Takemichi Hanagaki's second year of middle school was the highest point in his life. He had respect, a gang of friends he could count on, and even a girlfriend. But that was twelve years ago. Today, he's a nobody: a washed-up nonentity made fun of by children and always forced to apologize to his younger boss. A sudden news report on the Tokyo Manji Gang's cruel murder of the only girlfriend he ever had alongside her brother only adds insult to injury. Half a second before a train ends his pitiful life for good, Takemichi flashes back to that same day 12 years ago, when he was still dating Hinata Tachibana. After being forced to relive the very same day that began his downward spiral, Takemichi meets Hinata's younger brother. Without thinking, he admits to his seeming death before flashing back to the past. Takemichi urges him to protect his sister before inexplicably returning to the future. Miraculously, he is not dead. Stranger still, the future has changed. It seems as though Takemichi can alter the flow of time. Given the chance to prevent his ex-girlfriend's tragic death at the hands of the Tokyo Manji Gang, Takemichi decides to fly through time to change the course of the future.

What happens when two people love each other but just aren't meant to be together? Takaki Toono and Akari Shinohara are childhood friends, but circumstances beyond their control tear them apart. They promise to stay in contact, and although the progression of time widens the distance between them, the chain of memories remains ever-present. Byousoku 5 Centimeter is a romantic drama that focuses on the mundane and harsh reality of long-distance relationships. Stuck in the past and unable to make any new memories, Takaki and Akari cling to the hope of seeing each other again. They live their everyday lives half-heartedly, both hurting themselves and the people around them.

Naota Nandaba is an ordinary sixth grader living in a city where nothing amazing ever seems to happen. After his brother Tasuku leaves town to play baseball in America, Naota takes it upon himself to look after everything Tasuku left behind—from his top bunk bed to his ex-girlfriend Mamimi Samejima, who hasn't stopped clinging to Naota since Tasuku left. Little does Naota know, however, that his mundane existence is on the verge of being changed forever: enter Haruko Haruhara, a Vespa-riding, bass guitar-wielding, pink-haired psychopath whose first encounter with Naota leaves him with tire tracks on his back and a giant horn on his head. Though all he wants is some peace and quiet, when Haruko takes up residence at his parents' home, Naota finds himself dragged into the heart of the greatest battle for supremacy that Earth—and quite possibly the entire universe—has ever seen.

Edo is a city that was home to the vigor and ambition of samurai across the country. However, following feudal Japan's surrender to powerful aliens known as the Amanto, those aspirations now seem unachievable. With the once-influential shogunate rebuilt as a puppet government, a new law is passed that promptly prohibits all swords in public. Enter Gintoki Sakata, an eccentric silver-haired man who always carries around a wooden sword and maintains his stature as a samurai despite the ban. As the founder of Yorozuya, a small business for odd jobs, Gintoki often embarks on endeavors to help other people—though usually in rather strange and unforeseen ways. Assisted by Shinpachi Shimura, a boy with glasses supposedly learning the way of the samurai; Kagura, a tomboyish girl with superhuman strength and an endless appetite; and Sadaharu, their giant pet dog who loves biting on people's heads, the Yorozuya encounter anything from alien royalty to scuffles with local gangs in the ever-changing world of Edo.