Summary
A common theme in manhwa is redemption or getting a second chance to fix past mistakes. This is especially true for the popular “returner” subgenre. Manga of this type usually open with the protagonist lamenting over their regrets before beingsent back to an earlier timein their lives.
However, with so many stories using the same premise, manhwa can become formulaic and predictable, so something must be unique for them to stand out. It can be the world itself, the goal of the characters, or even the art style.Time travel opens many possibilitiesand, if done well, makes for some of the best stories out there.
Updated June 10, 2025 by Garrett Huon:This update adds two manhwa that use time travel differently. My Royal Awakening is a historical fiction that uses real people and events as the basis of its plot. The Skeleton Soldier Failed To Defend The Dungeon features a skeleton who is in a time loop that starts over after each death. Both are fantastic stories and very fun to read.
19A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special
A Genious Mage Tries To Rewrite Fate
Desir Arman is one of the few survivors in the shadow world. He and his teammates have defeated the final boss, a dragon with immense magical power, but just as they celebrate their victory, they are all caught in an explosion. Desir wakes up in the past on the day he becomes a student at Hebrion Academy. With knowledge of the future, he plans to prevent all the disasters that befell humanity.
While its place on this list may be low,A Returner’s Magic Should Be Specialis a great manhwa that has great characters and world-building. Its plot and writing are typical as far as time travel stories go, but it’s still popular enough to have an anime adaptation.
18My Royal Awakening
Changing History As A Joseon Prince
In manhwa, time travel usually involves returning to a character’s past and reliving life, but inMy Royal Awakening, the main character is sent back hundreds of years to become Prince Jinseong, the brother of Korea’s most tyrannical emperor. There are very few manhwa that use real history as a setting, so it’s interesting to see even if the history itself is unfamiliar. Most people in the US won’t know much about Korea’s past, but this story may spark some readers' curiosity.
The plot is about Jinseong preventing history from happening. Through a combination of past trauma and political strife, the emperor is constantly wavering between rationality and aggression, which would ultimately lead to the massacre of people. To help his brother, Jinseong starts solving problems around the empire, like curing diseases and uprooting corruption. It’s so well-written that there’s a great feeling of tension and suspense despite the lack of pure action.
17The Skeleton Soldier Failed To Defend The Dungeon
A Single Skeleton Overcomes The Greatest Odds
Dungeon and hunter manhwa mostly take place from the point of view of humans defending the earth, but in this story, the main character is a regular skeleton mob. He’s tasked with defending his master in the dungeon. However, he fails when a group of adventurers kills him and his master. Then he’s sent twenty years into the past when a novice necromancer first raised him, and he believes that he has a chance to fix everything. That’s not the case, unfortunately.
Rather than just go back in time, the skeleton was stuck in a time loop that started over with each death. The only way to escape is to survive, and while the first tries were unsuccessful, he eventually learns skills that help him and his summoner. Despite the protagonist being undead, this is a great story about growth and regret, and It has a fantastic sense of progression, as each life is a new adventure with different choices.
16Saving My Sweetheart
The Saintess Takes Back Her Title In Her Second Life
In this manhwa, Leticia is known as the saint’s evil daughter, but in reality, she is a victim. In her first life, she could do nothing but watch as her mother’s schemes killed and destroyed everything around her. However, with her second life, Leticia decides to fight back as the real saint to save her loved ones.
Saving My Sweetheartdoes a great job of using the time travel trope as a tool in its story. It keeps references to the previous timeline to a minimum, only using flashbacks when necessary, and it keeps the action in the present. It’s something other manhwa struggle to do.
15Level Up With The Gods
The Gods' Chosen Climbs The Tower Once Again
As far as tower manhwa go,Level Up With The Godsis a fun story with a whimsical art style that stands out from others like it. It begins after a lost war against the Outer Gods. Left with no choice, the remaining Inner Gods send Kim Yuwon back in time to climb the Tower and unite all the challengers.
Regression and dungeons are concepts that are often put together, introducing a powerful protagonist who becomes the strongest being in the story. While that’s still true in this manhwa, it doesn’t feel rushed or too slow. The great pacing makes it very bingeable.
14To Be An Actor
An Actor Restarts His Career From Childhood
In his first life, Jang Youngkuk decided to be an actor to escape being poor, but his dedication to that dream caused him to neglect the other areas of his life, which left him alone. By some miracle, Youngkuk becomes a child again. This time he decides to focus on his family and take care of his mother, who he took for granted. However, he still loves acting.
To Be An Actoris a great manhwa set in modern times. Usually, regression stories are attached to fantasy settings, so a real-world spin on this theme is refreshing. The story includes wonderful characters, and the pacing is good too. It remains engaging where other stories would drag on.
13For My Abandoned Love
A Hardcore Fan Creates A New Ending For Her Favorite Character
After being reincarnated into her favorite novel, the protagonist assumes the identity of Hestia, a young noblewoman with a freshly bought title. Despite being a huge fan of the story, she is content to watch the final moments of the story play out without interfering. However, that changes when her favorite character, Caelus, ends his own life. God sends her back in time to save Caelus and get revenge.
This manhwa is one of the more interesting isekai set in books as it offers many unique ideas. Hestia acts as a villainess who wasn’t present in the original novel, and the revenge she seeks isn’t for herself. The romance between her and Caelus is tender and heartwarming.
12Medical Return
A Poor Doctor Starts Over
Kim Jihyun was a doctor and surgeon who was down on his luck. He struggled throughout his entire career, failing in his business and education. In a hopeless situation, he is sent back in time by someone he had saved years prior. Now at the age of a high school student, Kim Jihyun wants to live a proud and successful life.
Time travel stories are usually set in more fantastical settings, and even fewer would use medical science as the center point in a plot.Medical Returnwas one of the most largely read time travel stories due to its interesting concept and solid writing. It struggles to maintain its quality in the second half, which can often happen in longer manhwa. However, it’s still worth a read for fans of time-travel stories.
11The 100th Regression of the Max-Level Player
A Regressor Does What He Wants In His 100th Life
After 99 regressions, Min Ryu is once again trapped in a death game hosted by supposed angels. At the start of the new year, anyone between 15 and 29 years old is transported to another dimension to complete missions, risking their lives and fighting each other. In that world, Min Ryu takes the moniker “Black Scythe.”
This manhwa is like most regression stories, but the main character is a little more interesting. Protagonists are often afraid to change the flow of events or do anything to disrupt the future. Min Ryu has no hang-ups because he’s lived so many lives and has become morally ambivalent as a result. The art style is similar to that ofSolo Leveling, which definitely improves its popularity.
10Doom Breaker
The Last Survivor Tries To Screw Over The Gods
Action manhwa that include time travel have a hard time differentiating themselves because many of them follow the same plot.Doom Breakergets away with it because of its grittier atmosphere, art, and storytelling. The harsh lines anddark colors add to the apocalyptic natureof the story, whereas similar manhwa use a much lighter palette.
The highlights ofDoom Breakerare its battles. Each fight is fluid, stylized, and impactful. Each one helps the reader understand the characters and their motivations while displaying their growth in the story.
