Cobra Kai characters include those audiences already knew and loved from the Karate Kid movies as well as new characters created for the show, though some are better developed than others. Cobra Kai follows a now adult Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio) in a new chapter of their previous rivalry. The series sees each of them create their own karate dojos before eventually teaming up against a common enemy with plenty of fights and tournaments along the way.

Season 6 is the final season of Cobra Kai, culminating in a worldwide tournament, raising the stakes of the franchise in a big way. Not every character from the first season of the show has made it to the end, and even of those who have, some have had a lot more screen time than others, allowing the audience to get to know them better. Overall, Cobra Kai has managed some great characters with engaging, fun, and entertaining personalities and arcs—but which is the best?

20 Mitch

Portrayed by Aedin Mincks

Mitch is largely a background character for much of the series. That happens with a lot of the teens recruited to learn karate under Daniel and Johnny other than the core group of characters. Many of the others only get brief parts or make appearances to provide a little comic relief. Mitch is there to be insulted by Johnny and the other of Cobra Kai, and then Eagle Fang, when he cannot keep up or is not seen as doing very well.

Beyond that, he does not have much personality outside of being a typical teenage boy who wants to fit in. That, he does not until it is revealed that he is actually a turncoat at the end of season 5. He has been Cobra Kai all along, even as he has been pretending to be a member of Eagle Fang and then training alongside Miyagi-do as well. The reveal paints him as insecure and selfish, but season 6 sees him back alongside his former friends.

While the reveal of his betrayal in season 5 is a shocking one for his friends, it also is not particularly built up well for the audience since the audience does not get to know much about him before that. It’s surprising, but not exactly effective.

19 Aisha

Portrayed by Nichole Brown

Aisha has so much potential as a character in the first two seasons of the show. Sam’s best friend before Sam becomes a member of the popular crowd, Aisha continually gets bullied by Sam’s new friends. She s Johnny’s version of Cobra Kai as a way to learn how to defend herself. Learning karate does actually increase Aisha’s self-confidence and allows her to get even with her bullies.

After that, however, Nichole Brown’s character is written out of the show pretty suddenly. The explanation is that her family does not like how karate has changed her, or how the conflict between dojos has consumed her. While that is fair from the parents of a teenager, the show only gives a brief reunion with Sam to wrap up Aisha’s storyline.

Aisha is not given the same lengthy character arc that Hawk and Tory get, but she had the potential to be just as fascinating and well-rounded of a character as the two of them.

18 Moon

Portrayed by Hannah Kepple

Moon is one of the popular girls that Sam befriends in the first season of the show. Though Moon is Yasmine’s best friend, she is not as judgmental as Yasmine or someone who bullies others. She does stand by when Yasmine does though, and she could have just been a stereotypical popular girl if the show had not decided to give her a bit more depth.

Moon becomes interested in Eli when he gains confidence from his learning of karate. She cheers him on at competitions, but she draws the line when she finds that he has become a violent bully. Moon cuts ties with him until he begins to redeem himself, which is a good way for the show to demonstrate that she has learned from her experiences with Yasmine and Aisha.

Moon is also shown to be something of a modern hippie. She cares about the environment, sings songs about peacekeeping, and encourages Eli to let go of negativity. The audience actually gets to learn more about Moon in her few appearances than they do some of the of the rival dojos. If she was made into a more integral member of the cast, she could be a standout character.

17 Zara

Portrayed by Rayna Vallandingham

Zara is introduced in the sixth season of the show, so the audience does not get to spend a ton of time with her. That’s a shame because she is absolutely a fascinating character. She has traits in common with both Yasmine and Tory, but she also seems to be one of the best fighters that has ever been on the show, which might be because Rayna Vallandingham is actually an incredibly accomplished martial artist.

Rayna Vallandingham is the youngest black belt martial artist in the world to earn 12 World Championship titles and is trained in a variety of forms and weapons.

When Zara s the series, it is as a competitor for a rival team in the Sekai Taikai. She is incredibly focused on the win, but she has some unorthodox methods for getting into the heads of her competitors. She allows Tory to think that she slept with Robbie, for example. She also is a popular social media influencer who touts healthy lifestyles and feminist attitudes while actually trashing the other female competitors in private.

She makes for an interesting commentary on how what influencers present to the world is a very carefully cultivated image. It’s a shame she did not appear earlier in the show.

16 Kenny

Portrayed by Dallas Dupree Young

Kenny is Cobra Kai’s cautionary tale. He is a young kid, initially mentored by Robby, who is relentlessly bullied by Anthony LaRusso and his friends until he starts to get serious about his karate. Kenny becomes focused on his anger and his need for revenge, which is what he is initially taught when it comes to karate.

Most of Kenny’s storyline focuses on him getting back at Anthony and becoming a bully himself. It takes a long time for him to let go of his hatred of Anthony, and even when he tries to, he immediately assumes that Anthony is to blame for any misfortune that befalls him, including his drink being laced with a laxative when the dojo is trying to determine who will represent them at the Seakai Taikai.

While Kenny’s arc is a great one because it shows how bullying leads to anger and resentment, certain aspects of it play out for a little too long. Seeing Kenny and Anthony as part of a united team is a lot more satisfying than seeing them constantly play out the cycle of bullying and abuse that has gone on between dojos in the franchise.

15 Devon Lee

Portrayed by Oona O'Brien

Oona O'Brien's Devon Lee is one of Johnny Lawrence's students, and she has an interesting narrative that sees her several rival dojos before finding her way back. Devon was introduced in Cobra Kai season 4 when she ed Johnny's Eagle Fang Karate, and she eventually wound up at Cobra Kai under Terry Silver. She has the potential to be a great character — she's certainly strong, and her relationship with Tory and the decision to help work against Cobra Kai in season 5 helped push her arc along.

However, Devon hasn't been given enough attention to really stand out against the other Cobra Kai characters. In the most recent season, Devon did fairly well in the Sekai Taikai. Unfortunately though, her reputation is somewhat tarnished by lacing Kenny's water bottle with laxatives. She's one of the most competitive characters in Cobra Kai, though she doesn't share in many of the other of the Cobra Kai dojo's more toxic traits - a fact Johnny recognizes, which is why he welcomes her back with open arms.

14 Carmen Diaz

Portrayed by Vanessa Rubio

Vanessa Rubio's Carmen Diaz has been in Cobra Kai since the beginning and has been an essential character for fleshing out the personality of the adult Johnny Lawrence after viewers last saw him in The Karate Kid. It has been great to watch Johnny fall in love and begin to settle down in Cobra Kai, and his personality has been all the better because of it, which can be attributed to Carmen.

Johnny Lawrence in Cobra Kai season 6 is a significant contrast to where he originally started in season 1, and this has a lot to do with Carmen's influence. Mother to Miguel, Carmen has been a relatively constant presence throughout the Netflix series, but she doesn't stand on her own. Her character feels more like a tool for other Cobra Kai character arcs rather than a defined character all her own. As of the start of Cobra Kai season 6, she has a new baby on the way, but she is not a huge part of the storyline in the final season.

13 Anthony LaRusso

Portrayed by Griffin Santopietro

Like Carmen, Griffin Santopietro's Anthony LaRusso has been a presence since the very beginning of Cobra Kai and is Danny LaRusso's son. Despite being the child of the Karate Kid himself, Anthony LaRusso was pretty difficult to like for the majority of Cobra Kai. During the first couple of seasons, he was simply a spoiled rich kid who was largely ignored by his distracted parents. Then, when Anthony became a larger part of the plot, he played the role of bully.

To Anthony's credit, he turned things around (after his victim Kenny started making a stand) and has seen a lot more development in the final few seasons of Cobra Kai. He has attempted to make amends and learn from his mistakes. However, there hasn't been enough time for Daniel's son to stand center stage for him to rank among the series' central characters.

12 Terry Silver

Portrayed by Thomas Ian Griffith

Terry Silver is an excellent villain.

Cobra Kai brought back many characters from the Karate Kid movies alongside Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence, one of them being Thomas Ian Griffith's Terry Silver, the antagonist of The Karate Kid III. Terry Silver is an excellent villain. Though the trajectory of most of the bad guys of Cobra Kai has been from bad to better, Silver has worked in the opposite direction. When he was first introduced, he was eager to keep his life on the straight and narrow.

However, Terry quickly got sucked into the karate dojo drama and wound up being the very worst of the worst. Though Silver's definitive evilness has worked great for keeping the conflict of Cobra Kai going strong, the fact that there is little motivation for Silver's action aside from wanting to be the best leaves him a little one-note, and his presence does make the show feel repetitive.

11 Samantha LaRusso

Portrayed by Mary Mo

Anthony LaRusso isn't the only one of Daniel's children to be a prominent figure in Cobra Kai, as his daughter, Mary Mo's Sam, is also a significant presence in the show. If the Cobra Kai characters were to be ranked by fighting ability, Samantha LaRusso would undoubtedly be ranked among the highest. However, when it comes to her character, there is something to be desired. Much like her younger brother, Sam doesn't start Cobra Kai on her best footing and takes several seasons to come into her own.

ittedly, Samantha has seen a significant amount of development through her relationships with Robby and Miguel, as well as her rivalry with Tory. However, her struggle and floundering regarding decision-making made her story more frustrating than satisfying. What's more, Sam's story is basically already settled by the end of Cobra Kai season 5, which leaves little interest left over for the series' final season.

Much of the conflict created for her in season 6, like anger at Tory moving to a new dojo and a new boy being interested in her, all feel like retreads of old storylines.