Shortly after the end of Fairy Tail, a lot of us lamented the fact that we never officially saw “Gray’s answer”. It’s often said of the Western fandom that we tend to want things explicitly direct and more obvious than commonly provided by the Japanese language and culture. Upon reflection, I am starting to think we saw the answer and just didn’t realize it. While many of us were waiting for dramatic confessions and reunions post-499 (myself included), a funny thing happened…Hiro Mashima.
Shortly, after the events of 499, Mashima posted this gem of a postcard:
We all know it well, it’s the “Autumn of Romantic Love” which fairly accurately depicts the “first date” scenario seen in basically every slice of life anime that has ever existed. Here, less than a month after the dramatic, romantic, double-suicide, “I couldn’t hurt a friend, no, I couldn’t hurt you” chapter, Mashima suddenly presents Gruvia in a clearly romantic light. It was almost as if he wanted 499 to be interpreted as the answer and the canon moment, because he sure as hell hadn’t drawn them like THIS before. What was Mashima getting at here?
@rieriebee later snagged this gem in an art book while in Japan. In Mashima’s comment regarding this drawing, he indicates that it reflected what was going on in the manga when he drew it…almost an “attack”. Basically, it was a signal that the “tease” was over and we were supposed to view them as a couple. We loved it. We wanted more. Answers! Confessions! There was more, but perhaps it wasn’t what we wanted exactly…
Whoa! Gray and Juvia playing strip poker? Gray looking nervous because of the half-naked girl in front of him? When did that become a thing? Sure, they both strip anyway, but now we have them getting nervous in front of each other…like a couple…
Like that! Volume 59 came out with a very, very “exposing” table of contents page. Our ship was presented in their “full glory”. Surely, Mashima wasn’t trying to tell us something about the impact of 499, right? He wasn’t going full tilt into telling us that we already were supposed to view that as Gray’s answer, was he? It’s not like he’s got them dressed in matching outfits…
Errr…cat ears, matching blue formal wear? What’s next, are we going to get some cute picture of them having a private moment with their foreheads touching in the most coupley shoujo way…
Well, then. Ok. I’m pretty sure we are supposed to see them as a couple already.
In all seriousness, though, I have noticed before that it’s not uncommon for shounen authors to rely on external media (art, games, omakes, ovas, etc) to give us content which can’t always be fit into the manga (be it plot, too shippy for the target demographic, etc). When looking at Mashima’s Gruvia art post-499, there was a clear dynamic change in which the tease transitioned into things which could easily be viewed as snippets of a relationship. Given the clear and drastic change, I feel that Mashima ultimately felt he gave us the answer—we just didn’t realize it at the time. Perhaps it was not the concrete response, but it was still clear as day…and we got a series of adorable (and at times quite graphic) art to give us insight into Gray and Juvia’s relationship.
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