Time travel plays a role not only in real series but also in the anime genre. A character travels to a different era, usually with a specific goal. Currently, Steins;Gate, which is from 2011, is at the top of the best time travel animes.
What is the basis of the ranking? Steins;Gate has landed in 1st place on the anime site MyAnimeList with a rating of 9.07. In the overall ranking of the best animes, the anime even reaches 3rd place, only Frieren and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are better.
The database includes all animes, and there are many users who can give ratings for the series and films. For Steins;Gate, for example, 2.6 million votes were cast, for the positions below, it’s at least 240,000. Since the votes are calculated with the rating, the ranking can be considered representative.
It is noticeable that Steins;Gate appears twice in the top 5 best time travel animes. The anime otherwise faces the following competition:
- 2nd Place: Gintama the Movie 2 – 8.90
- 3rd Place: Link Click – 8.68
- 4th Place: The Tatami Galaxy – 8.56
- 5th Place: Steins;Gate 0 – 8.53
Other well-known time travel animes like Erased, Inu Yasha, or Tokyo Revengers can only be found in the lower ranks. However, since the ranking updates twice a day, it could be that they slip to other places over time.
Steins;Gate is a time travel classic that fans of the genre should definitely watch:
In Steins;Gate, messages are sent using the microwave
Why is Steins;Gate so good? For many fans, Steins;Gate is considered a masterpiece. In the comments on MyAnimeList, the reviews particularly highlight the following aspects:
- The well-thought-out story
- The recognizable characters and their development
- The emotions that the anime evokes
However, there is also some criticism: The timeline theme is said to be as complex as in Inception, where dreams are embedded within dreams. Furthermore, the story is described as predictable and nothing new in the realm of time travel.
What is Steins;Gate about? The scientist Rintarou Okabe has managed to convert a microwave into a time machine. He uses the machine to send messages to the past. What he doesn’t realize is that he is changing his own timeline!
This leads to several deaths that the scientist now tries to undo. As if that weren’t enough of a problem, the SERN organization becomes aware of his time travel activities. For Rintarou, a literal race against time begins.
Steins;Gate 0 takes place in the same universe. However, it is an alternative timeline. Since we don’t want to go into detail about which timeline this is due to spoilers, we recommend that you watch the anime yourself.
Where can I watch Steins;Gate? Unfortunately, we have bad news: Steins;Gate is currently not available on any German streaming service. If you want to watch the anime, your only option is to buy the DVD or Blu-ray of the series.
Of the animes represented in the top 5, only 2 series are available on Crunchyroll: Link Click and Steins;Gate 0. The latter is also available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
If you can’t get into time travel, perhaps the following isekai animes would be something for you: A new anime from 2021, considered the best isekai of all time after just 2 seasons
