Chapter 500 Thoughts (AKA He Totally Kissed Her)

Ok, I’m going to focus on the Gruvia, because REASONS.

First of all, I LOVE the color page. So pretty, and underwater, which is perfect for Juvia hee! If anyone doubted Juvia would be fine, the cover alone gives her fate away lmao. And I just love how serene she looks holding onto Gray. She’s in her happy place.^^

And of course Gray is being Gray, playing it cool, but so comfortable at this point with Juvia holding onto him. I remember some old chapter covers where he was grumpy over Juvia’s affections. How things have changed lol. ^-^

So, the first person we actually see of Gruvia is Juvia lying on the ground still unconscious….

But then we see Gray again, and just like we left him at the end of the last chapter, he is PISSED. Like… BEYOND PISSED. RAGE MODE. YOU KILLED MY WAIFU PREPARE TO DIE MODE. And Invel is SCARED. And he SHOULD be lol.

The thing is, going back to Rave again, *SPOILERS* one of my favorite parts of the series was Musica in a fury over a girl (Nagisa) being tortured. *END OF SPOILERS* I always wanted to see something similar to that with Gray and Juvia. In fact, I was hoping for it during Tartarus, but we never got it. We’re getting it now though!!!! ^^

So, I loved this. IMO Gray is being powered by love and grief. And both of those emotions are running really deep for him at this moment. He’s just in a blind rage, punching the crap out of Invel. Nothing Invel tries to do works, because Gray is just THAT mad. I thought the ice armor Invel used was cool (no pun intended), but the fact that something that is supposed to freeze you on contact still didn’t work on Gray, and if anything, was something Gray then used against Invel, is supposed to show us the level of Gray’s fury. It’s triggering his true potential by how he is overpowering Invel with ease.

And as we see a few pages later, we know where his emotional boost of power is stemming from.

“You stole away Juvia’s future! Right from under her! And that’s unforgivable!”

It’s all because of his emotions over losing Juvia. Invel took her away from him is how Gray clearly sees it. And that’s why Invel needs to die at his hands. There is no forgive and forget in this situation. To Gray, what Invel did is irredeemable.And he is going to make him pay. And that’s when we get his finishing move, right after he lets out his emotions about losing Juvia.

And OMG that panel of Gray’s face? The tears in his eyes? He’s calmed down a bit because he just avenged Juvia, and won. But you can tell from his face, and his eyes, that it doesn’t matter, because he still lost the person he cares the most about and he feels lost. I love this panel, because it really does carry home, even more so than all the rage that preceded it, how hard this hit him. How hurt he is. How much he cared. And how much he lost when Juvia “died.”

Now, the part that a lot of people surely have issues with. Juvia is ok lol. Now, for me? I knew Juvia was going to be ok. I had not one doubt she would live. In fact, I didn’t think she died in the first place. She was still alive when Gray woke up in 499. She was alive enough to still be performing magic on Gray, and speaking to him via her magic.

Not only that, she was NOT giving Gray her own blood. I know it’s easy to think that’s what was happening (I thought so too at first), but what she was actually doing, was using her magic to (as she said) MAKE blood out of water for Gray. And then she fell unconscious. But she clearly never died. As Carla said, she WOULD HAVE if they didn’t get to her in time.

However, even I didn’t expect Juvia to be well so fast. So, does it take some of the tension out of the situation? Probably for a lot of people, but for me? I always knew Juvia would be ok, so it just makes sense to bring her back sooner, rather than later, because otherwise, it would make even less sense if she was healed by Wendy at a later point, when she was clearly on the brink of dying NOW. Plus, I’m sick of Juvia conveniently being sidelined for large portions of arcs.

So, the more I think about it, the gladder I am that Juvia came back into things quicker. Especially in this case, because she got ripped off of a fight. She only fought offshoots of other people’s Spriggans and Gray. If this means she gets something more to do in this arc, I’m all for that. Plus, there is definitely something deliciously satisfying about Gray raging and grieving about losing Juvia, and yet the readers knowing that she’s just fine lol.

Besides, Mashima doesn’t like making his readers suffer, or be sad for too long, and Juvia is a much loved character. I can understand why he brought her back into things fast. Especially since it was a milestone chapter, too.

Now, as for the title of this post.

My first thought when reading the next part of this chapter, with Juvia saying she thinks Gray kissed her, was that he probably did lol! As many people already pointed out, the last thing we saw of Gray and Juvia together, was that panel of Gray holding Juvia’s face in his hands, and leaning his forehead up against hers. Mashima WANTS us to think the same way Carla is, that Juvia is just being silly again, and fantasizing. Even Juvia’s expression gives this impression, but I would NOT be surprised AT ALL if Juvia brings this thought up to Gray when they reunite, and he gets all blushy and embarrassed LMAO.

It just makes sense. Gray loved her. He was distraught. He was begging her to wake up. He was trying to bargain with her. He was talking about his feelings and her feelings. I can totally see him having kissed her in what he thought was a goodbye, and then going off to rage against Invel.

Now, for me, IF he kissed, then we BETTER get a flashback! Or a redo! Juvia must insist that Gray kiss her again now that she’s awake to properly experience it lol! I always said, it makes sense for Gruvia to get a kiss. But I will be so upset if it was off-paneled. Mashima, please don’t be that cruel! ;_;

I also love that Juvia was so grateful to Wendy and Carla (that deep respectful bow), and how she almost immediately thought about Gray and his well-being again. And then we find out that Gray took off before Wendy and Carla got there, so we get confirmation several times in this chapter, that Gray does not know Juvia is alive.

And we cut back to Gray, and he’s just still so mad. He’s saying that no matter how much he punches Invel it wont bring Juvia back. ;_; You can still see the tears running down his cheeks in those panels, too. He really does feel like he lost his most important person. And everyone reading just wants to shout out “she’s ok!!!” lmao

But I just love the raw emotion from him here. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. Gray truly showing how much Juvia means to him. I needed this for so long. And it feels so good, even though I feel so awful for Gray. The poor guy is hurting so much.

And I thought the chapter title would be in reference to Invel revealing to Gray that Natsu is END, and so I wasn’t shocked by the ending. But, I was surprised that Invel was trying to pin all the blame and losses that Gray has suffered onto Natsu, though (and I was also surprised Invel knew Gray’s history). He was saying Natsu is the true root of Gray’s misfortunes in life. But what neither of them know, is that Juvia already broke this cycle. She’s come back. ^^

I don’t even know if Gray will believe Invel. I don’t know if this is enough to push him into actually attacking Natsu. But I assume it needs to be, otherwise why would a fight happen? We know we are going to get Natsu vs Gray. So, I guess we’ll see how far Gray falls, and how much more he loses himself in his grief to make that fight plausible.

And that’s the thing. The only way I would dislike Juvia coming back so soon, is if she also reunites with Gray too soon. IMO she’s going to need to stay away from him for a while, and at least until Gray and Natsu confront each other. Then her return can snap him out of it.

But she clearly wants to find Gray, so hopefully some Spriggan will delay her, or something. Because we need to wait for that reunion. And I’m definitely excited for it. It’s been set up REALLY WELL. Gray is miserable. He clearly loves Juvia. There shouldn’t even be a question about that at this point. And he feels like she’s gone forever, So imagine when he sees her again, how he’d react? Would he believe she’s really there? Would he think he’s imagining things? What will he do? What will he say? Will she save him from his own darkness? Will we finally get a kiss (that is ON PANEL, and where Juvia is actually CONSCIOUS?!)?

There are plenty of good, emotional ways this could go. So, I’m just happy we get to wait for another Gruvia reunion. The Tartarus one was well worth the five months it took for it to happen. And as I said in my post for last week’s chapter, this reunion will make Gruvia CANON.

Gray loves Juvia.

Pass it on.

^-^