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Series · Action, Sports, Drama · 2018 · TV-14

Cobra Kai: parents' guide

13+our pick

Best for ages 13 and up. Rated TV-14.

A fun, nostalgic martial-arts drama that many families with young teens watch together, picking up decades after The Karate Kid. Rival dojos run by old enemies Johnny Lawrence and Daniel LaRusso pull a new generation of teens into feuds, tournaments and street fights over six seasons. Fights happen nearly every episode, with real injuries, a school-wide brawl that breaks a teen's back, and several deaths in the final season, including a teen's. Expect frequent s-words, some f-words later on, teen drinking, heavy drinking by adults, implied sex and lots of bullying. Age 13 matches the TV-14 rating.

What's in it

Violence

Moderate

Constant hand-to-hand fighting in tournaments, schools and streets, with kicks, chokeholds, cuts and bruises but little gore. A boy breaks his back in a fall and another goes through a glass window. Season 6 turns deadly: a teen fighter is fatally impaled and several adults die.

Language

Moderate

Frequent milder profanity: up to about nine s-words an episode by one count, plus "ass," "bitch," "dick," "pussy" and "prick." Seasons 5 and 6 add f-words, three in an episode by one count, and Johnny aims ethnic insults at a Latino teen.

Sex and nudity

Moderate

Teens kiss, date and talk about buying condoms, and several couples, including teens, are implied to sleep together. Brief partial rear nudity, crude jokes, and a boyfriend aggressively tries to grope a girl at the movies before she fends him off.

Drinking, drugs and smoking

Moderate

Johnny drinks beer from the moment he wakes up and even while driving. Teens drink at parties, sometimes alongside parents, one vapes, a character admits past cocaine use, and a villain smokes cigars. An adult arrives drunk at a cocktail party.

Scary or intense scenes

Moderate

Tense rivalries more than scares. Heavier moments include a teen girl finding her mother dead, kids being bullied and humiliated, a manipulative sensei's cruelty and a young fighter's death.

Sensitive topics

  • Bullying
  • School violence
  • Death of a parent
  • Racism
  • Death of a child

Worth talking about

Ask whether the fights ever really solve anything, and how characters like Johnny and Robby change once they stop treating each other as enemies.

Where to stream →

On our lists

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Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Wikipedia, netflix.com. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.