Squid Ops is a hypnosis and Mind Control-themed webcomic, drawn by famed hypnofetish artist Aoi, a.k.a. sleepymaid. The comic can be found at Sleepymaid's website, which will not be linked here because it is very NSFW.
Currently in its fourth incarnation (after three consecutive attempts at rebooting the series), Squid-Ops so far follows two as-yet-unrelated (apart from a rather loose connection in the beginning of the story) storylines. The first concerns Sela, a secret agent who is captured while infiltrating a location. Her sidekick, a squid that flies through the air instead of swimming through water, escapes, but on the way to find help is blindsided by a stray ball. Apparently the blow to the head causes it to lose its memory, and when it wakes up, it latches onto the first person it sees.
Enter Mui, the protagonist of the second storyline, a perverted Genki Girl who takes an instant shine to the little squid, especially after finding out its ink has a strange property - whoever is sprayed with it instantly becomes totally obedient to the squid's owner, as she discovers when Lena, her sister, accidentally gets sprayed with the ink. Naturally, Hilarity Ensues... well, at least for Mui.
Later on in the series, new character Ria, a practising hypnotist (though not a professional one) is introduced, and she and Lena begin to form a friendship.
Note: Unmarked spoilers below. Proceed with caution.
This webcomic provides examples of:
- Author Appeal: Of course, with a hypnofetishist doing a hypnosis-themed webcomic. The pre-reboot chapters also featured futa-girls (i.e. chicks with dicks), which is another of sleepymaid's fetishes.
- Brainwashed: With the exception of Mui, Ria and the character known only as "Mistress", everyone in this comic has been subjected to some form of mind control or hypnosis. Poor Lena has been subjected to multiple forms, though in fairness all except the first one were designed to help her.
- Brainwash Residue: Even after the effects of Banana's ink on Lena wear off, she still reflexively replies "Yes, Mui. I obey." whenever Mui gives her a command.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first three incarnations of the comic were wildly different, and focussed on a group of young girls training to become pilots for a flight academy. Also, Nellyn was Lena's sister (and was named Hena), and Mui was really shy - a far cry from her extravagant(ly perverted) personality nowadays.
- Happiness in Mind Control: Tessu, who is brainwashed to serve Mistress and seems perfectly content about it, not even being worried about not being able to remember her life before the brainwashing. Ms. Leafyshine also has shades of this while in her "maid trance".
- Mass Hypnosis: Mui does a small-scale version of this, using Banana's ink to put her whole class, including her teacher, in a suggestible state all at once.
- Mind-Control Device: The collar that Sela gets "equipped with" in the first chapter. Banana could also be considered a living one, especially as it can attach itself to people to control them.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Given the mangaesque art style, these are to be expected. Pretty much anyone who's mind-controlled in any way has them.
- Naked People Are Funny: In the first incarnation of the story, the instructors at the Academy make the students walk around in their underwear (and main character Mui completely naked) by using hypnosis to make them believe they're still fully-clothed.
- No Name Given: The black-haired woman who collars Sela. She never had a name even in the pre-reboot chapters. Banana's real name is as yet unknown as well.
- Nosebleed: Mui gets one after seeing Lena and Ria getting friendly with each other and assuming they're in a relationship.
- One-Gender Race: According to the author, the elves (i.e. the main race of the story) are all female. Apparently their language doesn't even include male pronouns. The pre-reboot chapters (which contain explicit sex, unlike the current incarnation of the story) reveals that some of them do have male genitalia, however.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The author admitted that this was one of the reasons why the first incarnation of the story failed; according to her, main character Mui was "a passive, emotionless doll" whom the secondary characters frequently overshadowed.
- Trigger Phrase: Obviously, being hypnosis-themed, though they only seem to show up in the pre-reboot chapters. Students at the Academy had two established phrases; "Is this upside down?" (or a variation on the question) when being shown a symbol, which would put them in a suggestible trance state, and "Good night", which would make them fall asleep. They were also programmed to answer honestly to any question that was accompanied by a diamond symbol. In the second incarnation, Tessu had "Remember." as an apparent one of these, which would put her in a mindless, obedient state. No explicit triggers have shown up in the current incarnation, but Ria's "Focus on the glassy waves" (which gets Lena to relax and fall into trance even while she's pissed off at Mui and yelling at her) may well be one too.
- Weak-Willed: Pretty much everyone in this comic whose name isn't "Ria" or "Mistress" seems to get mind-controlled really easily. Sela, to her credit, does fight it for a bit, but eventually she goes down just like all the others.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Mui certainly seems to be... losing her grip on morality once she starts using Banana to mind-control random people. Recent events have hinted she may soon get her comeuppance, however.
