Tokyo Revengers follows Takemichi Hanagaki as he goes back in time to prevent his middle school ex-girlfriend, Hinata, from getting killed by the Tokyo Manji Gang. The second season of the anime is now streaming on Hulu.
In the second season of Tokyo Revengers, Takemichi goes back to the past not just to save Hinata but also the Tokyo Manji Gang. Gangs are a fascinating subject in animes; they are not mere groups trapped in a cycle of senseless violence.
Gangs provide people a chance to be a part of a community, a family of sorts, where loyalty is valued the most; the sense of camaraderie gives those who do not belong anywhere a place they could call their own.
Additionally, the fact that Tokyo Revengers follows a protagonist that, armed with the knowledge of the future, goes back in time to rescue individuals and make things right gives it a unique spin.
Here are 10 other animes like Tokyo Revengers featuring gangs and time travel escapades:
1. Bungo Stray Dogs
Available on: Netflix
Cast: Yūto Uemura, Kensho Ono, Kaiji Tang
After being kicked out of his orphanage, Nakajima Atsushi joins the Armed Detective Agency. The agency is unlike any other, as it is comprised of individuals with special powers.
The agency solves cases and carries out missions that are beyond the scope of law enforcement.
The biggest threat that the agency faces is from the Port Mafia, a gang of criminals who also possess special abilities. The Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency have a long history of rivalry, and soon, Atsushi finds himself a target of a member of the gang.
Similar to Tokyo Revengers, Bungo Stray Dogs paints a different picture of the Port Mafia, which has more colors than just black and white.
2. Air Gear
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Kenta Kamakari, Masami Kikuchi, Kenichiro Ohashi
Ikki, a middle school delinquent, is the leader of a gang called the East-Side Gunz. When a gang called the Skull Saders humiliates him, Ikki learns that his four sisters are also a part of a gang that uses Air Treks, futuristic inline skates.
When Ikki comes upon a pair of Air Treks, he starts desiring more than revenge on the Skull Saders. He wants to reach the skies, fight fierce battles there, and conquer with the help of his Air Treks.
3. Reborn!
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Yukari Kokubun, Neeko
Like adult Takemichi, Tsuna is a high school student who is labeled as a failure; nothing seems to work out for him, be it school, social life, or sports. His life changes when a baby, Reborn, from the future arrives to rectify the situation
Reborn is not an ordinary baby, he claims to be an Italian hitman from the Vongola family. Reborn has to groom a meek Tsuna, who is the future mafia boss of the Vongola family.
Time travel, mafia gangs, and a protagonist that starts off as a failure, Reborn! has all the elements of Tokyo Revengers.
4. Banana Fish
Available on: Prime Video
Cast: Yuma Uchida, Kenji Nojima
Banana Fish is an anime that brings gang wars to the streets of New York. Eiji Okumura, a Japanese photographer, comes to New York to report on the American street gangs but finds himself pulled into the activities of one such gang when he meets Ash.
Ash was groomed by Dino Golzine, a feared godfather of the mafia, but he ended up starting a gang of his own. Ash, along with Eji, soon becomes embroiled in Dino’s dangerous schemes when Ash starts investigating something that is known as the Banana Fish.
5. Cowboy Bebop
Available on: Netflix
Cast: Kôichi Yamadera, Unshô Ishizuka, Megumi Hayashibara, Aoi Tada
A critically-acclaimed anime, Cowboy Bebop is a one-of-its-kind show that follows the adventures of a gang of bounty hunters working from their spaceship called Bebop.
The story takes place in the future; Earth is no longer habitable and humans have colonized other planets and moons.
The protagonist, Spike, must face his past rival, who has taken control of the Red Dragon Syndicate. In the process, he contemplates questions about life, the difficulty of leaving behind one’s past, and existential ennui.
6. Erased
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Kasumi Arimura
Based on the same premise as Tokyo Revengers, Erased explores a phenomenon called revival. Satoru Fujinuma, a manga artist, experiences this phenomenon, through which he travels back in time to the moment right before a life-threatening situation.
When he gets accused of murdering his mother, he finds himself 18 years in the past, the time when one of his elementary classmates went missing. He has to find the connection between the two cases and prevent the tragedy to protect his mother in the present.
7. Dr. Stone
Available on: Netflix
Cast: Yūsuke Kobayashi, Makoto Furukawa, Yuichi Nakamura, Kana Ichinose
A mysterious light turns every human being to stone on Earth. Thousands of years pass before Senku Ishigami, a highly intelligent high school student who wishes to be a scientist, wakes up in the Stone World and plans to restore Earth to its previous glory.
However, he is opposed by Tsukasa, a man who wants to build a new society of the pure-hearted and kill the rest. Senku must face Tsukasa’s powerful gang with his own followers, who believe in science, before he can fulfill his goals.
There are two separate groups that have been taken out of their present time; they must fight to prove the supremacy of their ideologies in a world with no law and order.
8. Black Lagoon
Available on: Netflix, Hulu
Cast: Daisuke Namikawa, Megumi Toyoguchi, Yôichi Nishjima, Tsutomu Isobe, Hiroaki Hirata
When Rokurou Okajima, a corporate employee, is taken hostage by the Lagoon Company, a gang of mercenaries, his bosses refuse to pay the ransom. Left with no choice, he decides to join his captors and become one of them.
His new job requires him to carry out different kinds of violent missions and transport goods for their clients in a boat called the Black Lagoon. He must change his ways and learn to live in Roanapur, a city full of crime and corruption.
9. Vinland Saga
Available on: Netflix
Cast: Aleks Le, Naoya Uchida
While this anime does not feature modern-day gangs, the mercenary groups are almost like gangs in a historical setting. Thorfinn is the son of one of the Vikings’ greatest warriors, who is killed by a mercenary leader, Askeladd, in a battle.
Thorfinn swears to avenge his father’s death. He ends up joining Askeladd’s group, as he wants to challenge him to a duel in the future. He soon finds himself involved in the kind of war he never even dreamed about.
10. Steins;Gate
Available on: Hulu
Cast: Mamoru Miyano, Kana Hanazawa, Tomokazu Seki
Rintaro Okabe claims to be a mad scientist. He runs the Future Gadget Laboratory with his friends, Mayuri Shiina and Itaru “Daru” Hashida. The three friends develop a way to send a person’s memories to the past and change future events.
When an organization known as the SERN kills Mayuri to get its hands on the device that enables this time traveling, Okabe travels back in time several times to prevent Mayuri’s death.