V time travel animeDespite the existence of time loops, stable and flexible timelines, and parallel dimensions, there are actually only two types of travel that can be made: from the present to the past or future, and from the past or future to the present. Plotwise, these two types of anime about time travel can be divided into two subgroups: in one of them, every action has huge consequences, and in the other, time travel is just a means to comment on the era that the protagonist explores (from now on , "Camping in Time" instead of "Time Travel").
genre time travel is not the most common in anime, but most often it is very high quality anime.
In practice, Time Camping media tends to be fairly uncomplicated and doesn't leave you with an aftertaste of bitter existential dread, but time travel shows are more rewarding to watch if you're into complex narrative mechanics. This list contains both because here at CBR we are really thoughtful people who really care about you.
[The article was updated on August 3, 2021]
Stein's Gate
If you can only watch one show about time travel this year, then you should do it. Not only does it have perfect time travel mechanics (like a stable time loop/parallel timelines), but it also features varied character designs this time around, as well as a protagonist who suffers from one and a half talkativeness, played in Japanese by Mamoru. Miyano, and in English by the incomparable J. Michael Tatum.
Both voice actors manage to bring out the best in their careers as Okabe, the protagonist, unravels as the effects of his time travel adventures pile up over and over again, this is voice acting that surpasses anything Disney can do.
Noein
This show could also be called "Quantum Physics 101". In a universe divided into two factions, the Shangri-La who want to destroy the space-time continuum and the Lacrima who won't let that happen, the key to saving everyone is the Dragon Torque, who is actually Haruka, the protagonist.
The show's main problem is the sheer amount of exposition, but anything can be forgiven as the writers have gone to great lengths to properly use quantum theory as an almost mystical story engine. It's also a great mix of genres, because it manages to pair those really cold bits of life with epic space battles and almost magical girls without violating any string theory.
Sagrada Reset
Don't be fooled by the appearance of a high school anime with a slice of life, this is camouflage for the level's backstoryx-men, full of philosophical dialogues. Kei, the protagonist who lives in Sakurada, has an eidetic memory like Haruhi Suzumiya's Yuki, and his good friend Misora can reset time to three days ago.
They both join the Service Club to help people, but just as the end of the first episode completely changes the idea of cutting life upside down, you will soon realize that there are other forces moving parts of this small village.. ItSo close to being a David Lynch film.
Tale of the Four and a Half Tatami
Based on the novel by Tomihiko Morimi, "Tatami Galaxy" is about an unnamed protagonist who reminisces about his life as a high school student at Kyoto University. The story goes back to the classic movie "Groundhog Day" , where the protagonist relives his college years over and over again as a member of different clubs in search of the perfect college experience.
With each new club, the narrator becomes more and more frustrated, as each one leaves him more and more frustrated until he decides to completely give up and stay in his tiny tatami room. The anime combines a unique visual style with a story that is a thoughtful contemplation of the importance of life in the moment and the dangers waiting for a great opportunity.
Zipang Is A Historical Time Travel Epic
Zipang is a historical military anime based on the manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi. The series is about the JDS team Mirai , the most modern destroyer of the Japanese fleet. One dayMirai gets caught in a strange storm, and after leaving the anomaly, the team discovers that they have been transported to June 1942, just at the start of the Battle of Midway.
Unlike most time travel anime in which the main characters try to change the past or the future, the team Zipang deliberately trying to avoid changing history. Despite all their efforts, the teamMirai's end up embroiled in conflict and history follows them as they attempt to counter the totalitarian and militaristic war propaganda.
From Scratch: Alternate World Survival Guide
Adapted from Tappei Nagatsuki's novel From Zero: An Alternate World Survival Guide, tells the story of Subaru Natsuki, a socially awkward young man who is suddenly transported to a new world. Upon arrival, he quickly dies and finds that he can rewind time to the point where he can change the outcome of events for himself and others.
Throughout the anime From Zero: Alternate World Survival Guide, Subaru dies over and over to save his friends and must live with the loneliness that comes when no one remembers his heroism. The series is a thoughtful analysis of the reverse side of changing the past, featuring great worldbuilders and compelling characters.
Magical Girl Madoka
Described by some as a deconstruction of the magical girl anime, Magical Girl Madoka follows a group of high school girls led by Madoka Kaname who form magical contracts to fight evil witches. However, the girls soon realize that the role of a sorceress is not all they need.
Magical Girl Madoka features complex themes, characters and narratives, including a storyline in which one of the magical girls relives each month in an attempt to save Madoka from a terrible fate. The series is emotional and unpredictable as it explores concepts that most magical girl anime never touch.
Erased Is A Time Traveling Murder Mystery
Based on the manga by Kei Sanba,Erased follows Satoru Fujinuma, a young man who has the ability to turn back time to a moment before a life-threatening incident. When Satoru's mother is killed, he flashes back eighteen years and is given the chance to save not only his mother, but some of his childhood friends as well.
Erased unites elements of time travel and murder mystery into a gripping narrative. Since its first episode, the anime has been captivating audiences with its beautiful animation, great pace, and deep themes including loneliness, violence, and courage in the face of fear.
Inuyasha
inuyasha, considered by fans to be one of the greatest anime of all time, tells the story of Kagome Higurashi, a fifteen-year-old girl from present-day Tokyo who is suddenly transported back to the Sengoku period in Japan. There, she meets Inuyasha, a half-dog, half-human demon, and joins him on his journey to find the shards of the magical Shikon Jewel.
Even though it's been over 20 years since it was released, Inuyasayte in The iconic storytelling and mesmerizing characters continue to delight fans new and old alike. As Kagome and Inuyasha travel between past and present, fans take a journey through time and Japan on an epic fantasy adventure of good and evil.
Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
Ifnoinis a great quantum primer, Haruhi Suzumiya's series will really get its collective hands dirty by playing with the goo of time. Although in the first season he sets time as a stable line with occasional closed-loop paradoxes and occasional earthquakes (where everything can be destroyed, but you know, that's normal when Suzumiya-kun is involved), sometimes he likes to mislead viewers to see alternate realities or split timelines, although these usually resolve at the end of a narrative arc.
Every conclusion has a mathematical formula, so Haruhi Suzumiya will make all Sheldon Coopers incredibly happy. where in the Haruhi series there is a very new approach, is to establish the difference between how humans can perceive and manage time, and how a very advanced AI that is not subject to our physical limitations, with infinite storage space, deals with the same problems. To do this, check outInfinite Eight - story arc and your mind will be blown.
A diary of the future
Yuki, a normal teenager, is drawn into a deadly battle to become a god. His main weapon? A very special mobile phone, through which he receives messages and advice from his future, and this allows him to somewhat foresee what will happen. However, all other fighters also have cell phones and what they can learn is determined by their personalities and weaknesses, and he has the best antagonist ever: Yuno.
Future Diary has a tournament format, with each episode featuring a battle between a weak Yuki and other deranged God candidates. However, the way the time travel mechanics are developed here (from the unstable timelines/parallel worlds category) is very interesting and well thought out, so it's a definite recommendation if you don't mind it being deviated a bit. to plunge into the world of militants a little. You will also like it if you love the countrymiracles of the dead.
The city where I'm not
It's hard to talk about Erased without mentioningThe Butterfly Effect and video gamesLife is Strange because they both share a lot of themes and mechanics with this story. Sato, the protagonist, can travel back in time for a few minutes to stop disasters, and he doesn't have much control over it.
However, when he is framed for the murder of his own mother, his mysterious gift takes him back 18 years back to his high school days, right before one of his classmates was killed by a serial killer. Sato really wants to save everyone around him, but if you've been watching"Butterfly Effect" , you will understand that it is not as easy as it seems, even for a person with the ability to travel through time. The soundtrack really adds an aspect to this mystical thriller and the sound mixing is just superb and if you watch the series with headphones it will take you right into the world.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Makoto, an outgoing high school student, falls on a nut-shaped object and gains the ability to literally jump through time, a prodigy that she quickly uses to make her life easier in many different ways. She feels great when she realizes that she has a number tattooed on her arm representing the total number of time jumps she is allowed to make. While this plot is by no means epic, form or form, it introduces a very intriguing concept: the idea of cumulative time jumps that work a bit like using your third genie to ask for more wishes. Very beautiful to look at, and also very much alive if historical time travel or complex space fantasy confuses you.
Tatami Galaxy
Tatami Galaxy is a device"Groundhog Day" which resets for one day. The main character, Watashi (Japanese for "me"), keeps reliving the same first day of college and tries to achieve the perfect "pink" college life, but even he doesn't know what that means.
Although the structure of all the episodes is very similar, the great thing about this 11-episode series is the incredibly original style and the fantastic soundtrack. The conclusion is also very cool, as it highlights the optimistic lesson of every time travel narrative: the most important thing is not to make a perfect decision, but to make a decision and get the most out of it.
Thermae Romae
If you've got 45 minutes and you're craving a solid '80s movie plot about how a poor loser takes you from the past to the present, we've got you covered.Thermae Romae . When Lucius, the architect of the ancient thermae (Roman baths), is fired, he also manages to travel back in time to modern-day Japan through a Roman bath funnel. Insert shock reactions to concepts like Japanese toilet technology and sodas.
It's one of the most unique and hyper-focused concept anime on this list, and also the most light-hearted. If you finish the 3 part anime series and want to keep watching, they also made a great action movie that will make you laugh so hard that you will scare your neighbors. Welcome!
Nobunaga concert.
I'm going to start with Nobunaga Concert, an anime that has time travel, but it's also more of an isekai.
That's why I include it in my list, but certainly not the highest. So what's up?
As you may have guessed, it features Oda Nobunaga. Perhaps one of the most popular Japanese historical figures.
He was a brutal leader, but he was also a brilliant figure and a key figure in the reunification of Japan.
But Nobunaga is not the OP. In the "Nobunaga" concert, he meets Saburo, who mysteriously travels back in time from the 21st century and looks like him.
Saburo was an ordinary high school student, but now he has to replace Nobunaga, who wants to relax in the last years of his life.
Natsu-iro no Sunadokei (Hourglass of Summer Colors)
This is an old anime. But while the character designs, animation, and overall quality have not stood the test of time, it's a worthwhile show that includes more time travel than The Nobunaga Concert.
Hourglass of Summer Colors is a video game adaptation of a visual novel (VN) by Princess Soft released back in 2002.
Also, it only has two episodes; this is an OVA. However, this is an intriguing show.
Yes, it again involves a teenage boy, this time named Kotaro Makimura.
But here, the time travel manifests itself with Kotaro waking up before the next school year and then returning and coming back on certain days of his summer vacation.
Through this, he learns some very crazy news about his girlfriend, Kaho Serizawa. It gets deep.
Buddy Complex
In 2014, Sunrise released an action-packed mecha game that, surprisingly, was not yet another installment in their sprawling Gundam franchise.
It's called Buddy Complex, and it does enough to set itself apart from other similar games with its engaging trio, story, and solid execution.
Buddy Complex begins with the protagonist Aoba Watase nearly dying at the hands of a giant robot from the future.
Hina Yumihara saves him and also transports him 70 years into the future so that he learns all about fighting robots and possibly prevents his death.
Will he be able to return to his real timeline? Or is he stuck in this future of warring military forces?
Doraemon
Yes, Doraemon is indeed a time travel anime, and it's not bad at all.
Some argue that the time travel aspect is just a gimmick. But I genuinely love what the anime has done with it.
The story is not about a dystopian future and not about someone who wants to save him by returning to the past.
No, it's about Sevashi Nobi from the 22nd century who sent a robot cat to improve the life of his grandfather Nobita Nobi - and that's great.
With 1700 episodes, Doraemon has proven that this sub-genre can be good for kids.
Likewise, who doesn't want a 4D pouch that can hold all sorts of different sized gadgets?
Nobunaga Concert
Nobunaga Concert - this is the peak of time camping; Saburo, a very absent-minded high school student, travels to the Sengoku era and ends up taking the place of Oda Nobunaga, the leader of the Akechi clan, because he looks like him.Nobunaga Concerto more interested in telling you the facts and showing off his stunningly realistic rotoscope technique than in helping you connect with the characters. They also managed to end the season with a major rock and there was no second season in sight, but it still needs to be seen. (And if you don't have time to watch at least one episode, at least take a look at the ending song, which takes anime closing credits to a whole new level.) See if you lovedInuyasha. but you'd like to feel that indie creativity seeping through your screen.
The best anime about time travel, what to watch?
There are many anime that use time travel as a narrative device. Characters travel back in time, send messages to parallel universes, and relive each day in a cycle, this anime explores many ways to interact and manage time.
While time travel may seem overused in anime, there are a number of series and movies that have used it effectively. These captivating stories add a unique dimension to time travel without sacrificing good writing, storytelling, and character development.
