The other night, I happened to come up with an unusual game idea (that I likely will never make): essentially, a high school simulator, except that you can use magic. This idea got me wondering whether there are any other nonviolent games that incorporate magic.

In particular, I am here looking for games that:
1. Allow the player to use magic. (Having magic exist isn't good enough; it needs to be available to the player.)
2. Must be non-violent. Most games with magic involve fighting monsters as a core part of the gameplay. I am interested in games that don't have that.

Anyway, for the curious, some possible ideas for that high school simulator game:
1. Magic would be Vancian magic: You have to prepare your spells ahead of time (at the beginning of the day, or possibly during lunch or study hall) to be able to use them.
2. An example of a spell would be one that makes you smarter, allowing you to get a better grade on a test.
3. There would likely be some social life simulation. This might include dating, but would not be limited to it.
4. Violence would likely still crop up in the game, in the form of bullying and in some sport activities. (Remember, PE class would have to show up somewhere.)

If friendship counts as magic, there's this: non-violent friendship is magic simulator

In seriousness though, it sounds like a unique concept for a game and one I would probably be interested in. Sort of like a Hogwarts Academy life management sim or something like that, which I could see being pretty appealing conceptually.

A bit like Magical Diary? Not entirely non-violent, as some of the exams you have to take feature monsters, but still ...

There are already 2 games I know of that use the concept of a school for magicians: Academagia and Magical Diary.

The first is a text-based life sim where you decide how to spend your year out of all the many, many options given to you. And yes, you can use magic to get better marks on exams.

The second is more of a dating sim, but you also have exams where you have to use magic to solve problems in a dungeon (and while you can fight sometimes, it's pretty much always the worst choice).

Would Ghost Trick qualify? Not sure if the ghostly abilities count as "magic," but you're actively preventing violence using them.

Simon the Sorcerer :)

Sounds very anime-like. Might be a visual novel or two around which fit the description.

Like this one ?

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-AMM/academagia-the-making-of-mages

I've always wanted to play games like that.

I remember playing the infamous MMORPG called Tibia where you can make magic runes which unfortunately are mostly used to kill monsters but the idea that you had to prepare them was very unique. You could also conjure up food to heal. I really enjoyed those parts, very "role playish" as opposed to soulless grinding of typical MMOs.

I have some hopes for Balrum.

You almost describe Planescape Torment. It has vancian magic, combat is optional (I've read that you can beat whole game with fighting only couple times). I might be wrong to recommend it though, as I didn't play it myself because of it (despite having it on my bookshelf for years now).

Edit: why vancian magic and not MP-based magic?

In the case of the school example, it forces you to think about what spells you will need for a given day of school, instead of just being able to whip up any spell you know if it happens to be the right situation for it.

Of course, that just happens to be the form in which the idea came into my head. Ideas are a funny thing sometimes, and if I actually fleshed out the idea and made it into a game, the game (and the magic system) might look very different from the initial idea.

I think you're asking about Loom.

Loom doesn't have spell preparation. Moreover, it doesn't limit you from casting any spell. Knowing it means ability to cast it infinite times..

No, there's not a single anime-game or VN I know which fits his description and I know almost every translated (including fantranslations) anime-game and VN.

Harry Potter Kinect?