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Anime Time Travel: Who Got It Right?


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robertbaldie



Joined: 17 Mar 2014
Posts: 154
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 10:24 am Reply with quote
For me, nothing beats an anime with a good time-travel premise.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 10:48 am Reply with quote
Quote:
The culture shock of skipping a few centuries probably isn't helpful when you're already stuck participating in life-or-death duels, but at least the Servants get a shot at having a wish granted if they win.


The Grail actually provides Servants with knowledge of the time period they're summoned into, so there's no huge culture shock there.

When it comes to any sort of time travel, I have the belief that history already accounts for any time travelers. So going back in time to, say, kill Hitler is never going to work. Instead the time traveler is more likely to accidentally save Hitler's mom from dying, ensuring that Hitler will be born and that's how events had originally played out in the first place.

Look at Black Sabbath's Iron Man: guy learns of apocalypse, tries to prevent it, ends up causing it.
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Dayblack



Joined: 08 Jun 2015
Posts: 148
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 11:08 am Reply with quote
There are several animes that are time travel and has argumentas holes, such as Steins Gate.
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Animechic420



Joined: 25 Sep 2012
Posts: 1724
Location: A Cave Filled With Riches
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 11:27 am Reply with quote
I believe there's no accurate time travel in anime or live-action shows. We've never travel to the past or future to know what will happen if we did.

But when there's an anime that explains their take on the complexity of time travel without me having to think to hard about it, then it's all good. Smile
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jr240483



Joined: 24 Dec 2005
Posts: 4369
Location: New York City,New York,USA
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 11:53 am Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
Quote:
The culture shock of skipping a few centuries probably isn't helpful when you're already stuck participating in life-or-death duels, but at least the Servants get a shot at having a wish granted if they win.


The Grail actually provides Servants with knowledge of the time period they're summoned into, so there's no huge culture shock there.

When it comes to any sort of time travel, I have the belief that history already accounts for any time travelers. So going back in time to, say, kill Hitler is never going to work. Instead the time traveler is more likely to accidentally save Hitler's mom from dying, ensuring that Hitler will be born and that's how events had originally played out in the first place.

Look at Black Sabbath's Iron Man: guy learns of apocalypse, tries to prevent it, ends up causing it.


that piece of example reminds me way too much of the old x-men cartoons from the 90's featuring cable and his attempts to literately stop the apocalypse only to have a part in causing it and even creating an even worst future.
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Videogamep



Joined: 10 Jun 2014
Posts: 564
Location: CA
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 11:55 am Reply with quote
The best time travel story I've seen is Steins;Gate, since it's the only one that actively works to avoid the usual paradoxes and plot holes that come with time travel. The science behind it is also based on real physics and, from what I've heard, at least works theoretically.
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Pidgeot18



Joined: 19 Jul 2015
Posts: 101
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 12:09 pm Reply with quote
My favorite use of time travel is spoiler[Psyren] (sorry, the fact that time travel is involved is actually a bit of a spoiler in that story).

The story involves repeated jumps to and from the future of exactly Y years (so when you spend a day in the future, you return a day later in the present, and the next jump to the future that takes place two weeks later takes you exactly two weeks after your previous jump). The interesting part is how other people perceive the time travel--it makes sense, which is to say, it seems incredibly complicated. The people in the present keep seeing the main characters disappear for several days once in a while, and the people in the future see the main characters appear for a few days and then disappear before reappearing again.

Eventually, the main characters start meeting people in the future who knew them in the present. From the future's perspective, the main characters disappeared Y years ago and never reappeared until now. After the main characters return to the present, their antics cause more people to be in that group of people in the future. When returning to the future, they not only find the new people, but the new people talk about their prior interactions with the main characters from their earlier arrival in the future.


Last edited by Pidgeot18 on Fri May 13, 2016 12:52 pm; edited 1 time in total
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KH91



Joined: 17 May 2013
Posts: 6176
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 12:41 pm Reply with quote
But the real question is how do you like your time travel in children's card games(Yu-Gi-Oh!)? Wink
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Angel M Cazares



Joined: 23 Sep 2010
Posts: 5407
Location: Iscandar
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 1:27 pm Reply with quote
I am not really a time travel fan, but I like some of the shows mentioned in the piece. If I had to mention a favorite time travel anime, it would have to be Steins;Gate; although the time travel aspect is not the main reason why I love that show.

Paul Jensen wrote:
or maybe one so bad that you'd like to go back and stop your past self from watching it?

Not really. When I start watching a show, and it begins to annoys me, I usually drop it.
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EmperorBrandon
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 2209
Location: Springfield, MO
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
2. Waking Up In The Future

There's another example of this one just this season with Kuromukuro. spoiler[Does actually get into the culture shock issue too.]


Last edited by EmperorBrandon on Fri May 13, 2016 5:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
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wolf10



Joined: 23 Jan 2016
Posts: 898
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 2:12 pm Reply with quote
Pardon my salt, but PMMM's entire time-travel "twist" was lifted pretty much in its entirety from Higurashi - When They Cry, with Madoka's extra "twist" being that it was all about convincing preteen girls that their lot in life was to suffer, and any attempt to change that was arrogance to be punished with even greater suffering. Higurashi, meanwhile, was about rejecting cynicism to prove that an optimal solution exists only for those who continue to believe in it.

Rika's one of my childhood heroes, alright? Embarassed
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+ 光



Joined: 22 Mar 2016
Posts: 226
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 2:17 pm Reply with quote
AksaraKishou wrote:
I'll laugh when people realise that spoiler[Re:Zero isn't about time-travel but "dimension" hopping.]


Somehow, this is even more sad. But if you really take a moment to sit back and think about the name, it gives it away. It's easy to misunderstand though, because of how the show started, you'd think it's the same every time. That's some clever use of diction right there.
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Hameyadea



Joined: 23 Jun 2014
Posts: 3679
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 2:18 pm Reply with quote
The show spoiler[Fairy Tail] fumbled on its time-travel explanations in the spoiler[Grand Magic Games] arc, IMO, and it feels like the author wanted the audience to just roll with it and not question it too much. Cool fights and all, but the explanations of the mechanics were lackluster.

Last edited by Hameyadea on Fri May 13, 2016 2:20 pm; edited 3 times in total
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mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 2:18 pm Reply with quote
The best use of time travel, which I wish could become an Anime, is Larry Niven's Svetz stories. Time Travel is a Fantasy, so when Svetz goes back in time to collect a Horse ( Extinct in his time. ) he comes back with a Unicorn. Similar things happen with attempts to collect a whale ( White Whale anyone? ) and other misadventures.

Mark Gosdin
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Dayblack



Joined: 08 Jun 2015
Posts: 148
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 2:22 pm Reply with quote
Videogamep wrote:
The best time travel story I've seen is Steins;Gate, since it's the only one that actively works to avoid the usual paradoxes and plot holes that come with time travel. The science behind it is also based on real physics and, from what I've heard, at least works theoretically.


-Steins Gate has plot holes.
-The reason that created the time machine is the death of Cristina. But if she does not die, as they will create a time machine ?
-One could argue that there are parallel universes. But in the anime it was established that there are no parallel universes.
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