The power to transcend time and space is not something mere mortals can deal with, and the consequences of meddling with alternate timelines, paradoxes, and singularities that can destroy the universe are always a looming threat in this genre. What happens when creators combine time travel and isekai? They make one hell of a combo, that’s what!
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Boruto’s time-travel escapade brought about a few nostalgic episodes, yet it also led to a number of incongruities that had a far-reaching impact.
From eternal death loops to broken time-stopping powers, these stories of humans traveling across time and space, or earning powers to alter the normal course of time, are some of the best anime and manga that deal with the consequences of meddling too much with the laws that shape reality.
What would have happened if Naofumi from The Rising of the Shield Hero decided to take the dark path and murdered everything in his wake? This is a story about a guy who gets isekai’d, draws the short straw, and gets the worst job: a Healer. After that, a malicious and evil princess tricks him and gets him imprisoned, where he is severely traumatized and dies.
Only he doesn’t die, but goes back in time to just a few days before he gets tricked by the princess, and then decides to take revenge on the whole kingdom and the other heroes by siding with the demon lord. Kaifuki decides that he will stop at nothing to get his revenge, even if he needs to become a dark avenger, capable of the most heinous acts of pure evil, to achieve it.
Many would think: Wait! The Eminence in Shadow is just another isekai! The truth is that people who have watched the latest season will notice a few details about Shadow’s return to Earth, and the consequences of bringing back her former classmate to the world where he currently lives.
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Now occupying one body, Claire and Aurora’s relationship is one of the most unique in The Eminence in Shadow.
That revelation came with the untold truth that he didn’t just get isekai’d into another world, or dimension, but got transmigrated hundreds of years into the future, into the body of Cid Kagenou, a noble with a weird sister, and a tremendously shady background. Huh, who would have guessed it? The story gets even more funny and strange as the light novel moves forward, but fans of the Eminence In Shadow anime and manga will have to wait and see if this gets adapted just like the novel, or tweaked a bit for the anime.
The usual isekai story goes like this: An office worker girl meets “Truck-kun” and gets sent to a fantasy world of one of her favorite novels, where there are aristocrats, knights, princesses, and so on. She gets reincarnated as the typical villainess of the court, gets exiled, and dies a horrible death.
Then, she discovers that every time she dies, she dies by the hand of a certain person, and the clock turns back and goes to square one again. So, she decides to try new lifestyles every time she dies. Every fresh start is a new chance to learn a profession. It’s quite an interesting story, with a lot of twists, political drama, and one hell of a protagonist.
Poor Subaru got one hell of a skill called Return by Death, a power that rewinds time to a random “save point” each time he dies. This has proven to be both excruciating and terrifying for the protagonist of Re:Zero, and is considered at the same time one of the most broken time travel skills in the isekai genre.
Nevertheless, one of his foes tried to steal that power from him and soon learned about the heavy burden that comes with it. Proving that with great death comes great suffering. Re:Zero has quickly risen in popularity, since it doesn’t seem to follow the regular standards of the typical isekai. A must-read/watch for every fantasy enthusiast.
Uncle from Another World is one of those stories with just enough spicy content to make it interesting, and the main character, an isekai’d late-30s NEET, is one of the most perfectly built characters in this genre. He ultimately returns to his world and carries all the memories of his travels across a fantasy land, and all the powers he gained as an “isakai hero.” Thosen include, of course, control over time and space, the ability to reproduce all his memories at will, broken magic abilities, and the ability to turn himself into a velociraptor.
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Discover what makes Ojisan the best spell caster in Granbahamal and which tricks of the trade earned him that status in Uncle From Another World
Crazy as this might sound, this poor fellow has to deal with the fact that his favorite console, a SEGA, has ceased production, and suffers constantly for all the things he missed in his beloved Japan. At one point, he confesses to his nephew that he could turn back time with his magic, but is afraid of the price the spirits will demand from him for using such powerful magic.
In this story, a Goddess summons the ultimate hero to save the world from destruction, but this is not a typical isekai story, since the protagonist, Seiya, makes constant use of the Goddess Ristarte’s powers to go back and forth in time, until he’s 100% sure he can win the fight. According to him, he doesn’t want to receive unnecessary damage during a fight, much to the disgust of Ristarte, who’s always being dragged around like a time-stopping machine.
What starts as a funny trope slowly evolves into a deep and tragic story of love and loss. Will Seiya ever cease to stop time and train? Will Ristarte be able to make his chosen one save the world and defeat the demon lord? One of the most hilarious and great combinations in the isekai genre, for fans gags, quirky retorts, and a hilarious hero, this is the series to watch.
A Dungeon Master player gets sent into a fantasy world where he’s reincarnated as the most lowly of the creatures in a dungeon: A Skeleton. Not long after meeting his boss, a Succubus, he fails to defend the dungeon and gets sent back in time, starting all over.
Trapped in a time loop, the Skeleton Soldier decides to protect his beloved master by any means necessary, all while desperately grasping at the last shred of humanity he has left. A really cool read.
Everything seemed normal in Arata Katsura’s daily life with his cousin, Hijiri, until an unknown phenomenon throws them into a world of dark sorcery. Here, seven sorceresses, who are at the peak of their respective magic schools, dominate the academy as the Trinity Seven.
What Arata and his newfound companions do not know is that they’re about to embark on a journey through space, time, dimensions, and alternate realities. Chaotic magic forces permeate every conceivable fragment of creation, and Arata, as the incarnation of the Astral Trinity, is destined to either dominate it all, or turn into the worst evil that ever existed.
Combine time travel with the “school trip turns into an isekai adventure” trope, and that’s Cage of Eden. A manga about survival, betrayal, and prehistoric murderous beasts killing normal students. With no powers, no god blessings. nor anything else, the students are just there, stranded on a chaotic otherworldly island, seemingly trapped in a time bubble.
Will they be able to return to their world? Or will they perish in the most horrible and cruelest of ways? Cage of Eden is a must-read for those who love seeing the isekai genre combined with stories of survival of the fittest. But beware, this series is classified as Adult Only and contains loads of graphic violence.
A similar trope to the typical time travel story, only that this time, a group of anthropology students who were on a study field trip traverse across time and space into an isekai prehistoric realm, similar to how Earth was in the past.
However, they soon discover the harsh reality: All the knowledge they have accumulated is worth nothing in a land that doesn’t even follow the most basic rules of common sense and historical accuracy. Many more secrets remain to be discovered, but readers beware: This is another manga series that is classified as 18+.
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These isekai anime and manga protagonists truly felt the weight of the world with these tough choices.
