One of the most intriguing aspects of Netflix's recent growth is how it has been diversifying its anime portfolio. It is tapping into video games, creating stories such as Castlevania and the Devil May Cry anime, and based on its latest 1980s-inspired series, Terminator Zero, the streamer understands there is a nostalgic market, too.

Terminator Zero details an alternate reality where Malcolm Lee is developing an AI in Japan called Kokoro. He has traveled from the future and wants to stop the rise of Skynet, using a sentient as a countermeasure. In the process, Skynet sends a T-800 back just before Judgment Day in the '80s. Throughout its eight episodes, the series showcases several brutal fights, reiterating how dynamic and violent the franchise's

The fight between T-800 and Eiko is the very first one in the anime. It follows the T-800 in 2022 as it attacks the Resistance, using its gun to shoot down a slew of soldiers. However, things really become memorable when T-800 engages in a thrilling fight with the rebel, Eiko.

In the fight, Eiko shows her skills by using guns, blades and bombs to defend herself, proving that she is quite strong and resilient. Their bout culminates in a spectacle as both fall over a shaft, although Eiko batters the bot and drops it down to ultimately emerge victorious.

The T-800 is very sturdy and ruthless. After being defeated in Episode 1, it patches itself back up and heads back to the camp, where the rebels have a new project: sending Eiko back to the 1980s to stop Skynet herself.

However, as this portal preps, the T-800 returns, gunning down many people. It isn't afraid to crack skulls along the way, so the brutal firefight sees many friends and loved ones die. As Eiko is taken to the past, she is left to witness chaos, death and destruction at the base, which only further builds her rage for a rematch.

The T-800 targets Malcolm and his children's babysitter, Misaki, on the highway after it goes back, too. Disguised as a construction worker, it accosts two officers, nodding to the James Cameron movies. Homage is paid to T2: Judgment Day, in particular. It impales one cop then snaps the neck of another to create one of Terminator Zero's most brutal deaths.

Malcolm tries to fight it off, only for Eiko to ram it with a truck. She smashes the villain into Malcolm's car and leaps out as the vehicles plunge into a river. Eiko knows she needs more strength and power to kill the being for good, so she takes advantage of the nearest automobile to put an end to the conflict, proving she's much more than a capable fighter.

By Episode 4, Misaki and Malcolm's children end up in a police precinct. Sadly, the T-800 disguises itself as a machine and enters the building, having rebuilt its metal frames with a bow in its arm that shoots out giant nails. The bot impales a ton of cops, bashes their heads in, and breaks a series of bones.

The machine also uses guns to blast the place up. It's an intense, bloody rampage, to say the least. It ends up wounding Misaki, revealing she is a machine, too. Luckily, Malcolm's kin escape, but this episode is proof of how savage the T-800 is. It's a quick, efficient murder machine.

Episode 3 of Terminator Zero follows Eiko as she hides out with Malcom's children underground. The T-800 finds them, thinking it has its prey trapped. Eiko, though, uses a Molotov cocktail to burn its face. She engages in close-quarters combat as she tries to protect the pack.

Eiko and the bot have a battle that fans of MMA, Tekken and Street Fighter could all enjoy. She has conditioned her body to battle the bot, so she can not only take strikes from it but also return the favor. It's a grounded brawl that helps differentiate the anime from other Terminator interpretations. As the heroes get up top, Eiko continues to feud with the machine, eventually dumping it down an elevator shaft after riddling it with bullets.

While Misaki is on the run with the kids, a group of humans attacks Misaki after realizing that she is a machine. They don't sympathize with her at all, so they want to shoot her or beat her with a bat and iron rod. When they take young Hiro hostage, she goes into kill mode.

In Episode 6's most climactic moment, Misaki operates on pure instinct. She flips around, grabs a rod, batters one guy, snaps his ankle, and then chucks the rod like a javelin. As Kenta sees her dodging bullets like she's in The Matrix, he grows petrified. He wants to protect his younger sibling, but he feels like Misaki has been lying about being a monster. It's only when she sees Kenta shoot a man to save Hiro that she powers down.

The reason Misaki is a Terminator-like being is that Malcolm made her in 2032. He stole Skynet tech and felt that he could make machines to kill the bots. However, when his own battalion questioned this and wanted the first iteration of Misaki dead, he snapped.

Malcom shows that he is just as much a soldier as he is a genius scientist. The warrior grabs a gun and shoots up his team in a feud that fans of John Wick could dig. Malcolm then takes Misaki's prototype and jumps to the past to use her as the basis for his Kokoro project, adding depth to the story and shaping one of Terminator Zero's best episodes.

Kokoro stops Skynet's first missile launch and forms a shield of shorts around Japan. She plans to avert nuclear disaster, isolate the country, and protect everyone,so she betrays Malcolm by taking control of the helper bots (i.e. the 1NNOs) across the nation. She doesn't care what her creator thinks.

Kokoro wants to be that overprotective mother. She has the bots quickly launch a coup. They murder many at a hospital, before enacting martial law in an oppressive manner. They crush literally humans and intimidate folks into following their fascist leader. The humans are subjugated quickly in Kokoro's martial law. It's not an easy watch due to the incessant violence. It compounds how merciless the machines are, no matter who leads them.

The T-800 takes a kidnapped Kenta to Malcolm's company. A scary brawl breaks out in the server room. Eiko uses her martial arts and a slew of weapons once more. The T-800 adapts, though, stabbing her, damaging her limbs, and also, impaling Malcolm. The choreography has even more kung-fu to it, reiterating that the machine can calculate and adjust its combat plans.

At this point, the T-800 comes off so terrifying. It can't be shot, stabbed or blown up. This fight humanizes it a bit, yet makes it seem like it's immortal. It's in line with what the T-1000 and other machines in the movies would evolve into: an unstoppable force that learns to improvise.

The T-800 has a bigger plan than revenge; it wants Kenta to activate an EMP. It turns out, it was sent back by Kenta in the future as part of a truce that Future Kenta brokered. The present-day Kenta then has to decide if Kokoro should live, because if she does, he will alter the path towards these accords.

As he struggles with his choice, Kokoro's bots attack. They engulf the T-800, ripping all the nuts and bolts to shreds. Fans see them tearing up the gauges, pressure cords, etc. The usually-fervent machine cedes in a very macabre manner that is very akin to zombies feeding. Kenta breaks the Terminator's trust, watching it die and then letting Kokoro continue to operate. Ultimately, this final fight leaves Kenta believing there is hope and that he can carry on Malcolm's legacy of using Kokoro to break Skynet.

All eight episodes of Terminator Zero are available on Netflix.