User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail 526: My Name Is..., Review/@comment-25111584-20170312223358/@comment-25111584-20170316092906

True. Like two motorists going in opposite directions trying to get the other to let them through... even though they're in completely different lanes. .-.

I most certainly don't blame Natsu. Never have. What I blame is Natsu's arrival in the nick of time. It makes far more sense than Meredy finding Ultear, but that was still an option in Ultear's case. However, Mashima was clearly intent on dismissing Ultear, which is what infuriates me. The man is as subtle as a maniac with a chainsaw.

Would it really be okay to try to reverse Last Ages, without getting Ultear's consent first? That's certainly something Natsu would do, but would it really be in character for Gray to just go ahead without knowing whether Ultear even wants it?

Just like he decided to wipe everybody's memory of himself without their consent? No, I'm just kidding. Consent is... difficult. I would normally regard it indispensable in most interactions and relationships, but... I'd support Ultear's decision to break out Jellal even without his consent (we have no idea whether he consented or not, so I'll just believe he agreed immediately). I'd support Gray going to help Laxus against Wahl even without Laxus' consent. Just like I support Gray trying to find alternatives to saving Erza during the OS arc despite being completely aware of the consequences if he failed. Just like I support Gray trying to go help Natsu when he charged off to fight Zeref alone. So, yes, I believe it is well within Gray's character to want to rejuvenate Ultear. Especially because, once the act is completed, Ultear would have no reason to complain. (I'll address the redemption below.)

CS is all about finding redemption. It's not about getting forgiveness from others, but forgiving themselves. That's the sole reason why they formed CS in the first place. Ridding the world of Zeref is just a means for this end. Jellal even argued that he was walking in darkness and thus couldn't be with Erza because she was walking in the light.

Ultear managed to forgive herself and attain a measure of peace that's still denied to the other CS members. Or to put it in Jellal's words, she reached the light. Thus it makes absolute sense for me that Jellal wouldn't want to drag her back into the darkness in which he and Meredy still walked in his opinion.

This is where I would disagree. Nobody is talking about rejuvenating Ultear at the cost of the benificial effects of Last Ages. In fact, I consider the very fact that she considers herself to be redeemed to be a (reasonable) flaw in her character because that would imply that she now believes that all anybody has to do to be redeemed is use Iced Shell on some suitably powerful evil guy (although she obviously wouldn't preach something like this because she knows others might not agree). If she were to be returned to her former state (obviously without knowledge of her allies' efforts until they actually succeed), why would she consider it to being pulled back to the darkness? Is it that she would consider being in an old body to be a punishment worthy of her sins? Remember the almost-kiss of Jerza where Erza clearly explained that such drastic measures are simply running away from the problem? This would be the same.

I do agree that Jellal might not want to rejuvenate Ultear, but not because he thinks that Ultear has redeemed herself (because, as stated above, it would imply that his objective should just be to use Iced Shell on Zeref), but because he doesn't want to drag Ultear away from a peaceful life in which she believes that she has redeemed herself. Which, I believe, is what you're saying too, but just mentioned it for clarity's sake.

However, the same doesn't apply for Gray. His thoughts as far darkness, evil and redemption are concerned are proven to be, "Fuck that!" Living alongside your friends, remember? Jellal might consider Ultear's current lifestyle to be far better than the one she would follow if rejuvenated, but not Gray. Like Natsu and pretty much the rest of FT, he considers living alongside friends to be the best alternative, no matter what burdens one would have to bear.

Bonus pointless and irrelevant rant: One of the worst things for me is that, after losing Reina, Ur and Ultear, bloody Juvia survives! It's much worse than Bieber being the only survivor of a bus crash containing, among others, the Eagles (only because it's wrong to feel sad/frustrated about the survival of an innocent human over another though .-.). Combined with the rest of this arc, it's almost as if Mashima is out to infuriate me personally. ;_;