History Main / Mana

* ''TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse'':

* "Reiryoku/Spiritual Energy" in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Not to be confused with "Reiatsu/Spiritual Pressure", which is what energy is being ''released''.

Compare with VancianMagic. See also PsychicPowers (the SciFi genre's version of human special powers).

* This is the source of Film/{{Gamera}}'s power in the Heisei Trilogy. In [[Film/GameraAdventOfTheLegion the second]] movie he needs to gather mana from all across the globe in order to defeat the Mother Legion. However this has ramifications in the [[Film/GameraAwakeningOfIrys third movie]] as depleting the Earth's mana created an environment the Gyaos, the villains of the [[Film/GameraGuardianOfTheUniverse first movie]] to reproduce and evolve at an unprecedented rate.

* This is the source of Film/{{Gamera}}'s power in the Heisei Trilogy. In [[GameraAdventOfTheLegion the second]] movie he needs to gather mana from all across the globe in order to defeat the Mother Legion. However this has ramifications in the [[GameraAwakeningOfIrys third movie]] as depleting the Earth's mana created an environment the Gyaos, the villains of the [[GameraGuardianOfTheUniverse first movie]] to reproduce and evolve at an unprecedented rate.

* Parodied in ''Western Animation/The Owl House'', in an early episode it is revealed that witches and humanoid demons have a sack of magic bile attacked to their heart which allows them to cast spells. Played more straight with "glyphs" which are used to command ambient magic in the air.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', there is natural mana produced by ley lines on the Earth, but there are also several ways to produce mana, which is why there are different schools of magic. However, mana is incompatible with AIM fields of espers, which disallow the existence of a magician-esper hybrid. AIM fields also function as the science-side equivalent of mana, produced by the Personal Realities of espers. Huge enough amounts of it can result in the creation of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent artificial angels]]. Telesma, meanwhile, is the variation used by [[OurAngelsAreDifferent real angels]]. Telesma is highly dangerous, destructive, and cannot be controlled by humans, unless there is a medium such as [[PublicDomainArtifact the Curtana]] in England.

The term is a Melanesian/Polynesian word for the power of the elemental forces of nature, as embodied in an object or person (essentially a badass is someone with lots of mana). The current usage no doubt descends directly from Creator/LarryNiven's novel ''Literature/TheMagicGoesAway'' and related stories from the 1970s, in which he used "mana" to refer to the non-renewable resource which powered magic in prehistoric times, whose depletion ushered in the "modern" historical era.

* The Plasmids from ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' are powered by "EVE," which is mechanistically identical to mana.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia''. The characters spend a majority of the game trying to restore the mana flow to [[spoiler: both worlds, and eventually restoring the source of Mana, the Giant Kharlan Tree]]. In Symphonia life can't even ''exist'' without mana.
** The sequel ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'' also has a plot based heavily about mana.
*** As does ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia''', which the ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' duology is a prequel to.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheWorld'' Radiant Mythology series, mana is born from the World Tree and flows out into the world, providing it with life. Without mana, the world itself would die. The Descender is born from his/her world's World Tree, which uses its mana to give birth to a Descender. A Descender's power also fluctuates with the strength of mana and the World Tree it comes from. Although the Descender is incredibly strong regardless of how weak the World Tree is, it has been said that the stronger the World Tree's mana is, the stronger the Descender will be. However, it is mana which sustains the life and power of the Descender. In the most dire straits, a lack of mana in the land can adversely affect the Descender, leading to blackouts. The first Radiant Mythology has a story that focuses a lot on mana.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' starts out with "Aer" [[spoiler: later revealed to be toxic. At the end of the game, Rita discovers a way to replace Aer with actual "Mana".]]

%% Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=kdraqxwm

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/FairyTail https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fairy_tail_mana.png]]]]

* ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'': Mana is a key element of the story, and how much you can store and use at any given time is a measure of your power as a witch, a demon, or a dragon. Azusa briefly tries to pass herself off as much, ''much'' weaker than she really is, but a trained mage can easily see the overwhelming aura of power she radiates at all times.

* The energy meter in the ''LARP/OtakonLARP'' can vary slightly. It may represent Magic, Chi, or Psionics. Essentially, they all represent a character’s ability to use powerful abilities in a limited form. They rarely overlap, and not every character has an ability that requires the use of their energy meter. A character whose Mana is reduced to Zero can continue, but cannot use or maintain any abilities that require whichever form of Mana the ability uses. [[RegeneratingMana Mana is restored at noon and midnight every day]].

* Mana shows up in ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}: Beyond Heretic'' and its sequel ''Hexen II'' in blue and green variants. More basic weapons use blue mana, slightly stronger ones use green, and the ultimate weapon of any player class uses both simultaneously. Mana can be found in crystals (pyramid-shaped for blue, cube-shaped for green, and round for both combined), and the Krater of Might, a metal goblet filled with purple liquid and marked with both mana symbols,[[note]]'''ス''', the katakana syllable 'su', for green mana, and an upside-down version for blue mana[[/note]] is a portable refill-to-max of both types.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', there is natural mana produced by ley lines on the Earth, but there are also several ways to produce mana, which is why there are different schools of magic. However, mana is incompatible with AIM fields of espers, which disallow the existence of a magician-esper hybrid. AIM fields also function as the science-side equivalent of mana, produced by the Personal Realities of espers. Huge enough amounts of it can result in the creation of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent artificial angels]]. Telesma, meanwhile, is the variation used by [[OurAngelsAreDifferent real angels]]. Telesma is highly dangerous, destructive, and cannot be controlled by humans, unless there is a medium such as [[PublicDomainArtifact the Curtana]] in England.

* Mages (that is, pretty much everyone) in ''Anime/{{Maburaho}}'' have limited numbers of spells, and their numerical mana is extremely difficult to replenish without making a DealWithTheDevil. Running out of spells causes ''instant death''; though, fortunately, they seem to be able to measure their remaining spell counts very precisely and most people ([[ButtMonkey except the protagonist]]) are born with hundreds or even thousands of spells.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', although the term "mana" is never actually used, all spellcasters tap into magical energy to fuel their spells. Indeed, the novels confirm there are two {{Fantastic Measurement System}}s relating to a mage's affinity for mana; pool capacity (how much of a mana reserve they have) and bucket capacity (how much they can tap from their reserve at once).

* ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesForThreeHundredYearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'': Mana is a key element of the story, and how much you can store and use at any given time is a measure of your power as a witch, a demon, or a dragon. Azusa actually tries to pass herself off as much, ''much'' weaker than she really is, but a trained mage can easily see the overwhelming aura of power she radiates at all times.

* The ''Recap/MagicTheGathering'' novels have had several explanations for how Mana (symbolized in the game by Land cards, such as Mountains for red mana, or Swamps for black) worked. Niven's ''The Magic Goes Away'' was an inspiration in the game, but the official canon eventually created its own explanation: that mages could focus on strong memories of a place to draw power out of it. Jeff Grubb's novels, which worked out most of the details, focused heavily on mages' personal connections to the lands they drew upon, to justify how the game mechanics would work out in the world. Later books downplayed the memory aspect of it all.

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', mana is drawn from the land, though some creatures (both humanoid and not) can provide it as well. In addition, mana is divided into five colors, and each color can only fuel certain kinds of spells.

* ''Literature/{{Mithgar}}'' has <fire> (spelled with angle brackets to distinguish from other uses of the word "fire"), the innate life-energy of all beings. Every living thing and most inanimate objects have <fire>; [[WitchSpecies Mages]] have a natural ability to tap their own <fire> and use it to cast spells, at the cost of [[CastFromLifespan causing them to age]] (they can regain lost youth through extended hibernation). [[EvilSorcerer Black Mages]] instead use other peoples' <fire>, taken from them through a [[PoweredByAForsakenChild less than pleasant]] process; Mage society at large finds this practice abhorrent, and Black Mages are treated as outcasts and criminals.

* In ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', Michel stole LifeEnergy apparently to fuel his powers and make him stronger. While this is part of it, it soon turns out that the other part is just to keep himself alive through the process of [[spoiler:altering his DNA to merge with Michal.]]

* ''Manga/ShamanKing'' had "Furyoku", which is translated as "Mana" in the English manga.

* "Reiryoku/Spiritual Energy" in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Not to be confused with "Reiatsu/Spiritual Pressure", which is what energy is being ''released''.

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' has "Linker Cores," which are ethereal organs in the bodies of mages and magical creatures that store magic power. It can be temporarily drained but replenishes over time.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'' uses magic power (''maryoku''), which functions as this. Once a wizard runs out of power, it is gradually replenished by absorbing Ether-nano in the atmosphere, which is a time-consuming process unless they happen to be a Slayer-type wizard, allowing them to consume the same {{element|alPowers}} as their magic to regain combat ability.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', there is natural mana produced by ley lines on the Earth, but there are also several ways to produce mana, which is why there are different schools of magic. However, mana is incompatible with AIM fields of espers, which disallow the existence of a magician-esper hybrid. AIM fields also function as the science-side equivalent of mana, produced by the Personal Realities of espers. Huge enough amounts of it can result in the creation of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent artificial angels]]. Telesma, meanwhile, is the variation used by [[OurAngelsAreDifferent real angels]]. Telesma is highly dangerous, destructive, and cannot be controlled by humans, unless there is a medium such as [[PublicDomainArtifact the Curtana]] in England.
* Mages (that is, pretty much everyone) in ''Anime/{{Maburaho}}'' have limited numbers of spells, and their numerical mana is extremely difficult to replenish without making a DealWithTheDevil. Running out of spells causes ''instant death''; though, fortunately, they seem to be able to measure their remaining spell counts very precisely and most people ([[ButtMonkey except the protagonist]]) are born with hundreds or even thousands of spells.
* In ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', although the term "mana" is never actually used, all spellcasters tap into magical energy to fuel their spells. Indeed, the novels confirm there are two {{Fantastic Measurement System}}s relating to a mage's affinity for mana; pool capacity (how much of a mana reserve they have) and bucket capacity (how much they can tap from their reserve at once).

* In ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'', drow call the substance that powers their FunctionalMagic [="=]Mana[="=]. In fact the author rather objects to the term [="=]magic[="=]. Not only is it generated by the elves' own LifeForce, it is necessary to allow the fey races to remain immortal.

** ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' completely averts this trope by having all spells cast via ''literal'' [[UniversalAmmo ammunition]]. In order to cast a spell, the Hunter injects their [[BloodMagic blood-infused]] Quicksilver Bullets into certain hunter tools. Most of the more literally magical ones are cast using phantasm: white slugs which are leftover from the [[EldritchAbomination Great Ones]].