Brainwash Residue/Playing With
Basic Trope: A character still shows aftereffects of brainwashing after being cured.
- Straight: Dark Magical Girl Alice casts a spell on Bob to make him fall in love with her. In the episodes after that, even after the spell is lifted, Bob still finds himself blushing whenever Alice shows up, not really sure why.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob ends up accumuilating many such effects. He crushes on Alice, is irritable with Dave from a hate spell that turned him against him, and loves eating fish despite hating it before after being turned into a sea-lion by Edward.
- All brainwashing is effectively permanent; any attempted cures are reversed completely after a few seconds.
- Justified: The time spent under the influenced formed habits in Bob's mind outside those parts affected by the spell.
- Inverted: Bob has the opposite reaction as a result, he hates Alice and considers her ugly.
- Subverted: It turns out that Bob had mild feelings for Alice before the incident. She didn't need the mind control spell.
- Double Subverted: It turns out that Bob had mild feelings for Alice before the incident. However,those feelings were due to a previous failed attempt by Alice.
- Parodied: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Bob accepted having the residue because the alternative was literally severe brain damage.
- Bob is constantly conflicted by these feelings, which drive him over the Despair Event Horizon.
- Reconstructed: ???
- Zig Zagged: Bob show signs of loving Alice after being cured. No he doesn't. Yes he does. No he doesn't. Yes he does. Make up your mind, Bob!
- Averted: Bob shows no signs of any changes after he is cured.
- Enforced: The producers wanted an excuse to add some more Foe Yay moments between Bob and Alice.
- Lampshaded: "You're not brainwashed anymore, Bob, stop it!"
- Invoked: Bob points out that some of the changes caused by the brainwashing are things Bob wanted before he was brainwashed.
- Defied: Bob has his mind deliberately altered in the opposite direction to counter any possible lingering effects.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played For Laughs: Bob was forced into being a member of Hitler Youth. Despite despising everything they stood for and smuggling victims out of the country he compulsively does Nazi gestures at inopportune times like Bar Mitsvahs.
- Played For Drama: Bob can never be quite sure if any of what he feels is real, rather than just repressed conditioning starting to resurface.
Back to Brainwash Residue.