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Whether it’s back to the past or to the future, these time travel anime are timeless. Give a few of your minutes to check them out!
The mix of time travel and sci-fi is one of the most iconic combinations when it comes to fiction. Be it from anime or not, this combo has been tried time and time again. Still, its popularity stays high no matter the era and media.
Oftentimes, time travel stories follow the protagonist’s journey into the past or future. Unlike the Isekai genre, their destination doesn’t involve another universe with another world-building. When they do take the concept of an alternate universe, it’s usually either a parallel universe or an alternate timeline.
Time travel is particularly compelling to the sci-fi enthusiast because it explores such a simple topic, yet it offers a ton of possible plot points. The world of anime doesn’t exclude itself from this genre. Here’s the list of 7 time travel anime for sci-fi fans.
7) Buddy Complex
A mix of mecha action and a time travel twist, Buddy Complex has great ingredients for a sci-fi anime recipe. The story follows the bread and butter of an anime protagonist, a regular high schooler. Aoba Watase was enjoying his stroll to school when, out of nowhere, a giant mecha attacked him.
Panicked and knowing nothing of what was happening, he was suddenly saved by his friend, Hina Yumihara. Aoba passed out and found himself transported 70 years into the future and in the middle of a conflict: a war between the Free Pact Alliance and the Zogilia Republic. Unbeknownst to him, his actions would determine the fate of the world.
The anime was produced by Studio Sunrise, the same studio that made Gundam, a longtime popular franchise among anime fans. With a lot of experience in animating this exact taste of action, you can expect flashy battles between giant mechas from Buddy Complex.
6) Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song
Brought to you by the renowned WIT Studio, Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song is a story of dilemma and the classic problem of humans versus A.I. The twist is, what if the humans had no option aside from an A.I.?
This is a story about Vivy, the first sentient A.I. ever to exist. She was a rather unpopular singer in a theme park. Facing bland comments from her audience and half-hearted applause was just a routine for her. Despite that, she stayed resilient and kept singing to bring joy to the world.
However, in the distant future, a scientist sends another A.I., Matsumoto, to ask Vivy to save humanity from the disaster that’s happening. To achieve this, she must kill every existing A.I. With a vibrant and dynamic art style, as well as a hypnotizing soundtrack, you’re missing out if you haven’t seen this anime. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the anime will get a second season.
5) The Tatami Galaxy
Is it better to move on or to go back and fix a regrettable action? In reality, the latter is impossible. But the thought of it is tempting nonetheless. This is what happened to the main protagonist of The Tatami Galaxy.
Facing a bland daily life in his college days, the unnamed main protagonist grew restless and simply wanted more. The melancholic episodic flow of the anime goes very well with the atmospheric animation by Studio Madhouse.
The Tatami Galaxy elevates themes like opportunity, the meaning of life, and appreciating what’s already there in life. Not only does the anime have a deep and introspective story, but the visuals by Studio Madhouse are a guarantee that it will mesmerize you. For someone who is looking for a slower-paced anime with a touch of time travel, this anime is worth the watch.
4) The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Let’s go back to 2006 and take a look at this anime movie. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is an exploration of the butterfly effect. It’s a phenomenon where altering one object in the past results in a drastically different future.
At first, the main protagonist, Makoto Konno, never used her time travel to do anything malicious. In fact, everything she did was rather innocent and befitting of a teenager. Things like going back in time to correct her test answers, extending her karaoke time, and just going over her regular life.
However, much like the butterfly effect trope, her dilly-dallying eventually led to consequences. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is worth revisiting even after all these years. The animation is yet another example of Studio Madhouse’s expertise in handling production. It has a bit of drama but is still lighthearted compared to other titles on this list.
3) Erased
Erased probably has one of the most interesting iterations of time travel. Satoru Fujinuma, the main protagonist, was sent to the past, going back as far as eighteen years ago. He had a power to time travel that he called Revival, and he used this power to prevent misfortune, crime, or some outright disasters.
However, this ability usually just extends up to a few minutes or hours from the present time. But this time, he found himself stuck as a child. Could it be that this event is related to his mother’s death? Erased is an emotional anime with a lot of suspense and mystery.
The anime was produced by A-1 Production, the same studio that made Solo Leveling, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, and Fairy Tail. Erased’s visual style is simply an eye candy that complements its story.
2) Tokyo Revenger
Another title that has been on fans’ favorite lists for a long time, Tokyo Revengers is a highly acclaimed shonen anime by Liden Films. Filled to the brim with action, tragedy, and revenge, the story of this anime revolves around the main protagonist who got sent into the past and got to relive his delinquency days.
The main character of the show, Takemichi Hanagaki, just found out that his ex-girlfriend, Hinata Tachibana, became a victim of a gang war. On the very next day, he would meet the same cold embrace of death. But instead of the afterlife, Takemichi woke up in the past, twelve years ago when he was still dating Hinata. With a second chance in his hand, he tried his best to prevent her death in this timeline.
This anime is faithful to the typical shonen norms where the story’s whole shebang is high-stakes action. Currently, there are already three seasons of the anime adaptation, with an expected fourth season.
1) Steins;Gate
The magnum opus of time travel anime, Steins;Gate has been long reigning as fans’ favorite when it comes to the time travel genre. Animated by White Fox Studio, this anime is still considered by fans and critics as one of the best anime of all time.
The story follows Rintaro Okabe and his crew, Mayuri and Daru, in their time travel adventure. They first discovered it by chance when Okabe attended a time travel conference and stumbled on the dead body of a fellow researcher. Quick with his hands, Okabe messaged Daru about what happened.
However, he later saw the researcher was alive and that his message to Daru was sent before the event happened. Unfortunately, this meddling with the past took a dark turn when a mysterious organization sniffed him out and sent people to seize the time-traveling phone.
Things went bad to worse when Mayuri got caught up and killed. Okabe repeatedly tried to fix this with his new time machine to no avail. Intense, dramatic, with great visuals, Steins;Gate still reigns as many fans’ favorite even after all these years.
Conclusion
Although the mix of time travel and sci-fi isn’t the dominating genre in the anime industry, it is still packed with quality anime. A lot of classic titles are from this genre, and many consider them the best anime they ever watched. Furthermore, even if it’s not the genre with the most number of titles, they still offer varying themes, flow, and atmosphere in the story.
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