The “fist over the heart”... is there something more to it?
To add on to my previous post on Gray’s eyes, I’d also like to talk a bit about these 2 panels:
In the panel with Natsu, he tells Gray that “Fairy Tail has been and always will be ‘here'”, and he places his fist over his heart to show that by ‘here’, he means “in his heart”.
Later on in the chapter, we are shown the panel with Gray, and he also places his fist over his heart. While doing so, he says that he destroyed the Fairy Tail guild mark on his down accord to find the answers he seeks. (For those who’ve only read the MP scanlations, they made an error in this part. It’s not “Now does that answer your question?” but rather “To find the answers I seek”.)
While both Natsu and Gray are making similar gestures, Gray looks awkward when he’s doing it. The notable difference between Natsu and Gray is that Natsu’s using his right hand, while Gray’s using his left. Isn’t it more common to use your right hand for such a gesture, even if you’re left-handed?
Placing one’s fist over the heart can convey a person’s sincerity, and desire to be believed. It can mean “I’d like you to believe me (whether or not my words are true)”, or “What I say comes from the heart”. However, could there be something more to it in Gray’s case?
1. Mashima-sensei could have easily drawn Gray without having him placing his fist over his heart, or he could have drawn Natsu saying that Fairy Tail lives in his heart without having him point to it. Drawing the both of them doing a similar action would bring attention and result in comparison. Was that meant to be intentional?
2. Gray’s guild mark (both Fairy Tail and Avatar) is on the right side of his body, which is “black”. Notice how how Gray’s left hand and the left side of his body is not “black”… and the heart lies slightly towards the left of the body. With Gray’s action paralleling that of Natsu, could this mean that Gray is saying that he’s in Avatar to find the answer he seeks, but his heart remains uncorrupted and is still with Fairy Tail?
3. When Natsu told Gray that Fairy Tail is in his heart, Gray says “So why can’t you just leave it as that”, and asks Natsu to leave him alone. Taking that into consideration, when Gray places his fist over his heart, could he also be meaning to say that “Fairy Tail still lives in my heart, so just leave me alone for now, so that I can achieve my purpose?”
This might very well be me over-analysing and over-thinking, and the “fist over the heart” gesture might have no other meaning than just being a simple gesture to emphasise that Gray means it when he says that everything he’s done so far is by his own accord. It’s just that I’m still unconvinced by Gray. While he keeps saying that he chose this path on his own accord, his body language doesn’t seem like that of someone who has completely gone over to the dark side… I can’t help but feel that there’s more to it.
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