From the past to the future: 8 anime that exploits time travel

Traveling in time is a fascinating theme that, in the anime world, yields surrounding stories, full of twists and reflections on destination, choices and consequences.

If you love plots where past, present and future mingle, prepare popcorn and check out this selection of unique anime on time travel.

Each series brings its own footprint, humor, drama, suspense or even terror, but all explore in creative ways the concept of temporal displacement.

Steins;Gate

Instead of jumping through fantasy -style portals, Steins; Gate uses the concept of World Lines and sends text messages to the past (through a modified micro -oges), exploring the butterfly effect theory very solidly.

As Okabe changes events, unpredictable branches arise, saving one person can condemn another. This generates an intense drama, where each decision weighs in the viewer’s heart.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi

The protagonist has the revival, the ability to return moments before an accident. When he is unfairly accused of murder, he returns even more in the past, to 1988, and realizes that the crime is linked to the kidnapping and death of his colleague Kayo Hinazuki.

Unlike jumps by crazy portals or machines, here the trip happens in the protagonist’s mind, and the viewer feels the whole tension of a chaotic hunt for the culprit, as everyday school and family scenes gain deadly urgency.

Tokyo Revengers

Takemichi Hanagaki finds that he can come back years in the past when someone beloved is killed by a gang. By intervening in gang fights and the trajectory of figures like Mikey and Draken, Takemichi discovers that even a small gesture can radically change many people’s fate.

Each time he returns to the present, the consequences of change appear immediately. Tokyo Revengers explores the trip in time viscerally and exciting, showing how the power to rewrite the past can be both a blessing and a curse.

Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu

With a differentiated time trip, whenever the protagonist Subaru dies, he returns to a checkpoint in the past, taking with him the memories of everything he lived to that point. It’s like a game’s rescue marker.

Each time he relives, he needs to make different decisions to change the outcome. This generates a huge psychological wear: Subaru carries the trauma of repeated deaths, and the weight of knowing that if failing, everyone around can suffer.

16bit Sensation: Another Layer

The work follows Konoha Akisato, which is passionate about Bissoujo games and gets his first job as a sub-illustrator in 2023, but is disappointed by the poor quality of the current industry. After visiting an old game store, it is transported to 1992, when the genre was on the rise.

There, Konoha enters a small company called Alcohol Soft, but needs to adapt to old techniques to try to realize his dream of becoming a successful artist. For those who enjoy bishoujo games, this anime is highly indicated.

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu

Haruhi Suzumiya is a 15 -year -old student with powers capable of altering reality, although she doesn’t know that. She creates the SOS Brigade club, alongside Kyon, to investigate strange phenomena, while other members keep an eye on her to prevent their powers from destroying the world.

Kyon and the others are trapped by repeating exactly the same fifteen days of summer holidays, until 155 times, while trying to find out how to break the cycle. Unlike scientific jumps or powers to return, here the exhaustive repetition yields both comic scenes, and moments of frustration and reflection.

Link Click

Link Click accompanies Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang, who use photos to travel in time and help customers find past answers, but without changing anything. They cannot always avoid changes, which generates serious consequences.

The anime begins with isolated cases, but then the stories connect, creating a great engaging mystery, supported by the great dynamic between the two protagonists. It is noteworthy that we have a Chinese animation here.

Summer Time Rendering

Summer Time Rendering accompanies Shinpei, who returns to his city to the Ushio funeral, but finds that he can go back in time. Each iteration allows Shinpei to test new strategies, gather different clues and deepen relationships with other residents, just as in a classic loop.

Unlike a simple reset, here Shinpei’s actions have a real impact on the way future events unfold, creating branches that should take into account in the following cycles.

Did you miss an amazing anime about temporal travel you recommend?