Esper

An esper refers to an individual capable of telepathy and other similar paranormal abilities. Espers are also known to understand the Laws of Physics, according to some science fictional theories.

The term was apparently coined by Alfred Bester in his 1950 short story "Oddy and Id". [cite web
url=http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/48
title=SF Citations for OED
accessdate=2007-12-18
publisher=OED]

Science fiction and espers

The concept of the esper appears often in science fiction, much less often in fantasy, and is used by name much less frequently than it is referred toFact|date=September 2008. Especially salient appearances of psychic abilities are in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, especially "Second Foundation", where psychological research turns up a means of direct mental contact between humans which was lost with the development of language; in George Lucas' "Star Wars" films, where The Force, from a practical standpoint, essentially equates esperism plus telekinesis; and in Jean Auel's "The Clan of the Cave Bear", which although not science fiction in a strict sense does contain the same view of the mental processes as Asimov described in the Foundation novels.

In Alfred Bester's novel "The Demolished Man", many of the main characters are espers. [cite book
last = Bester
first = Alfred
authorlink = Alfred Bester
title = The Demolished Man
publisher = Random House
date = 1996
origdate = 1951
pages = pp. 8
quote = "E for Esper," he muttered. "Esper for Extra Sensory Perception ..."
isbn = 0-679-76781-9]

In Andre Norton's "Moonsinger" novels, the main characters are all espers.

In Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner", there is scene featuring a device called an "ESPER" which is used to manipulate photographs. The scene and features of the "ESPER" have influenced many filmsFact|date=September 2008.

In the third episode of "", "Where No Man Has Gone Before", Gary Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner become ESPers when the Enterprise crosses the great barrier.

In the comic book series Espers by writer James D. Hudnall and various artists. It debuted in 1986 and has been since published by Eclipse Comics, Marvel/Epic and Image Comics. The Espers are a team of people with various psychic powers who fight a global conspiracy. The comic is similar to the TV show HeroesFact|date=September 2008, but precedes it by two decades.

Pow!, a British comic magazine featured the Esper Commandos, a group of powerful psychics secretly working for the British government, in their 1971 annual. [http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/e/espercom.htm]

In Simon Green's Deathstalker series, espers are a strain of humans with psychic powers used as slaves to keep the Empire running.

Esper in games

Esperism has appeared sporadically in science-fiction games from fairly early on, more often given its actual name in these than in most other sci-fi sources. One especially remarkable case is the Avalon Hill board game (later adapted to computer systems) "Star Command", in which characters formally called Espers are available as support troops in infantry squads, and have abilities more or less matching the parapsychological theories of what an esper would be capable of.

The term is used differently in the English release of Square Co., Ltd. Super Nintendo RPG "Final Fantasy VI" (released as "Final Fantasy III" in North America), in which beings called "Espers" are essentially demigods who wield magical abilities, and can be killed to allow these abilities to be transferred to humans. In the original Japanese version of the game, these creatures were known as 幻獣, (げんじゅう, "genjū") which translates roughly into English as "phantom beast." The English translator of the game, Ted Woolsey, sought to find a word which he felt conveyed the same meaning with as few letters as possible; the English text files for the game were essentially expanded versions of the Japanese text files, taking up far more memory space than was available. In the end, he chose the word Esper. For more information regarding Espers in "Final Fantasy VI", see Summon Magic. Espers also appear in "Final Fantasy XII" as disgraced deities and seraphs, banished from the heavens due to acts of rebellion, corruption and the desire to destroy life. There are a total of thirteen Espers appearing in the game: one for each sign of the astrological zodiac, and the thirteenth; Serpentarius.

Espers have also been a recurring race in Sega's "Phantasy Star" series; Part 1, 2 and all featured important, sometimes playable Esper characters; the most notable being the character Lutz.

The Psychic type of the "Pokémon" franchise is referred to as the "Esper type" in Japanese versions. The psychic form of Eevee is called Espeon; this is also a reference to ESP (Eon is the suffix for all of Eevee's evolutions).

Espers are also present in "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Following in the line of Cybers (Cyber Dragon representing the Chinese dragon, Cyber Phoenix representing the Fenghuang, and Cyber Kirin representing the Qilin), a monster named Cyber Esper exists that has a telepathic ability to see the opponent's cards whenever they're drawn.

In the Accolade game "Star Control 2", there are events where crewmen with high esper ratings react in interesting ways.

The Xbox game "Phantom Dust" has a group of individuals that include the main protagonist called Espers, individuals that have lost their memories but in return gain control over psychic powers (which include moving objects at will and manipulating/producing fire, ice, telekinetic blades, wind, etc.)

Other Espers may be seen in the super nintendo game, EarthBound and its prequel and sequel, EarthBound 0 and Mother 3. Three out of the four main characters are espers in earthbound (two in the others)- even though their powers are not exactly psychic, they are sometimes referred to as "Psychic abilities/powers".

Esper is the name of a , one of the Shards of Alara, in .

There is eSper in the new game S4 League, From Alaplaya too

Esper in Anime and Tokusatsu

* Chaozu from "Dragon Ball".
* Tsukamoto Yakumo from "School Rumble".
* Itsuki Koizumi from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". (His abilities are only manifested in distorted areas named "closed spaces", where the common laws of physics do not apply).
* In "Witch Hunter Robin", espers are labeled as witches and hunted down by a secret organization.
* Asuna Kagurazaka accuses Negi Springfield of being an esper in "Negima", episode 2, when he is, in fact, a mage.
* The Kasuga family in 'Kimagure Orange Road' is a family of secret espers who must keep others from learning of their powers".
* Tetsuo and the children from "Akira".
* Reincarnation PSME(please save my earth)6 reincarnated persons have to face their new memory from the past and slowly discovers their own ESP abilities.
* Popi-kun in the "Akazukin Chacha" OVA.
* Almost all the characters of Ghost Hunt like Taniyama Mai,Kazuya Shibuya and all the members of the SPR.
* The race of evolved human called "The Mu" in "Toward the Terra".
* Kamui Shirō of the popular manga and TV anime and OAV"X/1999".
* Chojin (Choujin) Locke from "Locke the Superman" is an immortal esper; there are also soldier espers raised at a school lead by Lady Kahn.
* Lilica Evett, third member of Warriors in anime "Burn Up Scramble".
* Main characters from the anime/manga Zettai Karen Children and most of the characters are in fact, Espers.
* In Miracle Girls the main characters, Toni and Mika are Espers
* Naoto and Naoya from Night Head Genesis.
* Psychics in E's Otherwise are also called Espers.
* Esper Mami in Esper Mami
* Jasmine in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger.

References