There are narrative reasons for this that have been in place long before anime existed as a medium.
Here are the best anime shows with a Multiverse!
Quite often, time skips are used to show characters growing up or completing their training.
Here are the time skips in anime that were the most meaningful.
When Dragon Ball Z starts, five years have passed since we last saw Goku and his friends.
From the Evangelion units to the Gurren Lagann, here are the most powerful mecha in anime!
An older, wiser Simon has to get the gang back together to fight off this galaxy-ending threat.
The show is meant for adults, with dark themes dominating its runtime.
The story begins in 1990, extending all the way to the imagined future of 2055.
Because its two protagonists are immortal, Mnemosyne manages to convey a sense of deja vu in every episode.
Yes, we see the irony: one of thelongest-running animemade one of the best pacing decisions.
They were evil, but they had a reason for it.
Yet L always had a contingency plan, even for his own death.
In the event that he died, he had programmed a digital message informing a few trusted allies.
After years with no update, his message from beyond the grave finally reaches two of his proteges.
They are the ones to finally take Kira down.
In fact, Lelouch and the people around him seem completely different.
As it turns out, the entire thing was an illusion rendered by his father.
Lelouch had been living a confused life for an entire year, forgetting his purpose.
He manages to break the illusion eventually.
2Clannad: After Story
Clannad is an achingly sad anime, and its characters aren’t perfect.
Tomoya got married just out of high school, and he became a widower far too soon.
Rather than taking care of his child, Tomoya runs away from his grief.
His daughter is raised by her grandparents in a loving but regimented home.
After Season 3 ends on a poignant note, the opening of the fourth season is a shock.
You might think it’s an entirely different show at first.
Not only do the characters look completely different, but theyarecompletely different.