Follow TV Tropes

Following

Animal Battle Aura

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AnimalBattleAura_DragonBall_7209.JPG

When a martial artist is extremely focused, an ethereal creature can be seen behind him, roaring, rearing, or screaming. Often used to show that the martial artist is mimicking something about the creature or (in more supernatural kung fu movies) channeling the trait from the creature. If taken less symbolically, the aura can accompany a powerful attack, be physically 'launched' at enemies to damage them, surround the person generating it and mimic their movements, or even act independently as an attack animal.

A subtrope of Power Glows. Actually-visible auras can overlap with Shaping Your Attacks.

See also: Animal Motifs.


Examples

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 
  • Ayakashi Triangle: Suzu has her sexual lust emanate an aura symbolized with a roaring (male) lion.
  • Bakithe Grappler has Baki mastering prehistoric creature themed fighting techniques such as the Triceratops Fist in which his 70 kilo weight is exceeded to 100 kilos and makes him strong enough to turn over a car.
  • Beastars has a rare example where the characters are already animals. Kyuu, who is a small rabbit, uses a fighting style where one simulates an imaginary self that is a hybrid of their self and a different species that compensates for the traits that the user lacks. Kyuu's aura when using this style resembles a half rabbit half panda, who is much larger that she is. When Legosi tries learning this style his aura appears as what a possible future half wolf half rabbit son of his and Haru's might look like.
  • Beyblade has these in every generation. Bakuten Shoot Beyblade uniquely names them bit-beasts and has them as entities separate from the blader.
  • Vetto from Black Clover uses Beast Magic, which projects mana in the shape of a chosen animal around him, giving him the attributes of said creature. He's seen having the spells of Bear Claw, Rhinoceros Armor, and Cheetah Charge.
  • Yachiru of Bleach has an angry cat aura in the show and some of the fighting games. Since we haven't actually seen her fight until the Thousand Blood War arc, this becomes her more powerful attacks in those games.
  • Captain Tsubasa's Tiger Shot, Falcon shot, Eagle Shot, and even Banana shot, which has monkeys dancing around in the series's games.
  • Dragon Ball:
    • When Yamcha uses his Wolf Fang Fist in Dragon Ball, he appears to take on the appearance of a wolf. Some of the fighting games replicate this imagery with a more standard Animal Battle Aura.
    • Goku himself had a visible aura of his Great Ape form when he punched through King Piccolo.
    • Whether Goku's movie/GT-exclusive Dragon Fist technique counts is debatable — in the movie it first appeared in, he briefly became a giant gold energy dragon, but in GT, he would just as often simply summon it.
    • When Goku and Beerus fought the second time in Dragon Ball Super, they briefly had color-coded dragon-looking battle auras while they were powering up.
    • One of the first things Fused Zamasu does is shape his aura into a giant, vaguely bird-shaped Guardian Entity.
  • Natsu from Fairy Tail, when using a dramatic enough attack, will often be shown with a ghostly/flaming image of Igneel superimposed over him.
    • When Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy fight Faust, all three of are shown with their foster dragon-parent aura.
  • In Fullmetal Alchemist Buccaneer has a bear-aura. It suits him quite well.
  • In Hajime no Ippo, boxer Sendo Takeshi's nickname is "The Naniwa Tiger". Try to guess what his battle aura looked like to Ippo.
  • Parodied in Hayate the Combat Butler : Nishizawa's animal battle aura is a cute little hamster. Which causes Nagi to thoroughly mock her and nickname her "Hamster".
  • Hunter Ă— Hunter:
    • Killua has a so strong Killing Intent, his aura looks like a giant snake when Rammot faces him.
    • Neferpitou's aura usually looks like a demon. If their protection instinct is strong enough, their aura takes the form of a cat mother, fitting to the fact that Neferpitou is a cat-human-etc.-hybrid-ant.
    • Gon, when he's really pissed of, has an aura compared to a tiger.
  • Log Horizon: Played for Laughs in Episode 7 — Shouryuu and Hien briefly manifest a wolf and fox head, respectively, in their auras while they Death Glare at each other.
  • Lyrical Nanoha:
  • Naruto:
    • The Kyuubi chakra is one such example, growing more defined as Naruto gets older and uses more and more of its power. The first time he taps into its chakra, his Battle Aura briefly forms an enormous demonic fox head above him before subsiding. When he fights Sasuke at the Valley of the End, his aura resembles a one-tailed version of the Kyuubi and is capable of moving independently of his body. Post-Time Skip, we see that he can sprout up to three chakra tails and still be (mostly) himself — if it gets to four, the aura is replaced by a One-Winged Angel transformation. The use of an aura and transformation are common among the jinchuuriki.
    • Naruto gained the ability to manifest a Kaiju-sized Battle Aura in the form of his bijuu. Most jinchuuriki instead manifest a physical form of their bijuu.note 
    • When extremely focused, Zabuza can manifest an ethereal demon's face from his Killing Intent, terrifying opponents with a weak will. Early in the manga this is played as an artistic representation of how intimidating he was, but it is confirmed as an actual technique when he is brought back with the Edo Tensei.
    • Hinata's Twin Lion Fists attack — exactly what it sounds like.
    • Might Guy's Afternoon Tiger technique is a punch that compresses air into a giant tiger head. Unlike the others, there's no chakra involved in the tiger — once he opens enough Gates, the sheer force of his blows can force the air into these shapes. He goes even further with the Night Guy, in which he uses his chakra full-blast to form a dragon head, with his light-speed kick at the receiving end.
  • Happens quite often to Zoro in One Piece, with a variety of animals depending on what attack he is using, from a dragon, to a bull, to a demon god...
  • Early in Parasyte, when provoked, the titular aliens project creatures behind them (a metaphor for their predatory bearing). One gives off a tarantula just before murdering a lion, and the main character shows a praying mantis before punching someone out.
  • Parodied in Ranma ½: the enemies radiate a fearsome, intimidating auras of powerful beasts — a dragon, a wolf, and a tiger — with a LOOOOOOOOM sound effect. The heroes try to do the same with the auras of... girl Ranma at her adorablest, and an equally cute duck and pig, and a much smaller LOOOOOM effect.
    • Also played straight on occasion with Ranma's aura taking on the appearance of an eastern style dragon when using the Hiryu Shoten Ha attack, such as in the first movie.
  • Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin occasionally gets a dragon aura, and Enishi's had a tiger aura at least once as well.
  • Saint Seiya: Most of the Saints' patron constellations represent an animal or mystical creature; in the case of minor foes, the appearance of said creature in their Cosmo is merely for intimidation, but when a Gold Saint or a main character does it, it typically heralds a serious turn of the tide in the duel. Furthermore, the vast majority of signature attacks, such as the Pegasus Ryusei Ken, Rozan Shoryu Ha, Phoenix Genma Ken, Hou Yoku Tensho, and Diamond Dust, tend to manifest visible auras as the Saint delivers it (in the above examples, the Pegasus, an enormous Chinese Long, the Phoenix, or a swan).
  • Musubi from Sekirei has a bear aura, and all of her special attacks are bear-themed. The aura was even seen crying in a recent chapter when Musubi herself was upset.
  • Intimidations from Toriko. They coincide with the person's Game Face.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: At two seperate occasions during the Fusion Dimension arc, the Battle Aura surrounding Yuya and Yuri during their awakening take the shape and silhouette of Supreme King Dragon Z-ARC, foreshadowing to us that Z-ARC is going to come back soon.
  • YuYu Hakusho:
    • Yusuke's aura manifests as a phoenix near the end of the Dark Tournament.
    • When Hiei uses the Dragon of the Darkness Flame against Bui, this effect happens with, you guessed it, a dragon.
    • In the very first match of the Dark Tournament, Rinku, who manipulates yo-yos that can twist in the air like snakes, briefly manifests a hissing ethereal red snake behind him during the fight, at least to Kuwabara's eyes.

    Comic Books 
  • DC Comics:
  • Kull the Conqueror (1971): The barbarian hero Kull was raised by the white tigers of Atlantis and the tiger is his spirit totem. At key moments - in battle or making important decisions - a tiger image appears around or behind him. It's invisible to most people, but narration confirms that sorcerers can see it.
  • Marvel Comics:
    • West Coast Avengers: Firebird can manifest a bird-like aura when she uses [[Playing with Fire her power. There was speculation that her powers had a connection to the Phoenix Force, but ultimately it was decided that it was coincidental.
    • X-Men:
      • Phoenix Force surrounds its wielders with a fiery birdlike aura, most commonly when they are using the power aggressively. Depending on how much power they are channeling, it can be larger than planets.
      • Ultimate X-Men: The Ultimate version of Hisako Ichiki's armor takes the form of a massive dragon.

    Fan Works 
  • Child of the Storm: All potential and actual Phoenix avatars, past and present, have demonstrated the traditional fiery birdlike aura, even when they're not accessing the Phoenix itself. Unsurprisingly, given the entity's reputation it is often an Oh, Crap! inducer.
  • Fate of the Clans: CĂş Chulainn Alter is able to make his outpouring mana take the form of a wolf and can use that to attack.

    Films — Animated 
  • Kung Fu Panda 3: Once Li, Ping, Tigress and the other pandas send their ch'i to Po, he creates a dragon aura around himself before taking down Kai. This gets lampshaded:
    "Am I the son of a panda? The son of a goose? A student? A teacher? Turns out...I'm all of them. I am the Dragon Warrior! (Beat) Get it? See the giant dragon? Ha ha ha! Get ready to feel the thunder!"
  • Tom and Jerry: The Movie: During Aunt Fig's ode to money, she sings "It soars through my mind like a beautiful bird." A ghost-like bird appears after this.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Parodied in Hot Rod where Rod calls upon animal spirits before his stunt jumps (most of which he fails miserably). The animals are almost completely random — for instance, the octopus and the house cat.
  • In Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, this happens during a Battle of the Bands. Scott's band, Sex Bob-Omb, manifest one of these resembling a yeti, while the Katayanagi Twins summon a pair of serpentine dragons
  • In Shaolin Soccer, a goal shot goes so fast the ball bursts into flames, which then take the shape of a roaring puma. Undoubtedly as a parody of Captain Tsubasa.
    • Later in the same match, the captain of Evil Team generates a black aura of such concentrated badness it takes on the shape of a demon before being sucked into the ball.
  • X-Men: Apocalypse: When Jean Grey releases her full power, she gains a fiery aura in the shape of a bird of prey, with which she immolates Apocalypse.

    Literature 
  • Harry Potter: The Patronus spell, a magical Guardian Entity created from joyful memories to repel Dementors, takes the shape of an animal. It usually represents either the person casting it or someone close to them—Harry's is a stag, representing his dead father's Animagus form—and can change form following an emotional upheaval.
  • Happens frequently in Fiona Patton's Tales of the Branion Realm. Two Gods, one represented by a white dragon, the other by a crimson fire-wolf, often take human champions and clash overhead, mirroring the real-life battle below.

    Live Action TV 

    MMORPGs 
  • In World of Warcraft skilled hunters can aspect-dance. Switching aspects causes a sound to play and a picture to appear. Needless to say, frenzied aspect-dancing, while super-rare, looks really cool.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Exalted: The Anima Banners of Solars and Lunars are "iconic" — that is, at their brightest, they manifest as a coherent image that reflects on that particular Exalt's nature. For Solars, this can be anything — examples include symbolic animals, complex mandalas, mazes of ice, and many others. For Lunars, this is always their spirit shape, their default animal form. Abyssals also have iconic anima banners, but they tend to be more death-related imagery, and sometimes a corruption of the former Solar banner — skulls, corpses, wraiths, funeral shrouds, and the like. Green Sun Princes tend to have imagery styled after their Yozi patron, including demons descended from that particular Yozi. Alchemicals generally have industrial-themed imagery — machinery, electricity, smoke, steam, etc. Sidereals and Dragon-Blooded never have iconic anima banners (except a few Dragon-Bloods who have a representation of an Elemental Dragon), so this is one of the characteristics the Wyld Hunt uses to identify Anathema.
  • The Umbra auras of the Magic: The Gathering Rise of the Eldrazi set let you give any creature one, and impart some of the abilities of the aura's shape, along with a one-time protection from destruction.

    Video Games 
  • All fighters in BlazBlue have a seal that glows behind them when they perform a Distortion Drive or Astral Heat. Not all of them are animal-themed, but this trope is in full force for Hakumen's nine tailed fox seal, Arakune's spider seal, Valkenhayn’s wolf seal and Hazama's snake seal. Ragna's seal is the Black Beast itself.
  • This is the big feature of Blue Dragon, basically.
  • In the fighting game Brawlhalla, a handful of fighters use an animal aura for signatures, ranging from actually being their spirit, being the aura of a defeated foe, an animal companion not physically with them to just animal shaped spells.
  • Sabin's Tiger Break Desperation Attack in Final Fantasy VI.
  • Inazuma Eleven, which follows the concept of Captain Tsubasa. The matches in the game are almost as deadly as wars.
  • Udyr from League of Legends has a bear, tiger, turtle, and phoenix stance. His enhanced skin, Spirit Guard Udyr, shows each of these animals as a brief aura above him whenever he changes stance. (He can also call up the aura of Urf the Manatee, just for fun).
  • Employed in the "Thrill" stage of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, during a particularly heated game of dodgeball.
  • Sands of Destruction: Kyrie, after coming back from the dead, gains a flaming red aura in the shape of a lion's head, that appears during spellcasting. He gains it because Crimson Sun, who looks like a lion Beast Man, sacrificed himself to resurrect Kyrie, and the latter uses his powers.
  • Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch in the Super Smash Bros.. series is surrounded by a giant, flaming falcon.
  • A number of entries in the Tales Series features the physical arte Beast, which sends a burst of spiritual energy in the shape of a lion's head flying at the enemy. Variations that use other animals like wolves or dragons also exist.
    • There's also the Rising Phoenix arte, that surrounds the user with a fiery phoenix as they dive into the target.
  • In Too Human, the human path enables you to use the spiritual devastators which include a crow a wolf and even a bear!.

    Web Comics 

    Western Animation 
  • El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera: From meeting his ancestor, the original El Tigre, in the Land of the Dead, Manny learns he can summon a giant green tiger aura to his aid. Said aura can rip through the dimensional wall between the Lands of the Living and Dead and explode with the force of an erupting volcano.
  • Justice League Unlimited uses this trope to represent Vixen's powers. Whenever she chooses an animal's power, a aura version of it briefly emerges from her amulet.
    • The same occurs in her own animated series.
  • In the final episode of Kim Possible, while fighting an alien, Ron Stoppable manifests a blue monkey aura when he goes Super Mode.
  • Metalocalypse: Slightly subverted in the episode "Dethcarraldo". Dethklok takes a drug called Yopo that gives them visions of their animal selves, made obvious by the fact that the animals are anthropormorphic caricatures.
    • Nathan Explosion is a crocodile.
    • Pickle's the Drummer is an octopus (with much resemblance between the tentacles and his dreadlocks).
    • William Murderface is a tiger (whose head is exactly the same).
    • Toki Wartooth is a...um...rabbit? (Other than the ears and Toki's face, it's very difficult to tell.)
      • He's a rabbit, with feathers stuck to him.
    • Skwisgaar Skwigelf is an owl (with the same blonde hair).
  • Eda's magic forms into a massive owl when she shows off the full extent of her powers in The Owl House. Like most of her owl themed spells, it is accompanied by a ominous "hoot" sound.
  • When Chiro from Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! taps into the Power Primate, a giant green energy-gorilla forms around his body. When he pushes his abilities even further, he forms the aura and then pulls it back into himself.
  • Yin Yang Yo!: The Woo Foo Aura is a technique that allows the user to summon their Battle Aura around themselves, in the form of the animal that they are. It's not without hazards, as the first time Yin used it, her Aura went rogue and left her to fade to nothing. The Night Master can grant a similar ability to his followers, which Coop makes heavy use of.

 
Feedback

Video Example(s):

Top

Ron Stoppable, Monkey Master

When Kim is in danger of getting turned into a trophy by Warhok and Warmonga, Ron finally gets full control of his Mystical Monkey Power.

How well does it match the trope?

4.92 (26 votes)

Example of:

Main / SuperMode

Media sources:

Report