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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. 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 great power.

These glows are frequently examples of Good Colors, Evil Colors, with good guys having a blue aura (and sometimes green, white, silver, orange or yellow/gold depending on strength) and the bad guys having a red one. In addition, characters experiencing morality shifts may have their aura experience a Convenient Color Change. This is by no means a hard-and-fast rule though, it can also match the character's "signature color".

In Western Super Hero comics, a similar effect known as Kirby Dots is used to indicate great energies at work, though it's not necessarily restricted to characters; these are primarily a print technique, but have at times been translated into animation in particularly slavish adaptations. In parodies, a common subversion is that the Battle Aura takes up all of the character's power, or otherwise render them actually incapable of attacking.

If the character's own appearance changes due to their emotions rather than their battle power, that's Living Mood Ring, not this trope (although if they have Emotional Powers, it might be both). For colors that represent different emotions see Color-Coded Emotions.

Often exhibited during the attainment of one's Super Mode. Occasionally manifests as a Sphere of Power or Dramatic Wind. If everyone has one but only certain people can see it, you could be looking at Aura Vision.

A Sub-Trope of Power Glows. Super-Trope to Animal Battle Aura. Sister Trope of Holy Backlight and Holy Halo. Compare with Throat Light. Might cause Swirling Dust, Chunky Updraft, Brightness Shadows or Sphere of Power.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku: Andou Natsu's AK FIELD.
  • Ace Attorney (2016): During the opening song, Phoenix and Edgeworth give off ones with their respective colors in the courthouse.
  • Area no Kishi: Japanese football ace Suguru displays a battle aura that, while invisible, can still cause his opponents to become too frightened to move.
  • Aura Battler Dunbine: Naturally, the titular mecha for obvious reasons.
  • Azumanga Daioh: In one episode, 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. Just to be clear, a kitten has a Battle Aura.
  • 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.
    "I can see your evil Miya, I can see it!"
  • B Gata H Kei: Used to comedic effect when Kyouka, enraged after hearing that her brother confessed his love to her rival Yamada, began to emit a hazy black aura that made those she passed shiver and even caused windows to crack. Later when Kyouka tried to seduce Yamada's love interest Kosuda, Yamada was surrounded by a bright blue aura that even momentarily caused Kosuda to mistake her for an angry tiger on the hunt.
  • Bleach:
    • Shinigami 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 as well as the later reveal that his inner Hollow is his true Zanpakuto spirit and source of his Shinigami powers. General Yamamoto's appears as a layer of flame, whilst Kenpachi's aura is in the form of a skull.
    • During his fight with Aizen, Ichigo reappears with no apparent aura. Aizen assumes that something very bad has happened to him or that he has converted his reiatsu into raw physical strength. He's at a higher level than Aizen who had previously observed his own Battle Aura was undetectable to even captain-class shinigami because of how high his level had become.
  • Chrome Shelled Regios: The military artists all have battle auras, with different colors for different levels of power.
  • Claymore: The anime added in Battle Aura, something the manga inverted; this is a sure fire way to die (or turn evil) and powerful characters are ones who suppress it.
  • Daily Lives of High School Boys: Played for Laughs when a student from a Boys' high school was seen walking with a girl... (This turns out to be a "Shaggy Dog" Story, though, as the girl was just asking him for directions)
  • Darker than Black: Contractors gain a faint blue glow and red eyes whenever they use their powers.
  • Digimon Data Squad: "DIGISOUL FULL CHARGE!" The Digisoul (or Digital Natural Ability, in the Data Squad version) that the human partners have that can empower their Digimon partners surround them in ever-cooler ways as the mons reach higher and higher levels, and become more and more prone to surrounding them as they get fired up. Then you have just Masaru, who gets it by punching the shit out of things. And it is awesome. It can also be used to power up a humans' abilities, and, if powerful enough, can protect the user from mega level attacks.
  • Dragon Ball at first had these rarely, as a sign the user was an exceptional martial artist, but they became more common, with a huge variety of colors, usually depending on the user or the power used as realistic martial arts became less and less effective, to the point where white auras (which are blue in many video game adaptations for some reason) produced by most human, Saiyan and Namek fighters (notably Krillin, Yamcha and Tien) became generic. They and most others tend to act like constantly surging, glowing updrafts, sometimes even lifting nearby objects, although they sometimes inexplicably push down and form craters instead. In Dragon Ball Z, the Super Saiyans take on golden auras and continuing with the weather theme, produce a constant electric crackle at Super Saiyan 2 and 3. Use of the Kaio-Ken creates a red aura, fittingly enough as overuse of it quickly turns it into a Heroic RRoD. Villains often possess a purple aura (as purple is seen as the color of death in Japanese culture). Legendary Super Saiyans produce a unique yellowish-green aura. Super Saiyan God produces an aura that instead moves like a fire, and Super Saiyan Blue gives off white embers as the users get better at using god ki, although this entirely cosmetic, as these "god" auras have little to no effect on the environment. Dragon Ball Super reveals that the angels have a "Ultra Instinct Omen" and "Limit Breaker" techniques that produces a simmering liquid looking aura that is not cosmetic; reckless use gives off large amounts of heat.
  • Eyeshield 21: While more prominent with just the titular hero, players are prone to release tons of steam as they initiate a powerful move. Sena's Devil Bat Ghost and Devil Bat Hurricane are illustrated as him becoming the steam and flying through his foes.
  • Fairy Tail:
    • Most mages use their magical battle aura to showcase their level of power.
    • In the anime, Dragon Slayers get a standard Power Glows version.
    • Gildarts gets a huge one when he releases his full power.
  • Fate/stay night: Saber unleashes a golden aura of her sword Excalibur whenever she release it. Then she attacks with it.
    • Fate/Zero: Berserker has always a black aura surrounding his body (or armor). This is actually a Noble Phantasm of his, to prevent other Servants and Masters from both discerning his identity and knowing his stats. When he unleashes his final Noble Phantasm, the black aura fades because this particular Noble Phantasm (Arondight) is so tied to his legend that using it requires him to forego any attempt to hide his identity.
  • Fist of the North Star: Characters not only have battle auras that are visible to other characters, they also explicitly call them "Battle Auras" (or toki in the series proper) and expert fighters can even determine details of their opponent's combat style by looking at their aura. And then there's Raoh, who can use his to punch his opponents. The Shura arcs went on to introduce another type of Battle Aura in the form of the matoki, the evil energy which powers the incredibly strong techniques of the Hokuto Ryuken style.
  • Genma Wars, aka Harmagedon (the 1983 movie) might be the popularizer of whispy auras that quickly permeated '80s anime. While Aura Battler Dunbine came out a few weeks earlier, it was Katsuhiro Otomo's adaptation that was all about full bodies radiating the stuff to perform superhuman feats.
  • Ghost Hunt: In the final episode Naru gets a white battle aura with dramatic wind right before he uses his powers to completely destroy a statue possessed by a god.
  • Gundam:
    • 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 timeline 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?
      • The one time Judau got seriously angry, his Newtype powers manifested as a Battle Aura, which then morphed into a demonic form and frightened Haman so terribly she actually locked herself in her room sobbing out of sheer terror. People outside saw what looked like a Godzilla-sized illusion of Judau hovering over the building. Not for nothing is Judau considered one of the most powerful Newtypes in the Universal Century.
  • Haruhi Suzumiya: Asakura is angry. Anyone who knows the original story knows this is played for comedy because she isn't stabbing anybody.
  • Haruka Nogizaka's Secret: Akiho has an aura that looks like Lucy's vectors.
  • Heavy Metal L-Gaim: L-Gaim Mk. II's advanced central computer's silhouette does this, sort of.
  • Hunter × Hunter: Nen, the Functional Magic, manifests itself as this in especially powerful beings that can only be seen by other nen users.
  • Initial D: Highly skilled drivers occasionally display their battle auras in the 4th Stage season.
  • Inuyasha:
    • Demons and spiritually powerful humans have this.
    • Sango, the only member of the Five-Man Band to have absolutely no supernatural powers, also manifests a Battle Aura several times when she is really pissed off (usually at Miroku). It scares the pants off Inuyasha every time.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Discarding the risible pseudoscience "justification", Hamon from the first two parts 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 Hamon at points. Because all energy on Earth comes ultimately from the Sun, Hamon 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. (Or, in Jotaro's case, Battle Ora). It is particularly visible in the Jotaro vs Dio final battle from the animated series that, at times, seems like a battle from Dragon Ball Z.
    • Joseph finds a way to harness both powers in Part 3, wrapping his body in one Battle Aura, his Stand Hermit Purple, while it conducts the other Battle Aura, Hamon, turning his Stand into anti-vampire battle armor.
  • K: All of the kings and clan members have glowing auras when using psychic powers, though the clan members don't always show them. Mikoto's fiery aura, in particular, has been shown to take whatever form he wishes, and it immediately dispels Neko's illusions. The latter is something all Kings can do, due to being just that powerful.
  • Kekkaishi: Yoshimori's initial attempts to perform Zekkai look like one of these.
  • Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple: After the first few episodes, anyone would start popping out his/her battle aura. With masters, their eyes tend to shine like headlights. Miu has her own Unapproachable To Dates aura.
  • Love Hina: Naru displays a battle aura several times before hitting Keitaro.
  • Lucky Star: Meito Anisawa (aka "Anime Tenchou") 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.
  • Lyrical Nanoha: the Magic Energy aura that envelops the various characters when transforming, boosting up, flying, or when they're standing around with overflowing energy. They come in various colors that are visible In-Universe, which gives an idea on just how powerful the Sankt Kaiser is when her aura is shown to be rainbow colored.
  • Maburaho: Characters will frequently have one when activating their magic, though Yuna does it often due to her easily getting angry over the mere idea of losing Kazuki.
  • Magic Knight Rayearth: Hikaru not only displays it when she's excited, it's part of her attack footage.
  • Negima! Magister Negi Magi, in its steady move towards more serious, action oriented stories has started getting into this.
  • My Bride is a Mermaid: Every character that matters has had a battle aura at least once.
  • 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. This is very noticeable in ninjas like the Raikage and Might Guy, the former uses his own elemental nature as an aura, and the latter has a green aura formed from his own sweat (just go with it).
    • All Jinchuuriki go through this when they borrow power from their beast. Specifically, people like Naruto and Bee gain the use of additional energy-based appendages and take on the appearance of their beasts.
    • 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.
  • One Piece:
    • Two of the three types of Haki are based on this trope, although they do so in different ways. Conqueror's Haki, the rarest of the types as it's something you're either born with or lack, is an invisible aura of willpower and ferocity that can send beasts fleeing or cause people to pass out in droves without even touching them, depending on the respective willpower of those involved. Armament Haki can be either invisible or manifest as an inky black covering on limbs or weaponry; it amplifies the potency of the attack, in particular ignoring the various kinds of Super-Toughness granted by Devil Fruits—even Logia users are vulnerable to Armament Haki, which ignores their normal passive shapeshifting. The last kind of Haki is Observation Haki, which grants its user Super-Senses.
    • Sanji is note worthy example, as upon discovering the love of his life (Nami) had been spied on while bathing, kidnapped and forced and forced into marriage Sanji did not seem to take it well. A clear reference to Dragon Ball Z and made even clearer in the Japanese version when Zoro remarks: "If this gets any more intense, I think he will transform". Sanji later utilizes his Super Saiyan-knock off form, into a special attack called Hell Memories which can burn almost any opponent into a crisp, and he didn't even eat the Devil Fruit that gives you Fire powers. Bonus points for English dub for having Eric Vale (American voice of Trunks in DBZ) also voice Sanji.
    • 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) looks like an aura. Luffy's use of Haki was still in the embryonic stage at that point, but he could already make it manifest visibly. At least in the anime, when he uses Haki it manifests as a gust of wind or pressure wave centered on him, that rustles loose items and makes hair and capes billow dramatically. It's more like Swirling Dust at this point.
    • There is also the spirited swordsman Zoro. He weaponizes his aura with his "Demon Aura - Nine-Sword Style: Asura", in which his aura creates a visible illusion that grants him the appearance of an Asura, a six-armed and three-headed demonic being. Additionally, an image of an actual Asura is standing behind Zoro. This technique effectively triples his power.
  • Overlord (2012): Done many times, especially in the anime adaptation, but perhaps the most notable example comes from the Invaders of the Tomb arc. Arche is one of the few people in the New World with Supernatural Sensitivity, allowing her to sense magic users and the level of magic they can use. In her eyes, this manifests as a glow around the person in question, the more powerful a caster is, the greater and more vibrant this aura becomes (a tier 1 caster only glimmers faintly). When her group confronts Ainz, she uses her ability on him and initially sees nothing, because he's using a ring to conceal his magical ability. When she points this out, Ainz removes his ring, and the absolute deluge of power that floods the room causes Arche to Stress Vomit as she realizes just what her group is confronting. Keep in mind that one of the absolute strongest human casters in this world is capable of tier 6 magic only, with only a few of the secretive Dragon Lords having more power. Ainz is capable of tier 10 and Super-Tier magic.
  • Parasyte: 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).
  • Please 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.
  • A few Pokémon, 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.
  • Pretty Cure: Typically avoided, but Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star went for it, particularly with Cure Bloom.
  • The Prince of Tennis: Junior high tennis players often sport battle auras while using physics-defying moves.
  • Project Ako: Making A-ko really mad activates a thin white aura that lasts just a few seconds but boosts her already formidable powers.
  • Ranma ½ not only shows the effect many times, it explicitly names it. At one point, Genma and Happōsai 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). Sōun Tendō, meanwhile, is implied to be able to use his Demon Head move as a specialized form of battle aura projection. In the anime, during his first episode, the second episode of the Dragon Whisker two-part story, and the OVA adaption of Miss Hinako's arrival, Happōsai 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. In her introductory arc, it's really made to seem like a "battle aura" is what allows you to ever do any fighting — she has to get you to attempt to fight her, then drain your aura, whereupon you become incapable of trying to attack and probably fall on your face. Also, one Finishing Move of Ranma's is the Dragon Heaven-Blast, luring an enemy into moving in such a way that their own Battle Aura can be used against them at the right time to blast them with a tornado, a minor form of Hoist by His Own Petard.
  • The Ride-On King: Most magic that doesn't fall under categories of spells or utilization of nature spirits uses one's Fighting Spirit with variety of applications, which everyone can see by the glow around the warrior.
  • The nine armors in Ronin Warriors often give their wearers a battle aura in tense situations.
  • Rosario + Vampire: Most characters get this just after entering their monster forms. Particularly Moka and Tsukune. In the anime, Mizore, Kurumu, and Yukari each have a steady glow during their face-off while visiting Tsukune's house.
  • Rurouni Kenshin has this (particularly in the Shishio saga) in the form of "swordsman spirit".
  • 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.
  • Saki:
    • The Miyanaga sisters and Koromo have battle auras. Mind you this is a Mahjong anime...
    • Also Hisa. Nodoka, Touka and Yumi are slightly nonstandard; Momoko might sort of count too.
  • Sgt. Frog: Usually invoked by Tamara. Also occurs with Fuyuki when he loses his cool.
  • Soul Eater: Souls serve this purpose. They appear as a Sphere of Power of varying sizes according to strength, with characteristics unique to each person (exception so far being Shinigami and Kid who both have a skull motif) which can change over time (Maka's went from little pigtails to small wings to fully-formed ones). The anime adds Colour Coding.
  • The Story Between a Dumb Prefect and a High School Girl with an Inappropriate Skirt Length: When Poemu is getting herself psyched up for the school marathon, her eyes are drawn with flames and she's surrounded by a fiery aura, complete with "menacing" sound effects straight out of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Akina and Ranko are also shown with auras.
  • 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.
  • Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Both the titular mecha and the Grand Zamboa feature permanent Battle Auras, since the top and bottom halves of the mecha are held together by a cloud of energy - Spiral Energy for the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and blue fire for the Zamboa.
    • Much earlier on, Lordgenome gets Hot-Blooded for the first time in hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. As soon as he decides to Let's Get Dangerous!, his Bald of Evil spouts his signature red Spiral Energy into a hair-like aura that makes it look like his head just caught fire; it gets even more symbolic when one considers that he's the last living Spiral Knight of Earth and his official backstory shows him having a massive mane of hair during his youth. And that aura's not just for show: he proceeds to get out of the Lazengann and wrecks the opponent's machine with his bare hands. The aura only goes away when Simon's Core Drill fatally injures him.
      • He doubles up with an aura of fire during the final battle, walking towards the Big Bad and doing a Badass Armfold as he uses spiral energy to rapidly reconstruct the Lazengann around himself.
    • And one can't forget the Super TTGL from Lagann-Hen, a fully-animate hybrid of Battle Aura and Fusion Dance millions of lightyears tall. Unsurprisingly, it's shaped like Kamina.
  • In Transformers: Cybertron, the Autobots and Decepticons can do this. It's handwaved as an effect of the various Primus related artifacts floating around, which respond to the user's emotion and are completely neutral - the Cyber Planet Keys respond to Megatron just as readily as the good guys. Megatron, whose armor is made from Unicron himself, can summon up an aura (and an insane degree of power) by will alone.
  • Umi Monogatari: A distinct characteristic of Kanon 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.
  • Video Girl Ai: Youta gets one briefly in the fifth episode of the OVA, before Ai smacks him with a tray. Of course, it's in response to the intense effort he puts forth into drawing for a children's book.
  • Weiß Survive: It depends on the power and experience of the player, which also powers up their cards (ex: Takeshi at the start of the story, had weak cards of 500 power while Michi, being experienced, has 3000 power). Lampshaded by the old man.
    Old man: In this dimension, the aura of the owner of the cards will change to become the "Ether State" and in turn, materialize through the use of the "theory of microbits".
    Takeshi: H-hey... Erm... This isn't the time to explain these...
  • Welcome to the NHK: Comedic example; Yamazaki displayed a battle aura in one episode, because someone told him that hentai games were something to be ashamed of.
  • The World God Only Knows: Keima sprouts a golden one of these whenever he gets REALLY excited about a Dating Sim. May be combined with Evil Laugh.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V:
    • Starting with this series, monsters in Defense Position will have their bodies surrounded in a blue aura to indicate their battle position. In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, monsters in Defense Position were entirely colored in blue.
    • Yuya when awakened will often be surrounded by a dark and sinister aura, which near the end of the series even manages to take the shape of the Supreme King Dragon Z-ARC's silhouette. This also occasionally happens to Yuri when he's awakened.
    • Whenn Odd-Eyes Raging Dragon uses its two Over Ray Units to activate its effect, its body is covered in a dark, purple aura, making it very clear why it is a DARK monster. And when it attacks, its body is covered in fire and electricity, showcasing the two elemental powers of its two components (which are both DARK monsters as well).
    • Many of the DDD monsters are covered in auras, usually with colors corresponding to their attributes.
  • YuYu Hakusho: During the Dark Tournament arc, 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.

    Arts 
  • Sistine Chapel: In “The Resurrection of Christ”, the glorified Jesus is surrounded by a huge aura of multi-colored divine light, sending all the guards around his tomb falling to the ground in pure terror. With the battle standard he carries, the aura gives the impression Jesus has returned triumphant from the war against Hell.

    Comic Books 
  • Jack Kirby was fond of these, and his distinctive way of drawing them has been nicknamed the "Kirby Krackle".
  • Green Lantern: Green Lantern's (and the other colors as well, with the apparent exception of black) have an aura generated by their ring. They seem to be able to control the brightness, though.
  • Marvel Universe: All Cosmic Individuals can emit energy/light from themselves (often in the form of fire). Even friendly neighborhood Spider-Man after getting the cosmic make over with the Captain Universe power.
  • Supergirl: Supergirl's body stores and emits sunlight. Kara can use her battle aura to light up dark areas or burn some enemies like Worldkiller-1 in Red Daughter of Krypton.
  • Superman:
    • In Kryptonite Nevermore. After regaining part of his powers, "an aura of power" wraps Superman's spirit.
    • Superman's new power, known as the Solar flare which has pretty devastating results. The only drawback being after one use, he loses all his powers and becomes vulnerable as a human for days.

    Fan Works 
  • Advice and Trust: Lampshaded in chapter 4. When a girl flirts with him, her actions got Asuka so protectively jealous and burningly angry than Shinji was surprised that she was not deploying a red battle aura.
    Another, darker shadow loomed from behind him. He was faintly surprised there wasn't a glowing red aura around Asuka.
  • The Butcher Bird plays with this with Kaneki's kakuja form. It appears to be this trope, but it's actually a mist of highly corrosive C-cells.
  • Child of the Storm has Harry in pretty much every engagement from chapter 59 onwards, Jean Grey, Carol Danvers as the Green Lantern, Loki, Wanda, Doctor Strange.
  • Children of an Elder God: Asuka has a battle aura. When she fights, an halo of glowing flames surrounds her.
  • A Crown of Stars: Members of the Avaloni Imperial Family have auras, but usually they keep it hidden. When they are using their power, though, it manifests as a huge sphere of golden energy.
  • The Guile Hero/Magic Knight protagonist in Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns can go from Glowing Eyes of Doom to shining white from his whole body to exuding enough energy that something like gossamer mist strands form around him, culminating with, when he's really serious, looking like an ascended being from Stargate. The ironic part is that it gets dangerous the more he lets loose, what with his magic power coming from a tear in the Veil he harbors in his body, which is unstable even at the best of times.
  • Fate of the Clans:
    • Kings and Clansmen are able to output their aura when they fight, the energy taking the color of whatever Clan they're in.
    • A thin, black one constantly outlines Cú Chulainn Alter. For Anna, coming into contact with it made her feel frozen to the bone.
  • In Pokéumans, Rikuto takes on a deep green aura in a fierce battle.
  • The Red Dragon's Saber: Rias Gremory attempts to intimidate Artoria Pendragon by unleashing her aura, which is described as red and like acid eating away at the world at an imperceptible level, as it is the Power of Destruction. Artoria is unfazed and unleashes her own aura, which is described as blue and white and like a bomb ready to explode like a star. The bystanders find it hard to breathe. After a few seconds of sizing each other up, they stop.
  • The Tainted Grimoire: Luso radiates this when preparing a Fighter ability.
  • Thousand Shinji: When Shinji gets serious -and furious- his body gives off an electrical blue glow, and lightning bolts burst around him.
  • In This Bites!, Conqueror's Haki is expanded upon so that each individual user produces a very distinct mental impression — a mixture of feelings and mental imagery that have the same universal effect of crushing lesser wills, but makes it very obvious whose Haki you're experiencing.
    • Luffy's takes the form of a "Raging King of Beasts", but hasn't ever been seen or described fully onscreen.
    • Boa Hancock's takes the the form of a "World-devouring Serpent" when she uses it on Bartolomeo and, during the Marineford War, against Doflamingo.
    • Sengoku's, unsurprisingly, is described by Akainu and Cross both as a "Divine Golden Presence", to go with his theme as "The Buddha."
    • Vivi's takes the form of a "Desert Queen" when she uses it on Cross during the Ice Hunter arc.
    • Rayleigh's isn't seen in full, but is described briefly with the following terms (referencing his title as the "Dark King").
    "And then the world lurched, and for a brief second I was kneeling at a black throne, set at the foot of a crumbling yet still-regal monument-"
    • Doflamingo's seems to describe him as "The Puppetmaster", with the people he hits with it as "Puppets on his String".
    • Douglas Bullet's is described explicitly as that of a "War Machine."
    • Big Mom's appears as a massive giant, large enough to crush the entire world.
    • Ace's feels like standing mere feet from the sun itself.

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 
  • 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 getting his Heroic Second Wind.

    Literature 
  • The Dresden Files: Harry Dresden wraps himself in an aura of light when stepping out to confront Cowl (Darth Bathrobe) and apprentice in Dead Beat. The necromancers are impressed. Which is impressive considering that Cowl is more powerful than Ebenezar McCoy, member of the Senior Council and past master of the Colony Drop. Also just before he fries the elder fetch in Proven Guilty when he taps into Lily's Summer Fire.
  • Older Than Feudalism: Homer's The Iliad features 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 appellation) head and shoulders..."
  • Paradise Lost: Listen, Jesus is a swell guy, but just know he's going to beat the piss out of you as soon as he starts effusing "smoak and bickering flame, and sparkles dire." If you don't buy it just ask Satan, or don't, since he still blushes when you mention how Jesus scared him out of Heaven.
  • The Stormlight Archive:
    • Surgebinders can inhale Stormlight to fuel their various powers, but the Light slowly leaks back out, producing this trope.
    • When a Knight Radiant is doing something sufficiently awesome, they will attract "subspren," glowing non-sentient Nature Spirits that feed off emotions or natural phenomenon. Windrunners attract windspren, Edgedancers attract lifespren, Lightweavers attract creationspren, and Bondsmiths attract gloryspren. In the most epic moments a Knight can attract thousands.
  • The Wheel of Time: Aes Sedai and other woman channelers "glow" when embracing saidar to other female channelers or those who have the potential to learn to channel.
  • Shandril's Saga: The destructive magic called Spellfire manifests itself as a silver flame surrounding the heroine Shandril.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In Smallville, when in Clark time, all speedsters have a pulsating aura surrounding them. Don't ask how, it is cool. Clark has blue, Bart Allen has red, Lana has purple (bad) or orange (good), Raya has yellow, Maxima has green, Bizarro and Brainiac had black, while Doomsday was dark grey.
  • Any Super Sentai team if they get fired up enough. This means their Power Rangers counterparts get the same effect.
    • Power Rangers RPM has the creator of the Ranger tech explain the post-morph explosions as 'excess energy runoff.' It is later WEAPONIZED.
    • A few series have it as a plot point. In Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, when the power of the gems that power the shiny suits is channeled directly, it manifests as yellow energy capable of some incredible feats - the go-to solution when Only the Author Can Save Them Now. The final battle has it turn into a GIANT DINOSAUR HEAD that puts the bite on the Big Bad, leaving the Dino Thunder Chest Insignia visible formed from the flames of the explosion for a few seconds after. However, this exhausted the Dino Gems, meaning their powers were gone for good. (Naturally "for good" means "until the next team-up.") Meanwhile, in Power Rangers Jungle Fury, the Rangers have animal battle auras they can summon to attack. This is actually the animal spirit energy that is the true source of their powers; they can do it unmorphed, and all members of their order (and some of their enemies) can do it without even being Rangers. In fact, making these giant and solid is what the Zords are. (Recently, Casey taught it to the Power Rangers Megaforce team, who are also animal-based.)
  • William Adama has got one of these. Battlestar Galactica (2003) isn't usually a show for this sort of thing, but Edward James Olmos is too awesome for naturalism to work. In the mutiny arc he deploys it several times. First when being led away the CIC by two rebel marines he scares one so shit-less that the other loses focus allowing Tigh to whack him. Then at the climax of the arc having been rescued from execution, he led a charge to CIC, no-one dares challenge him, and half the crew follows behind him.

    Pinballs 

    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 glowing goes up with amount of power used (or down with time since power was used). At first, it's just a glittery forehead, then it's a brightly shining forehead, then it's your standard close-in battle aura, then it's a bonfire aura (a la Dragon Ball), 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?
      • They can spend a little bit more to avoid having a banner display at all. Both are options.
      • Awesome though it may be, flaring one's anima banner too much is considered a significant liability, and many non Dragon-Blooded Exalted try to avoid showing their banner when there are witnesses. Non Dragon-Blooded Exalts are considered Anathema - powerful demons that possess humans - by the dominant culture and religion of Creation, and are hunted down and killed.
    • The Dragon-Blooded have anima banners that reflect their elemental Aspect. For obvious reasons, Fire Aspects are the most directly dangerous. But all Dragon-Blooded anima banners escalate to the point where they inflict direct damage on everyone close by. For this reason the Dragon-Blooded tend not to field much cavalry, because unless they learn specialized Charms then they will literally kill their mount under them.
  • 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.
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • In the 3rd Edition 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.
    • Thanks to the Dragon Magic book, spellcasters have a spell that lets them do this. Here's what it says:
      Green and yellow sparks fly off your body as a light breeze picks up, lifting loose debris and swirling around with a faint howl.
    • From the Book of Exalted Deed, the feat Nimbus of Light can take the form of the classical Holy Halo or, closer to this trope, a cloud of light surrounding the body. With the upgrade, Holy Radiance, the light can damage undead. And if the character is a Saint, the Protective Aura will keep at bay summoned creatures, possessions and low-level magic, and empower allies.
    • From Magic of Incarnum, this is an actual class feature of Incarnates, called "Incarnum Radiance". The effects of the radiance vary depending on the Character Alignment, along with its aspect and color: silvery light (Good), ash-gray aura (Evil), blood-red corona (Lawful) or faint green nimbus (Chaotic).
    • In 5th Edition, Path of the Storm Herald Barbarians gain an aura while they're raging. The variant you choose determines what the effect: sea allows you to shock enemies with lightning, tundra slows enemies with ice, and desert simply burns everything around you.
    • 5th Edition has the universal Monk feature Ki-Impowered Strikes, which makes their strikes magical for overcoming resistances. Considering Sun Soul is a massive Dragon Ball reference, it's not hard to make the connection. Way of the Kensei allows it to affect their weapon as well.
  • 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 feet do 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 
  • Age of Mythology: Several different units glow to indicate some kind of combat enhancement in effect.
  • The Deities from Asura's Wrath all have one, referred to as Mantra. The auras are Colour-Coded for Your Convenience.
  • Characters in CABAL Online can unlock the fittingly named "Battle Aura" at level ten that boosts the character stats and attack power for a limited time. The aura element (fire, ice, thunder, earth, wind, water) is determined through a series of questions but doesn't affect stats in any way.
  • You can undergo a special quest in City of Heroes to unlock special Aura costume pieces, which are implied to be this. Many powers also give off auras, though you can turn them off outside PVP at the tailor. They've even added an option to only display your aura during combat, finally making it a literal example of this trope.
  • Devil Survivor: A human-only ability; it prevents Scratch Damage of less than 50. At the beginning of the battle where an enemy uses it, they'll glow green, although there's no visual effect for most of the battle.
  • The Paladin from Diablo II has two skill trees dedicated to passive auras that, with a few exceptions, are shared with the party. Conviction, on the other hand, is an aura you share with your enemies to lower their resistances (you're not affected, thankfully). Boss groups, especially in Nightmare and Hell, can have auras of their own and you will know the definition of fear when you're being Convicted in Hell difficulty...
    • The Druid and Barbarian have a few party aura abilities of their own. The former can summon one of three nature spirits to bestow an aura while the latter can release various shouts to buff him and his party if they're not shouts that de-buff or even damage the enemy.
    • Heroes in Warcraft III 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.
  • Characters in the Disgaea series briefly shine with an aura when initiating a team attack, and also get one for quite a few special attacks. There's also the Majin class that has a perpetual one, the color varying depending on what class rank they're at. Twice over in Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten does Fuka flare up with one - the first when her back's against the wall against Valvatorez and Fenrich in Chapter 2, and again at the end of Chapter 8 when Des X (Fuka's killer, naturally) gets overly clingy with Genjuro.
  • Dragon Age:
  • Dragon Quest: Even though Akira Toriyama designed the characters for the entire series, and earlier games did in fact have enemies who could gather strength, even giving you the ability in Dragon Quest VII as Psyche Up, the visual component of this didn't show up until Dragon Quest VIII, where you can actually see the characters battling. All four characters can Psyche Up to build up tension and make their next attack, healing spell or buffing spell more powerful. If a character Psyches Up four times in a row, they enter a state of 'Super High Tension', complete with a bright pink-ish glow and their hair standing up like a Super Saiyan. For the main character, this is also accompanied by his signature bandanna coming off, revealing spiky hair. Once this happens you see that the hero looks just like Teen Gohan, though even without seeing the hair the resemblance was very strong. There are some enemies that can Psyche Up too, including a few bosses.
    • Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker also includes the ability, available to any monster with the 'Psycho' trait, but the visible aura isn't quite as exaggerated.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • In Morrowind, casting a Barrier or Elemental Shield spell will give you one of these for the spell's duration. It can also be made permanent via a "Constant Effect" enchantment onto a piece of equipment.
    • In Oblivion, after becoming the new Daedric Prince of Madness, you gain the ability to be wreathed in green flames.
    • In Skyrim's Dragonborn DLC, the player gains access to a new Dragon Shout which shrouds them in a multicolored, dragon-shaped aura that greatly enhances their abilities.
  • Elite Beat Agents: In the final levels, 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 Combined Energy Attack 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.
  • Fallout 3 might count with the Enclave Tesla Power Armor's constant electric discharges between the coils. Prior to Broken Steel, it was the best non-unique armor in terms of protection but made the wearer much less stealthy due to the glow and its heaviness. Plus it also gives a nifty bonus to energy weapons. The Glowing Ones, as their name implies, have a Sickly Green Glow, and the Feral Ghoul Reavers burn with green smoke.
  • Final Fantasy: In almost every game, characters give off a certain colored glow (which, for an Super Nintendo Entertainment System-gen era, have an aura-like movement) when afflicted with a status effect, whether buffed or debuffed. For example, when a character is afflicted with the Haste spell, he or she will give off a red glow.
    • Also, in next-gen games, this was removed and was instead given either different colors, or colors were just given to other unrelated spells.
    • Final Fantasy VIII actually had a spell called Aura, which not only increases the possibility of a Limit Break, even with full HP, to nearly 100%, but also gives the affected character a golden aura.
    • Final Fantasy IX uses this for characters in Trance, for the duration of which their outfit changes, their body glows a metallic colour (different for each character) and they produce an aura.
    • In Dissidia Final Fantasy, characters glow brightly when in EX Mode.
  • In the Fire Emblem franchise, characters usually get this when they are directly empowered by divinity or particularly powerful dragons. Notable examples include Ike from Radiant Dawn (blue), Takumi from Fates (purple), and Berkut from Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (red).
  • When Starkiller uses Force Fury in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, he has a blue, electric aura.
  • Granblue Fantasy:
    • Tends to be coupled with Glowing Eyes of Doom for bosses in Overdrive.
    • Your playable characters also gain a slight yellow aura every time you select their character portrait when choosing a skill, or when their Charge Attack Bar is full.
  • 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.
  • Heroes of Jin Yong, being inspired by wuxia (specifically the works of Jin Yong), have the player emanating a bright, glowing chi aura when he's about to inflict hits on enemies.
  • In Initial D Arcade Stage (ver. 1 through 3 only), the most popular video game adaptation of the Initial D series, you can have one too, if you get enough wins.
  • Karaoke Revolution: In most versions, if you sing very well (i.e. match the pitch and timing the game expects) long enough, your on screen avatar starts to glow brightly.
  • The King of Fighters: Athena can manipulate this into Energy Balls, Attack Reflectors, etc. From KOF XII on, her normal fighting stance includes sparkles surrounding her body. In earlier games (and later what was changed to "Extra" mode), you could power up your character's Mana Meter, which caused them to glow with energy as they did, similar to Dragon Ball. This mechanic was inherited originally from Art of Fighting, which featured a similar effect.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Battle Auras don't normally show up, but there are exceptions.
    • Lexaeus uses one in Chain of Memories. His "Absent Silhouette" in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix has one that grows absolutely massive by the end of the battle. For some reason, he also has a steadily-increasing "power level" in the top corner of the screen. Yes, DBZ jokes were made, moving on...
    • In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Terra gets a pitch-black aura whenever he's tapping into darkness. It's a flickering flame when he squares off with Eraqus in order to protect Ven, and becomes a raging inferno pillar of blackness when he flies into a rage against Xehanort during the Battle at the Keyblade Graveyard.
  • In the old Taito arcade title Kuri Kinton, the player character is a martial artist taking on a mafia-like group to save a family. Standing still long enough allows the player to generate an aura, going up in color from blue to yellow to red. Not only does each color increase attack power, it allows the player to take a hit without losing health; however, the aura will drop down in rank with each hit, requiring the player to generate it again.
  • Certain items in League of Legends give the character a visible aura. Examples include: Abyssal Sceptor, Aegis of the Legion, Emblem of Valor which build into Stark's Fervor, Frozen Heart, Mana Manipulator which builds into Soul Shroud, and finally Will of the Ancients.
  • Characters in the The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel often give off battle aura, especially particularly strong ones, or ones using special abilities. Instructor Sara is noted for a fearsome combat aura, as are certain powerful jaegers, and Rean when activating his Super Mode. Also, both Rean and Crow Armbrust inside their Divine Knights.
  • Like a Dragon: Kazuma Kiryu emits a color-coded aura when he builds up Heat energy, which enables him to perform special attacks. In Yakuza 4 and 5, this aura also appears around the other playable characters as they build up Heat, and even appears for some bosses.
  • 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 makes her strangely more intimidating than Wrex, the seven foot tall natural super-soldier.
    • It’s explained on the wiki that a mass effect field that is generated by a biotic blue-shifts the surrounding light around the user, thus creating the lighting-blue aura. This isn’t explained in-game, though.
    • This pops up a lot more with biotics in the sequels. Even Shepard gets in on the action sometimes. The third game's DLC includes characters with the "Annihilation Field" ability, a weaponized aura that harms enemies and sets up combos.
    • It also appears in a certain cutscene in the third game that implies recreational uses of biotics.
  • Mega Man:
  • Mortal Kombat:
    • Some characters with Elemental Powers can surround themselves in auras of the elements they command. Examples of this include Sub-Zero, Smoke, Raiden, Liu Kang, and Scorpion.
    • Johnny Cage can generate an aura of green energy which can enchance his strength and speed as well as allow him to fire orbs of green light. His daughter Cassie Cage has the same powers.
  • Octopath Traveler:
    • Entering Boost will cause a colored flame aura to envelop your character. As you use more BP, the aura's color changes and becomes much stronger.
    • Bosses gain a purple aura when they're about to unleash their most dangerous attack.
  • Oni: The posthuman "daodan" protagonist and antagonist play this trope straight, right down to 'good = blue, bad = red'.
  • In Persona 3 and Persona 4, all characters and enemies gain an aura when using skills, though the protagonist of both games gets a bigger one than the rest. 3's protagonist, in particular, exaggerates it when using Great Seal, with an aura that covers nearly the entire screen.
  • This is used as a gameplay function in Playstation All Stars Battle Royale, where the strength of the character's aura shows what Level of Super Attack they're at (1, 2 or 3). This is called "All-Star Power" in-story, and in an overlap with Victor Gains Loser's Powers, seems to have come from the game's Final Boss (every ending has the winning character use their new-found mastery of AP for their own purposes).
  • In Pokémon Sun and Moon, the Totem Pokemon you encounter at the end of each trial will immediately activate an aura that boosts one or more of their stats as soon as the battle starts. Ultra Beasts do the same thing, as do all of Lusamine's Pokémon in your second battle with her.
  • In Sands of Destruction, Rhi'a has one when she transforms; it's a light purple dragon, of course. Kyrie gains a golden lion aura after the Crimson Sun resurrects him.
  • Sengoku Basara is jam-packed with these, with all of them being Colour-Coded for Your Convenience:
    • The main Power Trio of poster boys — Masamune, Yukimura, and Keiji — have blue, red, and yellow auras respectively, although Keiji sometimes dons a pink aura instead.
    • Kojuro and Sasuke, Masamune and Yukimura's second-in-commands, have light blue and green auras.
    • Shingen and Kenshin also have red and blue auras.
    • Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Magoichi have red auras, while Kasuga, Tsuruhime, and Oichi have pink auras.
    • Ieyasu and Mitsunari don yellow and purple auras to represent the sun and moon, respectively.
    • Hanbe and Motochika also have purple auras. Mitsuhide and Motonari have green auras.
    • Hisahide has a unique black aura. Yoshiteru has a golden aura.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog: Super Sonic and other Super forms are usually depicted with a golden aura.
  • Street Fighter:
    • Characters that are affected by the Satsui no Hadou (Killing Intent), 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.
    • Every character gets one when using a super in Alpha. Ryu also gets surrounded by a blue Battle Aura after activating his Denjin Mode hyper in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
  • Strider (2014) is an interesting example. The wispy, red thing coming off Hiryu is actually excess plasma that he's unable to channel because he's already channeling as much as he is able to. It takes the form of his character's trademark Scarf Of Ass Kicking but due to its nature, it's more or less a Battle Aura.
  • Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 and W give Mazinkaiser an attack known as Kaiser Nova, which should be seen for yourself.
  • Super Smash Bros.:
    • Super Smash Bros. Brawl:
      • When a character 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 (literally called "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 Brawl mod Project M, Lucario instead gains Aura charge by dealing damage in order to do super versions of his specials.
    • In Super Smash Flash 2, in addition to the Final Smash usage, Goku uses these as a visual effect. This is most notable in his down special move, which triggers Kaio-ken (which comes with its own red aura), but only if the initial aura makes contact with an opponent.
  • In Tales Series auras of various sizes and colors often accompany Overlimit or the game's equivalent. Notably, in Symphonia it's black for some reason. In some games, like Vesperia, activation of Overlimit releases a short-lived, but powerful aura, strong enough to stagger enemies.
  • The Tekken series has had aura customizations since Tekken 5. They don't do anything, but they look pretty.
  • Touhou Project: Some characters display battle auras when using their spellcards (if you can see them through the fog of bullets). Fujiwara no Mokou takes the prize, with a battle aura that manifests in the shape of a pulsing phoenix. Ironically, Utsuho, whose power is literally that of stars (i.e. nuclear fusion), doesn't glow. At all. Then again it would be hardly noticeable considering the miniature suns she lobs around.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 1: Auras are a specific type of powerful buff that's utilized by both your party and enemies alike. They come in many colors and a few different styles, such as a faint glow or a highly visible flame-like one.
  • Vindictus: a few attacks, status effects, etc. come with a glow or other effect around the player. Only really makes sense in the case of Evie's focus skill, which is actually magical.
  • Your Bizarre Adventure: Much like in the source material, players with active Stands almost always have a colored aura surrounding them. Certain non-humanoid Stands instead have the aura surrounding part of the Stand itself (such as Ms. Vice President's key).
  • Zone of the Enders: Orbital Frames activate an aura when in Burst state, usually proceeded by a powerful, unblockable attack and they come in many colors.
    • When Anubis shows up at the end of the first game, it's constantly emitting one with purple sparkles, just to showcase how utterly powerful it is, though in The 2nd Runner, it trades this for a black aura.
    • In The 2nd Runner, auras start coming in more colors. Jehuty and Anubis are the only ones to produce electricity and absorbing effects in their Burst mode
      • Taken even further with Jehuty when it starts ascending forms and changing color, ranging from paralyzing to outright obliterating enemies just by being near them.

    Visual Novels 
  • Seinarukana, accompanies the use of a character's most powerful skill(s).

    Webcomics 
  • Elliot and Nanase from El Goonish Shive, can invoke this if they want to. According to Word of God, it's only a visual indicator, and they could turn it off if they want to, but it's a good way to impress Greg.
  • Goblins: Characters have an "Individual Magical Effect" that manifests as a coloured aura when they use a magic item or activate a class feature. As they become more powerful, their IME becomes more personalized; Complains' starts out as a simple purple glow, but starts to form spectral demonic limbs around him after he gains a few Character Levels.
  • 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.
    • Bun-bun also started emitting an aura (sometimes, faint green flames) at times during his bid to become the personification of all holidays. Earlier on, he also started glowing red on one occasion when he was really, really, really angry... though an astute reader will note he was already the embodiment of two less spectacular holidays at that time, so it may have been the supernaturality leaking through even then.
  • 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'.
  • Eastwood of Exterminatus Now gets a demonic red one after Lothar tries to take his coffee away from him.
  • Fake News Rumble has this happen a lot for just about anyone using their powers.
  • Sollux and Aradia of Homestuck both display this when using their potent psychic powers. Sollux's flashes red and blue, and Aradia's is white.
    • Aradia has used a red and blue version herself, probably due to either her having red blood when alive but blue in her robot body or Rule of Cool.
    • John gets a blue one after ascending to the God Tiers whenever he uses his wind powers.
    • Rose had a black aura whenever she used her Thorns of Oglogoth. Later, after she goes grimdark, said black aura becomes permanent, even seemingly after dying and being revived as her dreamself.
    • Vriska gets a flashing blue one with purple ships in it when she rolls eight eights on her dice and accesses her ancestor's powers.
  • Was used a lot in Life of Riley, especially in the case of the Dans, whose auras were red and blue. Several demons and Starseeds also did this.
  • In Mob Psycho 100, most psychics, but Mob especially, get quite glowy when they channel their power. The combination of this with the series' peculiar artstyle can make battles rather psychedelic. One minor character is even able to weaponize his aura into blasts of energy.
  • Used in chapter forty-seven of Welcome to the Convenience Store as a Shout-Out to Dragon Ball when Min Jun is punched by a customer.
  • Justice Firebird has an aura of yellow flames in Every Button Hurts the Other Guy as a pastiche of/homage to Dragon Ball and a sign that he is significantly more powerful than the main cast.

    Web Original 
  • Smash King has the characters normally invoke this via Final Smashes, but the few select characters that can use Ascent Modes are ESPECIALLY prone to this.
  • Star Force RP: Some characters get these when they activate a transformation. Dark Giga has one that boosts his attack power to ridiculous levels.
  • Destroy the Godmodder: Quite a few different characters, although most of the time this is in tandem with dark magic, it still happens.
  • In the Anti-Cliché and Mary-Sue Elimination Society, Adrian and some of the more powerful Sues are rather fond of this.

    Western Animation 
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • In the Feng Shui episode of Sealab 2021, when the crew goes to confront Master Lu/Lew, he reveals that while he may be a greedy con artist, he really is a master martial artist.
    "You see this? You see how my body's glowing like that? Yeah, a lot of people can't do that. Come get some of this glowing"
  • Sunspot from X-Men: Evolution gets the Kirby dot version (he's one of those aforementioned 'slavish adaptation' cases). Just like his comics counterpart did for most of his career, 'Berto becomes a black silhouette within yellow, Kirby Dotted flame. And just like his comics counterpart, sun-powered Super-Strength is his power - no heat is generated, regardless of how fiery he looks.

    Real Life 
  • During heavy physical activity under the correct conditions on a cold day, athletes will begin to "steam" giving the appearance of such an aura. This is especially evident when a helmet is first removed.
  • Paranormal researcher and parapsychlogist Guy Lyon Playfair observed, while in the Philippines, that in the emotional and heated atmosphere of a cock-fighting arena, the eventual winner of a contest between two apparently evenly matched birds would exude an aura that would swell and wash over the eventual loser. The local "shaman" who showed him how to observe for this suggested he really, closely, watched the run up to a boxing match between two human fighters, when both got into the ring and first squared up to each other. Playfair noted that his Filipino contact appeared to make a living out of betting on cock-fighting events, and he thought to apply this to human sporting contests, with a little success. note 

 
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Kaioken times ten!

Goku powers up using the Kaioken to multiply his power.. and you have to feel sorry for Sean Schemmel's vocal cords as he screams throughout.

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