Toki no Taibito -Time Stranger-

Title:Toki no Taibito -Time Stranger-
時空の旅人 -Time Stranger-
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Madhouse
Based on the novel trilogy of the same name by MAYUMURA Taku, Time Stranger is the story of a bunch of teenagers getting transported back in time through Japan's history, and getting mixed up with samurai shenanigans.
(Summary Courtesy of MyAnimeList.net)


91-minute film released on December 20, 1986.
Animated by Madhouse.
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 9 9 9 7 8 Ggultra2764 [series:3860#1552]
This 1980s sci-fi film involves a teen from the future named Jiro Agino who accidentally brings several teens and their teacher from 1980s Japan with him to time travel through hostile times in Japan's past history. While time traveling, Jiro is pursued by officers from his time called Time Patrol who are attempting to apprehend him. The intrigue that comes from this film is learning more about Jiro's motives for time traveling, as he is shown to be pretty secretive about why he's time traveling for a good chunk of the film and then dabbling into the ethics of using time travel to rewrite history, especially as the latter is a contributing reason for Jiro's time traveling in the first place. The film does a pretty great job exploring both Jiro's character and the dilemma that comes up with his time traveling. In addition, Jiro and his group do time travel through several eras in Japan's history that does give it variety in settings and the types of situations that they encounter in their adventures, both joyful and hostile. Also for a 1980s anime, the animation is quite impressive with nicely drawn and detailed character designs and scenery, as well as fluid movement animated in mundane and action-heavy scenes. Maybe my only gripe with Time Stranger is the lack of fleshing out on the teens and their teacher from the 1980s, but they aren't the main focus of the film and I could at least forgive this issue considering it would have needlessly complicate the film's story. Otherwise, this makes for a good hidden gem of the 1980s with its solid exploration of its time traveling mechanics and Jiro's reasons for involving himself in it. A definite recommendation for old-school sci-fi anime fans.

Last updated Wednesday, June 17 2020. Created Wednesday, June 17 2020.

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