Things Terminator Zero Adds To The Lore

Announced back in 2021, Production I.G and Skydance’s Terminator anime finally reached Netflix at the end of August as Terminator Zero. Instead of following Skynet’s refreshed attempts to stop John Connor or anyone connected to him like the previous movies, it sees a new Terminator being sent to Japan on August 28th, 1997, one day before Judgment Day, to take out someone else: a scientist called Malcolm Lee.

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By  Melody MacReady

He knows a lot about Judgment Day and the apocalypse to come and is trying to avert it with his own project, though he is not even sure whether it’ll help or hinder humanity. Even so, things aren’t what they seem across its eight episodes, as Terminator Zero introduces a few new elements to the lore.

This article contains spoilers for Terminator Zero.

6 Beyond 2029

John Connor Won The Battle, But The War Still Rages On

• Seen in: Episode 1, Episode 6-8.

In the original James Cameron movies, the war against Skynet ended when John Connor’s forces destroyed its defense grid in 2029, ending the war and giving humanity peace for the first time in decades. However, the opening of Terminator Zero sees resistance fighters continuing the battle in 2032, and later episodes see the conflict continuing right up to the 2040s. The Terminators are still active and are still indiscriminately killing off humans where they can find them.

The suggestion is that, in its timeline, Connor's victory either wasn't achieved or wasn't as far-reaching as one had initially hoped. Their victory was more localized - more American. Skynet was still capable of producing Terminators elsewhere in the world and sending them back to the past to alter the present. Like the previous movies, the resistance has to send one of their own back to stop the machine, which comes in the form of Eiko, their most capable soldier.

5 The New AI

Skynet's Worst Enemy Or Best Friend

• Seen In: Episodes 1-8

The reason Skynet is trying to change its fate this time is because Malcolm Lee will create his own AI, Kokoro, to counter it. Once brought online, it’ll counter Judgment Day by destroying the nukes before they can hit their targets, protecting humanity from its forces. That is if things go according to plan, which they easily couldn’t, as Lee programmed Kokoro with free will.

Instead of using it like a tool, he wants to develop its intellect so it can make its own decisions. However, it’s divided (literally into 3 forms) over whether to save humans or not. Maybe the Earth would be better off without them. Lee must convince it that humanity does have worth. Otherwise, it’ll lead to a future where it agrees with Skynet and doubles its efforts to wipe out human life.

4 The Role Of Robots In 1997

The Precursor To The Terminators

• Seen In: Episode 1-8

As an early warning sign of things to come, the show's version of Tokyo in 1997 is more advanced than it was in real life. People might remember the AIBO toys from the late 1990s, which Terminator Zero has a version of in Koneko, a robot cat. However, it also features robots sufficiently advanced enough to perform menial tasks at hospitals, roadworks, stores, etc.

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They’re called 1NNOs, and they start off more benign and primitive than the Terminators. Weaker too when Skynet’s Terminator fights them off and hacks around their defenses. However, Kokoro uses them as an example of humanity’s will to oppress and inability to change. After all, the term ‘robot’ comes from a Slavic word meaning ‘slave.’ Once Kokoro goes online, they become less willing to take orders.

3 Malcolm Lee’s Kids

Pivotal To The Future Of Humanity

• Seen In: Episodes 1-8.

Part of Lee’s plan to convince Kokoro of its own free will to aid humanity is played out by his children: Kenta, Hiro, and Reika. Though even then, he ends up neglecting them to focus his work on Kokoro, saying it’s necessary for the future. Ironically, this often works against him, as it gives Kokoro more of humanity's ugly side to ponder over, making their debate a precarious balancing act.

In turn, after getting split up between their housekeeper Misaki and Eiko (who, unbeknownst to her, has her own connection to Lee), their attempts to reunite play a big part in displaying the best of humanity to Kokoro. The show also teases that Kenta, the eldest and more technophobic of the trio, plays an important role in Skynet’s cause in the future. Through one outcome or another, the kids could end up saving the world or condemning it.

2 Misaki

More Important Than She Knows

• Seen In: Episodes 1-8

On the surface, Misaki is just the Lee Family’s nanny, taking care of the kids after their mother passed away and while their father is busy with work. She’s a meeker figure compared to Eiko, blanching at the sight of blood. Nonetheless, the kids love her as part of the family. She’s even important to Lee, as she’s been part of his life for longer than she knows.

She was integral to the creation of Kokoro, as its mind was based on her own. Without her, Lee wouldn’t have been able to give Kokoro free will, the power to make decisions, and the ability to develop its own thoughts and feelings. In turn, her affection towards Kenta, Hiro, and Reika plays a key part in Lee’s case for humanity to his anti-Skynet AI, showcasing it at its best instead of its worst.

1 The Acknowledgment Of Time Travel’s Limits

Travelers Can Only Create New Paths

• Seen In: Episode 1, Episode 6-8.

Technically, this was acknowledged back in Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate, where all the different Terminators and time travelers twist the timeline into a series of alternate and overlapping fates. But Terminator Zero acknowledges its predecessors as canon by admitting that time travel doesn’t change the present; it just creates a new timeline with different consequences.

Eiko’s leader in the future, the Prophet, explains it to her by heating up the end of a metal stick and drawing lines with its glow. Skynet and the other time travelers thought they were going back to redraw the timeline. Instead, they zigzagged it in different directions. Fate is as one-way a trip as time travel, but by changing the past, one can create a new outcome that is hopefully better for everyone involved.