The Terminator franchise has been unable to move onto new ideas for a while.
This was especially apparent with the latest movie, Dark Fate, where the writers got rid of John Connor and Skynet, only to replace them with pretty much exactly the same thing.
So, it is quite the welcome surprise to see an anime of all things finally take the series in a fresh direction with Terminator Zero.
Don’t get me wrong, the anime definitely rehashes things from the previous films, most notably the Terminator traveling back in time to achieve a goal for Skynet, and a human also going back to stop them.
But there is not an overload of these Terminator tropes, and it balances well with the new stuff.
Directed by Masashi Kudō and written by Mattson Tomlin, the series focuses on the Lee family in the leadup to Judgement Day.
The father, Malcolm (Yuuya Uchida), is somehow aware of the coming AI apocalypse, and is creating the AI known as Kokoro (Atsumi Tanezaki) in the hopes of combating it.
In the future, Skynet sends a Terminator to stop him, and this Terminator is pursued by a highly skilled resistance soldier named Eiko (Toa Yukinari).
However, the Terminator will stop at nothing to get to Malcolm, even using his children Reika (Miyuki Sato), Kenta (Hiro Shimono) and Hiro (Shizuka Ishigami) against him.
It is up to Eiko and the children’s nanny Misako (Saori Hayami) to protect them from the Terminator, all the while Malcom engages in a philosophical debate with Kokoro to convince her to stop Judgement Day.
The Terminator franchise has been focused on the Connors and America since its inception, so it was fresh for the story to center on a different part of the world and a different family.
The events of Judgement Day play out very differently than America, so it made for an interesting watch.
As for the Lee family, some of them are more likeable than others.
Reika is definitely the standout, while Malcolm and Kenta could be pretty unlikeable at times, although their decisions still seem in character to me.
Eiko remains a strong fighter throughout, but it was Misaki’s storyline that I gravitated the most to, especially with how the mystery surrounding her played out.
Speaking of mysteries, there are a few good twists in here that brought some fun surprises.
The animation is solid, even if the CGI did stick out like a sore thumb on a couple of occasions.
This was only occasionally though, as the CGI is usually great, and the action is really enjoyable.
There is an action scene which is definitely a direct homage to an iconic moment from the first Terminator, so the series does a good job of bringing new things to the table while paying tribute to the old.
Another thing I want to praise is the score, with one track played towards the end of Episode Four being a particular highlight.
So, the production quality of the anime remains pretty consistent throughout, even if the writing does falter a bit towards the end.
Yeah, for me, there was a drop in writing quality during the last few episodes.
The way characters came to certain conclusions did not really work for me, and a couple of things felt a little rushed.
There are also some plot holes or just things unresolved with the time travel aspects of the show, but these issues could be fix with a second season, if we get it.
Overall, though, Terminator Zero is the freshest direction the franchise has taken in a while.
I might even go so far as to say it is the best installment since Terminator 2, although that is one of the greatest movies ever made so there is quite a big gap between that and this.
If you are a fan of the Terminator franchise, I would definitely recommend Terminator Zero.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 