History Main / Hyperawareness

* Caerula Sanguis from ''[[Manga/{{Gunnm}} Battle Angel Alita: Last Order]]'', being a fighter of no mean skill, lives mainly off of this trope, which she partly attained through [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld lots and lots of combat experience]]. Even before picking up her special ability to read neural impulses, she had long set a rule for fighting with a sword against guns, carefully watching the gunner for his or her tell before each shot, and counterattacking when within a certain number of steps depending on the kind of gun. After she gains her special ability, however, all bets are off. Coupled with her ability to quickly gauge terrain and her drilled-in experience with and against several kinds of weapons, this allows her to take enemy capabilities and personalities -- even subconscious reflexes -- into account and completely take control of any fight.

* People with autism frequently have this ability, and get overstimulated easily.

* Dr. Gregory Series/{{House}}. At one point he walks down a line of patients waiting at the ([[RunningGag much hated]]) clinic and diagnoses entirely on their physical appearance and general behavior. More then a few episodes are dedicated to showing how he is certain that there was some little thing that he might have missed that is key to the problem of the week. In one episode, he manages to deduce he is in a coma-induced hallucination by a combination of in-universe [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall fourth wall awareness]] and that everything is running ''too'' smoothly. Yes, House's HyperAwareness is sufficient to allow him to break free of a hallucination [[CrazyAwesome made by his own mind]].

* Several characters in ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' do this, including the main character, Gon. It's often taken to CharlesAtlasSuperpower levels (though perhaps justified by the setting's KiAttacks), especially with Senritsu, who has a truly insane sense of hearing.

** One of the few people who can hide from him is, predictably, Lord Vetinari (who notably failed all his stealth examinations at the Assassins' Guild because he was marked absent -- think about it). Vetinari is so clinically aware that he makes Vimes look normal -- despite Vimes being described as "the most cynical bastard that ever walked under the sun". In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'' he is shocked and transfixed by the sheer depth of Vetinari's cynicism.

*** Another example from Vetinari is at the end of ''Discworld/TheTruth'' when he corrects a newspaper printer's spelling mistake... which is in the middle of the text, and from Vetinari's perspective is upside-down and back-to-front.
** Brutha from ''Discworld/SmallGods'', in addition to a perfectly PhotographicMemory, is also hyper-aware, as he can recite a complete description of a room, down to the most minute detail, after only a few seconds of looking at it. And can also repeat anything spoken to him, word for word.
** Tiffany Aching has First Sight (seeing what's really there, not what you expect to see) in ''Discworld/WeeFreeMen'' and it plays a reasonably large part in ''Hat Full of Sky''. Most witches have this (except possibly Magrat), and in ''Mort'' we're told it's the first thing wizards learn at UU as well. (Okay, the ''first'' thing they learn is where the privies are and so on, but after all that it's the first thing.)
** Susan Sto Helit is also revealed to have this in ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', as part of her heritage from her grandfather the Grim Reaper.

* In ''Film/DownPeriscope'', Sonar Technician 2nd Class E.T. "Sonar" Lovacelli can hear how much change is dropped on a nearby submarine. And a crewman eating an Oreo on another deck. And a couple of lobsters dukin' it out. This IS helped by his listening equipment, but it takes more than fancy gear to point out that someone dropped "forty-five cents. A quarter... and two dimes", after jerking as if an explosion went off in his ear after the coins hit the deck. He can also hear a whisper from a long distance away with other, much louder, sounds masking it. Naturally, his former CO considered him a security risk.

No detail escapes the notice of our character. With only a brief SherlockScan, he can deduce intimate and accurate information about an individual. With HyperAwareness, they will sit down and know how many people are in the area, what they are doing, which ones are important to the plot and what would be the best exit without attracting attention.

* Barbara Gordon -alias ''Comicbook/{{Batgirl}}''- is highly intelligent and has eidetic memory. She ''cannot'' miss out any details and she ''always'' remembers ''everything'' (including stuff she would rather forget).

* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Supersymmetry", Angel was able to use his PhotographicMemory to exactly reconstruct a crime scene and identify a suspect. While in earlier episodes he had demonstrated an impressive memory and other exceptional mental talents (he speaks several languages and can recreate faces almost perfectly), that particular ability had not been shown before.

* Marvel's first ComicBook/CaptainMarVell (not to be confused with [[Comicbook/{{Shazam}} the original Captain Marvel]]) was gifted with Cosmic Awareness, that let him perceive everything around him. The limits of this ability weren't clear, but when he got it, he sensed without any mirror that his hair had turned from white to blond. He also could find the best timing to avoid a hit or to attack himself, and was also a plot point when Thanos became the entire universe thanks to the Cosmic Cube.

** Hannibal Lecter has extremely acute senses, in particular a sense of [[TheNoseKnows smell]] powerful enough to identify the wheat field a man was killed in after his corpse spent two days in a river. This makes him dangerously good at reading people, as well as a particularly tricky guy to fight.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s Data, being an android with perfect recall, has this and exasperating his crew mates by picking up on tiny details that are not at all relevant.

* Black from ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', but only when he's using his Munna's abilities to cancel out his SuperOCD.

* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm's'' [[OriginalCharacter Sonata]]. She's [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic a unicorn]] with the special talent of hyper awareness, which gives her [[CompositeCharacter yet another parallel]] with ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'' characters, VisualNovel/{{Apollo Justice|AceAttorney}} in particular. This ability is quite handy to her, [[spoiler:especially for her blackmailing activities]].
* Played for horror in the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Nightingale}}'', where Neji's byakugan -- which gives him XRayVision and almost 360 degrees of vision -- is turned on permanently. He slowly looses his mind and begins hallucinating because he can no longer handle seeing ''everything'' around him all at once.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} has this sometimes, in addition to being CrazyPrepared.

* Marvel's first ComicBook/CaptainMarVell (not to be confused with [[Comibook/{{Shazam}} the original Captain Marvel]]) was gifted with Cosmic Awareness, that let him perceive everything around him. The limits of this ability weren't clear, but when he got it, he sensed without any mirror that his hair had turned from white to blond. He also could find the best timing to avoid a hit or to attack himself, and was also a plot point when Thanos became the entire universe thanks to the Cosmic Cube.

* The Creator/RobertDowneyJr ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' film shows the downside of this: it ''never'' turns off and he's almost constantly being overloaded. In the sequel, the gypsy queen asks, "What do you see?" Holmes replies, "Everything. That is my curse."

* Shawn Spencer from ''Series/{{Psych}}'' was trained by his police father to pick up on small and unimportant details. He even has special effects showing the audience how he notices things. And turns his head sideways and left with a silly expression that Gus now mocks. Even people who've only just met him figure out when he gets a clue.

* Sans of Undertale seems harmless at first, but notices a lot more than he lets on. [[spoiler:When the player loads a previous save, it's not simply a gameplay mechanic, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration it's worked into the plot]] that this is an ability the player has, akin to time travel. No other character is aware of when you do this other than Flowey, who retains his memories across resets. Sans doesn't retain his memories, but he is ''aware'' that the ability to reset exists, and is perceptive enough to deduce that you can do so based on your reactions to the world.]]

* Alex Mann from ''WesternAnimation/ActionMan'' has an ability called "The AMP Factor" that allows him to be aware of ''everything'' in a given situation, the physics of things moving, likely results of actions, etc. Expressed visually by everything turning blue and numbers floating around.

** Tyrion accurately forecasts the imminent riot in "The Old Gods and the New" and takes steps to get Joffrey's heir Tommen to safety before it sparks.

* Enhanced senses is just one of the many benefits of sinanju in ''TheDestroyer''. Remo can fight in the dark using his hearing, detect snipers over distance by the feel of the wind on his arms, determine the number of people in a room from its ambient temperature, and figure out a door code from the residual heat in the buttons the last person touched some hours ago. (Later he simply opens an electronic lock through the sinanju art of manipulating electric signals. Yes, really.) And people think the ''fighting'' skills go into the superhuman...

* In ''Series/Sherlock'' the entire success of Sherlock Holmes' work as a "consulting detective" is based on his immense ability to notice and evaluate the tiniest details on one glance.

* Dr. Gregory Series/{{House}}. At one point he walks down a line of patients waiting at the ([[RunningGag much hated]]) clinic and diagnoses entirely on their physical appearance and general behavior. More then a few episodes are dedicated to showing how he is certain that there was some little thing that he might have missed that is key to the problem of the week. In one episode, he manages to deduce he is in a coma-induced hallucination by a combination of in-universe [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall fourth wall awareness]] and that everything is running ''too'' smoothly. Yes, House's HyperAwareness is sufficient to allow him to break free of a hallucination [[CrazyAwesome made by his own mind]].

* Adrian Series/{{Monk}}. In one episode, a rock is thrown through his psychiatrist's window. He recognizes the rock. You really can't get much more hyper aware than that. This is implied to be partly a result of his SuperOCD. In one episode, his psychiatrist prescribes him pills that allow him to relax and reduce his OCD. As a result, his detective skills also suffer.
* Malcolm of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' is shown to have this in the first episode, part of how they deduce he's a child prodigy.
* Shawn Spencer from ''Series/{{Psych}}'' was trained by his police father to pick up on small and unimportant details. He even has special effects showing the audience how he notices things. And turns his head sideways and left with a silly expression that Gus now mocks. Even people who've only just met him figure out when he gets a clue.
* ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}''
** Doctor William Zimmerman of the Sanctuary can join these ranks.
** [[spoiler:[[Literature/SherlockHolmes James Watson]]]] has all the analytical abilities that Zimmerman has but turned up to eleven.
* Jim Ellison in ''Series/TheSentinel'' has this as his [[SuperHero super-power]].

* In the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "Supersymmetry", Angel was able to use his PhotographicMemory to exactly reconstruct a crime scene and identify a suspect. While in earlier episodes he had demonstrated an impressive memory and other exceptional mental talents (he speaks several languages and can recreate faces almost perfectly), that particular ability had not been shown before.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': When [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute Jonas Quinn]] is placed on the SG-1 team, he shows to have skills at recall and noticing tiny details that other characters found spooky. Though it serves the story for him to quickly be able to replace Daniel Jackson on SG-1, it is indicated to be because he (or possibly his species) is slightly [[HollywoodEvolution more evolved]] than Earth-based humans in one episode of the series.
** This is clearly demonstrated in an episode where they are investigating a small town after a strange call. Teal'c and Jonas are sitting in a diner, and Jonas easily points out the strange things people are doing, such as a guy who is reading the same page of a newspaper three times, or another who has put a dozen teaspoons of sugar in his coffee. He's never showing actively looking around him and seemingly notes things at a glance.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Do you think you would be able to notice a single fingernail embedded in a chalklike wall in a dimly-lit cellar? Or a small symbol carved on the ''inside'' of a vase you happen to be walking past? Sam Winchester can.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s Data, being an android with perfect recall, has this and exasperating his crew mates by picking up on tiny details that are not at all relevant.
* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Giles tried to teach Buffy that the Slayer should have a sixth sense about vampires and be capable of identifying one without seeing fangs. Buffy deduced one individual being a vampire because their fashion choice was "20 years out of date."
** The original movie said that the Slayer actually had a built-in vampire detector because they will feel muscle cramps when one is nearby. As Buffy said, "Great... PMS is my secret weapon."
* Used and subverted in ''Series/BurnNotice''. Michael explained that especially when your adrenaline is high and with the training a spy would have, your mind can play tricks on you and you start seeing things that really aren't there. But there are multiple times in the series where Michael does demonstrate a keen sense of observation, considering he is a former spy.
* In ''Series/LieToMe'', the leads have this. However, this can also engender Hyper Awareness in the ''viewer'', as you try to catch the little tics the characters notice before they're pointed out.
%%* ''Series/TheMentalist''
* River in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' fits this well, though perhaps more in ''Film/{{Serenity}}''. Taking one quick look at three gunmen behind cover, then ducking back and shooting them all dead without aiming, is for example rather impressive. However, it's difficult to tell when she's using HyperAwareness and when it's her PsychicPowers coming into play.
* Parodied with Father Jack from ''Series/FatherTed'', who fits this trope when it comes to alcohol. He can not only tell that a bottle contains alcohol, but the actual vintage of the wine just from the clinking sound. He is considerably less aware when, for example, being asked if someone should stop pouring him alcohol.
* Pretty much how crimes are solved in the Japanese drama ''Kimi Hannin Janai Yo Ne?'', combined with extraordinary amounts of deductive reasoning and the main character's powerful PhotographicMemory. Sakura can deduce actions and entire methods of murder just by piecing together scraps of evidence.

* Michael Scofield from the TV series ''Series/PrisonBreak''. It is established that he has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_inhibition low latent inhibition]] combined with high intelligence, which gives him HyperAwareness. See Real Life, below.

%%* Series/{{Sherlock}}.

* The BastardOperatorFromHell uses his HyperAwareness to set up his {{plan}}s.