A timeskip is a narrative device that is commonly used in the telling of epic

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

s or saga

Saga

Sagas, are stories in Old Norse about ancient Scandinavian and Germanic history, etc.Saga may also refer to:Business*Saga DAB radio, a British radio station*Saga Airlines, a Turkish airline*Saga Falabella, a department store chain in Peru...

s. It allows the storyteller to quickly age characters or develop events without getting bogged down in irrelevant or uninteresting details. Though time is commonly fast-forwarded in small amounts, timeskips usually refer to periods of several years or decades, wherein a pronounced change can be measured against the same characters, such as a child becoming an adult.

Examples of timeskips

• Dragon Ball Z: Gohan is portrayed as a child early on, but after a timeskip he becomes an adult and father.
• The Transformers (TV series)
  The Transformers (TV series)
  The Transformers is an animated television series depicting a war among giant robots who could transform into vehicles, other objects and animal-like forms. Written and recorded in America, the series was animated in Japan and South Korea...
  
  : Prior to The Transformers: The Movie
  The Transformers: The Movie
  The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the animated series of the same name. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986 and in the UK on December 5, 1986....
  
  , Spike is portrayed as an adolescent. The movie introduces a timeskip, and Spike is now a full adult. In the intervening years, the Autobots have established large bases on Earth as well as normalized communication with Cybertron.
• Beast Machines
  Beast Machines
  Beast Machines is an animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. Hasbro has the full distribution rights to the show as of 2011. It was a direct sequel to Beast Wars taking place within the continuity of the original Transformers series...
  
  : This series introduces a large timeskip between the events of the end of Beast Wars
  Beast Wars
  Transformers: Beast Wars is a Transformers toyline released by Hasbro between 1995 and 2000, and a Daytime Emmy Award winning full-CG animated television series spawned by it that debuted in 1996...
  
  and the assault the Maximals are seen fighting against in the very first episode of the series. Ironically, the events in the timeskip are actually very important to the series, and the full scope of events that occur between the end of Beast Wars and the desperate battle that the Maximals find themselves waging to reclaim Cybertron are not fully revealed until roughly mid-way through the first season of the show.
• Fable (video game)
  Fable (video game)
  Fable is an action role-playing video game in the Fable series. It was developed for Xbox, Mac OS X, and Windows platforms, by Big Blue Box, a satellite developer of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft. The game shipped for Xbox on October 14, 2003...
  
  : When the game starts, the player character is a small child. After the introductory gameplay sequence, a timeskip occurs and the player character is now a young adult.
• MechWarrior 4: In the original game, the player character (Ian Dresari) is a noble fighting to liberate the planet Kentares IV. The expansion pack takes place an indeterminate number of years later, with Dresari now the corrupt ruler of the planet, and the player in control of a mercenary squad that assists the local independence movement.
• Naruto Shippuden: Jumps from when Naruto leaves with Jiraiya to train, to when he comes back. He is the only Genin from prior to the timeskip who remains at that rank as most of his comrades have been promoted to Chunin, and one of them (Neji) has since become a Jonin, while Gaara, an enemy turned ally from another village has become the leader of said village by this time.
• One Piece
  One Piece
  is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 64th volume released as...
  
  : The plot is currently undertaking a two-year long timeskip, during which the Strawhat Pirates individually train in order to become stronger and prepare to cope with the dangers of the New World. After which they plan on meeting at Shabondy Archipelago.