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From left to right: Amanda, Sam, Daniel, Lucille and Anthony.

"I never thought I would have a family again. Daniel-San has welcomed me into his family."

—Nariyoshi Miyagi

The central family of The Karate Kid franchise. The older generation of LaRussos grew up in New Jersey before Lucille and Daniel moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1984. After Daniel's All Valley tournament wins, the LaRussos have become Household Names in the Valley, with LaRusso Auto Group becoming one of the town's most successful and respected businesses. Despite their differing personalities and levels of interest in karate, the LaRussos form a united front in standing against Cobra Kai.

Core LaRusso Family

Daniel LaRusso

See Daniel's character page here

Amanda LaRusso

Amanda LaRusso (née Steiner)

"You can't put a band-aid on an open head wound."

Played By: Courtney Henggeler

Appearances: Cobra Kai

"You know, as much as I would love to watch you and your childhood karate rival duke it out, I kinda don't wanna get any blood on the patio..."

Daniel's wife, business partner and mother of his children. She vainly tries to be a voice of reason once the feud between Daniel and Johnny reignites.

Aesop Amnesia: After realizing Daniel was right about everything he said of Kreese, she starts dismissing him again when the focus changes to Terry Silver.
Affectionate Nickname: Daniel and her cousin Jessica sometimes call her "Mandy".
Batter Up!: In high school, Amanda attacked her father's mistress (who was her own tutor) with a baseball bat. This earned her the Embarrassing Nickname "Babe Ruthless".
Benevolent Boss: Considering how she is willing to stick up for Robby, makes Louie apologize to Robby for hazing him, and acts with professionalism and courtesy towards the dealership staff. As long as you are not Louie, she has proven to be a pleasant boss to work for. And she even warms up to Louie after he's rehired and proves himself changed for the better.
Bitch Slap: She slaps Kreese across the face when she confronts him at his dojo following the fight between Sam and Hawk's groups in an amusement center.
Both Sides Have a Point: Downplayed example between Daniel and Amanda when it comes to raising their children. Daniel is right to want to screen the type of friends Sam is making given that he's had experience with guys who seemed trustworthy but actually were not. But at the same time, Amanda is correct in her point that embarrassing Sam in front of other people would do little to help this, not to mention invading Sam's privacy.
Dark and Troubled Past: Turns out she had a dark side much akin to Tory’s. When Amanda was young, her math tutor was having an affair with her dad amid some marriage troubles between her parents. Amanda then took a baseball bat to the woman’s car while she was still in it. She now counts herself lucky to have been able to move on from it. After learning about Tory’s troubled home life, Amanda remembers this and decides to take a different approach to tackling the problems between Tory and her daughter.
Deadpan Snarker: It would be easier to list those times she averts this trope. She can't help but cut loose with the sarcasm when her husband does something particularly ill-advised, though the majority of the time, her snarkiness is nothing but good-natured.
Fatal Flaw: Naivety - partially due to being a Social Climber, Amanda tries to get Daniel to make peace with his enemies, regardless of who they are, under the assumption that they are not as bad as he makes them out to be. While she's right about Johnny being better than Daniel thinks, the same cannot be said about Kreese and Silver, with the latter being even worse than Daniel implied.
Foil: To Lucille. As Daniel's wife and mother respectively, the two are, along with Sam, Daniel's closest female family members, but they clash every time they are together due to their vastly different attitudes. Lucille was a Struggling Single Mother, while Amanda and Daniel have a stable, nuclear family. Lucille focuses on looking after family at all costs, while Amanda sees no point in prioritising family members who haven't earned her respect, having a terrible relationship with her own father and no patience for the blatant nepotism that landed Daniel's incompetent cousin Louie a job at LaRusso Auto. Lucille prefers home-cooked meals, while Amanda often uses caterers for big events (though she takes great offence at Lucille's insinuations that she can't cook). Lucille lives a down-to-earth, working-class life, while Amanda is a social climber with a thriving business that she and Daniel own.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Downplayed. She earlier dismisses Daniel's worries about Kreese, thinking he is nothing more than a "geriatric karate coach". But after Amanda confronts him in person, she is just as shocked at how psychopathic the man really is and how dangerous he is to the kids. She has a similar problem with Silver, but to a greater extent, outright leaving Daniel when he continues to try and take Terry, only to come back when Jessica reveals that Silver really is as bad as Daniel makes him out to be.
Good Parents: A loving mother to both her children, though she's far from perfect.
Hands-Off Parenting: Downplayed. She will put her foot down when it comes to overt wrongdoing, but Amanda seems a little more preoccupied with being a "cool" parent than Daniel is, instantly taking Sam's side against him without considering that his (not-unfounded) concerns about her friends might have some merit. She's also even more permissive than he is when it comes to Anthony's selfish and bratty behavior. This comes to a head by season 4.
Happily Married: She and Daniel are clearly happy with one another, although occasionally will have a few rocky arguments, especially in regards to Daniel's beef with Cobra Kai.
Hollywood Restraining Order: Kreese files a frivolous restraining order against Amanda after she confronts him at Cobra Kai's dojo for his students having assaulted her husband's students and broken Demetri’s arm.
Horrible Judge of Character: In general, Amanda assumes that Daniel overexaggerated his issues with his past foes. While she's right about Johnny turning a new leaf, Kreese has not changed from who he was during the events of the first film. Silver is more mixed - he did make strides to abandon his darker past, but he never really addressed his issues and Kreese is able to rouse his dark side after a few conversations.
Hypocrite:
- Doesn't want Daniel invading Sam's privacy in Season 1. Knows Sam's computer password in Season 2. She even lampshades it.
  Amanda: Now is not the time.
- She repeatedly gets mad at Daniel for not telling her about his karate enemies that he had no reason to believe would come back to haunt him. In season 4, it's revealed that Amanda never told Daniel that she tried to assault her math tutor with a baseball bat because she feared he wouldn't want anything to do with her if he knew.
Iconic Sequel Character: Amanda debuted in Cobra Kai, the Distant Sequel to The Karate Kid film series, as the wife of its original protagonist. Despite her initial skeptical reception from longtime fans for not being a Love Interest from the films, Amanda quickly won them over.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Amanda can probably go head-to-head with Demetri in a competition for sassiest person in the Valley but she’s just as capable, if not more, of great compassion and empathy as her husband and daughter. Most notably when she becomes the first adult on the show to truly and unambiguously try helping Tory despite the latter stalking and attacking her daughter twice.
Last Girl Wins: Amanda is Happily Married to Daniel in Cobra Kai instead of any of his love interests from the films. Ironically, she was introduced to him via her cousin Jessica, Daniel's friend and temporary love interest in his last film.
Mama Bear: Her defense of Robby at the beach club, her Tranquil Fury when Sam gets hurt and her angry reaction when her love for Anthony is questioned all show a woman who is fiercely protective of her kids. She also goes marching into Cobra Kai to slap Kreese after Demetri's arm gets broken. Amanda even extends this to Tory, of all people, after she learns the full extent of her home life.
Ms. Fanservice: Amanda is a Statuesque Stunner and most of her wardrobe accentuates her figure. A number of characters have commented on her attractiveness (most notably the hockey players in Season 4, albeit inappropriately). She gets a Walking Swimsuit Scene at the end of the Season 5 premiere.
Nice Girl: Aside from her usual snark, Amanda is a kind and caring person who is polite to everyone she likes and is arguably the most reasonable one in the LaRusso family.
Not So Above It All: She gets into a bar fight with some old high school rivals in season 5 when one of them keeps bringing up Amanda's delinquent past.
"Not So Different" Remark: She develops sympathy for Tory in season 4. Eventually, Amanda reveals that she took a baseball bat to her math tutor's car while the latter was still inside it because the woman was having an affair with Amanda's father.
Odd Friendship: She gets along surprisingly well with Johnny. It helps that both are Deadpan Snarkers, though he obviously disliked her initially since he said Daniel's whole family is rotten to the core and she obviously initially disliked him too, considering him an irritant because of how he was affecting her husband... she even called Johnny an asshole. Whenever they hang out, Amanda (and Carmen) tends to ease the tension between Johnny and her husband. In the third season, she even hugs Johnny after a night of fun with him, Daniel, and Ali.
Only Sane Woman: The only member of the family who doesn't let the feud get into her head and can see how childish and incredibly stupid it actually is. After the brawl in Season 2, she's the one who points out to Daniel that he and Miyagi-Do are just as responsible for it as Cobra Kai and he needs to shut down the dojo now.
- Ironically, it's this trope that makes her actually come around to Daniel's view in Season 3. The moment she realises how batshit crazy Kreese is, that he's a legitimate threat to the well-being of the kids, and that someone has to stand up to him, she begins backing Daniel's efforts to keep the dojo going.
Parental Issues: Amanda didn’t get along with her father.
Parental Neglect: After learning about Anthony being a bully in Season 4, she and Daniel are forced to confront the fact they didn't take enough of an active role in parenting him and depended to screen technology to keep him occupied.
Parents as People: While Amanda is mostly an example of Good Parents, she's far too permissive of Sam and Anthony's misbehavior and only disciplines them when they do something egregious (Sam being involved in a a hit-and-run, Anthony getting suspended). It's especially apparent in Season 4 when this lack of discipline causes Sam to antagonize Tory and Anthony to become an outright bully.
Pet the Dog: In Season 4, after she learns how dire Tory's home situation really is, Amanda decides to help her by providing her assistance with her mental health and her mother's care. It does seem to pay off, as Tory comes to take care of her own Fatal Flaws and embark on her Character Development.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Can actually see Louie for what he is, is highly supportive of Robby at work and in general, and is a highly competent boss at work. Plus, the aforementioned Pet the Dog moment with Tory, whom she has every reason to dislike.
The Redeemer: In Season 4, Amanda ends up guiding Tory down a better path by showing her kindness despite her past crimes against her family.
Selective Obliviousness: Her desire for Sam to be socially accepted at school so she won't be bullied blinds her to the fact her friends are the bullies. Amanda wises up once she actually learns about the things they've done such as doing a hit-and-run on Johnny's car.
Social Climber: Amanda runs in elite circles and cares a lot about her standing in the community.
Stage Mom: In Season 1, she has a disproportionate prioritization of Sam's social status, and it blinds her to how awful people Sam's new rich friends are.
Statuesque Stunner: Amanda is 5'9" and gorgeous, which has been commented on in-universe.
Took a Level in Badass: Slaps Kreese across the face in Season 3 despite not being a martial artist and knowing he's a dangerous sociopath. She also gets to neatly subvert one of his Call-Back lines from the first movie.
Kreese: You're a feisty one. But I like that! I like that-
Amanda: (slaps Kreese) I don't give a shit what you like, you sociopath. I'm shutting you down if it's the last thing I do...
Troubled Teen: Was this in her younger days when she got arrested for reckless endangerment after taking a bat to her math tutor's car with the woman in it after discovering the latter was having an affair with her father.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- One cannot stop wondering whether it was the whole "Sam must hang out with popular kids" thing that she so obviously instills in her daughter that caused the Sam-Aisha relationship to break down.
- A lot of the problems that led to Sam and Miguel breaking up in "Different But Same" could have been avoided had Amanda allowed Sam to call/text Miguel and let him know she was grounded and not allowed to use her phone.
- Meeting Tory at her workplace in order to warn the latter to stay off of Sam led Tory to lose her job. To Amanda's credit though, she quickly works to remedy the situation afterwards.
Wet Blanket Wife: Amanda starts the first season with all the traditional trappings of the stereotypical "nagging wife" to Daniel, initially appearing as the more materialistic one, not getting along with his working-class mom, and lacking Daniel's passion for karate, focusing more on their business. But then when Daniel expresses interest in becoming an instructor, she is completely on board, only voicing concerns when he rather blatantly starts blowing off his day job and the dealership suffers in his absence. Amanda only firmly brings the hammer down after Sam gets injured in the school brawl, but even after that she's still loving and supportive of her husband. The subversion becomes clear after she meets Kreese and, realizing the man is putting her daughter and the other kids in danger, joins Daniel in his efforts to defeat him.
Women Are Wiser: Zigzagged. She does have her moments of unintentionally making things worse and her hands-off parenting style wasn't always effective, but Amanda is the one who always calls Daniel out for his unreasonable actions, and wants Daniel's enemies defeated more out of concern for her family's safety.

Samantha LaRusso

See Samantha's character page here.

Anthony LaRusso

"The only way we win is if we work together. As one."

Played By: Griffin Santopietro

Appearances: Cobra Kai

"Everybody has these amazing memories of Mr. Miyagi, and, you know, I never really knew the guy...or learned any cool moves."

Daniel's son. He was introduced as a spoiled pre-teen who only thinks of video games, and later becomes a bully (albeit a peer-pressured one) to Kenny Payne. After Kenny swears revenge on him, he reforms and joins Miyagi-Do as a new student.

Annoying Younger Sibling: He delights in bothering Sam and adding fuel to the flames whenever she gets in trouble. Character Development in Seasons 4 and 5 sheds him of it.
Arch-Enemy: Anthony eventually becomes this to Kenny Payne. The former bullies the latter relentlessly to gain standing with his peers (and out of jealousy for Lia's attraction to Kenny), which leads to Kenny joining Cobra Kai. But by the time Anthony has a Heel–Face Turn and tries to make peace with Kenny, Kenny himself fully embraces the Cobra Kai creed and becomes the bully to Anthony. Kenny escalates the rivalry significantly in Season 5, with his bullying of Anthony even extending to potentially dangerous and life-threatening actions like giving him a swirly in an unflushed toilet.
The Artifact: The reason why he is Out of Focus in Seasons 2 and 3. The point of his character in Season 1 is to be a Spoiled Brat and show how different Daniel's life as a wealthy business owner is from his working class upbringing in the original trilogy. Once Daniel's role in the story becomes about him reviving Miyagi-Do to teach the modern high schoolers rather than his life of luxury, Anthony doesn't serve much purpose. It's subverted in Season 4 once his dealings with Kenny bring him into the main plot, and further expanded when he plays a crucial role after joining the Miyagi-Fangs.
Ascended Extra: After getting phased to the background in Seasons 2 and 3, Anthony becomes a much more prominent character in the 4th and 5th seasons.
The Atoner: After realizing how much his Jerkass behavior has turned Kenny into his worst bully, Anthony spends the entire season wanting to make up for his actions.
The Baby of the Bunch: He's essentially this with the Miyagi-Fangs in Season 5, being the youngest and least experienced student. During the final showdown at the Cobra Kai dojo, his cohorts all huddle around and protect him as he keeps the tablet going long enough to finish uploading the incriminating footage of Terry Silver. Miguel even calls for this formation with "protect the egg".
Becoming the Mask: After lying about knowing karate to all of his peers, Season 5 sees him finally forced to join Miyagi-do and learn it when Kenny's bullying becomes too much.
Big Little Brother: By season 4, he has gained several inches over Sam.
Big Sister Worship: In Season 5 when he sees Sam's karate skills first-hand, Anthony is impressed enough to call her "Jean Claude Van Sam".
Brains and Brawn: Easily the Brains to his sister’s Brawn in Season 5. Sam has far more combat experience than him, but Anthony’s the one who came up with the strategy to pass Chozen’s lesson and use his tech experience to expose Terry Silver.
Brilliant, but Lazy: As lazy as he often is, he's surprisingly smart when he wants to be, showing that his innumerable hours playing video games have ingrained in him a skill at tactical and strategic analysis as he is the only one of the class to realize the lesson Chozen is trying to teach them and gets them to work together to defend the eggs he gave them and being good with technology, which proves crucial to exposing Terry Silver.
The Bully: He was already a Jerkass in the early seasons but in Season 4, we learn that he's also a school bully.
Butt-Monkey: Getting bullied not just by Kenny, but his fellow Cobra Kais in the worst possible way counts as this. And the real kicker, the bullying Anthony goes throughout season 5 leans on a more life-threatening level, right from getting kicked into the lazy river at the water park while trapped in inner tubes and given a swirly in an uncleaned toilet.
Character Development: Goes from a jerkass Peer-Pressured Bully to a nicer person, trying to apologize to Kenny for his behavior (in vain), to the point that he believes he deserves getting beaten up by Kenny and his gang for his past actions. He also stops being lazy and joins Miyagi-Do Karate, to the point that he is seen fighting Cobra Kai members in the Season 5 finale, before he stops fighting and starts uploading Terry Silver's incriminating video online. He also becomes less of an Annoying Younger Sibling to Sam and starts respecting her when he sees her in action, protecting their mother from a former bully.
Chekhov's Skill:
- His experience playing Dungeon Lord and recognizing the importance of fighting in groups while battling opponents proves very useful in Chozen's lesson, to the point where they passed.
- All his time spent on technology ends up being useful in the Season 5 finale when he shows the Youtube video of Silver admitting to Tory that he bribed the All Valley referee to let them win on a dojo TV through Bluetooth to reveal Silver's true colors to the Cobra Kai students, causing them to stop fighting and walk out on Silver.
Closet Geek: During Season 4, he publicly sheds his old "nerdy" interests like video games and comics but he still has knowledge of said interests. He even participates in mocking Kenny for being a Dungeon Lord fan, only to accidentally reveal a little too much of his own knowledge of the game before playing it off to his friends as something he overheard from "some nerds".
Create Your Own Villain: His bullying of Kenny is what ignites the latter's Start of Darkness.
Demoted to Extra: In Seasons 2 and 3, he only appears in three episodes total and has very few lines. In Season 2, it's explained that he went away to summer camp.
Dirty Coward: Despite his relentless bullying towards Kenny, he's quite hesitant to fight him physically (granted, he was never taught karate growing up due to a lack of interest).
Did Not Think This Through:
- He convinced his classmates that he's trained in karate just like his dad, believing he wouldn't get exposed because no one would actually want to try to fight him based on this belief. It never occurred to him that he might piss off someone who actually was trained in karate (or would take it up afterwards to defend themselves) and, thus, wouldn't be afraid of engaging him.
- Part of his bullying of Kenny consists of publicly posting embarrassing videos of him on social media. The result is that when the school staff launches an investigation into it, Anthony gave them plenty of evidence that proves how much of a bully he and his friends are.
- Anthony happens to come across a Cobra Kai tabling event, with one of their students offering him a free T-shirt, to which Anthony tosses it out of defiance. Unfortunately, Kenny, Kyler, and the Cobra Kai Mooks are right there when it happens, giving them an excuse to brutally beat him up.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After receiving a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Kenny during the tournament, Robby tries to tend to Anthony, but the boy angrily rejects his help and runs off.
Embarrassing Nickname: His peers call him "LaPusso" whenever they feel he's being a wimp. Since a swirly incident where Kenny and his gang are involved, they have also taken to calling him "shithead."
Everyone Has Standards:
- He may not have a problem with catfishing Kenny online while posing as Lia, but he was clearly uncomfortable when Zack suggested that they trick Kenny into cosplaying at the park and that they gang up on him there.
- He is absolutely not fond of Kyler upon running into him at the water park with Kenny and remembers what he did to Sam in the first season. Kyler's only response is, "I date a lot of sisters".
- He also looks pretty pissed when Mitch betrays the Miyagi-Fangs mainly for his selfish ambition.
Expy: He seems to be based off of AJ Soprano, given that like AJ, his first name is Anthony, he's the second child of The Protagonist, and is a lazy and rude Spoiled Brat. In addition, both their fathers are Italian-American natives from New Jersey.
Fair-Weather Friend: Anthony's gang for all intents and purposes don't seem to actually think highly of him, frequently mocking him to his face. You'd assume that the only reason they hang around him is that he's a rich kid.
Flat Character: In Seasons 1-3, he pretty much exists only to be an obnoxious Jerkass to everyone around him. Season 4 finally rounds him out, and Season 5 takes that a step further when he plays critical roles in the Miyagi-Fangs' campaign against Cobra Kai.
Foil:
- He's the polar opposite of his father, Daniel. He is what Daniel would have been if he grew up with wealthy parents. Daniel is a kind Self-Made Man who rose out of being a working-class kid with a Struggling Single Mother, uses karate for his self-defense, and doesn't take his new luxuries for granted. Anthony is a Spoiled Brat, having grown up with the wealth Daniel can only dream of when younger, who constantly makes demands, and is only interested in karate for the violence and how he can brag about Daniel's fighting prowess. He also derides the Miyagi-Do Wax On, Wax Off style that Daniel learned and now teaches. And by Season 4, while Daniel was the one being bullied by his peers, Anthony is the bully. The fact that Anthony very much takes after Daniel in looks makes the contrast all the starker.
- To Robby. The ignorance from their parents has had a negative impact on them, though the consequences are different: While Robby is a dropout who is a juvenile criminal, Anthony stays in school and only commits minor acts of bullying and is nothing of a criminal. While it’s true they have both been neglected, Anthony’s parents pay a little more attention to him than Robby’s have. Robby’s father is absent and his mother spends her time in bars and elsewhere instead of with him. Robby has been eager to learn karate while Anthony has never had an interest in doing so.
Formerly Fat: Despite being a Big Eater Lazy Bum, in his only appearance in Season 3, he appears to have lost a lot of weight. By the time Season 4 rolls around, he's lost even more and Johnny even lampshades it.
Johnny: What'd you do, switch over to Whopper Juniors?
Anthony: It's called a growth spurt, dipshit.
Freudian Excuse: As Vanessa LaRusso points out, Anthony wouldn't have become such a brat and a bully if Daniel and Amanda had actually given him real discipline and guidance growing up and didn't let screen technology be a de facto babysitter while they ran the dealership. Also, because he was too young to have any meaningful memories with Mr. Miyagi, Anthony felt he lacked that major connection which the rest of his family had gotten to experience. Season 4 has Daniel fully realizing this and, when he discovers that Anthony has hidden his tablet in his room when he was forbidden from doing so, Daniel (finally having enough) straight up breaks his son's tablet and firmly lectures him that he should take his actions more seriously. When Daniel also makes a genuine effort to be a mentor and guide to Anthony and nurture his positive traits, he grows considerably, showing he simply lacked the kind of help Daniel had with Miyagi and Robby and Miguel later found with Daniel and Johnny.
Genius Bruiser: Downplayed — he was shown to be able to fight off a few Cobra Kai students, but Anthony is still pretty green to karate. Rather, his contribution to the Miyagi-Fangs is his tactical and strategic thinking that he honed from his countless hours playing video games.
Green-Eyed Monster: In addition to being a Peer-Pressured Bully, he also resents the fact that Kenny seems to get along with Lia, a childhood friend of Anthony's who he seems to be attracted to.
The Heart: Yes, really. Going along with Character Development, The Smart Guy, and The Baby of the Bunch, Anthony becomes this to the Miyagi-Fangs, being the one to come up with the idea of all the students working together to succeed in Chozen's lesson. Just him gaining the trust of all the Miyagi-Fangs alone results in all of them protecting him in the Final Battle as he attempts to post the video online of Silver confessing to cheating.
Hidden Depths:
- Subverted in Season 1. He becomes very impressed and fascinated while watching the All-Valley Tournament and gets disappointed when Sam wants to leave early, a sign that he might eventually start taking an interest in karate himself. Next he's seen, however, he's glued to his Nintendo Switch.
- In Season 4, during a bonding moment with Daniel, he admits that he always felt a bit left out with their family because unlike Daniel, Amanda, or Sam, he doesn't have any meaningful memories with Mr. Miyagi.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Convincing all of his peers that he knows karate is what leads to Kenny joining Cobra Kai and becoming a serious threat to him.
Hourglass Plot: He spends the majority of season 4 tormenting Kenny prior to the fight at the school library that leads to his Heel–Face Turn. However, by the season finale, he's shaped up to be a bully victim of Kenny himself after the latter gives him a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
Hypocrite: He mocks Kenny for playing nerdy video games while being a secret fan of the exact same game.
I Got Bigger: He went from a little fat kid to a tall, thinner kid, towering over his older sister, to the point Johnny didn’t even recognise him.
I Know Madden Kombat: A variation. Rather than applying martial arts techniques he's seen from fighting games, Anthony applies battlefield tactics from Dungeon Lord to help the Miyagi-Fangs stand against the numerically-superior Cobra Kai students.
It's All My Fault: He cites two reasons as to why he didn’t ask for Sam’s help when Kenny and Kyler were bullying him in the waterpark: One, asking his sister to stand up to his bully will only make him a bigger target of bullying. Two, he feels he deserves getting beaten up by Kenny after what he did to him throughout the last year, despite having apologised and Kenny having beaten him up after the All-Valley tournament.
Jabba Table Manners: When he's not busy being a spoiled rotten excuse of a son, or playing video games that is. He often stuffs his face such as drinking melted butter off of the ramekin.
Jerkass Has a Point: When Daniel finds out that Anthony paid someone to clean the cars at the dojo rather than do it himself, he begins to lecture him and asks him what Mr. Miyagi would have thought, to which Anthony responds by saying he doesn't care because he only met Mr. Miyagi as an infant and all Daniel ever does is talk about how great he was even though Anthony can't even remember him. While he is being disrespectful, he is right that Daniel has a huge broken record about Mr. Miyagi's past and shouldn't try to force everyone to be exactly like him.
Jerkass Realization: He comes to regret his treatment of Kenny by late Season 4, and offers to help Daniel out with the dojo or the dealership to make up for his actions.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts out as an obnoxious Spoiled Brat who cares only about video games and eventually becomes Kenny's bully, but he learns the hard way to become a better person since late Season 4, following Kenny's retaliation and a stern lecture from his dad as well as Daniel making an honest effort to reach him and help him grow.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: In a Deleted Scene from season 1, he almost gets a heartwarming moment with Daniel. He says that his father is a karate legend and that he loves him. It's just a ploy to get some money for an Xbox out of Daniel though. By late Season 4, however, he learns the hard way to become a better person.
Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Daniel was a skilled soccer player and a two time Karate champion. Anthony is a Lazy Bum who doesn’t like his father’s training and is a Closet Geek.
Kick the Dog: During Season 4, he makes Kenny's time in school hell every opportunity he gets.
Laser-Guided Karma: He and his buddies get their butts handed to them after picking on Kenny one too many times and it's this in part that finally alerts his parents to his bullying behavior, leading to him being grounded and restricted from his beloved electronics for it. And that's not even getting into the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Kenny metes out to him in the season finale.
Lazy Bum: He prefers playing karate video games (e.g. Tekken) to actually learning the art from his dad. It's later shown he'd be open to learning karate if Daniel weren't so insistent on the Wax On, Wax Off method of teaching. Though this may not always be the case, because he lost a subtle amount of weight in Season 2, likely from the summer camp activities. In Season 3, his only scene shows that he has gotten even thinner, courtesy of his actor. And by Season 4, he's made the full transformation into...
Lean and Mean: He's now at his most athletic. Unfortunately, he's still a rude, bullying Jerkass. Until Season 5, thankfully.
Lovable Coward: Goes from Dirty Coward to this, when he has to train under Chozen.
Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: On a sibling perspective, he is the Feminine Boy to his sister’s Masculine Girl. Granted, the latter has far more training than him.
Malicious Misnaming: Gets frequently referred to as "LaPusso" by his friends whenever he shows hesitance with taking part in their bullying or getting into a fight. Kenny takes to calling him this by season's end.
Miles Gloriosus: In Season 4, we learn that Anthony convinced his classmates that he's trained in martial arts due to his dad's reputation. Knowing what we already know about Anthony, it's pretty much a Blatant Lie. There are several hints that his gang is very much aware of this, as they will also make fun of Anthony always shying away from actually trying to fight. By season 4's finale, he suffers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from his former victim Kenny, who realized he's not actually able to back up all of his talk.
Mirror Character:
- Interestingly enough by Season 4, it becomes clear that Anthony has become one to Johnny Lawrence himself circa the original Karate Kid. Being raised in wealth has turned him into a spoiled brat who's taken to bullying a new transfer student, much like Johnny in the original film. The only difference is that since Anthony lacks Johnny's karate skills, he relies on cyberbullying (an act which Johnny considers to be cowardly and would never do himself).
- Moon starts out as a peer-pressured bully before coming out of Yasmine's Toxic Friend Influence and turning into a nice person. Anthony starts out as a sarcastic put-downer (a bit in the style of Yasmine and Demetri) and in Season 4 becomes a peer-pressured bully to Kenny, who is driven to Kreese's and Silver's Cobra Kai for help.
- Anthony and Kenny: Both are middle school kids with "nerdy" tastes. However, while Kenny is more-or-less open about them, Anthony is a Closet Geek who (uncomfortably) bullies Kenny in order to make himself look cool to his friends, driving the latter straight into Cobra Kai's hands.
- Both Raymond and Anthony are deadbeats that mooch off their wealthy families while they lackadaisically invest in their hobbies (karate and video games, respectively). However in Season 4, Anthony starts to turn his behaviour around after his father puts his foot down with him for his bullying, whereas "Stingray" remains feeling entitled with his place in Cobra Kai and (as far as we've seen) his family had made no attempts to curb his childish behaviour.
Morality Pet: Surprisingly, he turns out to be one for Robby. When Robby sees Kenny delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to Anthony in the locker room and learns Anthony was Kenny's bully, he's horrified by the realization he's partly responsible for Anthony getting a beatdown. After Robby rejoins Miyagi-Do, he takes up being a mentor to Anthony while also reprimanding Kenny for becoming a worse bully than Anthony ever was to him.
My Dad Can Beat Up Your Dad: He frequently boasts about Daniel's karate skills to the people he comes across and thinks he can beat up anyone.
Non-Action Guy: Initially, he knows no karate and is more of a Lazy Bum. He eventually joins Miyagi-Fang, but he doesn’t engage in much of the action as most of his opponents, like Kenny and Kyler, are extremely well-trained while he is still relatively green. Against mooks however, he does pretty well and he’s quite gifted at strategy, providing that strength to the team. He is seen kicking around a bunch of unnamed Cobra Kai fighters but eventually winds up playing a major role in taking down the dojo by keeping a cool head during the final brawl and uploading the video exposing Silver for everyone to see.
Peer-Pressured Bully: Downplayed. While he's still a Jerkass and was happy to take part in most of it on his own, Anthony's more severe bullying of Kenny is mainly fueled by his friends egging him on and calling him "LaPusso". At times, you can see regret in his facial expressions whenever he went too far with the bullying. He even admits in the end that he bullied Kenny because he just wanted to impress his friends.
Pretty Boy: Like Father, Like Son.
Put on a Bus: Aside from a single scene at the start and end of Season 2, Anthony spends most of the season away at camp. His only appearance in Season 3^note is being with Amanda while she chastises Sam for teaching the Miyagi-Dos behind her back, with Anthony speaking like a disappointed father to Sam to rub it in.
Rejected Apology: Decides that the best time to apologize to Kenny for being such a jerk to him all season long would be right after the latter has lost his karate match with Robby, on top of Kenny having fully embraced the Cobra Kai philosophy (i.e. "No mercy"). Surprisingly, Kenny wastes no time taking his frustrations out on Anthony.
Satellite Character: Prior to Season 4, he didn't really play a significant part in anything. He was just kind of there to annoy everyone.
Sex Is Violence: He was born from a "sparring" session between Daniel and Amanda.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Sam is overall considered the golden child of the family while Anthony was basically left to his devices. Sam learned karate from a young age whereas Anthony only recently started training. Sam is very much an Action Girl who is not afraid to throw down even against the likes of Kyler or Tory while Anthony favors the "thinking man's" approach with his karate training and would rather avoid getting into an actual fistfight.
The Smart Guy: Possibly even more so than Demetri or Eli. Despite being the youngest and newest student, he’s the one who develops the strategy to beat Chozen’s challenge. This not only demonstrates his intelligence but showcases his leadership potential.
Spin-Offspring: Son and youngest child of The Karate Kid series' original protagonist, though nowhere near as prominent of a character in the Distant Sequel as his sister until its fourth season.
Spoiled Brat: He is a rude little shit obsessed with video games. Even Daniel is aware of it as he outwardly fantasizes about tossing Anthony into the pool after the kid rudely demands a soda.
Anthony: Dad, where the hell's my drink? Hurry up!
Daniel: [cheerfully] You know what? I'm gonna throw him in the goddamn pool!
- Thankfully, he finally grows out of it in Season 5 after becoming a better person.
Strong Family Resemblance: By Season 4, the actor playing him has started to look a lot like how his onscreen father used to look in The '80s. This only highlights how they're complete opposites in personality even further.
Techno Wizard: Anthony is more adept with gadgetry ever since he's been into video games for most of his life. This turned out to be a blessing as when the Binary Brothers are pinned down, Anthony took it upon himself to upload Silver's incriminating video on YouTube while the rest of the Miyagi-Fang protect him.
Took a Level in Badass: He's still green when it comes to karate skill (especially when you compare him to other younger karatekas like Kenny and Devon), but he's far from the Spoiled Brat Lazy Bum when first introduced. And when he proves to be useful, he shows it by coming up with a clever plan to pass Chozen's lesson, and in the Season Finale expose Terry Silver to the Cobra Kais.
Took a Level in Kindness: In Season 5, he's finally stopped being a Spoiled Brat, is more considerate to others, and he and Sam start growing close. Unfortunately for him, this doesn't stop Kenny from leading the Cobra Kais in harassing him for what happened the previous season.
The Unfavorite: His mother has joked that unlike his sister, Anthony was an accident, and he gets much less attention from his parents than Sam does. In Season 4, Daniel's cousin Vanessa, who studies child psychology, points out that the boy has been raised more by video games than by his parents. She even deliberately aggravates Amanda by asking why she loves her daughter more than her son.

Extended LaRusso Family

Lucille LaRusso

"Oh, that’s horrible! They can’t let them back! Oh, they’re nothing but a bunch of bullies!"

^{Click here to see her in 1984}

Played By: Randee Heller

Appearances: The Karate Kid (1984) | The Karate Kid Part III | Cobra Kai

Daniel's mother. She has a difficult relationship with Amanda.

Alliterative Name: Lucille LaRusso.
The Cameo: She makes a brief appearance in Part III via a phone call with Daniel.
Doting Grandparent: Adores Sam and Anthony.
Foil: To Amanda. As Daniel's mother and wife respectively, the two are, along with Sam, Daniel's closest female family members, but they clash every time they are together due to their vastly different attitudes. Lucille was a Struggling Single Mother, while Amanda and Daniel have a stable, nuclear family. Lucille focuses on looking after family at all costs, while Amanda sees no point in prioritising family members who haven't earned her respect, having a terrible relationship with her own father and no patience for the blatant nepotism that landed Daniel's incompetent cousin Louie a job at LaRusso Auto. Lucille prefers home-cooked meals, while Amanda often uses caterers for big events (though she takes great offence at Lucille's insinuations that she can't cook). Lucille lives a down-to-earth, working-class life, while Amanda is a social climber with a thriving business that she and Daniel own.
Obnoxious In-Laws: Every time she visits, she can’t help but criticize anything Amanda does as a wife and mother. Thankfully, she's toned it down by season 4.
Parents as People: Though she is a good mother to Daniel under difficult circumstances, she admits that it was a mistake for her to uproot Daniel's life by moving them to the Valley without even talking to him about it first.
Put on a Bus: She's completely absent in Part II and sits out the events of Part III as she is looking after Daniel's sick uncle Louie (the father of Louie and Vanessa from Cobra Kai).
Shipper on Deck: Lucille very enthusiastically supports Daniel's love life in the films, driving him to his first date with Ali and sharing his disappointment that Kumiko didn't return to America with him, which makes it all the more ironic that she doesn't get along well at all with the woman he eventually married. However, she does offer him some good advice on how to get back in Amanda's good graces when she sees their marriage under strain and Daniel sleeping on the couch in Season 2.
Struggling Single Mother: After Daniel's dad passed away, she had to raise him alone and she had to work really hard to manage it.
Thicker Than Water: She’s a firm believer that family should take care of each other, which is why she is so insistent that Daniel employ his cousin Louie despite being a terrible employee and an asshole.
Took a Level in Jerkass: While she was a bit overprotective of Daniel when he was a kid, she was also very kind to others. In Cobra Kai, she unfairly criticizes everything Amanda does while cooking and hosting and coldly dismisses any of her completely justified complaints about Louie's terrible work behavior. The two of them are getting along much better by the time Daniel returns home from a day of training with Robby, which Sam claims credit for, but she remains coy about what she said or did to turn it around.

Louie LaRusso Jr.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ck_s3_louie_larusso.png

Played By: Bret Ernst

Appearances: Cobra Kai

Daniel's cousin, who works for him at the car dealership. While Daniel may have his share of hot-headed decisions, Louie is much worse, and his schemes usually careen head-first into realism.

Alliterative Name: Louie LaRusso, Jr..
Big Brother Instinct: Initially, Louie does not take the reveal that Vanessa and Anoush are a couple well, as he's all too aware about Anoush's history of sleazy womanizing. However, he gets over it after they talk it out.
Bullying a Dragon: Destroying the car of a former karate champ turned sensei wasn't his smartest idea. Predictably, he and his biker friends get their asses handed to them.
The Bus Came Back: He's absent for all of Season 2 after getting fired, but the LaRussos rehire him in Season 3.
Came Back Strong: He's a much better employee in Season 3 than he was before, even beating Anoush at his strength - sales.
Didn't Think This Through: Louie hardly ever thinks his schemes/pranks through, so they all have glaring flaws.
Dirty Coward: In Episode 8, Johnny beats up Louie's biker friends for destroying his car and demands that the scared Louie give him Daniel's address. At first, Louie tries to take responsibility for his actions, but after one biker sets fire to Johnny's car and a now angrier Johnny repeats the question, Louie tells Johnny where his cousin lives.
Dumbass No More: When he's rehired in Season 3, he proves himself to be a significantly more competent employee, having picked up inventory management skills in his previous job. In Season 4, when he recommends that Daniel and Amanda consult his sister Vanessa on dealing with Anthony, it proves to be a great idea as she really does know a lot about child psychology.
Everyone Has Standards: He wanted to destroy Johnny's car to send a message to not mess with Daniel anymore, but draws the line at setting the car on fire and potentially endangering the neighborhood. He also thought the vandalized billboard was hilarious when he thought it was a random prankster. When he found out it was an attack directed at Daniel, he was furious.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish to Vanessa's Responsible — Louie is more of a lout and implied to be incapable of making a stable living unless he relies on nepotism.
The Friend Nobody Likes: The only reason anyone tolerates him is because he is Daniel’s cousin, and even then...
Hidden Depths: Louie is good at one thing: inventory. It's how he notices that one of their trade-ins, a '93 Dodge Caravan, was stolen off the lot by Robby.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: When his family has become desperate enough to hire him again in Season 3, Louie starts taking his job more seriously which shows that despite his obnoxious and immature antics, he still cares for his family.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He initially seems like a guy who cares about his family and could be likable if he just stopped being immature and lazy. But every time it seems like he is going to redeem himself, it never follows through and he ultimately betrays Daniel's trust to save his own skin. He comes around in Season 3, however, when his family has become desperate enough to hire him again, and starts taking his job more seriously.
Mirror Character: To Stingray. Both were immature Manchilds who were leeching off their well-off relatives and absolutely blew it. Unlike Stingray, who learned absolutely nothing, Louie used that time to better himself and earn himself his job back and be a valued employee. While he still can be immature from time to time, he at least knows when to put it away and be serious. Also, unlike Stingray who is completely selfish, Louie did care about his family even before his Character Development and after Daniel fired him. While a minor point, it's shown Louie and his sister have a great relationship, while Stingray's sister just views him as a mooch but feels too sorry for him to put her foot down. Stingray is what Louie would have been if he hadn't matured and taken responsibility.
My Sister Is Off-Limits: He initially has this reaction to finding out that Anoush is dating Vanessa, but gets over it after a drunken heart-to-heart with him. In Louie's defence, Anoush has been implied to be The Casanova, so his belief that Vanessa could do better isn't entirely unfounded.
Nepotism: He's pretty clearly an employee at LaRusso Auto Group because of his family ties to Daniel rather than merit. Daniel finally fires him when Louie crosses the line by vandalizing Johnny's car.
Pet the Dog: When he runs into Johnny again in Season 4, he tries to be friendly with him and assures him that he doesn't hang out with the biker gang anymore.
The Slacker: He’s a lazy bum who often misses work, so Amanda has to pick up the slack herself.
Sparing Them the Dirty Work: Subverted. He tries to be this for Daniel, doing things that are meant to benefit his cousin but that Daniel would never do himself because of his morals. However, Louie's ham-fisted attempts at doing this usually lands Daniel in even more trouble than at the start.
Stout Strength: He's tall and large, and has no trouble holding a scared Anoush in a Bridal Carry - or run with Anoush still there when he gets scared himself.
Thicker Than Water: The only reason Daniel employs him is because of Lucille's insistence, despite all the abundant shortcomings of the guy. It's also his only redeeming quality which prevents him from being a complete Hate Sink, he cares about his cousin. However, Louie's loyalty isn't complete as he does things behind Daniel's back which Daniel wouldn't approve of and easily gives up his address when Johnny has him cornered. That said, Louie is also one of the first to visit Sam when she's injured in the school brawl, which played a huge factor in him getting rehired by Daniel.
Those Two Guys: He is almost always seen in the company of Anoush.
Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed. After getting rehired, he does appear to have cleaned up his act a bit and legitimately tries to help his family stay in business. That said, he is still prone to delving back into his oafish antics. He does later apologize to Johnny for destroying his Firebird.
Troll: After getting in trouble for pranking Robby, he pranks Robby a second time. Downplayed, in that the second prank was substantially less stupid-dangerous than the first, and Daniel (and Robby, once he gets past anger and embarrassment at being fooled a second time) thinks it's Actually Pretty Funny.^note

Vanessa LaRusso

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/65eb1165_1b59_4c9a_9bcb_da9cc817213b.jpeg

"You failed!"

Played By: Julia Macchio

Appearances: Cobra Kai

"I mean, I can't say for sure what his deal is. But my educated guess would be that he has environmentally-induced Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder, possibly related to a screen dependency, or full-blown IGD. Regardless, I'd want to look at the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. It's an evolving science."

Daniel's cousin and Louie's sister. She's a grad student studying child psychology.

Armour-Piercing Question: Invoked in the Season 4 episode "Party Time". Whilst counseling the LaRussos regarding Anthony's behaviour, Vanessa asks them the following question to prove they are acting out.
Vanessa: Why do you think you love your daughter more than your son?
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Amanda refers to her as "Marisa Tomei Junior", but she proves to be highly knowledgeable in child psychology.
Casting Gag:
- Ralph Macchio's real-life daughter plays a family member of his character who assesses Daniel's parenting skills.
- Her nickname of Marisa Tomei Jr. is likely referring to the actress' role in the film My Cousin Vinny, which appropriately enough also stars Ralph Macchio (and had a pivotal scene where, just like Vanessa, Tomei's character proved to have far more expertise than other characters assumed).
Dating What Daddy Hates: Brother variant and Played With; she hooks up with her brother's coworker Anoush near the end of Season 5, much to Louie's initial disapproval (knowing he's a serial dater and thinking she could do better), but by the end of the night, he accepts it though warns Anoush to treat her well while also telling him he loves him too.
Expy: She's pretty clearly inspired by Mona Lisa Vito from My Cousin Vinny, as a seemingly ditzy woman with a strong Brooklyn accent who turns out to be very intelligent in her chosen field (cars for Mona Lisa, child psychology for Vanessa). Amanda even compares her to Mona Lisa's actress Marisa Tomei.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible to Louie's Foolish — she can certainly act like your archetypal Jersey Girl, but Vanessa is insightful with people (given her field) and knows when to be professional, and she has more going for her career-wise than her brother.
Hidden Depths: At first glance, she seems to be a typical loud, brash, Joisey girl. She quickly reveals herself to be a very knowledgeable and skilled child psychologist.
Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Subverted. Daniel and Amanda think she's this because of her ditzy demeanor, but she really does know her stuff.
Nice Girl: She's blunt but means well, giving a good analysis of Anthony without being condescending. During the fight between Anoush and Louie LaRusso, she handles the issue reasonably, breaking them up and afterward not getting mad at either, understanding Louie just lost his temper because he was worried for her well-being and Anoush was just acting in self-defense.
Older Than They Look: Maybe. Her father, Louie Sr., was shown to be 70 and gravely ill as of 1985, so unless he got better and conceived her after the events of III, she was born prior to '85 and is in her mid-30's at least, but Julia Macchio was in her late 20's when she started playing Vanessa, and showed.
Reasonable Authority Figure: She makes it a point of not officially diagnosing Anthony with any disorders until she gathers all the facts, which includes analyzing Daniel and Amanda first and consulting the DSM-IV.

Louie Larusso Sr.

Played by: Joseph V. Perry

Appearances: The Karate Kid Part III

Daniel's ill uncle and father to Louie Jr. and Vanessa.

Incurable Cough of Death: Although it's unconfirmed whether he died from it, his only appearance is coughing violently as a consequence of his emphysema.
Posthumous Character: He's long gone by the events of Cobra Kai. Unsurprising given that he was 70 in 1985 and suffering from emphysema.
Small Role, Big Impact: While he only has one scene and is shown to be gravely ill, his illness is what causes Daniel's mother Lucille to stay in New Jersey to care for him rather than join Daniel in Reseda where she expected him to attend college. This allows Daniel to follow his plan to give up on college and use his tuition money to open a bonsai shop with Mr. Miyagi, kickstarting many of the events in the third film.

Extended Steiner Family

Mr. Steiner

Amanda’s unseen father from whom she is estranged.

Abusive Parents: He and Amanda didn't get along and it is implied that he wasn't a good father to her.
Awful Wedded Life: Presumed as Amanda mentioned that near the end of her school years, her parents' marriage was falling apart and they divorced afterwards.
The Ghost: We haven't met him once in the series.
No Name Given: While his ex-wife's name is revealed to be Joanne (Jo for short), his name remains unknown.
Unnamed Parent: His first name is unknown.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Implied, due to him cheating on his wife with Amanda's math tutor, but who expected that Amanda was gonna possibly smash up her tutor's car with a baseball bat afterwards?
What Happened to the Mouse?: It is unknown if he is still alive or is currently living elsewhere, though it is likely he and Amanda have no contact with each other.

Joanne Steiner

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5a5b3fea_76f3_49f3_971a_c3333811f192.jpeg

"I’m just saying marriage became obsolete when we invented electricity and television."

Played By: Rachelle Carson-Begley

Appearances: Cobra Kai

Amanda's mother, who lives in Ohio.

Awful Wedded Life: Presumed as Amanda mentioned that in her later high school years, her parents' marriage was falling apart and they divorced after her arrest. Joanne also mentions her belief that marriage is becoming obsolete, indicating she doesn't look back on hers with fondness.
Connected All Along: Joanne is the maternal aunt of Daniel's friend Jessica, who he met in the third movie, which leads to him becoming Joanne's son-in-law when Daniel marries Jessica's cousin Amanda.
Good Parents: Joanne is shown to be a kind woman and very close to her daughter. She supports Amanda while the latter is having a difficult time in her marriage, and given how Amanda didn’t get along with her dad, it can be very much assumed that she and Joanne have always had a very loving relationship.
Unseen No More: She was only mentioned in the Season 4 episode "Kicks Get Chicks" before appearing in the next season's "Extreme Measures".

Jessica Andrews

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/be9d9063_e630_41f3_9346_401ae92fc24e.jpeg

"Daniel, on the other hand, has every reason to hate Terry Silver after what he put him through."

^{Click here to see her in 1985 as a younger woman}

Played By: Robyn Lively

Appearances: The Karate Kid Part III | Cobra Kai

An employee at a pottery across Mr. Miyagi's bonsai store who befriends Daniel. She later introduces him to her cousin Amanda, whom Daniel eventually marries.

Affectionate Nickname: Her cousin Amanda calls her "Jessie".
Age-Gap Romance: Even though their characters were about the same age in the movie, actress Robyn Lively was 11 years younger than Ralph Macchio, and it showed. Ralph has gone on the record saying he was unhappy with it himself, especially since he got married in between filming of Part II and III.
Better as Friends: Though Daniel clearly intended for their night out together to be a date, Jessica admits that she's planning on getting back together with her boyfriend and the two decide to be friends instead. This ends up working out well for Daniel in the long term when Jessica sets him up with his wife.
The Bus Came Back: She returns in season 5 of Cobra Kai, revealing she’s Amanda’s cousin and was actually the one who introduced Daniel to her.
Call-Back: She has Mac n' Cheese in case Daniel wants some.
Cool Aunt: Sam and Anthony both seem to like her.
Cool Big Sis: Technically Cousin, but she and Amanda are very close, with Jessica always willing to lend an ear to her troubles.
Disposable Love Interest: Exaggerated. The writers don't even wait for the sequel to dispose of her. Though she does play a role in introducing what would be Daniel's long-term love interest.
Fiery Redhead: Downplayed as she's mainly friendly, but Jessica has red hair and isn't afraid to stand her ground against bullies like Snake or Elizabeth-Anne Rooney.
Girl Next Door: She's fairly cute, rather tomboyish, and works at a pottery store across the street from Miyagi and Daniel's bonsai store.
Irony: The one female lead character from the original trilogy that actively friend-zoned Daniel ends up being the one to introduce him to her cousin and his future wife, Amanda.
The Matchmaker: For Daniel and Amanda, having put them in contact when Amanda moved to LA. She even helps fix their rocky marriage by disclosing Daniel's turbulent history with Terry Silver and Mike Barnes to Amanda, and advising her to cut her husband some slack over his recent recklessness.
Nice Girl: She is shown to be friendly, open, and caring to Daniel. Even by forgiving Daniel after she got angry at him for breaking the nose of Terry's lackey that he sent to harass them.
The Not-Love Interest: Although she plays a very similar role to Ali and Kumiko in the first two films, she and Daniel develop a platonic rather than romantic relationship after she informs him that she's getting back together with her old boyfriend. She was originally intended to be an actual love interest, but this was changed because Ralph Macchio was uncomfortable with the age gap between himself and Robyn Lively.
Oh, Crap!: When she realizes that Terry Silver has returned to Daniel's life.
Put on a Bus: She goes back home to Ohio midway through the movie, and is never seen or mentioned again. Probably because the producers realized the aforementioned Age-Gap Romance just wasn't working.
Small Role, Big Impact:
- She's a fairly minor character in Part III, being Put on a Bus before the final tournament, but if not for her, Daniel and Amanda would never have met, and Sam and Anthony would never have been born.
- Even better, in her guest appearance in Season 5, she plays a role in repairing Daniel and Amanda's marriage by finally revealing to the latter just how absolutely dangerous Silver is and how badly he truly screwed with Daniel.

Honorary Members

Nariyoshi Miyagi

See Miyagi-Do and Associates.

LaRusso Auto Group

Current Employees

Anoush Norouzi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ck_s3_anoush.png

Played By: Dan Ahdoot

Appearances: Cobra Kai

"Look, I know you and Daniel have beef. He kicked your ass in high school, you've been stewing, but I got enough crap to deal with without getting involved in your little karate soap opera, so..."

Daniel's employee at the car dealership.

Beleaguered Assistant: In Season 3, Tom Cole - his new boss - can't even remember his name. He comes back to Daniel after Daniel makes him a better offer.
Casanova Wannabe: He talks constantly about all the women he dates, who by his own description have a ton of issues and low self-esteem.
Excellent Judge of Character:
- While he briefly joins Tom Cole's staff in Season 2 because of Daniel's conflicting commitments with the latter's auto company and Miyagi-Do, he makes a Heel–Face Turn back to LaRusso Auto due to Cole's poor treatment of him.
- In Season 5, he is able to recognize something shady is going on with Terry Silver (which is a major accomplishment, as Silver is a master at maintaining a Faux Affably Evil personality) and decides to financially troll him by having the most expensive tequila on Silver's tab.
Hidden Depths:
- He's a bit of a sleazebag, but he does give Daniel sound advice when it comes to having to deal with Sam and her dating life.
- Despite working for Tom Cole at the start of Season 3, he still holds stronger loyalty to the LaRussos, which stirs him to disclose to them about Tom's upcoming contract with Doyona and eventually decides to work for them again because he recognizes that the LaRussos have always treated him better and were good people, despite the stigma they were receiving as a result of the school fight.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
- In season 2, he winds up quitting and taking a job with Tom Cole after Daniel's focus on Miyagi-Do forces him to pick up the slack, being hit with a lot of extra responsibility with no promotion or extra pay accompanying it. The business lunch he was supposed to have with Daniel and Amanda, which Daniel blew off for more time training his students, is the last straw.
- Then in season 3, he goes back to working for the LaRussos because in spite of the above, they did treat him better and were never intentionally negligent. Also, Tom Cole doesn't seem to know Anoush's first name (calling him "Faroush" at one point) and never seemed to care to.
Only Sane Man: In Season 2, he's joined Amanda in recognizing how ridiculous Daniel and Johnny's feud is and just wants to focus on the business at the car dealership instead of getting involved.
Rage Breaking Point: In Season 5, Louie punches him for dating his sister. Anoush responds by bull rushing Louie, knocking him to the ground and brawling with him.
Those Two Guys: He is almost always seen in the company of Louie.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Louie are constantly making fun of each other, and Anoush often seems irritated by Louie's immaturity, but it's clear that the two are very good friends.

Former Employees

Robby Keene

See Robby's character page here

Characters / The Karate Kid: The LaRusso Family

Core LaRusso Family