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Time Travel Anime Movies Worth Watching

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Time travel has always fascinated me and I appreciate seeing it in media and movies are no different. Anime has become its own entity within the film industry and there are several that feature time travel as a crucial part of the story. Sometimes it...
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Stand Alone Movies

Movies that are not connected to a specific series.

 
Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
This is another masterpiece by Makoto Shinkai. It featuring beautiful artwork, a great story and memorable characters. It's often at the top of time travel anime film lists for a reason.

High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are living ordinary lives and are complete strangers but one night, they switch places. This continues to happen randomly, and the two work to cope with the strange phenomena occuring. Overtime, they learn to communica...
Your Name.
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
This is my favorite time travel anime movie. Directed by Hosoda Mamoru, it is a masterpiece in storytelling.

High schooler Makoto Konno is having a terrible day from waking up late, flunking a quiz and starting a fire in home economics. It gets even worse though when the brakes on her bike malfunction putting her on a collision course with a speeding train.... 

The rights to this movie have sadly expired in North America, so you'll need to acquire a used (or somewhat expensive copy) or find it streaming online.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time [Blu-ray]
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
“Mirai” (which means future in Japanese) follows four year old Kun, whose baby sister was recently born. He is growing increasingly jealous of the attention she gets and then a future version of her when she's a teenager shows up! The two go on a tri...

Mirai is directed by Mamoru Hosoda who has earned quite the reputation for producing great films. Mirai does have a slower pace but its packed with emotion and does a good job exploring the passage of time through families.
Mirai
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
According to legend, the Urashima Tunnel exists outside the boundaries of space and time. For teenager Kaoru Tono, he decides to see if the rumors are true and finds that time passes differently in the tunnel. Traumatized by his past, he wonders if i...

I originally read the manga that was based off this movie and really enjoyed it. It has a great story and asks some great questions about whether time travel can be used to solve problems that occurred in the past and what the consequences of doing s...
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
Fire Tripper is based off a manga by Rumiko Takahashi. In Fire Tripper, a gas explosion in modern Tokyo catapults teenage Suzuko 500 years into Japan’s civil war era, where she is rescued by a young warrior named Shukumaru. As she adapts to life in the past, Suzuko uncovers startling truths about her own...

Sadly, this is a case of a movie/show that was released on VHS in North America but the rights expired and it never got released on dvd/blu-ray or streaming. If you can find it, its worth a watch.
Fire Tripper
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Movies Associated With a Series

 
Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
InuYasha is a popular time travel series that started off as a manga created by Rumiko Takahashi. It follows the adventures of Inuyasha, a half-demon in feudal Japan and Kagome, a girl from present-day Japan who can travel to the feudal era via a wel...

There were four Inuyasha movies released. Though these movies are a must-watch for fans of the series, they do hold up well enough that those unfamiliar with the series could enjoy it with a little googling. The movies are not canon per se but do coo...
Inuyasha Movies (4)
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
Steins;Gate is a fantastic series (and probably my favorite time travel anime) and this movie wraps up the ending. It doesn't hold up as a stand-alone movie, however, if you haven't seen the series.

Steins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Deja Vu follows takes place a year after the end of Steins; Gate. It finds Okabe dealing with some repercussions of his time travel experiences and learning to cope in this timeline. Kurisu tries to help Okabe ...
Steins;Gate: The Movie - Load Region of Deja Vu
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
Tenchi Muyo is a long-running and expansive series and its first movie, Tenchi in Love, incorporates time travel. It can be tricky to recommend a movie from a series but this is one you can get away with doing a quick wikipedia research section to be...

Tenchi in Love sees a criminal, Kain escaping from sub-space where he is being held prisioner. Kain seeks revenge on the Jurai royal family and GP (Galaxy Police), and after injuring the Jurai king sets his eyes on earth. Meanwhile on Earth, strange ...
Tenchi the Movie - Tenchi Muyo In Love
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
Doraemon is a Japanese character has been around for a long time. He's a robot cat from the future whose best friend is Nobita, a boy in present-day Japan. Doraemon has spanned several films, manga series' and a show but sadly it still lacks much pre...

I actually saw this movie on a flight to Japan and really enjoyed it (so this is a movie you'll have to watch how you can). The story takes place during summer vacation for Nobita and his friends (or for some frenemies?) Nobita finds a small rocket a...
Doraemon: Nobita's Little Star Wars
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
In Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life, Ash and his friends travel back in time to prevent a betrayal that nearly destroyed the legendary Pokémon Arceus. Sent by Dialga, they must alter the past to restore trust between humans and Arceus, whose ang...

This is a fairly good Pokemon movie and I've watched it more than once. It's a fun time travel film though it does require having some knowledge of Pokemon to fully appreciate.
Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life
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Rebecca Mehalic profile picture
In Pokémon 4Ever: Celebi – Voice of the Forest, Ash and his friends encounter Sammy, a boy transported 40 years into the future by the time-traveling Pokémon Celebi while fleeing a hunter. Together, they strive to protect Celebi from the Iron Masked ...

Pokemon 4ever is pretty average compared to other Pokemon movies but the time travel aspect is handled well. Who “Sam” is in the future may be unsurprising to veterans of the series but how he's handled and the technology of his time is quite interes...
Pokemon 4Ever
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