Anne Finnelan is a senior faculty member at Luna Nova Magical Academy in the anime Little Witch Academia. She serves as the instructor for several subjects, including History of Magic, Magic Linguistics, and Object Control Magic, and she also carries administrative duties as the faculty member in charge of student guidance and academic affairs. In the television series she is additionally shown teaching levitation magic, while in her earliest appearance, in the film The Enchanted Parade, she teaches synthesis magic.

She is a middle-aged woman with an austere bearing, brown hair pulled into a tight bun with two fringes framing her face, blue eyes, and a pale complexion. She wears the standard Luna Nova teacher uniform, with two feathers on her hat indicating her advanced rank.

Finnelan is a strict, serious, and authoritative instructor. She is conservative in outlook and expects students to show respect and discipline while upholding Luna Nova's rules and traditions. Though she is normally composed, she can quickly lose her temper when students such as Atsuko "Akko" Kagari cause trouble or disrupt the school's order. She is markedly more accommodating toward highly skilled students such as Diana Cavendish, not out of simple favoritism but because Diana represents the disciplined, studious, and tradition-respecting ideal of a witch that Finnelan values. Akko, by contrast, embodies for her the chaos, shortcut-taking, and disregard for magical foundations that she considers dangerous. Her harshness is rooted in principle rather than malice: she believes that undisciplined witches are a genuine risk and that magic deserves reverence, and she advocates for serious consequences when she believes a student has failed to meet those standards. When circumstances force her to acknowledge that she was wrong, she does so with a stiff and reluctant dignity.

Her motivations center on preserving Luna Nova's heritage and maintaining the integrity of magical education. She participates in faculty meetings concerning the dwindling number of witches worldwide and the decline of magic, reflecting her investment in the institution's future. She also opposes the blending of technology and magic on philosophical grounds, which places her in direct conflict with the approaches championed by Professor Croix.

Within the story, Finnelan acts as the primary disciplinary authority of the academy. She is a recurring obstacle for Akko, frequently criticizing her behavior, warning her about the rigor of her studies, and seeking to hold her accountable for her mishaps. At the same time, she functions as a representative of Luna Nova's established order, working alongside fellow teachers such as Headmistress Holbrooke and the rest of the faculty. Her relationships are defined largely by her professional role: approving toward accomplished students, wary of troublemakers, and collegial with her fellow instructors.

Over the course of the series, Finnelan undergoes a modest but meaningful development. She does not become warm toward Akko, but she gradually learns to keep personal bias from clouding her judgment, allowing her to acknowledge Akko's genuine achievements even when they challenge her expectations. This measured shift is more a tempering of her rigid worldview than a change in her fundamental character.

In terms of ability, Finnelan is an experienced and knowledgeable witch. She is skilled enough to perform the advanced Nullification Spell, known as Luna Lana, which can dispel and cancel active enchantments. She is also capable of creating sturdy magical barriers for defensive and containment purposes, and she possesses deep expertise in ancient magical languages, including the Luna Alphabet, along with extensive knowledge of Luna Nova's traditions, regulations, and proper conduct. Her teaching domains draw directly on these strengths, and she is regarded as one of the academy's most experienced and demanding instructors.