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** [[spoiler: Karen is a doting, albeit overprotective, mother who cares for her child alongside her mate. She’s also pregnant with at least two more pups. Surely nothing terrible will happen to her, right? WRONG!]]
to:
** [[spoiler: Karen is a doting, albeit overprotective, mother who cares for her child alongside her mate. She’s also pregnant with at least two more pups. Surely nothing terrible will happen to her, right? WRONG!]]WRONG! Karen becomes one of the many victims of shark finning.]]
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** Ironically [[spoiler:Ben]]'s death is probably the least bad, and it was a total accident no less. [[spoiler: While Jack is trying to reason with Ben and explain that the humans are responsible for the food crisis, the cargo freighter that they're under has a fire that causes the anchor to come loose... right on Ben's head! Whether he was crushed by the anchor itself or the immense pressure of the deep ocean, his odds of having survived are slim to none.]]
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* TheHerosJourney: The story follows this format quite faithfully, though not in the fantastical, mythical way.
** Jack’s CallToAdventure is when Mo is hooked by a fisherman, thus confirming that humans are becoming a huge threat in their habitat.
** Crossing the first threshold: After being banished from the school by Ben, Jack realizes that now he has no choice but to find a new home for his school
** Road of Trials: Jack encounters fisherman, dolphins, and larger sharks who all have it out for him
** LeaveYourQuestTest: When Jack arrives in [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]], he realizes that it is the perfect place for him and his school to survive. The only problem is that it, like every other potential candidate for a new home, has humans present. [[DespairEventHorizon He seems like he’s on the verge of giving up and is convinced that he will never find the perfect home]].
** The Ultimate Boon: After Susan’s RousingSpeech, Jack finally settles on calling [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]] his new home
** The Return: Jack has found what he’s been looking for, and now all he needs is to return to the school so they can live there too. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the problem that is Ben.
** Crossing the Return Threshold: Ben refuses to let the reef sharks follow Jack and attempts to kill him to ensure that. Jack and Ben have their climactic final battle.
** Freedom to Live: [[spoiler: After Ben is dealt with, Jack and his school finally head to [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef, their new home.]]
** Celebration: We get to see the school lavish in the fruits of Jack’s labor
** Jack’s CallToAdventure is when Mo is hooked by a fisherman, thus confirming that humans are becoming a huge threat in their habitat.
** Crossing the first threshold: After being banished from the school by Ben, Jack realizes that now he has no choice but to find a new home for his school
** Road of Trials: Jack encounters fisherman, dolphins, and larger sharks who all have it out for him
** LeaveYourQuestTest: When Jack arrives in [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]], he realizes that it is the perfect place for him and his school to survive. The only problem is that it, like every other potential candidate for a new home, has humans present. [[DespairEventHorizon He seems like he’s on the verge of giving up and is convinced that he will never find the perfect home]].
** The Ultimate Boon: After Susan’s RousingSpeech, Jack finally settles on calling [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]] his new home
** The Return: Jack has found what he’s been looking for, and now all he needs is to return to the school so they can live there too. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the problem that is Ben.
** Crossing the Return Threshold: Ben refuses to let the reef sharks follow Jack and attempts to kill him to ensure that. Jack and Ben have their climactic final battle.
** Freedom to Live: [[spoiler: After Ben is dealt with, Jack and his school finally head to [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef, their new home.]]
** Celebration: We get to see the school lavish in the fruits of Jack’s labor
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** Sharks naturally do not care for their young because they honestly don’t need to. From the moment they’re born, sharks are able to swim and hunt for themselves, which is the whole goal of parenting in the first place. The most the mother ever does is find a safe place for the pups to be born, but after that, they’re on their own. Jack, however, was raised by his parents. But since this isn’t “natural” for sharks, Jack’s parents were accused of breaking tradition and kicked out of their school after it resulted in a hammerhead attack.
to:
** Sharks naturally do not care for their young because they honestly don’t need to. From the moment they’re born, sharks are able to swim and hunt for themselves, which is the whole goal of parenting in the first place. The most the mother ever does is find a safe place for the pups to be born, but after that, they’re on their own. Jack, however, was raised by his parents. [[NoBloodTies But since this isn’t “natural” for sharks, sharks]], Jack’s parents were accused of breaking tradition and kicked out of their school after it resulted in a hammerhead attack.
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Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler: Jack meets Jay and Ken along his journey and develops such a bond with them that they end up becoming a PowerTrio. The three of them stick together through thick and thin for quite a while. Surely we’ve established that these are the three amigos that’ll be together until the end, right? WRONG AGAIN!]]
to:
** [[spoiler: Jack meets Jay and Ken along his journey and develops such a bond with them that they end up becoming a PowerTrio. The three of them stick together through thick and thin for quite a while. Surely we’ve established that these are the three amigos that’ll be together until the end, right? WRONG AGAIN!]]AGAIN! The trio falls to two with Ken's death.]]
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* AlternateAnimalAffection: In the absence of kissing, sharks have three ways to show affection: neck-crossing, nuzzling, and of course, a BiteOfAffection.
to:
* AlternateAnimalAffection: In the absence of kissing, sharks have three ways to show affection: neck-crossing, nuzzling, and of course, a BiteOfAffection.[[BiteOfAffection love bites]]. With the latter being something that sharks actually do.
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Added DiffLines:
* AlternateAnimalAffection: In the absence of kissing, sharks have three ways to show affection: neck-crossing, nuzzling, and of course, a BiteOfAffection.
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Deleted line(s) 53 (click to see context) :
* PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Jack and Karen save a shark that’s been caught on a fishing line. [[spoiler: Jack nearly gets his dorsal fin cut off, which is more than we can say for Karen. And Jack experiences a HeroicBSoD and blames himself for it.]]
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Changed line(s) 56 (click to see context) from:
* RedShirts: Jack comes across a string of dead sharks who have all had their fins cut off, showing from the sharks’ point of view how brutal and horrifying shark-finning is.
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* RedShirts: RedShirts:
** Jack comes across a string of dead sharks who have all had their fins cut off, showing from the sharks’ point of view how brutal and horrifying shark-finningis.is.
** ''A Legend from the Start'' has four members of Jack's school that weren't present in the main story: Austin, Blake, Jody, and Sage. You know why? [[spoiler: Ben killed them to show Jack what happens to those who go against his rules.]]
** Jack comes across a string of dead sharks who have all had their fins cut off, showing from the sharks’ point of view how brutal and horrifying shark-finning
** ''A Legend from the Start'' has four members of Jack's school that weren't present in the main story: Austin, Blake, Jody, and Sage. You know why? [[spoiler: Ben killed them to show Jack what happens to those who go against his rules.]]
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Changed line(s) 15,16 (click to see context) from:
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Karen]] becomes a victim of shark-finning, which is basically the equivalent of cutting off a human’s arms and legs and then leaving them to die in the forest. And if that wasn’t bad enough,[[spoiler: the pups she bears die with her all while her husband and son watch her body sink to the seafloor!]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]][[spoiler: This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]][[spoiler: This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
to:
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: CruelAndUnusualDeath:
** [[spoiler: Karen]] becomes a victim of shark-finning, which is basically the equivalent of cutting off a human’s arms and legs and then leaving them to die in the forest. And if that wasn’t bad enough,[[spoiler: the pups she bears die with her all while her husband and son watch her body sink to the seafloor!]]
* ** [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]][[spoiler: This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
** [[spoiler: Karen]] becomes a victim of shark-finning, which is basically the equivalent of cutting off a human’s arms and legs and then leaving them to die in the forest. And if that wasn’t bad enough,[[spoiler: the pups she bears die with her all while her husband and son watch her body sink to the seafloor!]]
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Changed line(s) 66,67 (click to see context) from:
* UnseenEvil: Up until the moment [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings are killed]] in A Legend from the Start, humans are portrayed in this way: an unknown creature that the sharks don’t know how to deal with.
Downplayed in the main story, where we never see any human faces. And any we do see are concealed by scuba gear.
Downplayed in the main story, where we never see any human faces. And any we do see are concealed by scuba gear.
to:
* UnseenEvil: Up until the moment [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings are killed]] in A ''A Legend from the Start, Start'', humans are portrayed in this way: an unknown creature that the sharks don’t know how to deal with.
Downplayed **Downplayed in the main story, where we never see any human faces. And any we do see are concealed by scuba gear.
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Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
* TruthinTelevision: All the threats Jack faces throughout the story are threats that sharks face in real life
to:
* TruthinTelevision: TruthInTelevision: All the threats Jack faces throughout the story are threats that sharks face in real life
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Changed line(s) 54 (click to see context) from:
* PredationIsNatural: Larger shark species naturally hunt smaller species for food. And the sharks in ''Jack the Gray Reef Shark'' are hardly an exception. Aidan and his school hunt Jack with the intent to eat him, but after Carl appears, thus vanquishing Aidan’s desire for shark meat, Jack acts as though it never happened and even becomes friends with Aidan. So the sharks in the story clearly acknowledge predation as being a vital part of nature. Though Jack is trying to steer everyone away from this so that less sharks die.
to:
* PredationIsNatural: Larger shark species naturally hunt smaller species for food. And the sharks in ''Jack the Gray Reef Shark'' are hardly an exception. Aidan and his school hunt Jack with the intent to eat him, but after Carl appears, thus vanquishing Aidan’s desire for shark meat, Jack acts as though it never happened and even becomes friends with Aidan. So the sharks in the story clearly acknowledge predation as being a vital part of nature. Though Jack is trying to steer everyone away from this so that less sharks die.preserve shark populations.
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
[[italics: Jack the Grey Reef Shark]] is a web comic created in 2018 by [[https://www.deviantart.com/zavraan Zavraan]]. The story follows the titular character, Jack, who travels across the ocean to find a suitable habitat for his school. Due to a food shortage and the threat of being hunted by humans, his current habitat is becoming unfavorable. He will face many perils, many adventures, and many tragedies. But knowing that his lover, Mainda, is waiting for him to return, Jack refuses to give up.
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Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
** In the very first chapter, Ben tells everyone that [[spoiler: Mo was [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice skewered]] by the sailfish that he caught.]] [[spoiler: Even though Mo is later revealed to be alive and that Ben simply scared him away, the readers won’t know this until the very last chapter, and so he becomes the SacrificialLamb that tells readers that anyone is fair game to meet a terrible end.]]
to:
** In the very ''very first chapter, chapter'', Ben tells everyone that [[spoiler: Mo was [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice skewered]] by the sailfish that he caught.]] [[spoiler: Even though Mo is later revealed to be alive and that Ben simply scared him away, the readers won’t know this until the very last chapter, and so he becomes the SacrificialLamb that tells readers that anyone is fair game to meet a terrible end.]]
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** While Jack and Greg are attempting to hunt a pod of common dolphins, an orca interrupts the hunt and prompts an immediate retreat by the duo.
** When Jack attempts to help Kathlin cut a rope that’s stuck around her neck, he comes up with an idea that gets them chased by rough-toothed dolphins
** When Jack attempts to help Kathlin cut a rope that’s stuck around her neck, he comes up with an idea that gets them chased by rough-toothed dolphins
to:
** While Jack and Greg are attempting to hunt a pod of common dolphins, an orca interrupts the hunt and prompts an immediate retreat by the duo.
** When Jack attempts to help Kathlin cut a rope that’s stuck around her neck, he comes up with an idea that gets them chased by rough-tootheddolphinsdolphins.
** When Jack attempts to help Kathlin cut a rope that’s stuck around her neck, he comes up with an idea that gets them chased by rough-toothed
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** During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006.
to:
** During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006 "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006.use!"]]
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* Foreshadowing:
** When Jack and Hellen are discussing what kind of sharks Jack should talk to, Jack brings up mako sharks. Hellen shoots down this idea because since makos are the fastest sharks in the ocean, Jack would have a hard time interacting with them. We later see that, as mako sharks are fast enough to take down sailfish.
** Reagan tells Jack about saltwater crocodiles, and Jack ends up encountering one in the next chapter
** HarsherInHindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
** When Jack and Hellen are discussing what kind of sharks Jack should talk to, Jack brings up mako sharks. Hellen shoots down this idea because since makos are the fastest sharks in the ocean, Jack would have a hard time interacting with them. We later see that, as mako sharks are fast enough to take down sailfish.
** Reagan tells Jack about saltwater crocodiles, and Jack ends up encountering one in the next chapter
** HarsherInHindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
Changed line(s) 49 (click to see context) from:
** We learn that one of Karen’s pups [[spoiler: was killed by a silvertip shark]]. We later learn that Ken had sisters, and readers will be able to put the pieces together that [[spoiler: Megan is the one who killed Karen’s pup.]]
to:
** We learn that one of Karen’s pups hatred of requiem sharks comes from when [[spoiler: one of her pups was killed by a silvertip shark]]. We later learn that Ken had sisters, and readers will be able to put the pieces together that [[spoiler: Megan is the one who killed Karen’s pup.]]
Changed line(s) 59 (click to see context) from:
* PredationIsNatural: Larger shark species naturally hunt smaller species for food. And the sharks in Jack the Gray Reef Shark are hardly an exception. Aidan and his school hunt Jack with the intent to eat him, but after Carl appears, thus vanquishing Aidan’s desire for shark meat, Jack acts as though it never happened and even becomes friends with Aidan. So the sharks in the story clearly acknowledge predation as being a vital part of nature. Though Jack is trying to steer everyone away from this so that less sharks die.
to:
* PredationIsNatural: Larger shark species naturally hunt smaller species for food. And the sharks in Jack ''Jack the Gray Reef Shark Shark'' are hardly an exception. Aidan and his school hunt Jack with the intent to eat him, but after Carl appears, thus vanquishing Aidan’s desire for shark meat, Jack acts as though it never happened and even becomes friends with Aidan. So the sharks in the story clearly acknowledge predation as being a vital part of nature. Though Jack is trying to steer everyone away from this so that less sharks die.
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
Jack the Grey Reef Shark is a web comic created in 2018 by [[https://www.deviantart.com/zavraan Zavraan]]. The story follows the titular character, Jack, who travels across the ocean to find a suitable habitat for his school. Due to a food shortage and the threat of being hunted by humans, his current habitat is becoming unfavorable. He will face many perils, many adventures, and many tragedies. But knowing that his lover, Mainda, is waiting for him to return, Jack refuses to give up.
to:
[[italics: Jack the Grey Reef Shark Shark]] is a web comic created in 2018 by [[https://www.deviantart.com/zavraan Zavraan]]. The story follows the titular character, Jack, who travels across the ocean to find a suitable habitat for his school. Due to a food shortage and the threat of being hunted by humans, his current habitat is becoming unfavorable. He will face many perils, many adventures, and many tragedies. But knowing that his lover, Mainda, is waiting for him to return, Jack refuses to give up.
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Changed line(s) 47 (click to see context) from:
* KarmaHoudini: The fisherman (Except for the ones in Chapter 5) all get away with their actions, and are never seen again after the scene is over. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge them, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
to:
* KarmaHoudini: The fisherman fishermen (Except for the ones in Chapter 5) all get away with their actions, and are never seen again after the scene is over. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge them, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
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* NotEvilJusMisunderstood:
to:
* NotEvilJusMisunderstood:NotEvilJustMisunderstood:
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Changed line(s) 46,48 (click to see context) from:
* InterspeciesRomance:
Jack is a grey reef shark while Mainda is a spinner shark. Lampshaded by Jack’s siblings, as interspecies mating is another example of “breaking the rules of nature”. Hypothetically, Jack and Mainda could mate and produce offspring, but the question then becomes how viable those offspring would be.
* KarmaHoudini: The hunters that kill [[spoiler: Karen, Ken and Jack’s siblings]] all get away with it, and are never seen again after their respective victims die. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge his friends, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
Jack is a grey reef shark while Mainda is a spinner shark. Lampshaded by Jack’s siblings, as interspecies mating is another example of “breaking the rules of nature”. Hypothetically, Jack and Mainda could mate and produce offspring, but the question then becomes how viable those offspring would be.
* KarmaHoudini: The hunters that kill [[spoiler: Karen, Ken and Jack’s siblings]] all get away with it, and are never seen again after their respective victims die. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge his friends, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
to:
* InterspeciesRomance:
InterspeciesRomance: Jack is a grey reef shark while Mainda is a spinner shark. Lampshaded by Jack’s siblings, as interspecies mating is another example of “breaking the rules of nature”. Hypothetically, Jack and Mainda could mate and produce offspring, but the question then becomes how viable those offspring would be.
shark.
* KarmaHoudini: Thehunters that kill [[spoiler: Karen, Ken and Jack’s siblings]] fisherman (Except for the ones in Chapter 5) all get away with it, their actions, and are never seen again after their respective victims die. the scene is over. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge his friends, them, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
* KarmaHoudini: The
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Changed line(s) 48 (click to see context) from:
* KarmaHoudini: The hunters that kill [[spoiler: Karen][, [[spoiler: Ken]] and [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings]] all get away with it, and are never seen again after their respective victims die. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge his friends, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
to:
* KarmaHoudini: The hunters that kill [[spoiler: Karen][, [[spoiler: Ken]] Karen, Ken and [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings]] all get away with it, and are never seen again after their respective victims die. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge his friends, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
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Changed line(s) 35 (click to see context) from:
* The Hero’s Journey: The story follows this format quite faithfully, though not in the fantastical, mythical way.
to:
* The Hero’s Journey: TheHerosJourney: The story follows this format quite faithfully, though not in the fantastical, mythical way.
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Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
* Gilligan Cut:
to:
* Gilligan Cut:GilliganCut:
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Changed line(s) 29 (click to see context) from:
to:
* Gilligan Cut:
** When Jack is trying to help Kathlin remove a rope wrapped around her neck, he gets an idea, and it results in Jack and Kathlin being chased by rough-toothed dolphins.
** Chapter 4 has another one of these:
--->'''Ken:''' “This is going to be great!”\\
'''Also Ken:''' “This is going to suck…”
* GreaterScopeVillain: The humans responsible for the food crisis and the decline of shark populations. Jack explains his plans for dealing with them and saving as many sharks as he can from their traps. But little does Jack realize just how big the fishing industry is, so he has a lot of work to do to achieve this.
** When Jack is trying to help Kathlin remove a rope wrapped around her neck, he gets an idea, and it results in Jack and Kathlin being chased by rough-toothed dolphins.
** Chapter 4 has another one of these:
--->'''Ken:''' “This is going to be great!”\\
'''Also Ken:''' “This is going to suck…”
* GreaterScopeVillain: The humans responsible for the food crisis and the decline of shark populations. Jack explains his plans for dealing with them and saving as many sharks as he can from their traps. But little does Jack realize just how big the fishing industry is, so he has a lot of work to do to achieve this.
Deleted line(s) 43,48 (click to see context) :
* Gilligan Cut:
** When Jack is trying to help Kathlin remove a rope wrapped around her neck, he gets an idea, and it results in Jack and Kathlin being chased by rough-toothed dolphins.
** Chapter 4 has another one of these:
'''Ken:''' “This is going to be great!”\\
'''Also Ken:''' “This is going to suck…”\\
* GreaterScopeVillain: The humans responsible for the food crisis and the decline of shark populations. Jack explains his plans for dealing with them and saving as many sharks as he can from their traps. But little does Jack realize just how big the fishing industry is, so he has a lot of work to do to achieve this.
** When Jack is trying to help Kathlin remove a rope wrapped around her neck, he gets an idea, and it results in Jack and Kathlin being chased by rough-toothed dolphins.
** Chapter 4 has another one of these:
'''Ken:''' “This is going to be great!”\\
'''Also Ken:''' “This is going to suck…”\\
* GreaterScopeVillain: The humans responsible for the food crisis and the decline of shark populations. Jack explains his plans for dealing with them and saving as many sharks as he can from their traps. But little does Jack realize just how big the fishing industry is, so he has a lot of work to do to achieve this.
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Changed line(s) 10 (click to see context) from:
** In the very first chapter, Ben tells everyone that [[spoiler: Mo]] was skewered by the sailfish that he “caught”. [[spoiler: Even though Mo is later revealed to be alive and that Ben simply scared him away, the readers won’t know this until the very last chapter,]] and so he becomes the SacrificialLamb that tells readers that anyone is fair game to meet a terrible end
to:
** In the very first chapter, Ben tells everyone that [[spoiler: Mo]] Mo was skewered [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice skewered]] by the sailfish that he “caught”. caught.]] [[spoiler: Even though Mo is later revealed to be alive and that Ben simply scared him away, the readers won’t know this until the very last chapter,]] chapter, and so he becomes the SacrificialLamb that tells readers that anyone is fair game to meet a terrible endend.]]
Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
** In the main story, we learn that Jack had three siblings—Connor, Ashly and Zack—who were [[spoiler: killed by fishermen.]] [[spoiler: We get to meet said siblings in the prequel. And even though they’re DoomedByCanon, it doesn’t make their deaths any less heartbreaking. To add salt on the wounds, Jack’s siblings never recognize him as their brother (Though they accept him as one)]]
to:
** In the main story, we learn that [[spoiler: Jack had three siblings—Connor, Ashly and Zack—who were [[spoiler: killed by fishermen.]] [[spoiler: We get to meet said siblings in the prequel. And even though they’re DoomedByCanon, it doesn’t make their deaths any less heartbreaking. To add salt on the wounds, Jack’s siblings never recognize him as their brother (Though they accept him as one)]]
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* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Karen]] becomes a victim of shark-finning, which is basically the equivalent of cutting off a human’s arms and legs and then leaving them to die in the forest. And if that wasn’t bad enough,[[spoiler: the pups she bears die with her all while her husband and son watch her carcass sink to the seafloor!]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]] [[spoiler:This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]] [[spoiler:This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
to:
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Karen]] becomes a victim of shark-finning, which is basically the equivalent of cutting off a human’s arms and legs and then leaving them to die in the forest. And if that wasn’t bad enough,[[spoiler: the pups she bears die with her all while her husband and son watch her carcass body sink to the seafloor!]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]] [[spoiler:This ]][[spoiler: This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.
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Changed line(s) 28,29 (click to see context) from:
** HarsherinHindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
to:
** HarsherinHindsight: HarsherInHindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
Changed line(s) 34 (click to see context) from:
** LeaveYourQuestTest: When Jack arrives in [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]], he realizes that it is the perfect place for him and his school to survive. The only problem is that it, like every other potential candidate for a new home, has humans present. He seems like he’s on the verge of giving up and is convinced that he will never find the perfect home, but Susan convinces him to finally settle down, showing parallels between his journey and the cycle of destruction and recreation of the reef. And that is enough to keep him going
to:
** LeaveYourQuestTest: When Jack arrives in [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]], he realizes that it is the perfect place for him and his school to survive. The only problem is that it, like every other potential candidate for a new home, has humans present. [[DespairEventHorizon He seems like he’s on the verge of giving up and is convinced that he will never find the perfect home, but Susan convinces him to finally settle down, showing parallels between his journey and the cycle of destruction and recreation of the reef. And that is enough to keep him goinghome]].
Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:
** The Return: Jack has found what he’s been looking for, and now all he needs is to return to the school so they can live there too. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the problem that is Ben
to:
** The Return: Jack has found what he’s been looking for, and now all he needs is to return to the school so they can live there too. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the problem that is BenBen.
Changed line(s) 38 (click to see context) from:
** Freedom to Live: After Ben is dealt with, Jack and his school finally head to the Great Barrier Reef, their new home
to:
** Freedom to Live: [[spoiler: After Ben is dealt with, Jack and his school finally head to [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef, their new homehome.]]
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Changed line(s) 23 (click to see context) from:
** During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in VideoGames/SonicTheHedgehog2006.
to:
** During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in VideoGames/SonicTheHedgehog2006.VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006.
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Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
Jack the Grey Reef Shark is a web comic created in 2018 by Laura Zavraan. The story follows the titular character, Jack, who travels across the ocean to find a suitable habitat for his school. Due to a food shortage and the threat of being hunted by humans, his current habitat is becoming unfavorable. He will face many perils, many adventures, and many tragedies. But knowing that his lover, Mainda, is waiting for him to return, Jack refuses to give up.
to:
Jack the Grey Reef Shark is a web comic created in 2018 by Laura Zavraan.[[https://www.deviantart.com/zavraan Zavraan]]. The story follows the titular character, Jack, who travels across the ocean to find a suitable habitat for his school. Due to a food shortage and the threat of being hunted by humans, his current habitat is becoming unfavorable. He will face many perils, many adventures, and many tragedies. But knowing that his lover, Mainda, is waiting for him to return, Jack refuses to give up.
Changed line(s) 23 (click to see context) from:
** During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in SonicTheHedgehog2006
to:
** During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in SonicTheHedgehog2006VideoGames/SonicTheHedgehog2006.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jack_cover_9.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "There is always a bright side, no matter how small."]]
[[caption-width-right:350: "There is always a bright side, no matter how small."]]
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** Harsher in Hindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
to:
** Harsher in Hindsight: HarsherinHindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
Jack the Grey Reef Shark is a web comic created in 2018 by Laura Zavraan. The story follows the titular character, Jack, who travels across the ocean to find a suitable habitat for his school. Due to a food shortage and the threat of being hunted by humans, his current habitat is becoming unfavorable. He will face many perils, many adventures, and many tragedies. But knowing that his lover, Mainda, is waiting for him to return, Jack refuses to give up.
----
* AerithAndBob: Most of the sharks have traditionally human names such as Jack, while others have practically unheard-of names such as Mainda, or alternate spellings of common names such as Aeron.
* AnyoneCanDie:
** In the very first chapter, Ben tells everyone that [[spoiler: Mo]] was skewered by the sailfish that he “caught”. [[spoiler: Even though Mo is later revealed to be alive and that Ben simply scared him away, the readers won’t know this until the very last chapter,]] and so he becomes the SacrificialLamb that tells readers that anyone is fair game to meet a terrible end
** [[spoiler: Karen is a doting, albeit overprotective, mother who cares for her child alongside her mate. She’s also pregnant with at least two more pups. Surely nothing terrible will happen to her, right? WRONG!]]
** [[spoiler: Jack meets Jay and Ken along his journey and develops such a bond with them that they end up becoming a PowerTrio. The three of them stick together through thick and thin for quite a while. Surely we’ve established that these are the three amigos that’ll be together until the end, right? WRONG AGAIN!]]
**In the main story, we learn that Jack had three siblings—Connor, Ashly and Zack—who were [[spoiler: killed by fishermen.]] [[spoiler: We get to meet said siblings in the prequel. And even though they’re DoomedByCanon, it doesn’t make their deaths any less heartbreaking. To add salt on the wounds, Jack’s siblings never recognize him as their brother (Though they accept him as one)]]
* CrapsackWorld: With fish populations dwindling due to overfishing, the sharks in the story end up facing a food crisis. Most of the sharks don’t know who’s responsible, and those who do realize that they cannot compete with humanity due to their extreme intelligence and their technological advancements. So the most they can do is try to find a place that hasn’t been harvested by humanity.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Karen]] becomes a victim of shark-finning, which is basically the equivalent of cutting off a human’s arms and legs and then leaving them to die in the forest. And if that wasn’t bad enough,[[spoiler: the pups she bears die with her all while her husband and son watch her carcass sink to the seafloor!]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]] [[spoiler:This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
* DeviousDolphins:
**While Jack and Greg are attempting to hunt a pod of common dolphins, an orca interrupts the hunt and prompts an immediate retreat by the duo.
**When Jack attempts to help Kathlin cut a rope that’s stuck around her neck, he comes up with an idea that gets them chased by rough-toothed dolphins
* EasterEgg:
**The author routinely puts different species of fish somewhere in the background and encourages readers to guess what species they are.
**During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in SonicTheHedgehog2006
*FeudingFamilies: In Chapter 5, we learn that there is a 4-way feud between the schools of Aidan, Carl, Reagan, and Kenneth. (Tiger, Bronze Whaler, Bull, and Lemon sharks respectively). The feud is a result of the food crisis with one of the schools vying for control of food distribution. It was initiated when [[spoiler: Aidan attacked several of Carl’s schoolmates out of hunger.]]
*Foreshadowing:
**When Jack and Hellen are discussing what kind of sharks Jack should talk to, Jack brings up mako sharks. Hellen shoots down this idea because since makos are the fastest sharks in the ocean, Jack would have a hard time interacting with them. We later see that, as mako sharks are fast enough to take down sailfish.
**Reagan tells Jack about saltwater crocodiles, and Jack ends up encountering one in the next chapter
**Harsher in Hindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
*The Hero’s Journey: The story follows this format quite faithfully, though not in the fantastical, mythical way.
**Jack’s CallToAdventure is when Mo is hooked by a fisherman, thus confirming that humans are becoming a huge threat in their habitat.
**Crossing the first threshold: After being banished from the school by Ben, Jack realizes that now he has no choice but to find a new home for his school
**Road of Trials: Jack encounters fisherman, dolphins, and larger sharks who all have it out for him
**LeaveYourQuestTest: When Jack arrives in [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]], he realizes that it is the perfect place for him and his school to survive. The only problem is that it, like every other potential candidate for a new home, has humans present. He seems like he’s on the verge of giving up and is convinced that he will never find the perfect home, but Susan convinces him to finally settle down, showing parallels between his journey and the cycle of destruction and recreation of the reef. And that is enough to keep him going
**The Ultimate Boon: After Susan’s RousingSpeech, Jack finally settles on calling [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]] his new home
**The Return: Jack has found what he’s been looking for, and now all he needs is to return to the school so they can live there too. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the problem that is Ben
**Crossing the Return Threshold: Ben refuses to let the reef sharks follow Jack and attempts to kill him to ensure that. Jack and Ben have their climactic final battle.
**Freedom to Live: After Ben is dealt with, Jack and his school finally head to the Great Barrier Reef, their new home
**Celebration: We get to see the school lavish in the fruits of Jack’s labor
*HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Jack is aware of humanity's perception of sharks as these vicious monsters, but with food running low and sharks being butchered nonstop, it’s no surprise that he thinks the same thing about them.
*InterspeciesRomance:
Jack is a grey reef shark while Mainda is a spinner shark. Lampshaded by Jack’s siblings, as interspecies mating is another example of “breaking the rules of nature”. Hypothetically, Jack and Mainda could mate and produce offspring, but the question then becomes how viable those offspring would be.
* Gilligan Cut:
**When Jack is trying to help Kathlin remove a rope wrapped around her neck, he gets an idea, and it results in Jack and Kathlin being chased by rough-toothed dolphins.
**Chapter 4 has another one of these:
'''Ken:''' “This is going to be great!”\\
'''Also Ken:''' “This is going to suck…”\\
*GreaterScopeVillain: The humans responsible for the food crisis and the decline of shark populations. Jack explains his plans for dealing with them and saving as many sharks as he can from their traps. But little does Jack realize just how big the fishing industry is, so he has a lot of work to do to achieve this.
*KarmaHoudini: The hunters that kill [[spoiler: Karen][, [[spoiler: Ken]] and [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings]] all get away with it, and are never seen again after their respective victims die. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge his friends, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
*TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: The author loves to play with this trope:
**We learn that one of Karen’s pups [[spoiler: was killed by a silvertip shark]]. We later learn that Ken had sisters, and readers will be able to put the pieces together that [[spoiler: Megan is the one who killed Karen’s pup.]]
**Ben brags about how he got his scars from fighting a tiger shark. It is never explicitly mentioned, but the hints are there that [[spoiler: Aidan]] is the tiger shark that Ben fought.
**[[spoiler: We also meet Reagan, the leader of the bull shark school. Aidan doesn’t name-drop Ben, but he calls him a member of Reagan’s school.]]
**Even the background animals that we see. For example, the manta ray that the sand tigers come across in Chapter 2. That very same manta ray returns at the end of Chapter 4 to guide Jay to the Galapagos Islands.
*NotEvilJusMisunderstood:
**The overall theme that the book tries to sell is that sharks are not as dangerous as people think they are. In fact, as apex predators, they are a vital part of the ocean’s ecosystem.
**Conversely, this could also be what Jack’s perception of humans turns out to be. Because at first he fears and despises all humans, but that’s simply because he encountered all the wrong ones, and he eventually learns that there are at least some good humans out there.
*ObliviouslyEvil: Most of the humans are portrayed in this way. The fishermen in the story are simply doing their job and probably do not realize the damage they are doing to the ocean by overfishing and killing off shark populations or the fact that the sharks they kill have friends and loved ones.
*PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Jack and Karen save a shark that’s been caught on a fishing line. [[spoiler: Jack nearly gets his dorsal fin cut off, which is more than we can say for Karen. And Jack experiences a HeroicBSoD and blames himself for it.]]
*PowerTrio: Jack, Jay and Ken
*PredationIsNatural: Larger shark species naturally hunt smaller species for food. And the sharks in Jack the Gray Reef Shark are hardly an exception. Aidan and his school hunt Jack with the intent to eat him, but after Carl appears, thus vanquishing Aidan’s desire for shark meat, Jack acts as though it never happened and even becomes friends with Aidan. So the sharks in the story clearly acknowledge predation as being a vital part of nature. Though Jack is trying to steer everyone away from this so that less sharks die.
*RedShirts: Jack comes across a string of dead sharks who have all had their fins cut off, showing from the sharks’ point of view how brutal and horrifying shark-finning is.
*ThreateningShark: The purpose of this story is to deconstruct this trope and play with it so as to shed light on the fact that sharks are not as dangerous as humans believe them to be, and that they have more of a reason to fear us than we do them.
**Inverted with Jack and nearly every shark in the story. Jack is our all-loving hero who wants nothing more than to be left in peace with his friends and loved ones. Humans are the ones who are the main threat throughout the story.
**Ben is the only shark in the story who plays this completely straight. He takes over Jack's school and rules through intimidation.
**Zig-Zagged with Greg. When Jack first meets him, he expresses his desire to eat Jack. This turns out to just be Greg having a sick sense of humor. In reality, Greg is FunPersonified and doesn't like the taste of shark meat. [[spoiler: But when Jack refuses to let Greg eat a seal that's been trapped in some ghost netting, Greg attacks him and forces him to flee. Greg regrets this immediately afterwards because all he really wanted was a chance to eat after going hungry for so long.]]
**Subverted with Aidan and his school, who hunt Jack and corner him on a small reef, but they eventually give up after Carl’s mere presence convinces them to stop.
**Also subverted with Carl, who [[spoiler: attempts to kill Jack for supposedly meddling in the conflict between the different schools. But after a humpback whale interferes, Carl comes to his senses and agrees to join the cause.]]
*TruthinTelevision: All the threats Jack faces throughout the story are threats that sharks face in real life
**Famine - Due to overfishing throughout the ocean, many fish populations are on the decline, which means sharks are losing their main source of food.
**Pollution - Sometimes, when they DO get a meal, the food they ate was contaminated due to pollution. Even tiger sharks, who are infamous for eating garbage, cannot satisfy their hunger with it, they simply eat it because they can’t find anything else
**Hunting - An estimated 100 million sharks die per year on average due to hunting. Thankfully, the perception of sharks has grown more positive in recent years and measures are being taken to preserve their populations.
*UnseenEvil: Up until the moment [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings are killed]] in A Legend from the Start, humans are portrayed in this way: an unknown creature that the sharks don’t know how to deal with.
Downplayed in the main story, where we never see any human faces. And any we do see are concealed by scuba gear.
*YourTraditionIsNotMine: A common theme that comes up throughout the story is the idea of breaking the traditional rules of nature, which Jack and his friends believe is a necessity if the sharks are to survive through the food crisis:
**Sharks naturally do not care for their young because they honestly don’t need to. From the moment they’re born, sharks are able to swim and hunt for themselves, which is the whole goal of parenting in the first place. The most the mother ever does is find a safe place for the pups to be born, but after that, they’re on their own. Jack, however, was raised by his parents. But since this isn’t “natural” for sharks, Jack’s parents were accused of breaking tradition and kicked out of their school after it resulted in a hammerhead attack.
***Another case of sharks caring for their young comes from the sand tiger school, where Karen and David have taken in their son Tyler, and have two more pups on the way that they will care for as well. But unlike Jack’s first school, the other sand tigers seem to accept this behavior.
***Susan is yet another example of a mother shark who raises her children, and again, nobody who knows about it seems to mind, which could very well mean that breaking tradition is becoming a trend in the shark world.
**When Mainda becomes friends with Jack, her schoolmate Lynn tries to tell her that what they are doing is breaking the rules of nature. Since Mainda is a spinner shark and Jack is a gray reef shark, they’re supposed to only care about their own species. Mainda, however, refuses to cut ties with Jack, and instead does so with Lynn.
**Jack’s siblings try to warn him that learning skills that they do not normally use, like the spinner shark’s jumping technique, are a waste of time and energy. And, like Lynn, they are against Jack and Mainda’s friendship because they believe that they should “take care of [their] own”. However, it seems that they are the only ones who have a problem with it, as the rest of the school has come around to accepting Mainda as one of their own and even support her and Jack’s romance later on.
**Competition is the law of the land when it comes to food in the shark world, so when Jack proposes the idea for the feuding schools to unite rather than compete, it is met with some harsh criticism to say the least. But eventually they realize that Jack’s proposal is extremely helpful.
**Ben also claims to be one who values tradition over feelings, and goes to extreme lengths to keep the natural order, but even he ends up breaking a few of those rules, such as being the de facto leader of a school of which he is not their species. But when anyone else decides to break the rules or go against his wishes, he punishes them.
----
* AerithAndBob: Most of the sharks have traditionally human names such as Jack, while others have practically unheard-of names such as Mainda, or alternate spellings of common names such as Aeron.
* AnyoneCanDie:
** In the very first chapter, Ben tells everyone that [[spoiler: Mo]] was skewered by the sailfish that he “caught”. [[spoiler: Even though Mo is later revealed to be alive and that Ben simply scared him away, the readers won’t know this until the very last chapter,]] and so he becomes the SacrificialLamb that tells readers that anyone is fair game to meet a terrible end
** [[spoiler: Karen is a doting, albeit overprotective, mother who cares for her child alongside her mate. She’s also pregnant with at least two more pups. Surely nothing terrible will happen to her, right? WRONG!]]
** [[spoiler: Jack meets Jay and Ken along his journey and develops such a bond with them that they end up becoming a PowerTrio. The three of them stick together through thick and thin for quite a while. Surely we’ve established that these are the three amigos that’ll be together until the end, right? WRONG AGAIN!]]
**In the main story, we learn that Jack had three siblings—Connor, Ashly and Zack—who were [[spoiler: killed by fishermen.]] [[spoiler: We get to meet said siblings in the prequel. And even though they’re DoomedByCanon, it doesn’t make their deaths any less heartbreaking. To add salt on the wounds, Jack’s siblings never recognize him as their brother (Though they accept him as one)]]
* CrapsackWorld: With fish populations dwindling due to overfishing, the sharks in the story end up facing a food crisis. Most of the sharks don’t know who’s responsible, and those who do realize that they cannot compete with humanity due to their extreme intelligence and their technological advancements. So the most they can do is try to find a place that hasn’t been harvested by humanity.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler: Karen]] becomes a victim of shark-finning, which is basically the equivalent of cutting off a human’s arms and legs and then leaving them to die in the forest. And if that wasn’t bad enough,[[spoiler: the pups she bears die with her all while her husband and son watch her carcass sink to the seafloor!]]
* [[spoiler: Ben cheats in his bet against Jack by biting off a Mako shark’s tail and stealing his freshly-caught sailfish. He then finishes him off by biting into his throat.]] [[spoiler:This seems to be Ben’s favored killing method, as he does the very same thing to Sage in the prequel.]]
* DeviousDolphins:
**While Jack and Greg are attempting to hunt a pod of common dolphins, an orca interrupts the hunt and prompts an immediate retreat by the duo.
**When Jack attempts to help Kathlin cut a rope that’s stuck around her neck, he comes up with an idea that gets them chased by rough-toothed dolphins
* EasterEgg:
**The author routinely puts different species of fish somewhere in the background and encourages readers to guess what species they are.
**During Jack, Jay and Ken's prank on the sperm whales, one of them yells out "It's no use!", a reference to the infamous line in SonicTheHedgehog2006
*FeudingFamilies: In Chapter 5, we learn that there is a 4-way feud between the schools of Aidan, Carl, Reagan, and Kenneth. (Tiger, Bronze Whaler, Bull, and Lemon sharks respectively). The feud is a result of the food crisis with one of the schools vying for control of food distribution. It was initiated when [[spoiler: Aidan attacked several of Carl’s schoolmates out of hunger.]]
*Foreshadowing:
**When Jack and Hellen are discussing what kind of sharks Jack should talk to, Jack brings up mako sharks. Hellen shoots down this idea because since makos are the fastest sharks in the ocean, Jack would have a hard time interacting with them. We later see that, as mako sharks are fast enough to take down sailfish.
**Reagan tells Jack about saltwater crocodiles, and Jack ends up encountering one in the next chapter
**Harsher in Hindsight: When Jack, Jay and Ken pull a prank on some sleeping sperm whales to make them think an orca is attacking, Ken yells out [[spoiler: “I’m dying!”]]. This was all just a harmless joke of course, but little would they realize how true these words would be…
*The Hero’s Journey: The story follows this format quite faithfully, though not in the fantastical, mythical way.
**Jack’s CallToAdventure is when Mo is hooked by a fisherman, thus confirming that humans are becoming a huge threat in their habitat.
**Crossing the first threshold: After being banished from the school by Ben, Jack realizes that now he has no choice but to find a new home for his school
**Road of Trials: Jack encounters fisherman, dolphins, and larger sharks who all have it out for him
**LeaveYourQuestTest: When Jack arrives in [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]], he realizes that it is the perfect place for him and his school to survive. The only problem is that it, like every other potential candidate for a new home, has humans present. He seems like he’s on the verge of giving up and is convinced that he will never find the perfect home, but Susan convinces him to finally settle down, showing parallels between his journey and the cycle of destruction and recreation of the reef. And that is enough to keep him going
**The Ultimate Boon: After Susan’s RousingSpeech, Jack finally settles on calling [[spoiler: the Great Barrier Reef]] his new home
**The Return: Jack has found what he’s been looking for, and now all he needs is to return to the school so they can live there too. Unfortunately, that also means dealing with the problem that is Ben
**Crossing the Return Threshold: Ben refuses to let the reef sharks follow Jack and attempts to kill him to ensure that. Jack and Ben have their climactic final battle.
**Freedom to Live: After Ben is dealt with, Jack and his school finally head to the Great Barrier Reef, their new home
**Celebration: We get to see the school lavish in the fruits of Jack’s labor
*HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Jack is aware of humanity's perception of sharks as these vicious monsters, but with food running low and sharks being butchered nonstop, it’s no surprise that he thinks the same thing about them.
*InterspeciesRomance:
Jack is a grey reef shark while Mainda is a spinner shark. Lampshaded by Jack’s siblings, as interspecies mating is another example of “breaking the rules of nature”. Hypothetically, Jack and Mainda could mate and produce offspring, but the question then becomes how viable those offspring would be.
* Gilligan Cut:
**When Jack is trying to help Kathlin remove a rope wrapped around her neck, he gets an idea, and it results in Jack and Kathlin being chased by rough-toothed dolphins.
**Chapter 4 has another one of these:
'''Ken:''' “This is going to be great!”\\
'''Also Ken:''' “This is going to suck…”\\
*GreaterScopeVillain: The humans responsible for the food crisis and the decline of shark populations. Jack explains his plans for dealing with them and saving as many sharks as he can from their traps. But little does Jack realize just how big the fishing industry is, so he has a lot of work to do to achieve this.
*KarmaHoudini: The hunters that kill [[spoiler: Karen][, [[spoiler: Ken]] and [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings]] all get away with it, and are never seen again after their respective victims die. Then again, Jack would be at a huge disadvantage if he tried to avenge his friends, and even if he could, that would add more fuel to the fire for humans to see sharks as enemies.
*TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: The author loves to play with this trope:
**We learn that one of Karen’s pups [[spoiler: was killed by a silvertip shark]]. We later learn that Ken had sisters, and readers will be able to put the pieces together that [[spoiler: Megan is the one who killed Karen’s pup.]]
**Ben brags about how he got his scars from fighting a tiger shark. It is never explicitly mentioned, but the hints are there that [[spoiler: Aidan]] is the tiger shark that Ben fought.
**[[spoiler: We also meet Reagan, the leader of the bull shark school. Aidan doesn’t name-drop Ben, but he calls him a member of Reagan’s school.]]
**Even the background animals that we see. For example, the manta ray that the sand tigers come across in Chapter 2. That very same manta ray returns at the end of Chapter 4 to guide Jay to the Galapagos Islands.
*NotEvilJusMisunderstood:
**The overall theme that the book tries to sell is that sharks are not as dangerous as people think they are. In fact, as apex predators, they are a vital part of the ocean’s ecosystem.
**Conversely, this could also be what Jack’s perception of humans turns out to be. Because at first he fears and despises all humans, but that’s simply because he encountered all the wrong ones, and he eventually learns that there are at least some good humans out there.
*ObliviouslyEvil: Most of the humans are portrayed in this way. The fishermen in the story are simply doing their job and probably do not realize the damage they are doing to the ocean by overfishing and killing off shark populations or the fact that the sharks they kill have friends and loved ones.
*PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Jack and Karen save a shark that’s been caught on a fishing line. [[spoiler: Jack nearly gets his dorsal fin cut off, which is more than we can say for Karen. And Jack experiences a HeroicBSoD and blames himself for it.]]
*PowerTrio: Jack, Jay and Ken
*PredationIsNatural: Larger shark species naturally hunt smaller species for food. And the sharks in Jack the Gray Reef Shark are hardly an exception. Aidan and his school hunt Jack with the intent to eat him, but after Carl appears, thus vanquishing Aidan’s desire for shark meat, Jack acts as though it never happened and even becomes friends with Aidan. So the sharks in the story clearly acknowledge predation as being a vital part of nature. Though Jack is trying to steer everyone away from this so that less sharks die.
*RedShirts: Jack comes across a string of dead sharks who have all had their fins cut off, showing from the sharks’ point of view how brutal and horrifying shark-finning is.
*ThreateningShark: The purpose of this story is to deconstruct this trope and play with it so as to shed light on the fact that sharks are not as dangerous as humans believe them to be, and that they have more of a reason to fear us than we do them.
**Inverted with Jack and nearly every shark in the story. Jack is our all-loving hero who wants nothing more than to be left in peace with his friends and loved ones. Humans are the ones who are the main threat throughout the story.
**Ben is the only shark in the story who plays this completely straight. He takes over Jack's school and rules through intimidation.
**Zig-Zagged with Greg. When Jack first meets him, he expresses his desire to eat Jack. This turns out to just be Greg having a sick sense of humor. In reality, Greg is FunPersonified and doesn't like the taste of shark meat. [[spoiler: But when Jack refuses to let Greg eat a seal that's been trapped in some ghost netting, Greg attacks him and forces him to flee. Greg regrets this immediately afterwards because all he really wanted was a chance to eat after going hungry for so long.]]
**Subverted with Aidan and his school, who hunt Jack and corner him on a small reef, but they eventually give up after Carl’s mere presence convinces them to stop.
**Also subverted with Carl, who [[spoiler: attempts to kill Jack for supposedly meddling in the conflict between the different schools. But after a humpback whale interferes, Carl comes to his senses and agrees to join the cause.]]
*TruthinTelevision: All the threats Jack faces throughout the story are threats that sharks face in real life
**Famine - Due to overfishing throughout the ocean, many fish populations are on the decline, which means sharks are losing their main source of food.
**Pollution - Sometimes, when they DO get a meal, the food they ate was contaminated due to pollution. Even tiger sharks, who are infamous for eating garbage, cannot satisfy their hunger with it, they simply eat it because they can’t find anything else
**Hunting - An estimated 100 million sharks die per year on average due to hunting. Thankfully, the perception of sharks has grown more positive in recent years and measures are being taken to preserve their populations.
*UnseenEvil: Up until the moment [[spoiler: Jack’s siblings are killed]] in A Legend from the Start, humans are portrayed in this way: an unknown creature that the sharks don’t know how to deal with.
Downplayed in the main story, where we never see any human faces. And any we do see are concealed by scuba gear.
*YourTraditionIsNotMine: A common theme that comes up throughout the story is the idea of breaking the traditional rules of nature, which Jack and his friends believe is a necessity if the sharks are to survive through the food crisis:
**Sharks naturally do not care for their young because they honestly don’t need to. From the moment they’re born, sharks are able to swim and hunt for themselves, which is the whole goal of parenting in the first place. The most the mother ever does is find a safe place for the pups to be born, but after that, they’re on their own. Jack, however, was raised by his parents. But since this isn’t “natural” for sharks, Jack’s parents were accused of breaking tradition and kicked out of their school after it resulted in a hammerhead attack.
***Another case of sharks caring for their young comes from the sand tiger school, where Karen and David have taken in their son Tyler, and have two more pups on the way that they will care for as well. But unlike Jack’s first school, the other sand tigers seem to accept this behavior.
***Susan is yet another example of a mother shark who raises her children, and again, nobody who knows about it seems to mind, which could very well mean that breaking tradition is becoming a trend in the shark world.
**When Mainda becomes friends with Jack, her schoolmate Lynn tries to tell her that what they are doing is breaking the rules of nature. Since Mainda is a spinner shark and Jack is a gray reef shark, they’re supposed to only care about their own species. Mainda, however, refuses to cut ties with Jack, and instead does so with Lynn.
**Jack’s siblings try to warn him that learning skills that they do not normally use, like the spinner shark’s jumping technique, are a waste of time and energy. And, like Lynn, they are against Jack and Mainda’s friendship because they believe that they should “take care of [their] own”. However, it seems that they are the only ones who have a problem with it, as the rest of the school has come around to accepting Mainda as one of their own and even support her and Jack’s romance later on.
**Competition is the law of the land when it comes to food in the shark world, so when Jack proposes the idea for the feuding schools to unite rather than compete, it is met with some harsh criticism to say the least. But eventually they realize that Jack’s proposal is extremely helpful.
**Ben also claims to be one who values tradition over feelings, and goes to extreme lengths to keep the natural order, but even he ends up breaking a few of those rules, such as being the de facto leader of a school of which he is not their species. But when anyone else decides to break the rules or go against his wishes, he punishes them.
