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Being Watched (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:CatchingANinja_1759.jpg|link=The Venture Brothers (Animation)|frame|Well, ''someone'' flunked out of "Hidden [[Ceiling Cling]] [[Subject 101|101]]" in [[Ninja School]].]]
 
{{quote|''"Hey... did ya ever get da feelin' you was [[Trope Codifier|bein' watched]]?"''|'''[[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]]''', '''''Hair-Raising Hare'''''}}
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[Monster (Animemanga)|Monster]]'', Johann Liebert himself is very good at knowing when he's being watched. Case in point is when he made it clear to Tenma that he knew he was sniping him by making eye contact -- from hundreds of yards away, mind you -- and giving one of his trademark [[Dissonant Serenity|panic-inducing smiles]].
* A vengeful doll spirit [[Showing Off the New Body]] in ''[[Ranma One Half]]'' picks up a stick to bash Ranma with. He grabs the stick, but not because he's on to her intentions: he thinks she's giving him a stick to hit his dad who's hiding in the bushes watching.
* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'', the first warning that you're about to fall victim to the Curse of Oyashiro-sama is the sensation of being watched.
{{quote| '''Rena:''' Someone is quietly spying on you from afar. Someone is constantly shadowing you. Someone is always right behind you, looking at you. Eventually the footsteps will be a little offbeat from yours, and you'll hear one extra. And then, when you turn off the light and climb into your futon, it will stare down at you from the base of your pillow. Silently, patiently, waiting until you've accepted your sins.}}
* In the OVA of ''[[To Aru Kagaku no Railgun (Manga)|To Aru Kagaku no Railgun]]'', Misaka experiences the phenomenon known as "Someone's watching." At random points throughout the episode she get's the feeling that someone is indeed watching her and this understandably leads to [[Paranoia Fuel|paranoia]].
* Pretty much the main plot point of ''[[Chaos Head|Chaos;Head]]''. Almost every time something weird happens, someone or something will say or read "Sono me dare no me?", which roughly translates to "Whose eyes are those eyes?"
* It's revealed in ''[[Full Metal Panic]] TSR'' that this was actually a reason for a good number of Sōsuke's more paranoid moments while undercover at school. Apparently his "backup" from the Intelligence Division would aim at him with a sniper rifle's laser pointer for kicks, setting off his battlefield-honed instincts.
* In the director's cut of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', Misato is spying on Kaworu from several miles away with binoculars... then Kaworu turns and looks her directly in the eye. Cue Misato going [[You Can See Me?]]
* [[Detective Conan|Conan]] ''always'' knows when [[Kaitou|Kaitou KID]] is watching him. ''Always''. Haibara always knows when she is being watched by a member of the Black Organization.
* This is {{spoiler|Pride}}'s specialty in the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' manga, {{spoiler|being an omnipresent [[Eldritch Abomination]] and all.}}
* ''[[The Idolmaster (Animeanime)|THE iDOLM@STER]]'' - Takane feels the presence of the [[Paparazzi]] following her.
* In ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia (Manga)|Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', during one of the Allies' meetings, six of the seven members of the group get the unnerving sense that an unseen presence is watching them. Theories as to what it is ranges from it being the ghosts of one of Russia's czars to [[The Ring|a video tape that has a lot of static]]. {{spoiler|It's actually the seventh member, Canada, who of course [[Who Is This Guy Again?|they failed to notice entirely]].}}
 
 
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{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Muldoon:''' Clever girl....}}}}
* ''[[The Bourne Series|The Bourne Ultimatum]]'': Impressive for making an entire sequence based around this, with Jason Bourne able to see the line of sight for at least a dozen cameras and avoid them all himself while instructing a journalist on how to avoid them.
* An inversion of sorts takes place in ''[[The Warriors (Filmfilm)|The Warriors]]'' when Mercy tells the gang that she's noticed being watched. She's then informed that the gang knew all along and thanks to her, their enemies now know they've been spotted.
 
 
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** In the forth [[Dark Tower]] novel, [[The Dark Tower (Literature)/Wizard and Glass|Wizard and Glass]], Roland's love Susan can sense when the witch Rhea is watching them through the eponymous glass.
* In the YA novel ''The Dancing Meteorite'', misfit Kira tries to tell her less-experienced fellow students that someone is watching them... and they think she's crazy and ignore her. Needless to say, it turns out they should have listened.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40000]]: [[Gaunts Ghosts|Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr'', Baen says this to Varl. {{spoiler|He's right, because Pater Sin and his psyker-[[Creepy Child|Creepy Children]] are walking between them while psyk-cloaked}}. In ''Traitor General'', the scouts on Gereon know they're being tracked just before the Nihtgane show themselves. In ''The Armour of Contempt'' Mkoll and Eszrah recognise that there's someone out there watching them {{spoiler|1=who the latter gets to see and is strongly implied to be MkVenner}}, while Vadim and Caffran have a similar sentiment at their part of Gereon.
* In one of the ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' ''Eisenhorn'' short stories by Dan Abnett, a veteran soldier twice has this feeling, which is good enough to make the titular Inquisitor ready weapons and get into cover. Good job really, as they get fired on almost immediately.
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', characters in the World of Dreams have a constant feeling of being watched. Often, possibly always, they're right.
** They get similar feelings in the city of Shadar Logoth, because [[Genius Loci|the city itself is aware]].
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Chronicles of Chaos (Literature)|Chronicles of Chaos]]'', this is a magic ability. Unless magically blocked, absolutely reliable, and capable of detecting even magical viewing, from a distance, and often capable of figuring out the intent of those watching.
** This ability can also detect electronic surveillance devices, but only if there is someone monitoring them and consciously watching/listening. If no one on the other end is paying attention to the data being transmitted, then this ability will not pick up on the devices.
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'', it is mentioned that vampires have a highly developed sense of this. As [[The Igor]] says, "In timeth of thtrethth a vampireth perthonal thpace can extend theveral mileth". "Threth-th?"
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Gandalf calls Sam out for eavesdropping on him when he is explaining the properties of the [[Artifact of Doom|One Ring]] to Frodo.
* In ''[[Warbreaker]]'', Breath gives you this ability, called "lifesense". With only one Breath (which everyone is born with), it manifests as this trope.
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{{quote| '''Karen Hall:''' That's why I had that horrible feeling I was being watched.}}
* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'': Xena always knows when a god is watching her. Usually Ares.
* In the ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' series, Immortals always know when another Immortal is nearby. They can sense each other's Quickening.
* Ziva David of ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'' can always tell when someone is watching her. Tony lampshades this in most instances, calling her on her "spidey-sense".
** [[Wild Mass Guessing|And the first time she doesn't notice, it will be the end of her.]]
* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Lyta Alexander can tell if someone is watching her through a security camera after her [[Touched Byby Vorlons|psychic upgrade]].
* Rule number one of ''[[The X-Files (TV)|The X-Files]]'': Someone is ''always'' watching.
* At one point in the original-series ''[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode "Devil In The Dark", Spock is able to tell when the Horta is watching him and Kirk.
 
 
== Music ==
* "Returning Empty Handed" by [[Underoath (Music)|Underoath]].
* "Somebody's Watching Me" by [[One-Hit Wonder|Rockwell]].
 
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* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls|The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]'', one of the standard voice files for the Dark Elves, if they nearly detected the player, was: "Someone's watching me. I can tell."
* [[First Encounter Assault Recon|Alma]] is fucking '''made''' of this trope.
* When you read people's minds in ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'', you might come across that one person who thinks,
{{quote| "Hey! You there! Peeping at my thoughts, huh? I know you are! Well, if you think you can mind-control me or something, you're sorely mistaken!"}}
* Since you're being [[Stern Chase|chased by ninja]], everybody in ''[[Yo-Jin-Bo]]'' gets this feeling all the time. And if you [[Outdoor Bath Peeping|spy on Muneshige and Mon-Mon in the hot spring]], they'll say this about you.
* GLaDOS's cameras are everywhere in ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'', and the walls in the some of the [[Room Full of Crazy|hidden rooms]] have crude drawings of said cameras with "SHE'S WATCHING YOU" scribbled on the wall.
* The surveillance in ''[[MirrorsMirror's Edge (Video Game)|Mirrors Edge]]'' is extensive, however, the protagonist specializes in escaping the authorities ''despite'' them knowing exactly where she is.
* In web-game Dragonstone, the genre-savvy innkeeper uses this phrase to warn you about the upcoming new enemy type.
* Two words: [[Paranoia Fuel|Ceiling]] [[Pokémon Colosseum|Peon]].
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== Visual Novels ==
* Subverted in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]''. Characters who have come under "Oyashiro-sama's curse" tend to say that it's like a shadow constantly on their backs, like they're always being watched. {{spoiler|Too bad it's just paranoia from brain dysfunction}}.
** In a Double Subversion, it turns out that {{spoiler|the footsteps they hear are in fact real. The problem is that they ''hear'' someone following them, but can't ''see'' them. The paranoia from the brain dysfunction (which was caused by parasites) that allows them to hear it is, in fact, caused by extreme stress. The "shadow" in question? Never intended any harm.}}
* The group suspects they are being watched by "Zero" in ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Visual Novel)|Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors]]'' and thus decide to give themselves aliases, lest he/she find out and come after their families.. {{spoiler|Zero is one of the group, and knows their names..}}
 
 
== Web Comics ==
* One of [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-01-31 Nanase's spells] in ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'' has [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-08-07 more or less this effect].
* At one point in ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'', Quilt attempts to scry for Stunt. He screws it up and ends up looking straight up someone's skirt... Cue Pamela asking, "Does anyone else feel like they're being watched?"
* ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' does not [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=726 track] Zimmy even though she's a bit unsafe to be around. Because she feels even the staring of a robot's camera and it ''[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=196 annoys the hell out of her]''.
* Based on [[Real Life]] events, [http://humoncomics.com/i-spy-with-my-little-eye This] ''[[Scandinavia and The World]]'' comic.
 
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Looney Tunes|Hair-Raising Hare]]''
{{quote| '''Bugs Bunny:''' Listen, Dracula... Have you ever had the feeling you were being watched? Like the eyes of strange things are upon you? Look, [[Born in Thethe Theatre|out there in the audience]]...}}
* ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'': Patchy the pirate and Polly the parrot are arguing about SpongeBob. Cut to SpongeBob in the Krusty Krab, saying, "I just have this strange feeling that a pirate and a parrot are arguing about me... ''and the parrot is winning''!"
** Also parodied and subverted with:
{{quote| '''SpongeBob:''' ''(while being followed)'' It feels like... someone... ''wants to sell me something!''}}
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* In ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' the entire episode "Tangled in the Web" is a "being watched" moment. (There are webcams everywhere.)
** The same episode starts with a close up of Skipper (the leader penguin) saying something to the effect of "Ever get the feelings someone is watching your every move?" The camera zooms out to show the other three penguins standing very close to him in circle, all staring at him.
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'' episode "In Marge We Trust", Bart, having discovered a Japanese advertising mascot in Homer's likeness, suggests that the family is being spied on. Marge insists that [[Leaning Onon the Fourth Wall|"no one is watching us"]], and the family resume eating dinner, glancing around uneasily as they do.
* ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' TOS episode "The Fraudulent Volcano". While taking Jonny and Hadji to rescue Dr. Quest and Race Bannon, the sergeant says that he has a feeling they're being watched.
* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'', episode "Fa, La, La, La, Ed":
{{quote| '''Edd''': Ed, please! [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Someone may be watching...]]}}
* ''[[The Venture Brothers (Animation)|The Venture Brothers]]'' pilot in the image above, played for laughs of course.
 
 
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----
Now, time to [[Poke in Thethe Third Eye|give them a good poke in the eye]].
 
{{reflist}}
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