The style and substance of the Terminator franchise seemed to fit perfectly with an anime style. When it was announced that Terminator Zero was coming to Netflix from Mattson Tomlin and directed by Masashi Kudo, the hype was understandable. The premise adds on to what we’ve already seen in The Terminator with Skynet taking over the world and becoming self-aware. This time around, a scientist named Malcolm Lee (voiced by Andre Holland) makes an AI that competes with Skynet. Judgment Day approaches in 1997 as Lee and his children face attacks from a Terminator sent back in time, his own rogue AI, and there’s a soldier from the future in 2022 sent to protect them.

Terminator Zero has eight episodes and releases on August 29th, 2024.

So, the question is, how does this add to the overall Terminator mythos, and is it worth watching?

Very Stylish, Just Get Through The First Couple Episodes

My biggest issue with Terminator Zero was that the first three episodes or so are pretty slow. It takes a bit to get into. The kids on the show are also grating to listen to until they’re getting chased by the Terminator. The show’s format also jumps from character to character, but the storyline with Malcolm ends up being the most interesting of the first three episodes. If you can sit through the annoying kids, you’ll be greatly rewarded with the action of the following episodes. The main characters here are The Terminator (voiced by Timothy Olyphant), Malcolm, Eiko (voiced by Sonoya Mizuno), Kokoro (voiced by Rosario Dawson), The Prophet (voiced by Ann Dowd), Kenta (voiced by Armani Jackson), Reika (voiced by Gideon Adlon), and Misaki (voiced by Sumalee Montano).

Once you’re in the thick of the series, though, it gets powerful. The action is fluid and incredibly hard-hitting. You can feel it every time the Terminator snaps someone’s neck or blows. One scene in the middle section of the series evokes imagery from the Police Station shootout of the first film but takes it to an even more violent degree. There are some particularly great revelations in the story as you go on, including a shocking twist with one of the principal characters.

The twisting storylines eventually come together, and you end up with a solid anime series. The voice talent, especially Timothy Olyphant, is at the top of their game. He doesn’t say many lines, but when he does, it’s about as creepy as they come. The best thing about Terminator Zero is that it brings back a sense of dread and terror to the series. The original film had it with The Terminator rampaging to get to Sarah Connor, and the anime medium allows for there to be loads of violence and a moody vibe to the entire thing.

Terminator Zero might borrow quite a bit from the series already, but with some kickass new music, and a voice cast that is at the top of their game, it is still very much worth a watch.

You can watch all eight episodes of Terminator Zero on Netflix right now.

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