Terminator Zero

Terminator Zero isn’t a total disaster—it doesn't disgrace the Terminator universe, but it didn’t blow me away either. The action scenes were solid, and there’s plenty of blood to go around. However, there’s also a lot of philosophical pondering about whether humanity deserves to be saved — some of it works, but other times it feels empty and clichéd within the sci-fi genre. The characters were hit or miss for me; some were likable, but others, like Kenta, were downright annoying most of the time. Even Malcolm, who decides to fight fire with fire, wouldn't have convinced me if I were in Kokoro’s shoes. The story was decent enough, with a clear beginning and end, though a lot of the twists were pretty easy to predict. (Potential SPOILERS) For example, the identity of Misaki becomes obvious after a certain scene in a store, and you can figure out Eiko’s true nature just by seeing her friend reappear after some time. (END OF SPOILER). The creators leave such blatant clues that the big reveals don’t really surprise you. The ending was fine—it leaves room for a sequel but also ties up most loose ends, so it works either way. The animation was decent, though they did rely on CGI a bit (thankfully, not Skynet or any other AI). The one thing that bothered me was the weird purple or light green outlines around some characters, but otherwise, the scenes were well-detailed and the movements looked good when things got intense. The music did its job and fit the tone well. Overall, it’s an okay watch — nothing groundbreaking, but also nothing offensive. If they decide to continue the story, I wouldn’t mind checking it out. 6/10. (08/30/2024)