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 đđ»đđ») I stumbled upon lots of ridiculous hate towards Gray as an idividual, Juvia as an individual, and Gruvia as a couple. Perhaps itâs a waste of my time to defend these characters agaisnt people who clearly are very young and donât understand complex characters, but I had a lot of opinions that I wanted to share đ€·đ»ââïž
Disclaimer: This post is long as fuck and idk how to make it shorter Iâm sorry đ
I will start with what I feel is the most ridiculous thing Iâve 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 canât be the only person who thinks he literally didnât 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. Iâm pretty sure an âassholeâ wouldnât do all of these things.
Next I wanna talk about the dumbest thing Iâve ever had to read with my own eyes. I saw someone say that Gray doesnât care about his friends, and heâs a jerk to them. Um đ€đ€ Iâm sorry? Almost all of Grayâs (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 âproveâ Gray didnât 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 Grayâs the asshole here?? Fuck right off omg đđ 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 heâd go to fulfil his fathers wish. If anything, Gray had more of a reason to fight Natsu than Natsu did to fight Gray (although Iâm not saying Natsu was to blame either, he clearly wasnât 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. Iâm 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, hereâs how I see it: After seeing Juvia alive and well, he thinks about how he couldnât save her or any of his friends, and so he decides the only way he can make sure theyâll 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 wouldnât have to go through something like that ever again. Although, thankfully Natsu stopped him đ
We also see how much Gray cares for his friends in 100 year quest. While Erza, Natsu, and Lucy, donât 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 doesnât care about anything, when in reality, heâs probably the one who cares most deeply.
âGray doesnât deserve Juviaâ
Ok this argument isnât as prevalent as the rest, but Iâve 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 doesnât he deserve her? Gray rejected her feelings in the beginning, sure, but we now know he did this because he didnât think he was strong enough to protect her. Gray cares so much about her, that he canât be with her until he deems himself good enough. A boy trying to develop himself just so heâs good enough for his girl, even when he knows she would be willing to tie the knot at any second, truly âdeservesâ her imo. Thereâs 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.
âJuvia is an abusive stalkerâ
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 sheâd 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 sheâs not going to know how to do things like starting a conversation, especially with a guy sheâs interested in! It makes perfect sense for Juvia to be the way she is, her not knowing any better â her being a stalker! Throughout the series she has learned to walk beside Gray and not have to watch him from afar, she hasnât âstalkedâ him in literally 300+ chapters, isnât 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 Grayâs 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. Itâs an anime, things are exaggerated and not supposed to be taken so seriously lmao. But ofc this is just everyoneâs personal opinion and I canât be mad at yâall for this one LOL . Just keep in mind that in the world of anime this isnât that weird and is supposed to be used for comedic relief.
âJuvia only cares about Grayâ
Next, people love to claim that Juvia is only in Fairytail because of Gray, and she doesnât 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 Juviaâs role in the Tower of Heaven arc. Juvia was possessed and forced to fight Lucy, if she truly didnât care about Lucy, she wouldnât 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 didnât 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 itâs a joke. They have a strong bond and if you donât see that... your different. Next, Battle of Fairytail. Juvia sacrifices herself for Cana without even a second thought. While the other FT members whoâve been part of the guild a lot longer than Juvia started fighting each other, Juvia couldnât bare to hurt Cana, a girl she literally just met. I donât understand how you can watch this scene and think this girl only cares about Gray. Thereâs also my favourite Juvia moment, her saving Meredy. Meredy was a child on a wrong path. This girl was a threat to Grayâs life, yet instead of defeating her, Juvia hugs and cries for her. If Juvia was truly the âGray obsessedâ 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 wasnât for Juvia, Juvia changed this girls whole life and made her who she is today.
Juviaâs 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 Gajeelâs well-being wouldnât have even crossed her mind. Sheâs 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.
âJuvia is nothing without a manâ
Alright. Yes, Juviaâs 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 Grayâs broken heart. Again, heâs 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, sheâs a perfectly capable person on her own. I think when people say this, they refer to Avatar when she got sick after he left. Letâs just think for a second, what happened right before Gray and Juvia started living together? Juvia had killed Grayâs 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 đȘđ). 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 wouldâve made Juvia sick, not becuase she canât live without Gray, but because to her she failed the promise she made Silver.
3: Gruviaâs Relationship
First of all, I strongly dislike the fact that the word toxic is thrown around like itâs 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. Iâm genuinely convinced everyone who calls this ship toxic just have no sense of humour. Every single thing yâall claim is toxic is Juvia making a joke. Or itâs something that she literally doesnât do (stalking). People donât understand that Gruviaâs 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 Juviaâs thoughts before she chose to end her life. Juvia would never hurt Gray, which is why she was willing to die by Grayâs 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 donât actually see Grayâs thoughts through this scene, but I have to imagine it was the same: he couldnât 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 wouldâve led to Grayâs death, Juvia killing Silver so Gray wouldnât have to, and so Silver could at peace. Gray always asking where Juvia is and making sure sheâs 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 herđ
If Gruvia was really toxic and abusive like people claim, it wouldnât 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 wouldnât 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, Grayâs 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.
âGruvia is forced, Gray rejected Juviaâ
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 doesnât think heâs strong enough, and I think this insecurity of his traces back to this very moment. Gray canât stand losing anyone else whoâs close to him, so he rejected Juvia to âprotectâ 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 Juviaâs feelings, he wouldnât 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 Juviaâs feelings, but didnât. 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 wouldâve been it for their relationship, but he didnât. Instead, Gray embraces her, he openly cries in front of her and seeks comfort from her. Weâve 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 didnât let anyone see him in that state. But with Juvia, he shows her his vulnerable side. I personally think of this as Grayâs way of accepting Juvia into his life. Thereâs also moments where Gray did things he didnât have to do, such as digging through the snow to find the scarf Juvia made him, trying one of Juviaâs bread, holding Juviaâs 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 heâs working on himself. Gray is a big boy, nobody is forcing him to do anything.
âIf the roles were reversed nobody would ship itâ
Iâve 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, Lyonâs crush on Juvia is supposed to represent the âreveresed rolesâ. Like Juvia, Lyon pines over his crush, always tries to woo them over, and even has merch with their faces on them! Itâs literally the same dynamic as Gruvia, and almost everyone agrees Lyvia is cute. We also literally saw the roles reversed in Edolas, and I havenât seen a single person say Edolas Grayâs actions towards Edolas Juvia were âabusiveâ, in fact Iâm pretty sure most people can agree Edolas Gray was fucking adorable. So yes, if the roles were reversed, I would still ship it lol. Thereâs so much more to their relationship than all the affection and declarations of love.
Well in conclusion, Gray and Juvia need each other. Theyâve changed each otherâs lives for the better, theyâve changed each other for the better, and they just want to be happy together. Just because Gray or Juvia didnât end up with who you wanted them to end up with, doesnât 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.
Donât get me wrong, the point of this post is not âeveryone has to ship gruviaâ or âeveryone has to love Grayâ or âeveryone has to love Juviaâ, 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 donât 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 đł 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 yâall can agree with my train of thought, and if your an anti on this post for some reason, donât bother commenting Iâll just block you lol. đđđ