"It seemed not even an elite military academy was free from the prejudice of the outside world."
—Ky Cedoc
The Croaking is a fantasy-webcomic written and drawn by Megan Stevenson. It's available for free on Webtoon
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The Roost is the world's most prestigious military academy. And it has never accepted a crow—until now. Scra Eldwode is the first of his kind to make it in and the conditions of his acceptance are shrouded in mystery. His roommate Ky is determined to find out what exactly Scra is hiding and why he disappears every night. But between government conspiracies, gang wars and the day to day social battle that is school life at the Roost, have Scra, Ky and Ree bitten off more than they can chew? And what is the mysterious "Croaking" that is merely spoken of in whispers?
The Croaking contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents:
- Reamer's mother only thinks of her son as a political bargening chip and puts him under enormous pressure to uphold her standards. She goes so far as to force an Arranged Marriage on him, even though he already has a girlfriend and both he and Tiraa, the eagle she's trying to set him up with, are massively uncomfortable with the whole thing.
- Del's father constantly lets his son know what a massive disappointment he is to him. Del gets anxiety attacks just thinking of him and it's heavily implied he is scared of turning into his father at some point.
- Tiraa's mother is extremely verbally abusive and so indifferent to her daughter's feelings, she doesn't even notice Tiraa is suffering from a panic attack during her and Reamer's engagement party.
- Alas, Poor Villain: While Del was a crazy, racist jerk, he was also a teenager with a bad home-life who felt like the world had taken everything away from him. Things could have been different for him if he'd worked on himself, but because he always chooses to blame Scra and his friends for his misfortunes instead, he's trapped in a downward spiral right up until the moment of his death.
- He gets better after Scra spares him and he turns to building the militia in the canyon. In his re-telling of the events, he describes it as "waking up".
- Ambiguously Evil: Lars is often seen watching others from the shadows with a knowing smirk on his face and it's all but stated he's working with the murders. While he never harms anyone directly, he is fairly good at stoking people's insecurities and pushing them towards the edge. He also downright lies by omission several times. And then there's his covering up of Del's murder.
- Angst: Very much a problem of Scra: he often ponders where his loyalities lie and has nightmares that prevent him from sleeping for days. Ree calls him the "Angsty boy". His angst is very much justified, though: he works as a doppelagent for the Roost and the Blackash murder, a gang that wants him to murder somebody as initiation, is the only member of the most disriminated species at a prestigious military academy, and on top of that he has to juggle his feelings for and dependency on Ky with the desire to keep him and Ree safe.
- Animal Stereotypes: Invoked and Played for Drama. Characters are frequently judged by their species, with people like Ky and Scra earning bewilderment or even hostility for challenging society's opinion of what their proper "roles" should be.
- Anti-Hero: Scra is a mysterious young man who is involved in pretty unsavory things and is spying for the director.However, he's not a bad guy and only works with her because he's hoping for a life away from the murders and their turf wars. He's deeply traumatized after the Blackash Murder makes him kill Del for his initiation and questions how Ky can even be near him knowing what Scra's done.
- Asshole Victim: Deconstructed. Del's death at Scra's hands the end of season 1 is treated as a preventable tragedy and leaves a huge mark on Ree's, Ky's and Scra's psyche. Ree even admits to Ky that she has trouble being near Scra knowing what he did and is trying very hard not to freak out over the fact that one of her classmates is dead and her and her friends are covering up his murder. Gets even more complicated when it's revealed he actually survived.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Downplayed. During his first flight class in the Roost, Ky notices that his classmates all take the same route through the laser parkour, leading to the larger ones getting singed because they are to big to fit through the gaps—so he takes a different route that capitalizes on his greatest strength: dives. He finished unscathed and as one of the fastest in class.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Ky is a Gentle Giant and a loyal soul, but he's also a Determinator who won't just stand by and watch when his friends are mistreated. It's also frequently implied that his good-natured country boy-personality is a facade and that he's actually way more capable than he lets on.
- Big Man on Campus: Reamer is the captain of the Roost's resident Aerial Combat Team and an eagle, making him basically the most influential and powerful student on campus. And that is not to mention his mother being the director.
- Blatant Lies: Del claims Scra's stretcher falling down the canyon with Scra still strapped inside it was a case of faulty equipment. Pretty much everybody present knows it was not.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Scra at first acts cold towards Ky, so he won't be pulled into his affairs.
- Broken Ace: Ree is the fastest and most agile flyer of her class, great in hand-to-hand-combat and even better at shooting, top of her class academically, flock leader of the second-years, full of energy, cheerful and very good at reading people. However, she struggles with the fear of being left out by Scra and Ky, has trust issues, and sometimes has hallucinations of Farrah, her former friend/girlfriend (?) who went missing and a trauma associated with the canyon.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Downplayed example: Ky, who is very tall and heavy is completely wasted after three beers and passes out under a table.
- Cigarette of Anxiety: Tiraa, when going to Reamer's house to have dinner parties with him and his mom, retreats to the closet to smoke because she is anxious about the arranged marriage with Reamer that she doesn't want but can't avoid.
- Cool Bike: Scra has a black, wheel-less one, mainly because he can't fly due to his clipped wing.
- Cool Teacher:
- Major Fichgal won't tolerate bullies, just because of their powerful families. While his influence is ultimately limited by the academy itself not being willing to back him up most of the time, it still speaks for him that he's not in the least bit cowed by people like Del who try to pull Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! on him.
- Professor Cepni is one of the few teachers that discourages a speciesist mindset. In her very first appearance she verbally destroys a student who was making racist comments towards Scra.
- Crapsack World: The Croaking 's world is ruled by a totalitarian government, which itself is the result of a years-long war between the different bird-races. There is a clear class-divide between rich and poor, not to mention the rampant racism and stereotyping that is in some parts even encouraged by the ruling class. People who come from a bad neighborhood and/or are poor have little choice but to join a gang to ensure their survival and have basically no opportunities to rise up in the world. While those born into a more privileged position are pressured into upholding their families' lineages and reputation, often sacrificing their personal freedom and agency to do so.
- Dark Action Girl: Every female member of a murder is a skilled fighter and killer.
- Deadpan Snarker: Scra has some razor-sharp wit on him that he often uses on his bullies.
- Death of a Child: Del is murdered at the end of season 1. His death is covered up by the Blackash murders and neither his parents nor his caretaker are informed.
- Even Evil Can Be Loved:
- While Del's father is incredibly abusive to his son, his mother is very loving, if unaware of her son's troubles. He also has a pretty sweet friendship with his family's maid Lulu and seems angry when Reamer treats her dismissively. It's telling that when Del is reported missing after his (supposed)death, only Lulu is genuinely worried.
- Reamer might be a bastard, but his relationship with his pretend-girlfriend Tiraa is amicable for the most part. Tiraa respects him if nothing else and she appreciates having someone who understands her misery.
- Eye Scream: Scra accidentally cuts Del's eye while fighting him off.
- Fake Relationship: Lyr is this to Reamer: She is only his (pretend-) girlfriend to discourage his mom to set him up with another eagle. It doesn't work.
- Fantastic Racism: While every species is subjected to some amount of stereotyping, crows arguably get it the worst. The majority of the population still sees them as the main responsible ones for the war, a narrative backed up by both the government and the church. Hate crimes against crows just because they're crows are not only the norm, but accepted. The majority of the bullies Scra faces at the Roost target him solely because of his species, not because of anything he personally did.
- Everyone Can See It: Scra and Ky obviously have feelings for each other that they're too afraid to act upon. Multiple characters throughout the comic comment how close the two of them are and Ree flat-out teases them about it several times.
- Fictional Sport: Aerial Combat: school teams fight in the air with non-lethal weapons to strike/shoot opponents on the shoulders to put them out of the game.
- Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: During a sparring match with a member of the Night Stalkers in episode 95, Ky is constantly bombarded by Kerwik's micro-aggressions, accusations, and insults. He takes it in stride as he usually does. But then she implies she dug up dirt on him at his old school—and he slugs her square in the face as a response. Even though he tries to brush it off as a lucky hit afterwards, it's pretty clear she struck a nerve.
- Forgotten First Meeting: When Ky meets Scra again at the Roost, Scra seems to have completely forgotten about their frequent meetings on the cliff during summer. Later on subverted as Scra did remember, but pretended not to in order to keep Ky away from the dangerous things he was involved in by that point.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Pretty much no one at the Roost likes Del. The only person who ever speaks to him privately is Lars. And Lars is an Ambiguously Evil creep.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: chicks of parents of different species are seen as shameful.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Del tries to get Scra killed during rescue training, in plain view of all his classmates and the drill instructors. It's later revealed he did it as a sort of initiation rite for the Aerial Combat Team. He ends up cracking and spilling the beans to Director Imperius later on, who starts going harder on Reamer as a result. Reamer in turn decides to kick Del out of the team, as he's proven to be unreliable.
- Inherent in the System: A major theme of the comic is how messed up the system is. The characters whose social standing is low can try and improve it all they like, the deck is stacked against them from the start. Meanwhile everyone in a position of power can easily be replaced if they stop supporting the corrupt government.
- Madness Mantra: During his Sanity Slippage in season 1, Del develops a habit of muttering the word "sickening" over and over again whenever he sees Scra or something or someone that reminds him of Scra.
- Mob War: The various murders in the city are constantly engaging in turf wars with each other. Staying neutral is not an option, as murders who try to do so are just wiped out and have what remains of their members assimilated into other murders.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: While Ky seems like a mellow country boy who is way out of his depth at first, there are several hints that he might just pretend to be harmless. He went to the academy for covert ops, he's secretly reporting to Director Imperius and in episode 95 Kerwik points out that he's not actually bad at fighting. He's just making himself Willfully Weak via an amateurish posture and weakly thrown punches. Also, going from his whining before the mid-term exams, one would assume he struggles in school, while in reality, he has 97% in the exams.
- Sacrificial Lamb: Downplayed. A side character nicknamed "Strawberry Boy" attempts to get closer to the A.C. team, in order to improve his station. At the start of season 2, he's captured and maimed by the doves, as punishment for trying to rise up in the world. It serves as a reminder just how corrupt and classist the world truly is.
- Sanity Slippage: Del's hatred for Scra, his bad home-life and the Humiliation Conga he suffers at the hands of Scra's murder end up driving him insane, leading to him stalking the canyon in his aerial combat gear and muttering "sickening, sickening, sickening" to himself whenever he is reminded of Scra. It ends up getting him killed when he sneaks into Scra's room at the end of season 1, unaware that he had been chosen as the target Scra had to take out for his final initiation into the Blackash murder.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: It's a well-known fact at the Roost that people like Del and Reamer, whose parents occupy high positions in the government, are basically free to do whatever they want. When Fichgal remains dead-set on making Del face consequences for his rule-breaking, it's treated as an oddity and a pointless, if well-intentioned, endeavor.
- Tattooed Crook: Corvids who are in a gang (a murder in case of crows) get a black line around an arm to signify them killing somebody (each full-fledged gang member has at least one, as one murder is a requirement to be initiated into a gang). Cyras, leader of the Black Ash murder, also has a black bird shape tattooed on his throat, but otherwise hides his tattoos under long sleeves to leave opponents in the dark about how many people he killed.
- The Titling: The Croak + "ing"
- Two Guys and a Girl: Scra, Ky and Ree, the main trio, are this.
- Unwanted Assistance: Ky following Scra to a meeting with Scra's murder to keep an eye on him... only to get found out and roughed up.
- Weak, but Skilled:
- Scra is almost always at a disadvantage in fights because of his clipped wing, but balances it out with his skills in hand-to-hand combat.
- Ree is a lot smaller and skinnier than her friends due to being a kestrel. She makes up for it with her great flying skills and excellent marksmanship.
- We Used to Be Friends: Downplayed. Neekia and Scra grew up and lived on the streets together, after their murder was wiped out. Neekia eventually left to join the Blackash Murder, leaving Scra to fend for himself. Their current relationship is still somewhat friendly, but there is a notable distance and coldness to it.
- Winged Humanoid: The world is inhabited by human-bird hybrids.
