Divalicious Review! Anime NYC Terminator Zero: The Terminator Is Back In Anime

By Caroline Cao | August 26, 2024 | Celebrity & Culture

Terminator’s back. And he’s wearing anime skin!

The room was stomping and clapping to Brad Fiedel’s iconic theme of the Terminator, the beloved sci-fi franchise that began with James Cameron’s Terminator starring Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Showrunner Mattson Tomlin, director Masashi Kudō, and production design coordinator Haruka Watanabe paid Anime NYC a visit to commence the two-episode premiere of Terminator Zero, a tale that goes beyond the Connor family.

This anime reimagining is set in Japan with the art of Production IG and Skydance Studio. It’s appropriate that Production I.G. is at the helm since it animated Ghost in the Shell and splashed its own style into its Terminator world.

Timothy Olyphant as The Terminator in Terminator Zero.

The English dub boasts a stacked cast. Timothy Olyphant feels impeccably cast as the Terminator (an iteration designed with Asiatic features). André Holland voices the workaholic AI scientist Malcolm Lee, the unfortunate target of the Terminator. Also, Sonoya Mizuno voices Eiko, a time-traveling Resistance member out to stop the Terminator’s evil to save her time period and stop Judgement Day.

I did not view this English dub but started with the excellent Japanese original version. Before, moderator Khleo Thomas held a crowd contest to determine whether the English dub or the Japanese version with English subtitles was preferred. Subs won, so they rolled it.

An unanticipated snafu ensued when the English subtitles popped up, and the audience realized hundreds in the room could not read them, provoking shouts from the crowd. Luckily, the tech people were champs, and they adjusted the screen, much to loud applause.

André Holland voices Malcolm Lee. Screenshot from the trailer.

While I’m disallowed from discussing much of the first two episodes, I’m glad to report that the anime is a pulpy ride that harkens back to the militant violence of the movie series—the IG animation is unmatched in griming up the dystopic AI-dependent worlds. The audience can really feel immersed in the bleakness of the atmosphere.

This trailer is definitely NSFW. The first season of Terminator Zero arrives on Netflix on August 29.