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Watch the power of Aura!
When psyching themselves up for battle, warriors emit a coruscating, Kirlian-like glow around their bodies. These glows are frequently Colour Coded For Your Convenience, although this is by no means a hard-and-fast rule.
Sometimes the battle aura is a metaphor, and sometimes it is visible to bystanders, who take it as a sign to run away or dive for cover. Either way, it is a sign of power, because Power Glows.
In Western Super Hero comics, a similar effect known as Kirby Dots is used to indicate great energies at work, though not necessarily related to combat; these are primarily a print technique, but have at times been translated into animation in particularly slavish adaptations.
This is a subtrope of Power Glows. Compare Holy Halo. Occasionally manifests as a Sphere Of Power or Dramatic Wind. If only certain people can see it you could be looking at Aura Vision
Examples
Anime and Manga
- Elizabeth in Maburaho, as well as occasional others.
- After the first few episodes, anyone in Kenichi The Mightiest Disciple would start popping out his/ her battle aura, specially his psychothic masters.
- Ranma 1/2 not only shows the effect many times, it explicitly names it. At one point, Genma and Happosai face off and generate battle auras in the shape of themselves that grow to become city-sized. (They then promptly collapse from the effort of creating the battle auras in the first place). Soun Tendo, meanwhile, is implied to be able to use his Demon Head move as a specialised form of battle aura projection. In the anime, during his first episode, the second episode of the Dragon Whisker two-part story, and the OAV adaption of Miss Hinako's arrival, Happosai is also shown being able to project it as a kind of special Kamehame Hadoken attack. More often, though, battle auras in Ranma are simply glows as described above. One of the mildly-antagonistic recurring characters, the local English teacher, in the series has the power to drain Battle Auras, temporarily gaining physical strength and age, and then release the energy as a directed energy attack. Also, Ranma's Finishing Move involves using an enemy's own Battle Aura against them to blast them with a tornado, a minor form of Hoist By His Own Petard.
- Dragonball Z does this constantly, with a huge variety of colors, usually depending on the power used. (Kamehameha produces a blue aura, while Kaioken produces red, Super Saiyan is yellow, and so on).
- In Naruto, certain characters glow with a visible chakra-molded battle aura when tapping into their characteristic inner power. This is considered a big deal as chakra is supposed to be invisible to the naked eye. When Naruto specifically taps into the power of his Nine-Tailed Demon fox, his chakra aura turns red and depending on what stage he's in, takes on energy-based appendages such as a tail and ears reminiscent of a typical fox.
- Naruto himself may actually be a subversion; at 4-tails and above the Battle Aura becomes so powerful it gives him third-degree burns.
- When Naruto is in Sage Mode he's surrounded by an aura of natural energy, which is still invisible, but he can control it giving him powers similar to telekinesis, as he's able to hit an opponent with a wave of force even though his punch was deflected, and could hold the Rasenshuriken into a ball letting him use it as a projectile which or release it to hit an opponent it passed by but didn't come into contact with.
- In a very different form of this, the Raikage has an actual technique that involves covering himself in lightning chakra for various practical purposes, including as a defensive shield and to increase his own reflexes and speed by stimulating his nerves and muscles.
- In Kodomo No Omocha, Sana-chan, when angry, occasionally manifests effects — frequently the appearance of standing in a raging bonfire — that could be interpreted as battle auras.
- In one episode of Azumanga Daioh, a young wild cat Sakaki had befriended in the previous episode shows up to save her from a pack of cats led by Kamineko, and scares them off by displaying a Battle Aura.
- Onegai Twins had two rivals for the lead's heart stare each other down when large animal auras burst out of their backs. We think this is metaphorical, but it terrifies the timid Karen, who is watching.
- During the Dark Tournament arc of Yu Yu Hakusho, Yusuke's aura is large enough to fill half of the arena. Younger Toguro, however, has such a powerful aura that it literally incinerates a portion of the audience.
- Hiei's last opponent during the same arc also explicitly calls his energy field a Battle Aura.
- The manga Parasyte has a variation: when one of the alien race known as the Parasytes threatens an Earth native, an image of a predatory creature overlays the alien (for example, just before one of them kills a lion, a spider appears over him).
- Characters in Fist Of The North Star not only have battle auras that are visible to other characters, they also explicitly call them "Battle Auras" and expert fighters can even determine details of their opponent's combat style by looking at their aura.
- The Claymore anime added in Battle Aura, something the manga inverted having a Battle Aura is a sure fire way to die (or turn evil) and powerful characters are ones who supress it.
- Shinigami characters in Bleach have tangible Battle Auras, which at the high end of the spectrum can incapacitate low-powered enemies simply by being released. When two opponents are particularly focused, their battle auras also take on physical forms behind them, forming a shape that represents the spirit of the fighter. In one such fight, Ichigo's takes the shape of a Hollow's mask - foreshadowing his inner Hollow gaining in power. General Yamamoto's appears as a layer of flame, whilst Kenpachi's aura is in the form of a skull.
- Naru displays a battle aura several times before hitting Keitaro in Love Hina.
- Comedic example: Yamazaki displayed a battle aura
 ◊ in one episode of Welcome To The NHK, because someone told him that hentai games were something to be ashamed of.
- Hikaru in Magic Knight Rayearth not only displays it when she's excited, it's part of her attack footage.
- Highly skilled drivers in Initial D occasionally display their battle auras in the 4th Stage season.
- And in Initial D Arcade Stage (ver. 1 through 3 only), the most popular video game adaptation of the series, you can have one too, if you get enough wins.
- Demons and spiritually powerful humans have this in Inuyasha.
- Rurouni Kenshin has this (particularly in the Shishio saga) in the form of "swordsman spirit".
- Sumomo Mo Momo Mo has auras for any martial artist that's sufficiently powerful. Momoko is unusual because she can actually use hers to deflect attacks. As for colors, well, with twelve factions, you take anything that looks good. Hers is red.
- Meito Anisawa (aka "Anime Tenchou") of Lucky Star quite literally sets himself on fire, with someone on the film crew having to periodically put him out with a hose when he makes an appearance in a "Lucky Channel" segment at the end. His burning passion is enough to transcend reality in a mostly slice-of-life show.
- These are typically avoided in Pretty Cure, but Futari Wa Pretty Cure Splash Star went for it, particularly with Cure Bloom.
- Yoshimori's initial attempts in Kekkaishi to perform Zekkai look like one of these.
- Bamboo Blade has Tama's red battle aura which ignites whenever she gets particularly heroic, and Miyamiya's black aura, which activates whenever she goes crazy. Andou, Miya's rival from another school, also has a black aura.
- Discarding the risible pseudoscience "justification", the Ripple from the first two parts of Jojos Bizarre Adventure is basically a Battle Aura. It is made from energy generated whenever a person breathes in, and is transferred out through natural means - the hands and feet are most obvious, but wool, metal and vegetable oil are all used to conduct the Ripple at points. Because all energy on Earth comes ultimately from the Sun, the Ripple has the same devastating effect on vampires as sunlight. In a different vein, the Stands from the third part on are essentially anthropomorphic Battle Auras.
- Naturally, Aura Battler Dunbine, for obvious reasons.
- Junior high tennis players often sport battle auras while using physics-defying moves in The Prince Of Tennis.
- And who could forget the golden glowing battle aura G Gundam's Domon Kasshu creates? (And other characters in the same series, of course).
- Not exactly Battle Auras, but the UC Gundam franchise has high level newtypes use specific glow surrounding them, usually when they use the powers to their limits. Strong ones, such as Kamille's and Judau's, are even physically present and shield Gundams or damage opponents. Impressive, isn't it?
- Digimon Savers: "DIGISOUL FULL CHARGE!"
- Saint Seiya explains the concept of Cosmo by saying that it is the miniature cosmos that exists within each atom in a Saint's body. So, when a warrior shouts, "Burn, Cosmo!" they're concentrating in exploding this power into an overwhelming aura. Sometimes, they burn their Cosmo so brightly it actually manifests as a spectral vision of their patron constellation (or, in Andromeda Shun's case, the Andromeda Nebula,) which is always the sign that the enemy is about to get his ass handed to him.
- Mahou Sensei Negima, in its' steady move towards more serious, action oriented stories has started getting into this, most noteably on these two, pages.
- The military artists in Chrome Shelled Regios all have battle auras, with different colors for different levels of power.
- Though you may try to explain it as hot steam coming off his body and the redness is caused by the blood pumped at high velocity, Luffy's Gear Second (Gia Segando) from One Piece looks like an aura. And don't forget the spirited swordsman Zoro.
- Although it is usually not visible, there's the entire concept of Haki. Shanks knocks out dozens of Mooks just by walking by them because his Haki aura is so strong.
- Thus making it the only Battle Aura you can use to punch someone in the face.
- Every character in Seto No Hanayome that matters has had a battle aura at least once.
- In Saki, the Miyanaga sisters and Koromo have battle auras. Mind you this is a Mahjong anime...
- Don't forget Hisa. Nodoka, Touka and Yumi are slightly nonstandart, Momoko might sort of count too.
- A few Pokemon, like Ash's Grovyle, gain a Battle Aura when they use their special ability and power up.
- Also, all Pokémon shine white when evolving in the show.
- A distinct characteristic of Kanon, a character in Umi Monogatari is that she releases a black aura when angry, and is apparently not a random trope-ish "special effect" since, everyone in her town associates her with her black aura.
- The nine armors in Ronin Warriors often give their wearers a battle aura in tense situations.
Film
- In the 1985 film The Last Dragon, there is The Glow: when a fighter's hands glow, he is among the best in the world - when his entire body glows, he IS the best. Sho'Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, demonstrates the former towards the end of the movie, but Leroy "Bruce Leroy" Green demonstrates the latter after a beatdown.
Literature
- Homer's Iliad features an Achean warrior, Diomedes, being powered-up by Athena: "She set the man ablaze, his shield and helmet flaming, with tireless fire like the star that flames at harvest, bathed in the Ocean, rising up to outshine all other stars. Such fire Athena blazed from Tydides (Diomedes is Tyndeus' son, hence that appelation) head and shoulders..." Thus this trope is Older Than Dirt.
Live Action TV
- Any Super Sentai team if they get fired up enough. This means their Power Rangers counterparts get the same effect.
- William Adama has got one of these. Battlestar isn't usually a show for this sort of thing, but Edward James Olmos to awesome for naturalism to work. In the recent mutiny arc he deploys it several times. First when being led away the CIC by two rebel marines he scares so shitless that the other loses focus allowing Tigh whack him. Then at the climax of the arc having been rescued from execution, he lead a charge to CIC, no-one dares challenge him, and half the crew follows behind him. The mutineers in CIC, after their FTL stops working start freaking out, one of their leaders Gaeta is rendered speachless as he feels the approaching aura of the Admiral. I was half expecting him to exclaim Bleach style "what spritual pressure".
Tabletop Games
- In Exalted, characters that expend large amounts of Essence display what is referred to as an Anima Banner, a totemic image of their character's soul. One can often discern another's Exalt type by their Anima Banner.
- The glowyness goes up with amount of power used (or down with time since power was used). At first, its just a glittery forehead, then its a brightly shining forehead, then its your standard close-in battle aura, then its a bonfire aura (a la Dragonball), then it reaches the level where it shows a totemic display of the Exalt's soul. The last two versions are visible for several kilometers around.
- ...Which is why the Night Caste Solars, the game's stealth specialists, have the unique ability to mute their anima banners, making them fainter and less noticeable. After all, a spy, thief, or assassin giving off light clearly visible for miles around wouldn't be very good at his job...
- And even if they don't mute their banners, their displays mask their faces; Highly Visible Ninja, anyone?
- Standard issue for Daemon Princes, Living Saints, C'Tan, and other super-powerful beings in Warhammer 40k. Most of these also tend to have actual effects as well.
- In the Dungeons And Dragons expansion Tome Of Battle, martial disciplines have color-coded auras. Stone Dragon is green, Setting Sun is yellow, Shadow Hand is deep purple, Devoted Spirit is pink, Diamond Mind is lavender, etc.
- In the Deadlands setting, one of the *disadvantages* that you can take for the Martial Arts magic path is "The Cup Overflows". This results in a very obvious Battle Aura that cannot be suppressed, and whenever you tap a mystic ability causes things like small dust devils, your fee to not quite touch the ground, static discharges, liquid lifting out of cups, etc etc. Pretty good for intimidating people but no way in heck you're going incognito.
Video Games
- Mass Effect: upon landing on Noveria for the first time, having Liara in your active squad will let you see a biotic Battle Aura (she does it other times but this one is the best)when you confront the Corrupt Cop at the entrance of the base. While any other teammate or Shepard will just ready a gun, Liara readying her aura make her strangely more intimadating than Wrex, the seven foot tall natural super-soldier.
- Characters that are affected by the Satsui no Hadou (Killing Intent) in the Street Fighter series (like Akuma and the Evil versions of Ryu and Ken) glow with a reddish aura, and characters that use Psycho Power (such as M. Bison) often have a purplish aura added to their attacks.
- In the final levels of Elite Beat Agents, the agents are surrounded by a Battle Aura while the people they're inspiring are dancing. This vanishes if the player misses a step, as the aliens overhead begin blasting them. At the end of the level, the aura is gathered into a Spirit Bomb and fired at the alien mothership.
- The Japanese game which inspired Elite Beat Agents, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, used the combined Battle Aura of the entire world population in the final levels of both it and its sequel: in Ouendan, it was used to blast an asteroid out of the sky, in the sequel to re-light the Sun after it had gone out.
- Unusual example: the Flash game Dolphin Olympics.
- When a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl grabs a Smash Ball, they get a multicolored aura and their eyes glow yellow, which continues until after the Final Smash is used.
- Lucario, as per the page quote, has a functional Battle Aura, which powers most of his attacks. Its intensity is based on how much damage he's taken, and as it grows stronger, so do his attacks.
- In the videogame Grandia II, Millenia will get "annoyed" if she takes damage; the more damage she takes, the redder and angrier her picture at the bottom of the screen becomes. It'll eventually glow red, at which point she'll shout something (normally piss off), knock all the friendly characters out of her way, and then run around with a red aura doing whatever the hell she pleases until she calms down.
- The Paladin character from Diablo has literal auras of various types which can be shared with his allies.
- Heroes in {{Warcraft} 3 often have a similar ability.
- While the Paladin in World Of Warcraft uses auras extensively and the Shaman has it's aura-inducing totems, many other character classes have auras of their own with various amounts of glow.
- The posthuman "daodan" protagonist and antagonist in Oni play this trope straight, right down to 'good = blue, bad = red'.
- Several different units in Age Of Mythology glow to indicate some kind of combat enhancement in effect.
- Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 and W give Mazinkaiser an attack known as Kaiser Nova, which should be seen for yourself.
- Lexaeus from Kingdom Hearts uses a green Battle Aura to increase his strength and prevent himself from flinching when struck.
Webcomics
- Elliot and Nanase from El Goonish Shive.
- Something of a subversion, since the martial arts style they use is specifically designed off of anime. Literally, their sensei went on a DVD spree in an attempt to figure out how to shoot energy blasts.
- All of the main characters in Goblins have different coloured auras that are visible when ever they use magic items or class features. The colours also extend to their shouted comments and sound effects.
- They also have their own name for it - I.M.E. or Individual Magical Effect.
- In Sluggy Freelance, Horribus gets this a lot whenever he's particularly fired up about killing Torg. He's the only one with an aura, though, so it might just be a Demon Lord thing.
- In the final battle of the Authors in Bob And George, both Authors create large battle auras (?) that cannot actually fight because 'we're using up the entire special effects budget just having them stand there'.
Western Animation
- Ron Stoppable got a Battle Aura in the Grand Finale of Kim Possible. The members of Team Go have that, too: Shego's green glow is notorious.
- When an Avatar, such as Aang, enters the Avatar State in Avatar The Last Airbender, he often produces a bright Battle Aura (sometimes with Chunky Updraft.) This is actually a plot point in the first episode, when it alerts an enemy to his presence.
Comics
- From Uncanny X-Men, Phoenix.◊
- Excalibur's Rachel Summers, future daughter of Alternate Universe Jean and Scott Summers, "Baby" Phoenix.◊ Who apparently calls herself Marvel Girl these days, because heaven forbid she should get a name that wasn't Mom's.
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