Spoiler — from the ending. Tap to reveal.
“You don't get it, mate. No one was brainwashed!”
Valon Quotes
1 quote from Yu-Gi-Oh!, each with commentary on what it means and why it stuck.
1 quote from Yu-Gi-Oh!, each with commentary on what it means and why it stuck.
“You don't get it, mate. No one was brainwashed!”
Joey describes Mai as brainwashed; Valon insists that she chose his side and wanted recognition. The disagreement concerns her agency, but it also allows each man to protect his own account of her. Joey can preserve the friend he knew by assigning the change to an outside force. Valon can present himself as the person who understood what she needed. Neither explanation is disinterested. That does not make them equally accurate, and the scene alone does not settle the magical question. It makes Valon's blunt denial inadequate as a defense of her freedom. Speaking confidently about another person's wishes can reproduce the possessiveness it condemns. His claim needs to be tested against Mai's own words and circumstances, not accepted merely because it uses the language of choice.