User blog comment:FairyRaven/Fairy Tail Chapter 435 & 436: The Cry of Victory & Memoirs, Review and Commentary/@comment-1839664-20150519135247

Not chapter related, but still FT related by Mashima:
 * I have reports of Gray being very popular with the females in North America. Is it because of all the stripping?!
 * Well, I know that Gray is pretty popular when it comes to Japan, of course. But a few years ago, when I went to NA for an autograph session, I had a strong impression that popular characters of that time were either macho guys (Laxus), or strong women (Erza).  So this was a bit of a surprise.