Time travel anime series is a sub-genre of Isekai that can be defined by a few different factors. One of the most important factors is that it focuses on change and progress, as well as the consequences of such changes.
Here we have an all-new top list for you guys, talking about anime series that feature time travel themes in their story. It’s always fun to watch these because they’re always adventure-packed. While the science fiction, romance, and some other genres that come with them are also great! We will be focusing only on those series that should also have a good blend of a good story and good character development.
Therefore, read on to find out about the great series that explores time travel in anime.
21. Meng Qi Shi Shen
This is a good Chinese time travel anime series that comes with 12 episodes, with genres including comedy, drama, gourmet, and romance, as well as highlighting themes of history, time travel, and more.
Ye Jia Yao is a young chef who has her sights set on becoming the next big chef in the food industry. However, she becomes embroiled in a time-traveling accident and instead finds herself transported back to Imperial China – as an extremely useless girl.
There, The young woman will get kidnapped, but smilingly and witty she managed to negotiate her way out of the sticky situation that she found herself in.
20. Amatsuki
The next anime about time travel I would like to recommend is Amatsuki, a good series that focuses on the story of Rikugou Tokidoki, who gets stuck in an alternate world where evil creatures like demons and the like are ordinary things.
After being trapped and having to possibly die, he learns that he has a “special power” and how to coexist in such a fantasy world. In this story, the motives, coexistence, and thoughts of both demons and humans are fully explored. While some mysteries unfold that are addressed in a clever way that makes the series even more entertaining to watch.
19. Nobunaga Teacher’s Young Bride
With 12 episodes, created by Studio Seven, Nobunaga Teacher’s Young Bride is an amazing anime with supernatural powers, comedy, romance, and harem/school themes.
Nobunaga-sensei was just a normal middle school teacher trying to find love in everyday life. That is until the seemingly random encounter changed the course of his life when he touched some random object in a shed, a small girl appears out of nowhere and asks to sleep with him.
Now, he has a mysterious power that’s not only to make summon Lolis out of nowhere but also to make any woman he touches fall in love with him. As a result of this weird ability, Nobunaga-sensei now has two small girls, a student, a fellow teacher, and a trap, who all eventually want to sleep with him! The show is about nothing but his many love interests and their drama.
18. Seikimatsu Occult Gakuin
Occult Academy is another good Japanese time travel anime produced by A-1 Pictures and Aniplex. It’s a 13-episode about back-in-time themes that I highly recommend, and it combines different genres: mystery, a slice of life, and a nearly powerful supernatural story.
The Waldstein Academy has seen some odd things throughout its history. But a naked guy appearing out of nowhere is a new thing by the standards of this school. Like the iconic movie 12 Monkeys, Occult Academy’s main premise is sending someone back in time to prevent the event that caused the apocalypse.
The protagonist of this story is not exactly an expert operative. With a special cellphone in hand, Fumiaki Uchida is now tasked with destroying the end-of-the-world item… on her own. This sounds like an impossible task, but she’s determined to succeed to save the world.
17. Buddy Complex
Buddy Complex is an anime that brings mecha and time travel themes for one intense watch time. Whether it does this well or not is up in the air, but the combination of giant robots and complex time loops is definitely a unique spin on the two genres.
This story follows a teenager as he travels 70 years into the future. Here he finds himself in a war being fought with giant robots that require two pilots in sync. He quickly forms an alliance with Ace pilot, Dio to help defend their Alliance.
16. Nobunaga Concerto
The idea of traveling back in time to aid legendary historical figures is not new, and Nobunaga Concerto is like anime’s answer to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
The story of this historical time travel anime is uncomplicated and romantic, with beautiful themes of loyalty and friendship. The series comes with 10 episodes that chronicle an epic adventure of the protagonist Saburou, who went back in time to the Sengoku era, where he has to take the place of Oda Nobunaga, one of Japan’s most famous warlords. Wouldn’t it be fun if all famous historical figures were time travelers using their modern wiles to become great?
15. Zipang
Zipang is another pretty good time-traveling anime show, that starts off the story with a warship from the 21st century leaving port for training exercises but then encountering something that sends them back in time to 60 years ago when Japan was still at war with America.
The series chronicles the crew’s struggles to avoid contact with people from those years so history doesn’t get changed. But how can they avoid people in the middle of a war? It’s usually impossible to do so. Because war means diminished supplies, and this is where things get interesting.
14. Remake our Life!
This 12-episode anime with a time travel theme is based on the light novel of the same name and is produced by the studio “feel”. It spans genres of drama, romance, and a slice of life.
The series is about going back in time and changing what happened before. Some things are easy to change, but other things involve more complicated consequences. Basically, you get a chance to remake your life no matter what’s happened so far.
Kyouya Hashiba is a video game creator who wakes up 10 years ago when he gets the opportunity to turn his life around while doing his best to avoid a catastrophic future.
13. Dr. Stone
Dr. Stone is one of those best time travel anime tv shows that you will love even though it’s already extremely over the top. One day, the human population was petrified in stone three millennia ago – leaving some kids undisturbed. But the most important one of them is Senku and he’s exceptionally clever. His IQ measures over ten billion percent higher than other kids his age.
Now in a time without any aspects of civilization, Senku decides to rebuild society. Armed with his knowledge of science, he embarks on his journey to make miracles happen once again.
12. Iroduku: The World In Colors
Iroduku The World of Colors holds a spell on you from the very first episode. The story is told in such a way that it’s impossible to not get drawn into such an emotional adventure. We can’t express how we feel about this show with just words, but the answer is in Iroduku.
This good time travel anime is from P.A. Works and has 13 episodes that span various genres, including drama, romance, and school. The story is about a girl who travels back in time to attend a school with the young version of her grandmother. The main goal is to open up her heart and get in touch with her closed-off feeling.
Overall, it’s okay to say that this anime tv show is so valid, good recommendation, and can be described as one of the best modern-day fantasies about self-discovery.
11. Mirai Nikki
If you’re looking for an excellent plot, this anime is worth checking out. The story follows Yuki, who has an awesome power — he can read the future through his own personal diary. However, his life will turn upside down when he discovers that there are also some other people with their own diaries who would use their power and kill each other in order to become the next lord.
But, on the other hand, he has someone to protect him. Yuno Gasai, a wild Yandere girl from Yuki’s school with a diary, falls in love with him and is usually seen stalking him… you could say she has the heart of an ‘extreme lover’. The two will team up together to survive the deadly game in which they are thrown in.
10. Inuyasha
Inuyasha is a classic time travel anime series that came out in the early 2000s, but it is still very popular to this day. It follows the adventures of a half-demon who was sealed to a tree and released by a girl from modern-day Japan.
From then on, the girl named Kagome will start an epic journey of traveling to the time of the half-demon Inuyasha. They will fall in love with each other, and along with their friends, they battle all sorts of demons and try to find the shards of a sacred jewel that was shattered into many pieces.
Inuyasha is full of action, adventure, romance, and drama, so it’s definitely worth watching and is perfect for a wide range of ages, I’m sure that everyone will have fun watching it!
9. Madoka Magica
Madoka Magica is a magic anime series that follows Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki, two high school students with relatively normal lives. That all changes when they meet Kyubey, a small cat-like creature with supernatural powers, and Homura Akemi, their new classmate.
Kyuubey offers them to grant their wishes and in exchange, they will become a magical girl and make their dreams come true. Akemi warns the girls not to accept the offer, but they do it anyway. Thus, a story of despair, hope, and friendship pops up.
Madoka Magica is an anime that chronicles the outcome of being a magical girl and the price one has to pay to make a wish come true. If you think the anime leaves it at that, you don’t know Madoka. But we’ll say no more. Just watch it!
8. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya
The series chronicles the daily antics of the female protagonist Haruhi, who likes to get involved with illogic matters often by keeping her friends in unrealistic situations. Most of the time, these situations are completely contrived or convenient.
The show has different personalities come up with really wild topics that result in both happy accidents and disastrous consequences. Yes, Haruhi has many different adventures that range in diversity and intensity. Some were probably pretty disastrous while others were hilarious.
7. Sakurada Reset
The story highlights that all people born in this city have some power. Kei Asai has a particular power, he can remember everything and Haruki Misura can restore time back to some past days. The two work as a team to help the people of the city with complicated issues.
The group starts to get involved with and complete missions for the Administration Bureau – an organization that focuses on managing people with special abilities in Sakurada and controlling important events that happen there. As the plot of the story develops, we find ourselves faced with a lot of new twists and surprises.
6. Orange
This back-in-time anime called “Orange,” is a 13-episode series that spans genres of drama, romance, and school. The show focuses on Naho Takamiya, who has a strange day. She wakes up late and then receives a letter from 10 years in the future!
Naho is by first skeptical of the note she receives, but as the events described start to occur, she starts to believe it really is from her 26-year-old self. The letter details Naho’s future life and how it is full of regrets and agony. Now, she hopes that her younger self can correct the mistakes of the past.
While she is also given the task to keep a close eye on transfer student Kakeru. He’s not around in the future and as such, Naho must be extra careful when making decisions involving him. Relying on The letter, Naho now has the power to take care of Kakeru before she came to regret it once again.
5. Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu
Re:Zero is popular anime series based on the light novel of the same name. The protagonist, Subaru Natsuki, has a strange ability that allows him to return from death as long as he has something to save. He is also accompanied by a beautiful female girl called Emilia and two twin sisters called Rem and Ram.
In this new world, Subaru Natsuki, whenever he dies, he starts back in the previous timeline- alive and well. He always goes back to when an issue has started but is armed with the knowledge of the future events that will happen. Can he change his destiny and those of his friends by using this knowledge?
4. Boku Dake ga Inai Machi
We really like time-traveling adventures, and it seems that Erased is among the best psychological anime out there that has strong storytelling combined with the intriguing nature of playing with time. The story follows Satoru Fujinuma, who finds himself sent back minutes before tragedy strikes. Our 29-year-old detached protagonist starts taking advantage of this mysterious ability to save lives.
However, when he was falsely accused of murdering someone close to him, he end up being sent back in time 18 years ago. It soon becomes clear that the murder may be connected to the abduction and killing of one of his classmates when he was a child. This is his chance to make things right for everyone.
Boku Dake ga Inai Machi is the story of Satoru, who has the power to travel back in time. With this ability, he must learn what happened in his childhood 18 years ago and prevent the deaths of those he cares about both in the past and present.
3. Tokyo Revengers
Tokyo Revengers is among the best newest time travel that has an enticing premise – go back in time to save your friends from a life of crime, despair, and death.
Takamichi is a 26-year-old loser with no future. After finding out his middle school crush had a tragic death, he’s given the ability to challenge fate unknowingly. Takamichi is granted time travel abilities and is sent back to 12 years ago.
When he travels to the past, he collides with two angsty teens, Mikey and Draken, dress up as gangbangers. They are the President and Vice President of a gang responsible for his ex-girlfriend’s death.
2. Oda Nobuna no Yabou
Yeah, that’s right! We have a famous historical time-travel anime series that takes upon themes from the legendary era of the Japanese warlord, Oda Nobunaga.
An unexplained event causes a high school student from modern-day Japan to wake up in the midst of a raging Sengoku period battle. He’s saved by the legendary Hideyoshi Toyotomi, but at the cost of the hero’s life. With his dying breath, the warrior pleads for Yoshiharu to take over as feudal lord in his stead.
Yoshiharu has pledged to do his best to make sure that the course of history stays exactly as it should. After saving a girl who seems to be an alternate reality version of the fabled Nobunaga, Yoshiharu realizes he’s somehow been transported to a new world where most of Japan’s historic warlords are cute girls!
1. Steins; Gate – The best time travel anime ever
Steins; Gate is a well-known time travel anime series due to its depth, intriguing storyline, and fantastic pacing. The show has stimulated many thoughts about traveling in time and the development of technology in relation to causality.
The series starts off, by showing us that the characters can only send messages back in time. However, this fledgling technology will spark the development of a more advanced time travel machine, resulting in many exciting adventures, ups and downs, and memorable experiences.
Steins; Gate is a sci-fi anime that can be recommended to anyone. It has a great story, and it’s very interesting. It has many twists and turns, and it’s not predictable at all.