What is this genre all about? Space Travel usually refers going to space or travelling there with or without a spacecraft. There are different forms of space travel like Interplanetary travel, Interstellar travel or Intergalactic travel. Since it isn't possible to travel faster than light, most anime series involve some sort "sub-space travel mechanism" as a way to travel faster than light.
We present you the list of Space Travel anime you should watch right now.
Try our anime quiz: Anime Characters Guessing Quiz/Game
Top 20 Space Travel anime you should watch right now. [2025 List]
- 20. Cowboy Bebop
- 19. Macross F
- 18. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
- 17. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
- 16. Dragon Ball Kai
- 15. Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster
- 14. Planetes
- 13. Kanata no Astra
- 12. Dragon Ball GT
- 11. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
- 10. Mobile Suit Gundam
- 9. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
- 8. Dragon Ball Kai (2014)
- 7. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans 2
- 6. Heroic Age
- 5. Space☆Dandy
- 4. Uchuu Kyoudai
- 3. Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
- 2. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
- 1. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999)
20. Cowboy Bebop
In the year 2071, humanity has colonized several of the planets and moons of the solar system leaving the now uninhabitable surface of planet Earth behind. The Inter Solar System Police attempts to keep peace in the galaxy, aided in part by outlaw bounty hunters, referred to as "Cowboys". The ragtag team aboard the spaceship Bebop are two such individuals.
Mellow and carefree Spike Spiegel is balanced by his boisterous, pragmatic partner Jet Black as the pair makes a living chasing bounties and collecting rewards. Thrown off course by the addition of new members that they meet in their travels—Ein, a genetically engineered, highly intelligent Welsh Corgi; femme fatale Faye Valentine, an enigmatic trickster with memory loss; and the strange computer whiz kid Edward Wong—the crew embarks on thrilling adventures that unravel each member's dark and mysterious past little by little.
Well-balanced with high density action and light-hearted comedy, Cowboy Bebop is a space Western classic and an homage to the smooth and improvised music it is named after.
Cowboy Bebop has finished airing and it has 26 Episodes. It is also Known as: カウボーイビバップ, COWBOY BEBOP
19. Macross F
In a futuristic universe, humanity waged war against a race of giants known as Zentradi. Facing extinction at hands of their foes, humanity escaped to the stars. In 2059 A.D., the 25th Giant Immigration fleet, also known as the Macross Frontier, undergoes its journey towards the center of the galaxy.
For the most part, life on the Macross Frontier proceeds as normal. But when famous singer Sheryl Nome visits, things go awry. Mysterious biomechanical aliens known as Vajra appear and attack, just as the citizens are busy clamoring over Sheryl.
17-year-old student mech pilot Alto Saotome joins the fray against the alien threat. While battling against a Varja, Alto rescues a young girl named Ranka Lee. Major Ozma Lee notes Alto's skill during his battle, and recruits him into the Strategic Military Services program. But his recruitment does not go smoothly, as the ghosts of Alto's past come up to haunt him.
Macross Frontier has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: マクロスＦ（ロンティア）, Macross F
18. Legend of the Galactic Heroes
For 150 years the galaxy has been locked in an interstellar war between the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance, fighting battles with thousands of spaceships and millions of soldiers on both sides. The crumbling Goldenbaum dynasty rules the Empire while the Alliance is in an increasingly dysfunctional democratic state.
Two new commanders enter the stage: Imperial Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm and the FPA's Yang Wen-Li. Reinhard is a talented minor aristocrat given a high station—and a powerful grudge—after the Kaiser took his older sister as a concubine. Wen-Li originally joined the military only to fund his university education, but has become a brilliant though reluctant leader. Each begins to attract a circle of similarly gifted soldiers, generals and thinkers around him, and in time the rivalry between these two very different men will shatter the existing stalemate. As they deal with superiors and subordinates, maneuver through personal and political problems, plot strategies and fight battles, both will bend the course of events to their will and, in turn, be tested and changed by the greatest war in human history!
Legend of the Galactic Heroes is a vast, sentimental and thoughtful military space opera. This 110-episode OVA is the central part of the franchise, and the other connected titles are supplements to it.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes has finished airing and it has 110 Episodes. It is also Known as: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu, 銀河英雄伝説, LoGH, LotGH, Gin'eiden, GinEiDen, Heldensagen Vom Kosmosinsel
17. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
It is Universal Century 0087, and the One Year War between the Earth Federation and Principality of Zeon is over. The Earth Federation has created an elite task force, known as the Titans, who are responsible for hunting the remaining Zeon forces. However, the power-hungry Titans have shown themselves to be no better than Zeon, spurring the creation of a rebellious faction called the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG).
17-year-old Kamille Bidan lives in the colony Green Noa, home to a Titan base. Kamille gets in trouble after assaulting a Titan officer, an event that coincides with an attack led by former Zeon ace Char Aznable, now known as AEUG pilot Quattro Bajeena. When Kamille steals a Titan's prototype Gundam, he soon finds himself in the middle of the dangerous conflict.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam has finished airing and it has 50 Episodes. It is also Known as: Kidou Senshi Zeta Gundam, 機動戦士Ζガンダム, Mobile Suit Z Gundam
16. Dragon Ball Kai
Five years after the events of Dragon Ball, martial arts expert Gokuu is now a grown man married to his wife Chi-Chi, with a four-year old son named Gohan. While attending a reunion on Turtle Island with his old friends Master Roshi, Krillin, Bulma and others, the festivities are interrupted when a humanoid alien named Raditz not only reveals the truth behind Gokuu's past, but kidnaps Gohan as well.
With Raditz displaying power beyond anything Gokuu has seen before, he is forced to team up with his old nemesis, Piccolo, in order to rescue his son. But when Gokuu and Piccolo reveal the secret of the seven mystical wish-granting Dragon Balls to Raditz, he informs the duo that there is more of his race, the Saiyans, and they won’t pass up an opportunity to seize the power of the Dragon Balls for themselves.
These events begin the saga of Dragon Ball Kai, a story that finds Gokuu and his friends and family constantly defending the galaxy from increasingly more powerful threats. Bizarre, comical, heartwarming and threatening characters come together in a series of battles that push the powers and abilities of Gokuu and his friends beyond anything they have ever experienced.
Dragon Ball Z Kai has finished airing and it has 97 Episodes. It is also Known as: ドラゴンボール改, Dragonball Kai, DBK, DB Kai, DBZ Kai
15. Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster
In the near future, humanity has taken its first steps towards journeying into the far reaches of the galaxy. Upon doing so they discover a huge race of insectoid aliens known as “Space Monsters.” These aliens seem dedicated to the eradication of mankind as they near closer and closer to discovering Earth. In response, humanity develops giant fighting robots piloted by hand-picked youth from around the world.
Shortly after the discovery of the aliens, Noriko Takaya, the daughter of a famous deceased space captain, enters a training school despite her questionable talents as a pilot. There, she meets her polar opposite, the beautiful and talented Kazumi Amano, and is unexpectedly made to work together with her as they attempt to overcome the trauma of war as well as their own emotions.
Gunbuster has finished airing and it has 6 Episodes. It is also Known as: トップをねらえ！ GunBuster, Top wo Nerae!, Aim for the Top!
14. Planetes
In 2075, space travel is no longer just a dream, but an everyday reality for mankind. Advancements in science and technology have led to the colonization of the moon, the commercialization of outer space, and the formation of large space corporations. Ai Tanabe, an upbeat woman whose interests lie in the cosmos, joins Technora Corporation as a member of their Debris Section, a department dedicated to the removal of dangerous space junk between the orbits of the Earth and Moon.
However, Ai soon discovers how unappreciated her job is. As the laughingstock of Technora, the Debris Section is severely understaffed, poorly funded, and is forced to use a dilapidated spaceship nicknamed the "Toy Box" for debris retrieval. Undeterred, Ai perseveres and gradually becomes acquainted with the strange personalities that make up the Debris Section's staff, such as the bumbling but good-natured chief clerk Philippe Myers; the mysterious and tight-lipped temp worker Edelgard Rivera; and the hotheaded and passionate Hachirota Hoshino, who longs for a spaceship to call his own.
Winner of the Seiun Award in 2005, Planetes is an unconventional sci-fi series that portrays the vastness of space as a backdrop for the personal lives of ordinary people—people who may have been born on Earth, but whose hopes and dreams lie amongst the stars.
Planetes has finished airing and it has 26 Episodes. It is also Known as: プラネテス, ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ
13. Kanata no Astra
In the year 2063, eight high school students and a kid are flown out to Planet Camp, tasked with surviving on their own for a few days. But shortly after arriving, an ominous glowing orb warps them to an unknown quadrant of space, nearly 5,012 light years away. Now, the only way back home is a slow, dangerous trek across the universe—a journey that’ll test them in ways Planet Camp never could.
ASTRA LOST IN SPACE has finished airing and it has 12 Episodes. It is also Known as: 彼方のアストラ, Kanata no Astra
12. Dragon Ball GT
Dragon Ball GT takes place five years after Gokuu left to train his apprentice Uub, whose training is now complete. During the final stages of Uub's training, Gokuu's old foe Emperor Pilaf infiltrates the Lookout to make a wish on the Black Star Dragon Balls. Due to a slip of the tongue, Pilaf is once again denied world domination and Gokuu is instead turned back into a child. Who could have imagined the dangers that would soon follow this lighthearted event?
Making a wish on the Black Star Dragon Balls causes the planet they are used on to explode exactly one year after the wish has been granted. And the Black Star Dragon Balls do not simply scatter across the Earth, they scatter across the entire galaxy. It is up to Gokuu, Trunks, and Pan to retrieve the Balls and save the Earth, but they will find many enemies who are a far greater threat than Emperor Pilaf on their journey throughout the galaxy.
Dragon Ball GT has finished airing and it has 64 Episodes. It is also Known as: ドラゴンボールGT, Dragonball GT, DBGT
11. Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199
In the year 2199, Earth faces its greatest crisis. Due to unrelenting bombings by the alien race known as "Gamilas," the planet can no longer sustain its inhabitants. In exactly one year, humanity is set to become extinct.
In desperation, the people of Earth establish the Earth Defense Force, their last defense against the power-hungry Gamilas Empire. However, humanity finds a glimmer of hope after receiving a message from the mysterious planet Iscandar, which offers them a device that would restore Earth to its former glory. With salvation in sight, the Earth Defense Force calls on the prolific Space Battleship Yamato and swiftly assembles a crew to make the 148,000 light-year trek to Iscandar and receive their aid.
Among the crew are young officers Susumu Kodai and Daisuke Shima, along with several other newly promoted leaders, all under the command of the distinguished Captain Juuzou Okita. Forced to learn how to handle the ship's innovative technology while dealing with the onslaught of Gamilas fleets, the inexperienced cast of Uchuu Senkan Yamato 2199 must summon every inch of their resolve to survive the many hardships aboard the Yamato and complete their mission: to save humanity before it's too late.
Space Battleship Yamato 2199 has finished airing and it has 26 Episodes. It is also Known as: 宇宙戦艦ヤマト2199, Star Blazers 2199, Space Battleship Yamato 2199
10. Mobile Suit Gundam
It is year 0079 of the Universal Century. Mankind has moved to space, living in colony clusters known as "Sides." One of these Sides declares itself the "Principality of Zeon" and declares war on the Earth Federation, the governmental body currently ruling Earth. Using powerful humanoid robots known as "mobile suits," Zeon quickly gains the upper hand.Nine months into the conflict, the Earth Federation has developed its own powerful mobile suit called the Gundam. When Zeon launches an attack on the colony holding the Gundam, a 15-year-old civilian named Amuro Ray suddenly finds himself thrown into a conflict that will take him all across Earth and space, pitting him against the enemy's ace pilot, Char Aznable.
Mobile Suit Gundam has finished airing and it has 43 Episodes. It is also Known as: Kidou Senshi Gundam, 機動戦士ガンダム, First Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam: 0079, MSG
9. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
300 years after a great conflict between Earth and Mars known as the "Calamity War," a woman named Kudelia sets out on a journey to Earth to speak for the independence of the Martian city of Chryse, which is under the control of the Earth government. Escorting her is the private security company CGS members Mikazuki Augus and Orga Itsuka. When a group named Gjallarhorn attacks CGS and Kudelia, Orga sees this as a chance to rebel against CGS and launch a coup. Mikazuki and Orga are thrust into a new conflict. To fend off Gjallarhorn, Mikazuki rides an old mobile suit from the Calamity War, powered by a nuclear reactor, the Gundam Barbatos.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans, 機動戦士ガンダム 鉄血のオルフェンズ, G-Tekketsu
8. Dragon Ball Kai (2014)
Remastered version of the Majin Buu saga that adheres more to the manga's story.
Note: Only 61 episodes were released in Japan. International Broadcast had 69. Episode count on this page Represents International count.
Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters has finished airing and it has 69 Episodes. It is also Known as: ドラゴンボール改, Dragonball Kai, DBK, DB Kai, DBZ Kai,, DBZ Kai,
7. Kidou Senshi Gundam: Tekketsu no Orphans 2
Second season of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans.
Learning about the world from her journey to Earth, Kudelia founded Admoss Company to strive for the financial independence of Mars. While inspecting a mining site of halfmetal, Orga Itsuka, leader of Tekkadan hired by Admoss as guards, senses an attack from a new enemy and heads out to confront them, along with Mikazuki in the mobile suit Gundam Barbatos Lupus.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans 2 has finished airing and it has 25 Episodes. It is also Known as: 機動戦士ガンダム 鉄血のオルフェンズ 第2期, G-Tekketsu 2
6. Heroic Age
When the Golden Race invited other races to join them in the stars, three sentient races answered their call. The Goldens called them the Bronze, Silver and Heroic Tribes. Just before the Gold Tribe left to travel to another Universe, a fourth race appeared, traveling to the stars on their own accomplishments. The Golds named the human race the Iron Tribe. During the passing of time, humanity suffers at the hands of the more dominant races and is now facing extinction. Following a prophecy left by the Gold Tribe, Princess Deianeira sets out to search for the powerful being who might be able to save humankind. She meets a wild haired boy on an abandoned planet—a fateful encounter that will not only change the fortunes of Humanity, but also the fate of the universe.
Heroic Age has finished airing and it has 26 Episodes. It is also Known as: ヒロイック・エイジ, Heroic Age
5. Space☆Dandy
The universe is a mysterious and strange place, full of even stranger and more mysterious aliens. Dandy's job is to hunt down unclassified aliens and register them for a reward. It sounds easy enough, but something weird always seems to happen along the way, like chance meetings with zombies, mystical ramen chefs, and adorable orphans. Hunting down aliens may not be easy, but it's definitely never boring.
With the help of his sidekicks, the adorable robot vacuum QT and cat-like alien Meow, and his slightly-used ship the Aloha Oe, Dandy roams the galaxy searching for new alien species. What he usually finds, however, is adventure, danger, and romance, and no two journeys (or universes) are ever the same. This is Space☆Dandy, baby!
Space Dandy has finished airing and it has 13 Episodes. It is also Known as: スペース☆ダンディ, Space☆Dandy
4. Uchuu Kyoudai
On a fateful summer night in 2006, Mutta Nanba and his younger brother Hibito witness what they believe to be a UFO flying toward the Moon. This impressing and unusual phenomenon leads both siblings vowing to become astronauts, with Hibito aiming for the Moon and Mutta, convinced that the eldest brother has to be one step ahead, for Mars.
Now an adult, life hasn't turned out how Mutta had pictured it: he is diligently working in an automotive company, whereas Hibito is on his way to be the very first Japanese man to step on the Moon. However, after losing his job, Mutta is presented with an unexpected opportunity to catch up to his younger brother when the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, commonly known as JAXA, accepts his application to participate in the next astronaut selection. Despite self-doubts about his prospects, Mutta is unwilling to waste this chance of a lifetime, and thus embarks on an ambitious journey to fulfill the promise made 19 years ago.
Space Brothers has finished airing and it has 99 Episodes. It is also Known as: 宇宙兄弟, Uchu Kyodai, Uchuu Kyodai
3. Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
In A.G. 101 (the 101st year of the Advanced Generation calendar) a mysterious entity known only as "UE", or "unknown enemy", attacks and destroys the space colony Angel. This brutal attack becomes infamous as the "The Day the Angel Fell", and marks the beginning of humanity's war for survival.
The series begins in A.G. 108 when the UE attack the space colony Ovan, where Flit Asuno lives with his mother. Flit's mother is killed by the UE, and in her belongings (in an object called a "AGE Device") he discovers the blueprints for a powerful weapon from the past - the ancient messiah named "Gundam."
From these blueprints, Flit spends the next several years studying engineering at an Earth Federation base on the Nora space colony and designing the AGE-1 Gundam. Seven years later, in A.G. 115, Flit completes the Gundam, just as the UE attack Nora. Flit and his lineage's battle piloting the AGE-1 to protect mankind is about to begin.
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE has finished airing and it has 49 Episodes. It is also Known as: 機動戦士ガンダムAGE, Kidou Senshi Gundam AGE
2. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
The United Earth Sphere Alliance is a powerful military organization that has ruled over Earth and space colonies with an iron fist for several decades. When the colonies proclaimed their opposition to this, their leader was assassinated. Now, in the year After Colony 195, bitter colonial rebels have launched "Operation Meteor," sending five powerful mobile suits to Earth for vengeance. Built out of virtually indestructible material called Gundanium Alloy, these "Gundams" begin an assault against the Alliance and its sub organization OZ.
One Gundam, whose pilot has taken the name of the slain colony leader Heero Yuy, is forced to make a crash landing into the ocean after an atmospheric battle against OZ's ace pilot Zechs Marquise. Upon coming ashore, he is found by Relena Peacecraft, daughter of a peace-seeking politician, who witnesses Heero's descent to Earth. Although neither of them realize it yet, this encounter will have a profound impact on both their lives, as well as those on Earth and in space colonies.
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing has finished airing and it has 49 Episodes. It is also Known as: Shin Kidou Senki Gundam Wing, 新機動戦記ガンダムW, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing
1. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden (1999)
A prequel to The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, focusing on the FPA's Yang Wen-li. A chronicle on how he earned the title "The Hero of El Facile" and his handling of assignments he received after the historic event.
Spiral Labyrinth also continues with the background of Reinhard and Kircheis where the first Gaiden left off.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden (1999) has finished airing and it has 28 Episodes. It is also Known as: 銀河英雄伝説外伝 螺旋迷宮, Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden: Spiral Labyrinth, LoGH Gaiden: Spiral Labyrinth
