A messy rant about why Gray is not a jerk, Juvia is not abusive, and Gruvia is definitely not toxic
As I mentioned a couple days ago (it might have been a couple of weeks actually, lol I write really slow sorry 👉🏻👈🏻) I stumbled upon lots of ridiculous hate towards Gray as an idividual, Juvia as an individual, and Gruvia as a couple. Perhaps it’s a waste of my time to defend these characters agaisnt people who clearly are very young and don’t understand complex characters, but I had a lot of opinions that I wanted to share 🤷🏻♀️
Disclaimer: This post is long as fuck and idk how to make it shorter I’m sorry 😭
I will start with what I feel is the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in the anti tags. There are a lot of people who think Gray is an asshole. They think he was a jerk to not only Juvia, but his friends as well. Regarding Juvia, I can’t be the only person who thinks he literally didn’t treat her badly at all. Did everyone seem to forget Gray and Juvia were friends right from the very beginning ? Gray ate meals with her, worried about her, worked with her, and just hung out with her while she was still new to Fairytail. He was her friend and was very helpful with her transition into Fairytail. I’m pretty sure an “asshole” wouldn’t do all of these things.
Next I wanna talk about the dumbest thing I’ve ever had to read with my own eyes. I saw someone say that Gray doesn’t care about his friends, and he’s a jerk to them. Um 🤔🤔 I’m sorry? Almost all of Gray’s (as well as pretty much everyone in the guilds) actions throughout the series have been for his friends. The main argument this person was using to “prove” Gray didn’t care about his friends, was when he went to go kill E.N.D (aka Natsu). Did people happen to forget that Natsu tried to kill Gray too????? Yet Gray’s the asshole here?? Fuck right off omg 💀💀 Gray had literally just lost the person he thought would always be by his side, a boy who had lost absolutly everything had once again lost someone becuase they tried to save him. He then immediately found out that the demon his late father was devoted to kill was right there in front of him. Considering his mental state, of fucking course he’d go to fulfil his fathers wish. If anything, Gray had more of a reason to fight Natsu than Natsu did to fight Gray (although I’m not saying Natsu was to blame either, he clearly wasn’t himself either). After Erza had stopped them, he felt so guilty he actually tried to sacrifice himself. Are you kidding me? Would a selfish asshole do something like this? He did this because he just tried to kill his best friend and wanted to end this whole battle by getting rid of Zeref. I’m not gonna lie, when reading this part in the manga I was annoyed, because Juvia had almost died for Gray, yet he was willing to end his life so soon after without giving her an answer. However, now that I look back at it, here’s how I see it: After seeing Juvia alive and well, he thinks about how he couldn’t save her or any of his friends, and so he decides the only way he can make sure they’ll all be safe is if he ends Zeref once and for all. He was willing to throw away his future so that Juvia and all his other friends wouldn’t have to go through something like that ever again. Although, thankfully Natsu stopped him 💓
We also see how much Gray cares for his friends in 100 year quest. While Erza, Natsu, and Lucy, don’t seemed all too phased by having to fight their friends (because they know it has to be done) Gray visibly feels pain at his actions:
Gray is a character who is nonchalant most of the time. Because of this people think he has no emotions and doesn’t care about anything, when in reality, he’s probably the one who cares most deeply.
“Gray doesn’t deserve Juvia”
Ok this argument isn’t as prevalent as the rest, but I’ve seen a lot of Juvia stans say this and as both a Gray stan and Juvia stan I must say this is absolutly not true. This is another situation where I have to ask, why doesn’t he deserve her? Gray rejected her feelings in the beginning, sure, but we now know he did this because he didn’t think he was strong enough to protect her. Gray cares so much about her, that he can’t be with her until he deems himself good enough. A boy trying to develop himself just so he’s good enough for his girl, even when he knows she would be willing to tie the knot at any second, truly “deserves” her imo. There’s also the fact that Gray is literally the reason Juvia can see the sun. He saved her life and gave her a family, he deserves her plenty of you ask me.
“Juvia is an abusive stalker”
I brought this up in another post, but do some people not realize that Juvia only watched/followed Gray 2-3 times because she wanted to ask him if it was ok for her to join Fairytail ?!? This girl was just their enemy. Of course she’d be too nervous to approach him the first time! Aside from that, it makes perfect sense for Juvia to be socially awkward in this way. Juvia was an orphan, who was shunned by the other children in the orphanage because of her rain. This girl basically dealt with no social interaction for her whole childhood. Of course she’s not going to know how to do things like starting a conversation, especially with a guy she’s interested in! It makes perfect sense for Juvia to be the way she is, her not knowing any better ≠ her being a stalker! Throughout the series she has learned to walk beside Gray and not have to watch him from afar, she hasn’t “stalked” him in literally 300+ chapters, isn’t development what matters here? If you were to hate someone for how they acted in the beginning, then you ought to hate Laxus, the whole thunder legion, Lyon, Jellal, Ultear, Meredy, all of Crime Sorcier, Gajeel, and all of Sabertooth. And if you hate all of these characters... why do you watch the damn show?
Aside from the stalker comment, people call her weird and obsessive. Okay, I will admit some stuff Juvia does regarding Gray is a little weird, but also, most of the things people do in FT is weird and not acceptable in a normal society lol. Like Gray’s stripping ??? Natsu groping Lucy?? Cana groping Lucy ?Mira spanking Erza in the middle of the street? Erza washing the other girls boobs in the bath?? Fairytail has some weird stuff ok. It’s an anime, things are exaggerated and not supposed to be taken so seriously lmao. But ofc this is just everyone’s personal opinion and I can’t be mad at y’all for this one LOL . Just keep in mind that in the world of anime this isn’t that weird and is supposed to be used for comedic relief.
“Juvia only cares about Gray”
Next, people love to claim that Juvia is only in Fairytail because of Gray, and she doesn’t care about anyone else. Honestly at this point I think antis just choose what parts of the series they want to pay attention to... Lemme just start with Juvia’s role in the Tower of Heaven arc. Juvia was possessed and forced to fight Lucy, if she truly didn’t care about Lucy, she wouldn’t be phased by this, however she begins crying for Lucy. She also tells Lucy that no girl has ever been this nice to her, this goes back to my previous point that Juvia didn’t know how to treat people in the beginning because nobody had treated her like a person her entire life. Juvia does call Lucy a love rival sometimes, but everyone knows it’s a joke. They have a strong bond and if you don’t see that... your different. Next, Battle of Fairytail. Juvia sacrifices herself for Cana without even a second thought. While the other FT members who’ve been part of the guild a lot longer than Juvia started fighting each other, Juvia couldn’t bare to hurt Cana, a girl she literally just met. I don’t understand how you can watch this scene and think this girl only cares about Gray. There’s also my favourite Juvia moment, her saving Meredy. Meredy was a child on a wrong path. This girl was a threat to Gray’s life, yet instead of defeating her, Juvia hugs and cries for her. If Juvia was truly the “Gray obsessed” character that people claim, she would not hesitate to defeat Meredy to save Gray. Instead, she put Meredy on a new path of life. Meredy would have killed herself if it wasn’t for Juvia, Juvia changed this girls whole life and made her who she is today.
Juvia’s relationship with Gajeel is also one of my favourites. I love how she was the one to ask Macarov to accept Gajeel into Fairytail. This is something she absolutly did not have to do, but she did out of concern for him. If this was a girl who truly only cared about Gray, the thought of Gajeel’s well-being wouldn’t have even crossed her mind. She’s also quite close with Levy, Wendy, Erza, and even comforts Laxus, whom she barely interacts with. This girl cares about every single FT member, not just Gray.
“Juvia is nothing without a man”
Alright. Yes, Juvia’s character usually revolves around Gray, because she puts him on a pedestal for being the person that literally saved her from the rain, and gave her a new home. In my opinion her character was created to heal Gray’s broken heart. Again, he’s a boy who keeps losing people who gets too close to him, he needs someone he knows will never leave him. Although her main role is for Gray, she’s a perfectly capable person on her own. I think when people say this, they refer to Avatar when she got sick after he left. Let’s just think for a second, what happened right before Gray and Juvia started living together? Juvia had killed Gray’s dad, and his own father asked her to take care of Gray. I personally think this was the main reason they lived together after FT disbanded. Juvia wanted to be with Gray so she could follow through with what she promised Silver (rip my mans 😪💘). When Gray went missing, there were probably a million situations going through her head. What if he was kidnapped? Being tortured? Dead? Any of these thoughts would’ve made Juvia sick, not becuase she can’t live without Gray, but because to her she failed the promise she made Silver.
First of all, I strongly dislike the fact that the word toxic is thrown around like it’s nothing anymore. By definition, a toxic relationship is a relationship where your partner is emotionally/physically damaging. This includes your partner being untrusting, hostile, selfish, judgmental, disrespectful, cruel, etc. Toxic relationships are extremely serious and leave long lasting damage to people. Now, can someone please tell me in what way, shape, or form, does Gray or Juvia seem to be unhappy or seem to be damaged from being with each other. I’m genuinely convinced everyone who calls this ship toxic just have no sense of humour. Every single thing y’all claim is toxic is Juvia making a joke. Or it’s something that she literally doesn’t do (stalking). People don’t understand that Gruvia’s relationship is so much more than their comedic moments. They trust each other, rely on each other, have faith in each other, and do things with the best interest of the other in mind. One of my favourite Gruvia moments was during the Daphne arc (I know this was a trash filler, but this moment was meaningful nontheless). Literally all of Fairytail went against Gray, they all thought this whole thing was his fault and thought he betrayed them. Even Cana, who has known Gray since they were kids, was screaming at him until Juvia got in between him. Juvia defended Gray when nobody else did, this just showed how much faith they have in each other.
You really see how selfless their relationship is by the double suicide, but I also want to talk about Juvia’s thoughts before she chose to end her life. Juvia would never hurt Gray, which is why she was willing to die by Gray’s hands. However, she knows him so well that she knows he would blame himself and then decides ending her own life is the only option left. We don’t actually see Gray’s thoughts through this scene, but I have to imagine it was the same: he couldn’t hurt Juvia, and he knew it would crush Juvia to have to hurt him, so he killed himself. After Juvia saves Gray, we see a montage of many of their memories, this shows how each of their interactions meant as much to Gray as they did Juvia.
There are plenty of other moments when these two took action based on the best interest of the other in mind. Juvia breaking her own leg to stop Meredy from killing herself, which would’ve led to Gray’s death, Juvia killing Silver so Gray wouldn’t have to, and so Silver could at peace. Gray always asking where Juvia is and making sure she’s ok, Gray pushing Juvia out of the way and being hit with the baby dragons lasers, Gray comforting her during Tartoros, Gray not telling Juvia about Avatar to keep her safe, and Gray going on the 100yq to become strong enough to protect her💓
If Gruvia was really toxic and abusive like people claim, it wouldn’t be the second most popular ship in the series. If Hiro Mashima wrote a story where one of the biggest couples is abusive, he would have been cancelled a long time ago, and Gruvia wouldn’t have so many fucking fans. Are people really trying to say all Gruvia fans support abusive relationships? Really? All of us? Some of us who have probably BEEN in abusive relationships ? Come on. Aside from the fans, Gray’s friends and family would NOT support an abusive relationship. Why would Cana, Natsu, Erza, Lucy, Lyon, SILVER, and all these people so close to Gray, support their relationship if it was harmful to Gray.
“Gruvia is forced, Gray rejected Juvia”
Gray rejected Juvia right after she almost died in front of him. We now know that Gray has never made things with him and Juvia official because he doesn’t think he’s strong enough, and I think this insecurity of his traces back to this very moment. Gray can’t stand losing anyone else who’s close to him, so he rejected Juvia to “protect” her while he worked on himself. If Gray truly rejected her feelings at this moment in time, why did he get so mad when Lyon would flirt with Juvia? If Gray really rejected Juvia’s feelings, he wouldn’t have a problem with Lyon trying to win her over, but he does. Gray has only ever been jealous when it comes to Juvia.
There are so many moments where Gray could have easily rejected Juvia’s feelings, but didn’t. The prime example is when Juvia confessed to Gray that she killed Silver. She tells Gray she no longer has the right to love him and she will leave him alone. Gray could have easily let her go, she could have walked away right then and there and that would’ve been it for their relationship, but he didn’t. Instead, Gray embraces her, he openly cries in front of her and seeks comfort from her. We’ve seen Gray cry a couple times throughout the series, all of these times he had cries in front of his team, yet he covered up his tears and didn’t let anyone see him in that state. But with Juvia, he shows her his vulnerable side. I personally think of this as Gray’s way of accepting Juvia into his life. There’s also moments where Gray did things he didn’t have to do, such as digging through the snow to find the scarf Juvia made him, trying one of Juvia’s bread, holding Juvia’s hand when she had a bad feeling before the Tartoros arc, etc. Gray rejected Juvia with his words, but accepts her with his actions, and we now know he had only rejected her back then because he’s working on himself. Gray is a big boy, nobody is forcing him to do anything.
“If the roles were reversed nobody would ship it”
I’ve seen people say this a couple of times, and what I find funny is most of the people who say this ship Lyon and Juvia. The way I see it, Lyon’s crush on Juvia is supposed to represent the “reveresed roles”. Like Juvia, Lyon pines over his crush, always tries to woo them over, and even has merch with their faces on them! It’s literally the same dynamic as Gruvia, and almost everyone agrees Lyvia is cute. We also literally saw the roles reversed in Edolas, and I haven’t seen a single person say Edolas Gray’s actions towards Edolas Juvia were “abusive”, in fact I’m pretty sure most people can agree Edolas Gray was fucking adorable. So yes, if the roles were reversed, I would still ship it lol. There’s so much more to their relationship than all the affection and declarations of love.
Well in conclusion, Gray and Juvia need each other. They’ve changed each other’s lives for the better, they’ve changed each other for the better, and they just want to be happy together. Just because Gray or Juvia didn’t end up with who you wanted them to end up with, doesn’t mean they are toxic :) and just a reminder, Gruvia is the only ship Mashima created for the purposes of being romantic, nobody forced him to do anything.
Don’t get me wrong, the point of this post is not “everyone has to ship gruvia” or “everyone has to love Gray” or “everyone has to love Juvia”, the point of this post is Gray and Juvia are not the horrible things people claim them to be. Having a preference and not like certain characters and ships is perfectly fine, but I don’t understand how you can claim something that is proven throughout the series not to be true.
If you read this whole thing I am impressed 😳 sorry this took so long to write, I kept getting distracted and lowkey triggered when thinking about all the stupid stuff people say about these two. Anyway, I hope some of y’all can agree with my train of thought, and if your an anti on this post for some reason, don’t bother commenting I’ll just block you lol. 💓💓💓
