Sora: Warrior Of The Sea
Random Trivia!
Sora & Sora: Future
The manga ran for over 40 years. Meaning, yes, it was around before Law could even read it, and yet was still being written when he was in high school. A second run, acting as a wrap up to many of the incomplete plotlines, was started some 12 years after the original creator's death, taken up by his adopted daughter with her wife acting as the artist. Though the story picked up right where the original manga run had suddenly cut off, it also flashes to some undated time when Sora was much older, earning it the fan nickname "Sora: Future".
The (Non Destroyed) Novelizations
While the main storyline of Sora takes place in the manga, there are four or five - depending on the source - novellas that act as either prequels or simply companions to the main plot. The most well known of which is simply "Sora!" A novelized version of the first three manga arcs, written by his aforementioned daughter and published prior to the 8th arc as a sort of promotional event. Two of the other novels - "Poison: A Study In Pink" and "Blackest Heart: The Story of Santeki Vinreykur" - were written in a similar fashion, though in this case both of them told the events from major arcs through the perspective of Germa 66, with Blackest Heart often considered to be not only the best of the novels but a must read for fans of the White Lake arc.
Then there is the prequel novel, or novels depending on who you ask. You see, while the Sora manga is obviously not based on real events - that would be ridiculous, I mean, have you read them, they are pure fantasy! - there are certain aspects that borrow from real life. For instance, the hero is a marine, and the depiction of the Marines in the manga is largely taken from real life, including the presence of characters from outside the North such as Vice Admiral Umiko (Calm Belt) and her assistant (West blue) as well as Daichi (East Blue) due to the location of a major naval school in the North. Also, you know, a kingdom of evil technological mercenaries on an island that moved around the sea. Who, for whatever reason, seem to take issue with certain depictions of their kingdom in the manga (in general, they saw the fear instilled in Northern youth by the work to be a good thing, but every now and again the anonymous author who published the comics appeared to cross an unknown line and when Germa took issue with something, they made their displeasure very, very clear).
The first prequel, "The BoX Of Pandora" was widely panned as an unnecessary money grab from the author's estate; it was written between when the Sora comics had stopped being produced and the future manga. It took a true fan to appreciate the work and how it informed Pandora's character (quote Trafalgar Law every single time the issue came up). The story itself is the first Sora property to be female dominated, centering around Pandora's childhood, her becoming a pirate, and her eventual rise to being named a Titan (a title somewhat between to shichibukai and yonko but only within the North Blue). The other novel was written about Daichi and is something between a prequel and retelling, in that the climax of the novel retells the story of Sora first stealing the raid suit from Germa 66, but leading up to that is mostly new material exploring Daichi first arriving to North Blue and his time at the naval academy, meeting Sora as well as Doctor Hart (at the time still merely a marine doctor) and how these friendships would end up shaping him and the path he took after academy.
If you are wondering why there is no title it's because, well, anything sold under the original title simply doesn't exist anymore. Who can say which part of the book set off Germa 66: was it information about their base revealed during Sora's breakin that was absent from the manga but strangely detailed in the novelization or the multiple discussions of the raid suits abilities including having certain elements explored by more scientifically minded characters such as when Dr. Hart is allowed to inspect what he is told are scraps of a shot down Germa drone - to inspect the life support capabilities of the suit. It could have been something as meaningless as when Stealth Black allows Daichi to go in one of the later chapters, with the narration heavily implying this is due not so much to his inherent mercy (though that is a trait we have seen Stealth Black/Santeki show many times and that Germa has taken some issue with in the past) but more his.... Interest in Daichi (no, it all but right out states that if Daichi were not as attractive and likable as he was, he would be dead). Then again, it could be something as small as when it's revealed that outside of the North Germa's name holds no power. It's impossible to tell with a group like Germa, but regardless of the cause, the first printing of the book went nowhere, due in large part to the explosion of multiple publishing houses. These days, the only way to acquire a copy is on the black market, and you always run the risk of buying one of the many falsified editions that people have put out over the years.
(Law despises the people that would put out what is basically fanfiction, getting true fans hopes up by claiming it to be actual copies of the original Daichi novel. He has also read 8 different versions of the book.)
Sora! Panto!
Every year, around the start of winter, North Blue holds a big celebration. Other blues see it as a sort of holiday before their big hibernation, mistakenly believing that in the past, Northerns simply SLEPT the entire winter, since certain areas of the North barely even see sunlight for those months. That's pure nonsense, of course, Northerns simply respect nature and the power it has over their lives. Or at least they used to, way back when, and from those days the celebration of Yule Eve came with a whole feast of different celebrations of festivities. One of which is the art of the pantomime.
While Sora: Warrior of the Sea is comparatively rather new, that hasn't stopped people from incorporating the sea wide famous manga into various forms of entertainment. The first adaptation of Sora ever created was not, as many believe, of the Saturday morning cartoon - and don't make the mistake of implying this around Law, not unless you are ready for a four hour lecture on the history of Sora and North Blue culture - but was a den den radio play called "Sora of the North Sea" and simply due down to the production company and the actors who worked there, the part of Daichi was played by a female actor (though the character was still male). For whatever reason, this carried over to the stage, where it became something of a popular meme to have Poison Pink played by a younger male cast member, while Daichi was played by a woman.
In fact, in his first year on the cast, Zoro was invited by his best friend/rival to a Northern pantomime based on Sora. Kuina, a fellow stunt actor who had recently had a small burst of fame in the North as one of the few performers able to properly pull off Santoryu (well she better be able to after beating Zoro so much when they were younger, right!) Being cast in a few minor action movie roles and subsequently asked to perform in a major panto product of Sora where she was cast as Daichi.
Zoro isn't sure he got it. Kuina was awesome, no doubt, though most of the sword work was pretty cheap and uninspired. Still, she did some amazing flips, stage dives, even some cool wire work in a scene where she had to jump into the sea to save Sora. He was just confused why everyone seemed so amused whenever they made it obvious she was a girl. They obviously knew that when they cast her, what was the big deal? He also didn't quite understand why the actor who played Sora kept giving Kuina these LOOKS. The audience found it hilarious but Zoro just didn't get it. What he did take from the play was that he was never kissing Perona. NEVER.
Northern culture is weird sometimes.
[Edit: Apologies to @devilfruitsaladfordinner who wanted Sora content and instead of anything, like, decent gets this random one off about how most Daichi's wear skirts.]
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So I heard through the grapevine a bit ago that there's been some certain people with an axe to grind for whatever the hell reason I can't fathom considering I haven't talked to them in multiple years going around saying, 'lol Nevi doesn't know shit, he's basically kin-for-fun, he thinks you can just say you have a kintype because you want to be a thing, how stupid is that.' Like, I must be doing something right if I've got hate-followers letting me live rent free in their head, and given who it was (no I'm not sharing) I'm personally flattered that they dislike me so much. It's a good sign.
And if you thought I was going to refute that, no, fuck the law, you really can just be a thing because you want to be the thing, but there's also a lot more nuance in that than certain people are giving me credit for.
It starts with trusting people, and that includes yourself. You have to trust people to know what they want. You have to trust people to know why they want something. You have to trust them to make accurate statements about themselves in good faith, even if they might later conclude that they were wrong or that their situation has changed. (You also, as a corollary, have to trust that a situation can in fact change, and why wouldn't it? Things change. Identities fluctuate. That's just life.)
Obviously this doesn't include trolls, because they aren't making a factual statement, nor are they acting in good faith. But it does include people whose criteria for judgement may not match yours. It also doesn't mean that you cannot ask constructive questions, or offer other ideas.
I sincerely don't think it's possible for someone to really, wholeheartedly want to be nonhuman if they don't have some kind of connection to the type in question to begin with. Wanting to be a thing is a major symptom of being the thing. You don't claim an identity because you don't see yourself in it, you claim it because you do. And if you feel you're nonhuman enough to say that you're nonhuman, and not be completely lying, congratulations! You're nonhuman. It's literally that simple.
This also doesn't mean that it's impossible to realize you're a kind of nonhuman that you aren't excited about. That happens. I legitimately was not very interested in fae and even now I don't feel much kinship at all with other fae. It's whatever to me. But I still see myself in that as an identity and I still want to say that I'm fae. I can say that I am and I feel truthful, or I can say that I'm not and I feel dishonest. That's literally enough right there.
You also don't have to claim labels that you don't want. Nobody has to be otherkin. That's just a word. Nobody has to subscribe to the entire ideology, and make no mistake, it is a heavily prescribed ideology, with a ton of social and cultural norms. You aren't obligated to follow them if you don't feel like it. You can just not do that. On the flip side, because forcing labels onto people is shitty, nobody is otherkin unless they say they are and actively adopt that label, which hilariously enough makes being otherkin entirely, 100% voluntary. Go figure.
But at the end of the day, if you can say, in good faith, that you are this or that or the other thing? You are. That's it. That's the whole bar you have to step over and it's not high. There's no way to conclusively prove or disprove someone else's entirely internal, subjective experience anyway and that's fine. You can just say you are a thing, and you are the thing. Boom. Easy.
Assuming that I'm out here proclaiming that people are allowed to invent falsehoods for shits and giggles kinda says more about the person making the assumption than it does me. Nobody is saying that, but go off I guess. I'm saying that if someone really, sincerely feels it's true, and they want to assume this identity as a result, then yeah, it's true, because that's all any of us are working with anyway. All the 'proof' in the world amounts to a fuckin' hill of beans, in which the beans are various little thoughts we've decided to see patterns in and assemble in a certain way. That isn't different regardless of if you just got here or if you're the grayest of muzzles. Nobody's got shit over each other, here.
(Also maybe if we haven't spoken in years and I'm still coming up in your conversations as some kind of bogeyman who is simultaneously too stupid to live and yet also somehow menacing your identity with my big smart mouth words, you may be sorely in need of a thing called 'a life.' 'Cause that's kinda sad and I guarantee I'm not thinking about you.)
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