Netflix’s 10/10 Martial Arts Series Is So Good, It Makes Cobra Kai Look Small

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For years, Cobra Kai was Netflix’s top martial arts series, but a newer show has surpassed it in terms of its overall vision and scale. Considering Cobra Kai was created by the team behind the nostalgic comedies Hot Tub Time Machine and Harold & Kumar, it’s not surprising the show heavily features ‘80s references and themes.

Initially, Cobra Kai felt like a comedy. The show revisits the story of Johnny Lawrence, the villain from the original Karate Kid, decades after his defeat by Daniel LaRusso. We quickly learn Johnny hasn’t had an easy life and is struggling with personal issues. This sets up the show’s surprising storyline: the former bully starts a dojo to teach troubled teens self-defense. Through teaching, Johnny is forced to confront his own past and re-evaluate who he is.

Though Cobra Kai successfully brought back interest in martial arts shows, particularly with its popularity on Netflix, the series mainly revolved around Johnny, Daniel, and their students. While later seasons did a good job of bringing back familiar faces from the original movies, the story always centered on Johnny’s transformation from a bad guy to a more complex hero. However, Netflix’s new hit, Bloodhounds, features a much larger, more detailed, and more ambitious storyline.

The Scope And Ambition Of Bloodhounds Make Netflix’s Martial Arts Show Feel Epic

Similar to the Japanese film Bet, the series Bloodhounds centers around a main character who has to use their special abilities to go undercover in a dangerous criminal world to help a family member. Woo Do-hwan plays Kim Gun-woo, an ex-Marine and talented boxer who hopes to earn enough money to rescue his mother from debt. But when a seemingly trustworthy loan company, Smile Capitol, scams her, he’s pulled into a dark and treacherous underworld.

Smile Capitol, run by loan shark Kim Myeong-gil (Park Sung-woong), isn’t a legitimate business – it’s a criminal operation that targets vulnerable people. When Kim Gun-woo’s mother falls into their grasp, he’s forced to partner with Hong Woo-jin, a former Marine who’s more focused on results than heroism. As the first season of Bloodhounds unfolds, their increasingly brutal confrontations drag them deeper into the city’s dangerous criminal world.

Bloodhounds Can Get Even Bigger As The Action Thriller Series Continues

Even after stopping the people behind Smile Capitol, our heroes still have a fight on their hands. Season 2 introduces a new challenge: an underground boxing ring controlled by a dangerous crime organization. This expands the story, bringing in new enemies, allies, and surprising twists to this action-packed buddy drama.

While Cobra Kai keeps its story relatively focused on local rivalries, Bloodhounds expands much further. A key part of what makes the Karate Kid spin-off enjoyable is that, despite the high stakes of each fight, the action mainly takes place within a single town. Bloodhounds, however, presents a sprawling and genuinely frightening criminal world.

Like all good action shows, Bloodhounds needs to keep raising the stakes to stay exciting. Since the main characters, Kim Gun-woo and Hong Woo-jin, are already established as skilled fighters, the show tries to top Netflix’s Cobra Kai by introducing bigger challenges and new enemies in different locations.

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2026-05-09 21:03