Karate Kid: Legends and Physical: Asia

Shows about physical competition!

Karate Kid: Legends

Li (played by Ben Wong) loves kung fu but is forced to give it up to move to New York with his mom. There's a moment where it looks like it will break the familiar formula of every Karate Kid movie before it which is exciting, but no. There's a girl, a rival, and a karate tournament which he needs to train for. 

Lucky his sifu (played by Jackie Chan) knows someone that can help with that training montage: the original Karate Kid Daniel La Russo (Ralph Macchio) last seen in Cobra Kai. Overall just an OK entry to the Karate Kid universe but I can't help but feel there was a potentially better movie hiding here if the script writers / producers just had enough balls to go for it. 

Physical: Asia 

This next installment of this series features eight teams of six from various countries in Asia (more like Asia-Pacific given Australia is one of the teams). Like previous seasons the very first episode is a lot of introduction but its easier to remember people this time around as there are only 48 in total? 

Some good personalities in this one!

Teams then perform "quests" to knock each other out / survive the competition which involve a good amount of team work, skill, and grit. The editing is again spot on for each episodes cliff-hanger, but if you haven't gotten used to the reaction-rewind-reaction#2 style of Korean TV this will put you through that ringer. :P We found it very entertaining and are even more in awe that many of the contestants from different countries have since become friends! The strong positive vibes make it super cool. It's like Masterchef Australia, but with athletes instead of cooks. Thumbs up!

Cobra Kai and Golden Kamuy 2

TV series that follow movies.

Cobra Kai

Set around thirty years after The Karate Kid, this show follows depressed alcoholic Johnny Lawrence (again played by William Zabka, antagonist from the film) as he tries start up Cobra Kai again, much to the dismay of his rival Daniel LaRusso (again played by Ralph Macchio) of Miyagi-do. While a lot of time is spent on the teen students of the various dojos the main heart of this series is the dynamic between this pair which makes for some excellent TV. As a bonus - yeah, the karate is ok too. 

My wife and I don't really remember the movies much but all the cameos and quick flash backs to them are super cool. Best of all, the story is completely wrapped up in Season Six which makes this a very binge worthy candidate if you haven't already seen it (and you don't need to have seen any of the movies to understand it). Big thumbs up, recommended!

Golden Kamuy 2

I ended my review Golden Kamuy by saying "Don't bother watching it until there's a Golden Kamuy 2", and lo and behold - here it is: a series directly taking place after the movie where our protagonists race to get all the pieces of a treasure map that's tattooed ON people! There are still some nice action sequences and a high frequency of bears but its like the writer gets distracted a lot and goes on tangents about cooking and the life style in that period (which for me is fascinating) but if you aren't a fan of Japanese style comedy this might be lost on you. 

For example, there's a killer who always gets a hard on after killing and they make sure the viewer knows about it in hilarious ways. Let's just say if you managed to make it through the movie then maybe this one is for you. We'll be waiting for season 2!