand.
- He punched Johnny in the nose when he belittled Mr. Miyagi.
External Links[]
- Daniel LaRusso on the Heroes Wiki
- Daniel LaRusso on the Karate Kid Wiki
- Daniel LaRusso on the Wikipedia
- Daniel LaRusso on the Shonen Heroes Wiki
 Inconsistently Admirable
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