Battle Aura



"Watch the power of Aura!"

- Lucario, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, just before he does his Final Smash

When psyching themselves up for battle, warriors emit a coruscating, Kirlian-like glow around their bodies. These glows are frequently Colour-Coded for Your Convenience, with good guys having a blue aura and the bad guys having a red one, although this is by no means a hard-and-fast rule (for example, Shadow the hedgehog's aura in Super Mario Bros Z is black).

Sometimes the battle aura is a metaphor, and sometimes it is visible to bystanders, who take it as a sign to run away or dive for cover. Either way, it is a sign of power, because Power Glows.

In Western Superhero comics, a similar effect known as Kirby Dots is used to indicate great energies at work, though not necessarily related to combat; these are primarily a print technique, but have at times been translated into animation in particularly slavish adaptations.

This is a subtrope of Power Glows, and the supertrope of Animal Battle Aura. Compare Holy Halo and Throat Light. Occasionally manifests as a Sphere of Power or Dramatic Wind. If only certain people can see it you could be looking at Aura Vision. Characters experiencing morality shifts may have their aura experience a Convenient Color Change.

Anime and Manga
""I can see your evil Miya, I can see it!""
 * Elizabeth in Maburaho, as well as occasional others.
 * After the first few episodes, anyone in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple would start popping out his/ her battle aura, especially his psychopathic masters.
 * Ranma One Half not only shows the effect many times, it explicitly names it. At one point, Genma and Happosai face off and generate battle auras in the shape of themselves that grow to become city-sized. (They then promptly collapse from the effort of creating the battle auras in the first place). Soun Tendo, meanwhile, is implied to be able to use his Demon Head move as a specialised form of battle aura projection. In the anime, during his first episode, the second episode of the Dragon Whisker two-part story, and the OAV adaption of Miss Hinako's arrival, Happosai is also shown being able to project it as a kind of special Kamehame Hadoken attack. More often, though, battle auras in Ranma are simply glows as described above. One of the mildly-antagonistic recurring characters, the local English teacher, in the series has the power to drain Battle Auras, temporarily gaining physical strength and age, and then release the energy as a directed energy attack. Also, Ranma's Finishing Move involves using an enemy's own Battle Aura against them to blast them with a tornado, a minor form of Hoist by His Own Petard.
 * Dragonball Z does this constantly, with a huge variety of colors, usually depending on the power used. (Kamehameha produces a blue aura, while Kaioken produces red, Super Saiyan is yellow, and so on).
 * In Naruto, certain characters glow with a visible chakra-molded battle aura when tapping into their characteristic inner power. This is considered a big deal as chakra is supposed to be invisible to the naked eye.
 * When Naruto specifically taps into the power of his Nine-Tailed Demon fox, his chakra aura turns red and depending on what stage he's in, takes on energy-based appendages such as a tail and ears reminiscent of a typical fox.
 * When Naruto is in Sage Mode he's surrounded by an aura of natural energy, which is still invisible, but he can control it giving him powers similar to telekinesis, as he's able to hit an opponent with a wave of force even though his punch was deflected, and could.
 * In a very different form of this, the Raikage has an actual technique that involves covering himself in lightning chakra for various practical purposes, including as a defensive shield and to increase his own reflexes and speed by stimulating his nerves and muscles.
 * When Might Guy opens up the 6th chakra gate his Battle Aura expands so much and so quickly that he was able to force away the water surrounding him, creating a large air bubble. Also, he gets a different aura for using either of the techniques specific to each gate: the 6th gate technique surrounds him in fire created by friction while
 * In Kodomo no Omocha, Sana-chan, when angry, occasionally manifests effects -- frequently the appearance of standing in a raging bonfire -- that could be interpreted as battle auras.
 * In one episode of Azumanga Daioh, a young wild cat Sakaki had befriended in the previous episode shows up to save her from a pack of cats led by Kamineko, and scares them off by displaying a Battle Aura.
 * Just to be clear, a kitten has a Battle Aura.
 * Onegai Twins had two rivals for the lead's heart stare each other down when large animal auras burst out of their backs. We think this is metaphorical, but it terrifies the timid Karen, who is watching.
 * During the Dark Tournament arc of Yu Yu Hakusho, Yusuke's aura is large enough to fill half of the arena. Younger Toguro, however, has such a powerful aura that it literally incinerates a portion of the audience.
 * Hiei's last opponent during the same arc also explicitly calls his energy field a Battle Aura.
 * The manga Parasyte has a variation: when one of the alien race known as the Parasytes threatens an Earth native, an image of a predatory creature overlays the alien (for example, just before one of them kills a lion, a spider appears over him).
 * Characters in Fist of the North Star not only have battle auras that are visible to other characters, they also explicitly call them "Battle Auras" and expert fighters can even determine details of their opponent's combat style by looking at their aura.
 * The Claymore anime added in Battle Aura, something the manga inverted having a Battle Aura is a sure fire way to die (or turn evil) and powerful characters are ones who suppress it.
 * 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. General Yamamoto's appears as a layer of flame, whilst Kenpachi's aura is in the form of a skull.
 * During his fight with, Ichigo reappears with no apparent aura.   assumes that something very bad has happened to him or that he has converted his reiatsu into raw physical strength.
 * Naru displays a battle aura several times before hitting Keitaro in Love Hina.
 * Comedic example: Yamazaki displayed a battle aura in one episode of Welcome to The NHK, because someone told him that Hentai games were something to be ashamed of.
 * Hikaru in Magic Knight Rayearth not only displays it when she's excited, it's part of her attack footage.
 * Highly skilled drivers in Initial D occasionally display their battle auras in the 4th Stage season.
 * Demons and spiritually powerful humans have this in Inuyasha.
 * 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.
 * Rurouni Kenshin has this (particularly in the Shishio saga) in the form of "swordsman spirit".
 * Sumomomo Momomo has auras for any martial artist that's sufficiently powerful. Momoko is unusual because she can actually use hers to deflect attacks. As for colors, well, with twelve factions, you take anything that looks good. Hers is red.
 * Meito Anisawa (aka "Anime Tenchou") of Lucky Star quite literally sets himself on fire, with someone on the film crew having to periodically put him out with a hose when he makes an appearance in a "Lucky Channel" segment at the end. His burning passion is enough to transcend reality in a mostly Slice of Life show.
 * These are typically avoided in Pretty Cure, but Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star went for it, particularly with Cure Bloom.
 * Yoshimori's initial attempts in Kekkaishi to perform Zekkai look like one of these.
 * Bamboo Blade has Tama's red battle aura which ignites whenever she gets particularly heroic, and Miyamiya's black aura, which activates whenever she goes crazy. Andou, Miya's rival from another school, also has a black aura.


 * Discarding the risible pseudoscience "justification", the Ripple from the first two parts of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure is basically a Battle Aura. It is made from energy generated whenever a person breathes in, and is transferred out through natural means - the hands and feet are most obvious, but wool, metal and vegetable oil are all used to conduct the Ripple at points. Because all energy on Earth comes ultimately from the Sun, the Ripple has the same devastating effect on vampires as sunlight. In a different vein, the Stands from the third part on are essentially anthropomorphic Battle Auras. (Or, in Jotaro's case, Battle Ora).
 * Naturally, Aura Battler Dunbine, for obvious reasons.
 * Junior high tennis players often sport battle auras while using physics-defying moves in The Prince of Tennis.
 * And who could forget the golden glowing battle aura G Gundam's Domon Kasshu creates? (And other characters in the same series, of course).
 * Not exactly Battle Auras, but the UC Gundam franchise has high level newtypes use specific glow surrounding them, usually when they use the powers to their limits. Strong ones, such as Kamille's and Judau's, are even physically present and shield Gundams or damage opponents. Impressive, isn't it?
 * 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.
 * Digimon Savers: "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.
 * Saint Seiya explains the concept of Cosmo by saying that it is the miniature cosmos that exists within each atom in a Saint's body. So, when a warrior shouts, "Burn, Cosmo!" they're concentrating in exploding this power into an overwhelming aura. Sometimes, they burn their Cosmo so brightly it actually manifests as a spectral vision of their patron constellation (or, in Andromeda Shun's case, the Andromeda Nebula,) which is always the sign that the enemy is about to get his ass handed to him.
 * Mahou Sensei Negima, in its' steady move towards more serious, action oriented stories has started getting into this, most notably on these two, pages.
 * The military artists in Chrome Shelled Regios all have battle auras, with different colors for different levels of power.
 * One Piece:
 * Although it is usually not visible, there's the entire concept of Haki. Shanks knocks out dozens of Mooks just by walking by them because his Haki aura is so strong (something Luffy has done as well). Thus making it the only Battle Aura you can use to punch someone in the face.
 * 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.
 * Every character in Seto no Hanayome that matters has had a battle aura at least once.
 * In Saki, the Miyanaga sisters and Koromo have battle auras. Mind you this is a Mahjong anime...
 * Don't forget Hisa. Nodoka, Touka and Yumi are slightly nonstandart, Momoko might sort of count too.
 * A few Pokémon, like Ash's Grovyle, gain a Battle Aura when they use their special ability and power up.
 * Also, all Pokemon shine white when evolving in the show.
 * A distinct characteristic of Kanon, a character in Umi Monogatari is that she releases a black aura when angry, and is apparently not a random trope-ish "special effect" since, everyone in her town associates her with her black aura.
 * The nine armors in Ronin Warriors often give their wearers a battle aura in tense situations.
 * While more prominent with just the titular hero, players in Eyeshield 21 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.
 * The Sengoku Basara has battle auras galore. Date Masamune's sheer presence can take out large chunks of an army.
 * Akiho in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu has an aura that looks like Lucy's vectors.
 * 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.
 * Contractors from Darker Than Black gain a faint blue glow and red eyes whenever they use their powers.
 * Used to comedic effect in B Gata H Kei 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.
 * In 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.
 * Asakura is angry. Anyone who knows the original story knows this is played for comedy because she isn't stabbing anybody.
 * Souls in Soul Eater 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.
 * Kanata's anger in Oto x Maho is quite well known.
 * 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.
 * Both the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann 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.
 * Nen, the Functional Magic in Hunter X Hunter, manifests itself as a Battle Aura in especially powerful beings that can only be seen by other nen users.
 * Andou Natsu's AK FIELD in 30-sai no Hoken Taiiku
 * Youta gets one briefly in the fifth episode of the Video Girl Ai OVA, before Ai smacks him with a tray.
 * In the final episode of Ghost Hunt  gets a white battle aura with dramatic wind right before he uses his powers to completely destroy a statue possessed by a god.
 * Most characters from Rosario to Vampire 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.
 * Making A-ko really mad activates a thin white aura that lasts just a few seconds but boosts her already formidable powers.

Comics

 * From Uncanny X-Men, Phoenix.
 * Excalibur's Rachel Summers, future daughter of Alternate Universe Jean and Scott Summers, "Baby" Phoenix..
 * Green Lanterns (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.

Film

 * In the 1985 film The Last Dragon, there is The Glow: when a fighter's hands glow, he is among the best in the world - when his entire body glows, he IS the best. Sho'Nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, demonstrates the former towards the end of the movie, but Leroy "Bruce Leroy" Green demonstrates the latter after a beatdown.

Fan Works

 * 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
 * In The Tainted Grimoire,  radiates this when preparing a Fighter ability.

Literature

 * 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..."
 * 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 Mc Coy, 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.
 * Aes Sedai and other woman channelers "glow" when embracing saidar to other female channelers (who are sufficiently trained).

Live Action TV

 * Any Super Sentai team if they get fired up enough. This means their Power Rangers counterparts get the same effect.
 * William Adama has got one of these. Battlestar Galactica isn't usually a show for this sort of thing, but Edward James Olmos to awesome for naturalism to work. In the recent mutiny arc he deploys it several times. First when being led away the CIC by two rebel marines he scares so 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 lead a charge to CIC, no-one dares challenge him, and half the crew follows behind him.

Tabletop Games

 * In Exalted, characters that expend large amounts of Essence display what is referred to as an Anima Banner, a totemic image of their character's soul. One can often discern another's Exalt type by their Anima Banner.
 * The glowyness goes up with amount of power used (or down with time since power was used). At first, it's just a glittery forehead, then it's a brightly shining forehead, then it's your standard close-in battle aura, then its a bonfire aura (a la Dragonball), then it reaches the level where it shows a totemic display of the Exalt's soul. The last two versions are visible for several kilometers around.
 * ...Which is why the Night Caste Solars, the game's stealth specialists, have the unique ability to mute their anima banners, making them fainter and less noticeable. After all, a spy, thief, or assassin giving off light clearly visible for miles around wouldn't be very good at his job...
 * And even if they don't mute their banners, their displays mask their faces; Highly-Visible Ninja, anyone?
 * They can spend a little bit more to avoid having a banner display at all. Both are options.
 * Standard issue for Daemon Princes, Living Saints, C'Tan, and other super-powerful beings in Warhammer 40k. Most of these also tend to have actual effects as well.
 * In the Dungeons and Dragons expansion Tome Of Battle, martial disciplines have color-coded auras. Stone Dragon is green, Setting Sun is yellow, Shadow Hand is deep purple, Devoted Spirit is pink, Diamond Mind is lavender, etc.
 * In the Deadlands setting, one of the * disadvantages* that you can take for the Martial Arts magic path is "The Cup Overflows". This results in a very obvious Battle Aura that cannot be suppressed, and whenever you tap a mystic ability causes things like small dust devils, your 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

 * In most versions of Karaoke Revolution, 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.
 * 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.
 * This pops up a lot more with biotics in the sequel. Even Shepard gets in on the action sometimes.
 * A human-only ability in Devil Survivor; 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.
 * Characters that are affected by the Satsui no Hadou (Killing Intent) in the Street Fighter series (like Akuma and the Evil versions of Ryu and Ken) glow with a reddish aura, and characters that use Psycho Power (such as M. Bison) often have a purplish aura added to their attacks.
 * In the final levels of Elite Beat Agents, the agents are surrounded by a Battle Aura while the people they're inspiring are dancing. This vanishes if the player misses a step, as the aliens overhead begin blasting them. At the end of the level, the aura is gathered into a 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.
 * Unusual example: the Flash game Dolphin Olympics.
 * Mortal Kombat has this with Sub-Zero, Smoke, and Raiden.
 * When a character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl grabs a Smash Ball, they get a multicolored aura and their eyes glow yellow, which continues until after the Final Smash is used.
 * Lucario, as per the page quote, has a functional Battle Aura (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 the videogame Grandia II, Millenia will get "annoyed" if she takes damage; the more damage she takes, the redder and angrier her picture at the bottom of the screen becomes. It'll eventually glow red, at which point she'll shout something (normally piss off), knock all the friendly characters out of her way, and then run around with a red aura doing whatever the hell she pleases until she calms down.
 * The Paladin character from Diablo has literal auras of various types which can be shared with his allies.
 * Heroes in Warcraft 3 often have a similar ability.
 * While the Paladin in World of Warcraft uses auras extensively and the Shaman has it's aura-inducing totems, many other character classes have auras of their own with various amounts of glow.
 * The posthuman "daodan" protagonist and antagonist in Oni play this trope straight, right down to 'good = blue, bad = red'.
 * In almost every Final Fantasy 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 Final Fantasy 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.
 * In Dissidia Final Fantasy, characters glow brightly when in EX Mode.
 * Several different units in Age of Mythology glow to indicate some kind of combat enhancement in effect.
 * Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 and W give Mazinkaiser an attack known as Kaiser Nova, which should be seen for yourself.
 * In Vile's mode in Mega Man X Maverick Hunter X the final boss is X and Zero fighting together. When the boss health bar gets low enough one of them will fall, and the other demonstrates just how ticked off they are with a red or blue battle aura.
 * The Tekken series has had aura customizations since Tekken 5. They don't do anything, but they look pretty.
 * 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 trupe.
 * 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 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
 * Even though Akira Toriyama designed the characters for the entire Dragon Quest 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.
 * LifeAura in Mega Man Battle Network serves as a shield.
 * In Yakuza 3, Kazuma Kiryu emits a color-coded aura when he builds up Heat energy, which enables him to perform special attacks.
 * 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 it's heavyness. Plus it also gives a nifty bonus to energy weapons.
 * Battle Auras don't normally show up in Kingdom Hearts, 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, and becomes a raging inferno pillar of blackness when he.
 * Some characters in the Touhou universe 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.
 * Not just her though, Yukari has one with a spinning snowflake, Yuyuko with a giant antique fan, Suwako with a frog, as well as Byakuren with 5 lotus
 * Ironically, Utsuho whose power is literally that of stars (i.e. nuclear fusion) doesn't glow. At all. Then again it would be hardly noticable considering the miniature suns she lobs around.
 * In Dragon Age Awakening Justice is surrounded in glowing aura when activating his primary combat buff. Other Warriors can be trained in Spirit Warrior specialization for the same effect.
 * In Dragon Age II both Anders and Merrill gain an aura when mode-shifting to their Cast From Hit Points offensive magic.
 * When Starkiller uses Force Fury in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, he has a blue, electric aura.
 * 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.
 * The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion After becoming a god of madness (or at least the steward of madness) you gain the ability to be wreathed in green flames.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * The Deities from Asura's Wrath all have one, reffered to as Mantra. The auras are Color Coded for Your Convenience.
 * In Xenoblade Chronicles, 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.

Webcomics

 * In MAG ISA, Claudita loves her battle aura.
 * 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.
 * All of the main characters in Goblins have different coloured auras that are visible when ever they use magic items or class features. The colours also extend to their shouted comments and sound effects.
 * They also have their own name for it - I.M.E. or Individual Magical Effect.
 * Note that it is not limited to colors. We have now seen Kore's effect. It's... horrifying.
 * In Sluggy Freelance, Horribus gets this a lot whenever he's particularly fired up about killing Torg. He's the only one with an aura, though, so it might just be a Demon Lord thing.
 * 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  whenever he uses his wind powers.
 * Rose had a black aura whenever she used her Thorns of Oglogoth.
 * Vriska gets a flashing blue one with  when she.
 * 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.

Web Original

 * In the Anti Cliche and Mary Sue Elimination Society, Adrian and some of the more powerful Sues are rather fond of this.
 * One of the ways the "Aura" of Huntsmen and Huntresses can manifest in RWBY.

Western Animation

 * Ron Stoppable got a Battle Aura in the Grand Finale of Kim Possible. The members of Team Go have that, too: Shego's green glow is notorious.
 * When an Avatar, such as Aang, enters the Avatar State in Avatar: The Last Airbender, he often produces a bright Battle Aura (sometimes with Chunky Updraft.) This is actually a plot point in the first episode, when it alerts an enemy to his presence.
 * 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.