Magic circles are long-known historic fictional concepts to humanity. It is only natural that these concepts have been used in fictional stories. Anime is also no stranger to magic circles, considering that there are thousands of anime about magic.
In this article, we will be taking a look at some of the best fantasy anime with magic circles.
You should note that most anime have a mix of circles, crests, and incantation-based magic. So, if you don’t see the circles right away, you might have to wait until the character who uses them is introduced.
Top Ten Fantasy Anime Featuring Magic Circles
- Fairy Tail
- FMAB
- Fate
- Saga of Tanya the Evil
- World’s Finest Assassin
- Re:Creators
- Overlord
- Rising of the shield hero
- Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor
- Arifureta
- In another world with my smartphone
- Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Magic circles are common in most magical girl anime. Lyrical Nanoha is one such show about Nanoha Takamachi.
One day, she saved a ferret, and it talked to her telepathically. It turns out it was actually a mage from another world who accidentally scattered 12 dangerous seeds on the planet.
Nanoha has to help him find them and save the world from evil before it is too late.
In Another World With My Smartphone
This is your generic fantasy isekai anime series where the main character dies and gets reincarnated in a magical world.
God kills our MC accidentally and offers to revive him in another world, where he will be the strongest person there is. He is also allowed to take one item from his previous world.
Our MC chose to take his smartphone. This is a feel-good isekai harem anime series with a ton of fanservice.
Nonetheless, this is an anime with magic circles in it, which earns a spot on this list.
Arifureta
Arifureta is a dark fantasy isekai anime series with magic circles where the main character is betrayed and left for dead in a dungeon.
Even though he is weak, he somehow survives the dungeon and gets stronger in the process. He then discovers a vampire girl in the dungeon’s deepest levels, who appears to have been betrayed and left for dead as well.
They become partners and conquer the dungeon. They also meet some new characters who join their party, making them the strongest group in the anime.
Their goal is to find a way to get back to the MC’s world by uncovering the mysteries of the dungeons.
Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor
This is another great anime with magic circles in it. The main character of this anime is a magic teacher at a highschool.
At first, he was a terrible instructor who showed absolutely no interest in teaching magic. Students were under the impression that he was incapable due to the fact that he had never even attempted to utilize magic.
But later on, when he made the decision to improve as a teacher, everyone was taken aback by his extraordinary abilities. The fact that he was able to counteract the effects of magic gave him a significant advantage in the anime.
Not only that, but he was also an expert in a variety of other forms of magic, which made him even more powerful.
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The Rising Of The Shield Hero
The Rising of the Shield Hero is one of the greatest ongoing fantasy anime series of recent times.
The main character is summoned to another world as the “Shield Hero” in order to save a kingdom.
However, the king betrays him, and he ends up being shunned by an entire nation. He goes through a lot of pain and hatred before deciding to survive by any means necessary and return to his world.
Then, he buys a servant racoon girl and trains her to be his sword. He also gets a mysterious egg, from which a magical bird that can transform into a human appears. With them as his party, he has to survive the harsh world, prove his innocence, and also save the world.
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Overlord
Overlord is a dark fantasy isekai anime where the MC is stuck inside his favorite game. Stuck in his skeleton (undead) avatar, he now has to command a bunch of the strongest servants of his guild.
The servants are all non-human characters and are extremely powerful, even compared to the strongest human. With them, the MC decides to conquer the world in order to send a message to other players who might be stuck in the game just like him.
Re:Creators
Re:Creators is probably the most underrated anime series on this list. It has a completely unique plot and a bunch of really interesting characters.
In this anime, all fictional characters from different manga and games come to life and meet their authors. They are shocked when they discover a single person has written their entire world.
Some want to kill their authors for making them go through pain, while others forgive them and decide to work with them to find a way to bring the world back to its normal state.
The plot unfolds in a grand way, mixing various fictional themes we’ve come across in anime. And one such theme in this anime are the magic circles. It is more of a background, secondary element. Regardless, the fact that it is there, earns a spot for this anime on this list.
World’s Finest Assassin
As the title of this anime suggests, after the world’s finest hitman dies, he meets a goddess who gives him one last assassination task. After fulfilling that, he is free to live the life he wants.
When the main character (MC) agrees to the terms, he is born into a magical world with his memories.
There he learns the world’s magic and assassination techniques. The MC then invents new magic and even creates magic circle powered guns, making him an OP character in the anime.
Saga of Tanya the Evil
The Saga of Tanya the Evil is one of the few anime series where guns and magic work together.
Our MC was a self-centered, rude, atheist salaryman who was killed by his co-worker. However, a being claiming to be “God” appears and condemns him for not having faith in God.
The MC, as an atheist, mocks God and calls him “Being X.” Because of this, the self proclaimed god decides to reincarnate the MC in a fantasy world. The plan was to put him through so much trouble that he would accept God and surrender to him.
This is why the MC will have to participate in wars and go through difficult situations with God as his opponent.
Fate Series
Another famous fantasy anime with magic circles is the Fate series. There are a lot of titles in the fate series, so you might want to take a look at this watch order in case you plan to watch this.
Fate is an anime with an interesting concept where selected human mages have the ability to summon legendary heroes from the past.
We get to see figures like Arthur Pendragon (Saber), Gilgamesh, and other famous historical people.
They have to fight other mages in the holy grail war in order to obtain the holy grail.
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
The Fullmetal Alchemist series requires no introduction when it comes to fantasy anime with magic circles. Alchemy can only be performed using these transmutation circles. So you will find the majority of the characters using them.
Only our MC is an exception, as he can perform alchemy without a circle, making him somewhat more powerful than your average alchemist.
The anime follows the story of two brothers who perform a forbidden alchemy to revive their dead mother. The whole thing blows up in their faces when they create a monster instead of bringing their mom back to life. What’s more, the elder brother’s arm and a leg, and the younger brother’s entire body were the price for performing the alchemy.
The two brothers now have to adventure through the lands in order to find a way to bring their bodies back.
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Fairy Tail
Fairy Tail is an anime that uses magic circles every time a character casts a spell or uses magic. This makes the action scenes much cooler, as the magic attacks look more powerful and devastating.
This is a pretty popular shonen anime that takes place in a fantasy world where magic and mage guilds are commonplace.
Our main characters belong to the Fairy Tail guild and go on many adventures, solve unresolved mysteries, and save the world from villains time and time again.
What makes the show more interesting is that it has a decent mix of action, comedy, drama, and fanservice.
That’s it for this post. These were the 10+ best anime series featuring magic circles. Hope you found something new to watch!
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