every time i remember gruvia’s double suicide i wonder how i’m not constantly talking about them rather than nalu. the emotional complexity between gray, the depressed guy who secretly thinks everyone hates him including himself, and juvia, the depressed girl who knows most people hates her (due to her past with phantom lord) but still manages to find the one who taught her to see the light in things - literally!! stopped her rain and all.
and then their beautiful progression where juvia proves her devotion, not only to her newfound love, but also to fairy tail as a guild - her newfound family. and gray slowly but surely has to face his past, in multiple ways, and slowly but surely juvia manages to chisel her way into his icey heart. and from that point there’s some turmoil when juvia indirectly “kills” (releases) gray’s father, her doubting her right to love him, gray telling her basically that if anyone were to do it, it had to be her, and that she freed his father rather than kill him.
and then the progression of acceptance - juvia staying strong and determined to keep loving the guy who never thought love was for him, and him slowly accepting her, even when he doubts his own power to protect her from any harm that could come their way
and then!! the horrific fate!!! them getting into a situation where they have to kill the other to get away from the situation alive, and juvia, who practically never stopped loving him, automatically wanting to sacrifice herself, knowing that gray, who might seem distant and cold, never could kill a guild mate. so she decides to take her own life, for his sake, but oh!! the plot twist!!! gray thought, like, the exact same thing! he only knew that juvia had to come out of this alive, but that there was no way she’d kill him, so he kills himself!! he can’t imagine a future without her!
and then, after blacking out (thinking they’re dead) gray wakes up, to his dismay, and he sees that juvia kept him alive, even as she herself was dying!!! so heartbreak and demon mode and he goes to kill natsu for being END and all that
but then the story progresses and they’re both alive, and gray reluctantly admits that he wants juvia to himself, and then in the hyq we learn that he’s working on himself to become a mad worthy of the love juvia has to offer, and that she’s his will to live and his entire past present future and that they’re rawdogging it in his dreams. kinda.
anyways i love them and i think i’ll die, that’s all, thanks for reading
incoming hot take/rant about natsu and his romantic pairings and his understanding of love
gonna say something thats gonna get me in trouble
natsu has more objectively romantic moments (and i would even dare to say romantic chemistry) with lisanna than lucy.
now, with that being said, i like n*lu more than i like n*li (i do still like n*li tho. dont know why pol hate it sm. its cute!). but like. on a romantic level, natsu has veryyyyy little moments w lucy. he has way more emotional, powerful, and deep moments with lucy. but they’re not romantic.
but as its been shown especially in 100 yq, natsu doesnt really have a grasp on romantic love. he doesn’t get flustered or blush around lucy (for the most part), he doesn’t understand that lucy clearly has romantic feelings for him, and i think the most obvious piece of evidence of this is in 100 yq when that lady (please forgive me i rly have a hard time keeping up w all the villains) cast that spell that made snow dolls out of “the woman held closest in ur heart” or whatever. for gray, just juvia appeared. for natsu, literally every girl in ft appeared.
i just feel like even in the very small moments natsu and lisanna have, and as insignificant as they are in recent ft, natsu always seems a little nervous/shy. at least in old ft. now, its also very obvious that these moments of awkward natsu who may or may not have a crush on lisanna are waaaaaay less frequent now. but in the very beginning of ft when we first learn ab lisanna was literally the most romantic interaction ive seen natsu have with anyone. and i would argue this is the most romantic interaction his character has EVER had. in the whole series.
now, im not an idiot. i know nalu will be end game. as they should be!!! they have arguably the strongest bond of literally anyone in the whole show. u cannot deny their insane compatibility and how they just make sense! i also know that natsu loves lucy more than ANYONE (ok maybe other than happy. theyre prob tied). but i think natsu doesn’t differentiate this from romantic love. YET.
i think something will definitely go down where natsu has this huge revelation that he not only loves lucy but is IN love with her.
but for right now, the most romantic interest natsu has expressed with another person is lisanna. im standing by that.
there should also be something said for the fact i feel like mashima dumbed natsu down over the years???? like in the beginning he was playful, optimistic, brash, and fun loving. i think he is still all of these things but mashima has steadily made natsu less and less understanding of social queues and more socially unaware. idk if that makes sense.
^but i feel like if u asked ep 1 natsu the difference between love and romantic love, he would be able to tell u. now, i dont think he understands the difference. i do think this will change, but for rn thats how i see it.
anyways blah blah blah. to end this senseless rant, lisanna should have stayed dead. bringing her back to life was one of the DUMBEST things ft ever did. not even bc i like n*lu better than n*li. but bc the significance that lisanna had for natsu and what she meant for his character completelyyyyy went away. his childhood gf came back from the dead and he literally could not give less of a fuck about her now lmao. its so bizarre.
