10 Time Travel Anime to Watch in 2024

Time travel is a very rare theme in anime. It may not seem to be the case given some of the best anime we’ve received in recent years involve time traveling, but as a whole, it is a very uncommonly explored theme in the medium. Less than 200 documented anime series, movies, and specials deal with primarily time-traveling. So with a mix of old and new, here are 10 time travel anime to watch in 2024.

To Every You I’ve Loved Before / To Me, The One Who Loved You

Rating: 7.46 | 7.39 (MyAnimeList), 73% | 72% (Anilist), 4.7 | 4.8 (Crunchyroll)
Seasons: N/A
Episodes: 2
Source: Novel
Studio: Bakken | TMS Entertainment
Where To Watch: Crunchyroll

The dual, time-travel romance movies that end up portraying a different story depending on which one you watch first are undoubtedly a must-watch heading into the new year. I wouldn’t go as far as to say the movies are masterpieces but they definitely have a unique take on cinema as a whole that gets you thinking. You can check out my spoiler-free article on which one is best to watch first or you can go in completely blind. Happy choosing!

Crunchyroll describes the films as such:
While struggling to make friends after his parent’s divorce, Koyomi Takasaki meets Kazune Takigawa, but apparently, they already have. Kazune reveals that she’s from World Line 85, an alternate universe in which she and Koyomi are lovers. But in a reality where moving between dimensions is natural, could Koyomi be the one from another world?

Crunchyroll describes the series as such:
Takemichi Hanagaki is a freelancer that’s reached the absolute pits of despair in his life. He finds out that the only girlfriend he ever had, in middle school, Hinata Tachibana, had been killed by the ruthless Tokyo Manji Gang. The day after hearing about her death, he’s standing on the station platform and ends up being pushed over onto the tracks by a herd of people. He closes his eyes thinking he’s about to die, but when he opens his eyes back up, he somehow had gone back in time 12 years. Now that he’s back living the best days of his life, Takemichi decides to get revenge on his life.

Re: Zero – Starting Life in Another World

Ratings: 8.23 (MyAnimeList), 80% (Anilist), 4.7 (Crunchyroll)
Seasons: 2
Episodes: 51
Source: Light Novel
Studio: White Fox
Where To Watch: Crunchyroll

One of the most iconic series overall from the past decade, Re: Zero can, and should be, found on any sort of list dealing with time travel anime. Right now would be a good time to get caught up on this time-traveling isekai masterpiece since Season 3 is currently on the way and is set to release sometime in 2024. The best watch order for the series would be to watch the director’s cut episodes (13) of Season 1, then both OVAs (Memory Snow and Frozen Bonds), and then Season 2 which is split into two parts.

Crunchyroll describes the series as such:
Natsuki Subaru, an ordinary high school student, is on his way home from the convenience store when he finds himself transported to another world. As he’s lost and confused in a new world where he doesn’t even know left from right, the only person to reach out to him was a beautiful girl with silver hair. Determined to repay her somehow for saving him from his own despair, Subaru agrees to help the girl find something she’s looking for…

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Ratings: 8.40 (MyAnimeList), 82% (Anilist), 4.9 (Crunchyroll)
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 13
Source: Original
Studio: WIT Studio
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll

What some might consider the best time-traveling anime since Re: Zero was originally released in 2016, the award-winning original anime Vivy came onto the scene and took the anime community by storm. Ironically enough, this WIT Studio masterpiece is co-created by Nagutsuki Tappei, the creator of Re: Zero. So it’s safe to say that Tappei understands the theme of time traveling extraordinarily well. Despite its 2021 release, Vivy will be a highly recommended anime for years to come.

Crunchyroll describes the series as such
NiaLand is an A.I. theme park that brings dreams to life with science. Vivy, the first autonomous android to work there, has hopes of making people happy with her singing. One day, an A.I. teddy bear named Matsumoto appears, claiming to have come from 100 years in the future—where a war between A.I. and humans rages. Their century-long journey starts now!

Summer Time Rendering

Rating: 8.49 (MyAnimeList), 83% (Anilist)
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 25
Source: Manga
Studio: OLM
Where To Watch: Disney+ / Hulu

The mystery and suspense anime that took the Spring 2022 season by storm is now a must-watch going forward for any fans who overlooked it. The 25-episode anime is completely finished and can make for an excellent binge when you find time so you don’t have to wait week-to-week to find out what happens next. Natsuki Hanae, the voice of Tanjiro Kamado from Demon Slayer, voices the main male protagonist Shinpei Ajiro alongside his colleague Nagase Anna (Harley Quinn – Isekai Suicide Squad), who voices the main female protagonist Ushio Kofune.

Hulu describes the series as such:
A summer story filled with suspense set on a small island begins with Shinpei Ajiro, whose childhood friend Ushio Kofune died. He returns to his hometown for the first time in two years for the funeral. Sou Hishigata, his best friend, suspects something’s off with Ushio’s death, and that someone else can die next. A sinister omen is heard as an entire family next door suddenly disappears the following day. Furthermore, Mio implicates a “shadow” three days before Ushio’s death.

Tokyo Revengers

Rating: 7.96 (MyAnimeList), 78% (Anilist), 4.7 (Crunchyroll)
Seasons: 3
Episodes: 50
Source: Manga
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Where To Watch: Crunchyroll (Season 1), Disney+ / Hulu (Seasons 2 and 3)

While some have their views on this series, Tokyo Revengers took strong inspiration from Re: Zero in terms of its time-traveling theme and that’s a good thing. Time travel is difficult to pull off in any form of media yet Tokyo Revengers manages to be one of the best with a main character that endures brutally dark hardships to correct everything and save the ones he loves. Tokyo Revengers takes place in a more modernized setting, involves gangs across Japan, and is one of the more unique settings in anime out of the past few years.

Crunchyroll describes the series as such:
Takemichi Hanagaki is a freelancer that’s reached the absolute pits of despair in his life. He finds out that the only girlfriend he ever had, in middle school, Hinata Tachibana, had been killed by the ruthless Tokyo Manji Gang. The day after hearing about her death, he’s standing on the station platform and ends up being pushed over onto the tracks by a certain someone. He closes his eyes thinking he’s about to die, but when he opens his eyes back up, he somehow had gone back in time 12 years. Now that he’s back living the best days of his life, Takemichi decides to get revenge on his life.

Link Click

Rating: 8.68 (MyAnimeList), 87% (Anilist), 4.8 (Crunchyroll)
Seasons: 2
Episodes: 23
Source: Original
Studio: LAN Studio
Where To Watch: Crunchyroll

Despite not technically being an anime (it’s a donghua – Chinese animation), Link Click is a must-watch series for those looking for a time-traveling story to binge. Season 2 recently came to an end earlier this leaving hopes with an official Season 3 in the works. Being one of the highest-rated series of all time in the medium of anime, Link Click‘s unique take on time traveling through photos as a small business leads to a thrilling mystery much greater than what the main characters could ever expect.

Crunchyroll describes the series as such:
Using superpowers to enter their clientele’s photos one by one, Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang take their work seriously at “Time Photo Studio,” a small photography shop set in the backdrop of a modern metropolis. Each job can be full of danger, but nothing is more important than fulfilling every order, no matter the scale…or peril involved!

Thermae Romae Novae

Rating: 7.18 (MyAnimeList), 70% (Anilist)
Seasons: 11
Episodes: 23
Source: Manga
Studio: NAZ
Where To Watch: Netflix

While it may not be considered the best on this list, Thermae Romae Novae takes on a new twist to the time-traveling theme with none other than Kenjiro Tsuda voicing the lead. The comedy in this historical series is undoubtedly its best perk and is by and large the most “different” than any of the other anime here. If you need a good laugh and something to kick back to, and maybe learn a thing or two along the way, especially the after-episode credit scenes with author Mari Yamazaki.

Yen Press describes the series as such:
When Roman architect Lucius is criticized for his “outdated” thermae designs, he retreats to the local bath to collect his thoughts. All Lucius wants is to recapture the Rome of earlier days, when one could enjoy a relaxing bath without the pressure of merchants and roughhousing patrons. Slipping deeper into the warm water, Lucius is suddenly caught in the suction and dragged through the drainage at the bottom of the bath! He emerges coughing and sputtering amid a group of strange-looking foreigners with the most peculiar bathhouse customs…over 1,500 years in the future in modern-day Japan! His contemporaries wanted him to modernize, and so, borrowing the customs of these mysterious bath-loving people, Lucius opens what quickly becomes the most popular new bathhouse in Rome—Thermae Romae! Soak in Mari Yamazaki’s fantastic story and art in this deluxe omnibus version!

Steins;Gate

Rating: 9.07 (MyAnimeList), 89% (Anilist), 4.8 (Crunchyroll)
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 24
Source: Game
Studio: White Fox
Where To Watch: Crunchyroll

Shocker, right? Any article about time-traveling anime out there includes Steins;Gate... Every. Single. One. And it’s well-deserved. It’s highly regarded as one of the best series ever made. So how could I not include it on this list? This series is the cream of the crop when it comes to the nitty gritty of time traveling. Intricate scientific formulas, cover-ups, and even a touch of romance are all the wonderful elements you can find in Steins;Gate. The series does have a notoriously slow start, so keep pushing through and it’ll all be worth it. To add on, fans should also watch Steins;Gate 0 after finishing the original series, which is a direct sequel.

Crunchyroll describes the plot as such:
Steins; Gate follows an eclectic group of individuals who have the ability to send text messages to the past. However throughout their experimentation process, an organization named SERN who has been doing their own research on time travel tracks them down. Now it’s a careful game of cat and mouse to not get caught and moreover, try to survive.

Erased

Rating: 8.30 (MyAnimeList), 81% (Anilist), 4.9 (Crunchyroll)
Seasons: 1
Episodes: 12
Source: Manga
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Where To Watch: Crunchyroll

This one is for new anime fans who are looking for another particularly popular time-traveling anime such as Steins;Gate or Re:Zero. If you’re not particularly a fan of either fantasy or sci-fi then Erased could be perfect for you as the series deals with suspense, mystery, and adult themes. While there is some controversy about the ending, Erased will still remain one of the greatest time-traveling pieces in anime and manga. The series, along with Re: Zero, is a direct inspiration for Tokyo Revengers, which was mentioned earlier on the list. (WARNING: domestic abuse)

Yen Press describes the series as such:
Twenty-nine-year-old Satoru Fujinuma is floundering through life. Amid his daily drudgery, he finds himself in the grip of an incredible, inexplicable, and uncontrollable phenomenon that rewinds time, a condition that seems to only make his drab life worse. But then, one day, everything changes. A terrible incident forever changes Satoru’s life as he knows it…and with it, comes a “Revival” that sends Satoru eighteen years into the past! In the body of his boyhood self, Satoru encounters sights he never imagined he would see again–the smile of his mother, alive and well, his old friends, and Kayo Hinazuki, the girl who was kidnapped and murdered when he was a boy the first time around. To return to the present and prevent the tragedy that brought him back to his childhood in the first place, Satoru begins plotting a way to change Hinazuki’s fate…But up against the clock and a faceless evil, does eleven-year-old Satoru even stand a chance?

Time Patrol Bon (T.P. Bon)

Rating: TBD
Seasons: 2
Episodes: TBA
Source: Manga
Studio: BONES
Where To Watch: Netflix

Time Patrol Bon is a time-traveling adventure anime that is based on the 1978 manga series written and illustrated by Fujiko Fujio, an alias for the duo of Hiroshi Fujimoto (Fujiko F. Fujio) and Motoo Abiko (Fujiko A. Fujio). They’re also the famous duo who created the iconic Doraemon series. Studio BONES’ A-team will be animating the series that is set to be released in 2024 exclusively on Netflix with Masahiro Ando (Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie) as the director.

Netflix describes the series as such:
An ordinary high school student named Bon becomes part of a team of time-traveling agents tasked with saving people’s lives during historical events that happen across different eras and locations around the globe.

©Tappei Nagatsuki, KADOKAWA / Re:ZERO: Starting Life in Another World 3 Production Committee