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As their worlds are moved ahead several years of time, it means a whole new look for each of the characters as their creators are allowed to then take things to a whole new level. It’s been a cool mark for Shonen Jump stories in particular, and below you’ll find seven series that ended up being completely reinvented thanks to the time skip opening up their stories for all new kinds of opportunities.
7). Akane-banashi
Kicking off with Chapter 141 of the series, Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Moue’s Akane-banashi skips ahead three years as the titular Akane and her compatriots train for three years to be ready to reach the next phase of their Rakugo journey. It’s a time skip that’s still unfolding with the latest chapters of the series so the full scope has yet to be revealed, but it’s already made a huge difference for the story.
Akane herself is much more skilled at Rakugo, and it’s resulted in some incredible looking visuals that are far better than what was seen in that first half of the series. It’s a little more intense on top of it all, and this one really might end up as one of the best time skips ever.
6). Mission: Yozakura Family
Kicking in with Chapter 170 of Hitsuji Gondaira’s Mission: Yozakura Family, the titular mission of the series itself sparked five years of training for the family. With Asa declaring war on the family and his intent to attack them in a few years time, Momo laid out a plan for the family to follow in order to be ready for the attack. Deciding to then fully trust in the plan, the family got ready for the final fights and it was go for broke from there.
Two new characters were added to the mix as Taiyo and Mutsumi had twin children of their own in the meantime, and from then on we saw those children grow as they reached their own levels of impressive power. It sort of saved the series right when interest started to fade, and led to a huge final battle that fans got to see play out in full over the next couple of years.
5). Haikyu!!
As the final arc of the series, Haruichi Furudate’s Haikyu!! picks up “years later” after Karasuno ends their first major stint in Nationals. Shoyo Hinata and the others have gone their separate ways after high school, and some surprising characters are brought together for one final game that combines everything that we had seen through the series thus far. Shoyo himself spends years training in Brazil to master beach volleyball, and with it gains the skills to jump even higher. It’s the first time in the series that we get to see volleyball on a true professional level, and really feels like the series goes out on a high as a result.
4). One Piece
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece certainly has one of the more famous Shonen Jump time skips as the Straw Hats had initially expected to reunite three days after the chaos at Saobody Archipelago, but Luffy then declares to them that they will meet up two years later instead. We see the result of this with Chapter 598, and the Straw Hats reunite at the place where they were first separated.
Each of them has been training in their own ways during that time, and gain the proper amount of skills to truly survive the next phase of the Grand Line. It’s from here on out that Luffy and the others are strong enough to make a stamp on the world, and it’s a time skip that we’re still seeing the results of after all these years.
