Terminator 0

Decades after the sentient artificial intelligence Skynet took control of the planet in 2022, the resistance is still fighting against the machines. Following a fierce battle, Eiko, a guerilla soldier in Japan, manages to corner a Terminator—Skynet's elite killing cyborg. Eiko extracts crucial details of its plan, allowing the resistance to send her back in time and secure a different future.

In August 1997, days before Skynet's looming nuclear attack known as Judgment Day, Malcolm Lee works on launching Kokoro, a new AI model designed to fight for humanity. As Judgement Day approaches, a Terminator arrives in Japan to hunt Malcolm and his children before Kokoro becomes self-aware. Malcolm must prevent his creation from getting misaligned and coming to the same conclusion as Skynet: the extinction of humans.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Terminator Main

Mamiya, Yasuhiro Japanese

Eiko Main

Yukinari, Toa Japanese

Lee, Malcolm Main

Uchida, Yuuya Japanese

Misaki Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Lee, Reika Supporting

Satou, Miyuki Japanese

Kokoro Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Fujino Supporting

Cho Japanese

Annie Supporting

Shimoyamada, Ayaka Japanese

Shiraki Supporting

Azakami, Youhei Japanese

Natsuko Supporting

Keichou, Yuka Japanese

Banshou, Kouichi Producer

Kudou, Masashi Director, Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Takeuchi, Tomomi Episode Director

Maruyama, Yuuta Episode Director

Reviews

Sep 23, 2025

DankHonesty

Recommended

"Is humanity worthy of existence or complete destruction?" this is the question the viewer is asked.

Terminator 0 is a solid sci-fi story that, seeming simple at first, has many mysteries to unravel and showcase. Well executed pacing, foreshadowing, and compact length make it an enjoyable watch all the way through. Careful balancing is struck between dialogue, action, and horror: all three having places to shine without overshadowing the others. The show respects your intelligence and leaves much of what happens for the audience to decipher. Though, the clear desire of the creators for a season 2 leaves a little bit too much of ... the mystery in the air.


The production of Terminator 0 may not be anything special, (especially its uneven CGI usage) but it certainly gets the job done and is rarely offensive. The backgrounds, compositing, and the music are parts of the production that stand out the most.


Any who enjoy sci-fi should give this a watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 7, 2025

VenusDeluxe

Mixed Feelings

I enjoyed this show, but I was never fully into it. Going outside the perspective of the US and the Connor family and all that is great to see of course, disconnecting completely from what we've seen in the films. Being in Japan where there aren't just gun stores everywhere makes for some slightly different kind of action than you usually get from Terminator and I like how they took advantage of that. Plus there's sort of a meta narrative going on about the endless cycle the franchise itself has been stuck in from the beginning and how it could finally break free. There's a ... lot to like about Terminator Zero, but there still wasn't anything that truly grabbed my attention and had me sitting up in my chair. I was never fully invested in the characters even if there was an interesting underlying motivation somewhere in them. It's fine enough for what it is. Maybe Terminator just doesn't work in quite the same way for me in animation as it does in live-action. There's a feeling I get from Terminator that I can't quite get out of this show. The excitement of the stuntwork seen in moments like Arnold jumping onto a moving truck while shooting up another Terminator is a very specific appeal that you can't just transplant 1-to-1 I feel. Not to say it's bad by any means, I had a good time. I just wasn't in love with it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 16, 2025

perseii

Not Recommended

Terminator Zero is typical "Netflix content," seemingly created for a single purpose: to fill a hole in the streaming platform's line-up, labeled "sci-fi," "anime" and "violent." Underneath its Terminator-brand skin and a nice coat of paint, there is a "product" that is simply going through the motions with unexciting action, incoherent and unsatisfying story, flat characters and only vaguely interesting ideas.

The story is, like every Terminator movie, a straightforward action thriller with some philosophical musings sprinkled in. This time around, we follow a scientist, locked in a room ruminating and agonizing for most of the runtime, and some kids and their guardians, on a ... dreary trek through abandoned buildings and empty streets. The story here just stumbles from event to event with no real sense of flow or build-up, with things happening seemingly because they are supposed to happen in a Terminator story. Of course there has to be a sequence at a police station. There is some shocking development around the half-way point, but it has surprisingly little impact on the characters and the overall story, which ends with a whimper and a tease for a sequel that will likely never come.

On a more positive note, Terminator Zero toys with some interesting concepts (which is more than I can say about the last two movies). Can you debate and negotiate with AI? What will you sacrifice to prevent a future that may not even come to pass? Frustratingly, the show does not really follow up on any of them. The third-act "moment of truth" has no weight because the drawn-out debate goes out the window and the scene heavily relies on a character that has no good reason to be there and has little meaningful to say about the issue at hand. The show also tries to expand the world of Terminator, setting it in Tokyo and introducing rudimentary humanoid robots, but these quickly become irrelevant or reduced to simple plot devices. Basically every introduced idea is either discarded or poorly integrated with the characters and the story.

The action part of the overall package fares somewhat better. The action sequences are decently choreographed and thankfully do not lack for brutality. Some things do not make much sense (a human tackling a 400-pound hunk of metal cannot end well), but the bigger problem is that many of them feel strangely low-intensity. Good Terminator fights feel visceral, crunchy and unstoppable, but most fights in this show simply do not hit as hard; they feel awkward and floaty. There is one fight that feels a little different than usual, but it still feels derivative as it evokes Ghost in the Shell instead. It does not help that the action is bogged down by the constant questions of why this has to happen and why I should care about these people.

The characters we follow have no depth or personality. Scientist. Human from the future. Machine. Child. Everyone is at all times either stone-faced or distressed. Yes, Terminator has always been grim, but most of the movies remembered to crack a joke and add some character. The Terminator himself has no charisma, intimidating aura or an interesting gimmick here. Say what you will about Arnold (growing ever older), but there was a reason they kept wheeling him out in every movie; he has a distinct and likable presence. The human characters have unclear or uninteresting motivations, making odd and seemingly-random choices to move the plot forward. The children are the worst examples of this, as they constantly run off on a whim, make plot-critical discoveries by chance and act without understanding anything. It is difficult to care about them when I am not even sure if these people are human, in a way that I do not think was intentional.

The production quality is solid overall; this is Production I.G., after all. The visuals and sound are kept grounded to match the serious tone. The characters sometimes have stylistic, almost-neon colored outlines, which I like but some may find distracting. There is not much else notable that elevates the mediocre material, unfortunately.

Speaking of the technical aspects, the subtitles are a small point of irritation. The English subs often do not match the Japanese audio, to the point where subtitles appear when no one can be heard speaking. I assume the subs are matching the English dubs instead (which is probably how the original script was written by the American screenwriter), but the issue indicates a lack of care on Netflix’s part. Also, the English subs use far stronger language than is typical of an anime, so a timid Japanese babysitter dropping f-bombs frequently took me out of the show.

It is true that I am reviewing this as someone who has watched the Terminator movies and the TV series. I do love Terminator 2: Judgment Day (like a lot of people), but I would definitely not call myself a fan of the series. I still check them out because I believe that the core concept of Terminator still has some legs; fighting off and running away from a highly-advanced killing machine satisfies my action brain, while artificial intelligence and time travel tickle the sci-fi brain. The franchise is long overdue for expansion and re-interpretation, especially now as we are entering the age of AI. Even if the anime did none of these things, I would have at least appreciated an exciting, high-quality retread. The show tries to do a bit of both and manages neither of them particularly well. At the end of the day, I just cannot imagine that the creatives involved with this project, especially the writer, particularly cared.

The most charitable way to describe this would be an unremarkable sci-fi action anime that passes the time. However, there is very little excitement, cleverness or heart to be found here. As a Terminator show, it adds nothing to the franchise. If you want a sci-fi anime with robots, thought-provoking ideas, likable characters, an intriguing story and good production values, I would recommend Pluto instead (also on Netflix, incidentally). Terminator Zero is a plain waste of time and is destined to be forgotten in the vast Netflix trash heap.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Terminator 0 Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Ba-Cii10 - Aug 29, 2024	57 replies	by Kap92 »» Nov 22, 2025 4:44 PM
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