#fujijig

I'll put the small disclaimer that all of this is opinion only and should only be taken as such. I don't have anything against any of the ships mentioned (since nothing crosses the line) or any of the people that ship them, so this is down to personal preference only. All righty, let's begin.

Polygang:

Right out the starting gate, we may get a bit controversial lol. Personally, I don't ship them all together, whether it be the OT4 or OT5. This is due to the fact that I don't think all of them are compatible with each other or even able to be in a relationship with multiple people. It's a cute idea though, and I love to see people's different interpretations of it.

LoopZoop:

This one is cute and kind of works canonically, even if it's only ever acknowledged as a joke. The way I see it, they may never have a traditional relationship (in this case, being lovers/maybe getting married), but there is definitely an undeniable chemistry between them. There is a clear dependency on eachother to fulfill a role in eachother's lives (a common theme you'll notice with Lupin's relationships here). Lupin needs Zenigata to give him the thrill of the chase, and Zenigata needs Lupin to give him a purpose in life. I personally think Zenigata is fantastic at his job and needs Lupin to give him a challenge and keep him from being bored. Plus, their dynamic is just so much fun!

FujiLup:

I love this ship for all the wrong reasons. Fujiko and Lupin are straight up bad for eachother, and yet only the two of them can make a relationship like that work beautifully. I often describe their relationship as a game or a dance. Fujiko askes Lupin to steal something for her, Lupin steals the thing hoping to get *something* out of it, Fujiko betrays him and leaves him with nothing. The benefits seem one-sided, but we've seen time and time again that Lupin expects (and sometimes down-right encourages) Fujiko to stab him in the back. To deviate from that would be breaking the rules of the game or ruining the rhythm of the dance. I think there's a similarity to LoopZoop where both parties are playing a role for eachother. For Fujiko, Lupin is someone she knows she can always come back to, no matter how treacherous her betrayal. He gives her a place she can call home. For Lupin, it's the thrill of a challenge. She rarely let's him get anything from her, so when she does give him a peck on the cheek or lips, it's that much grander of an award. That's my speculation on the subject anyway. I also want to add that, for how great they work together, it can all fall apart from something as simple as a change of pace. We saw the fallout of this happening in part 5, after they had gotten married and tried to being domestic. It's details like that that make this ship so interesting to me, I just love it!

LupGoe:

An interesting dynamic if nothing else. These two have chemistry but I don't think it's necessarily romantic. I think I view them more as rivals on friendly terms, more or less. They clearly do care about one another and go to great lengths to protect one another, but there is something else there. Lupin probably doesn't have any particularly strong feelings about their youngest member, but Goemon does seem to want to pick fights with him the most. The inner workings of Goemon Ishikawa XIII's mind deserves a post all of it's own for how complex a character he is, but I'll try to give an abridged version. I think he struggles a LOT with being "the best", and working under Lupin has maybe bruised his ego a bit. It's something he can lock away for only so long before the feeling flares up again and boils over (part 5 once more shows this happening and it is masterfully done!). In other words, I think there's a passion there, but these two have a lot to work out before they could even consider romantic feelings.

JiGoe:

Ok here's where people are really going to hate me lol. I don't really ship them. Like, at all. I don't know what it is but they just don't really have all that much chemistry to me. The closest they get to being compatible is part 2, with how much they play off of eachother. Sadly, we don't really see this relationship in any other part of the franchise (or if we do, I haven't seen it). If anything, I think their relationship is more brotherly, Jigen being the older brother of the gang and Goemon being the younger brother. I think he does look up to Jigen a lot and likes having him around, and I think Jigen has a lot of respect for Goemon and appreciates what he brings to the team, but I don't think there's much past that. Sorry y'all.

FujiGoe:

I LOVE this ship! I think these two are super cute together. TWCFM is what originally sold me on the idea, one of the writers REALLY liked the idea of Goemon having a big ol crush on Fujiko and it was fucking adorable (even if she was like "mmkay😐" in the series lol). There actually isn't many canon moments to support the ship, at least not outright, but there's a lot to speculate on from what we know about the characters. We know that they are fairly good friends and, should it come down who he prefers to work with, he's going to pick Fujiko at least over Lupin lol. We also know that Goemon is not interested in having sex. Whether that's due to his training or personal preference is up to speculation. But automatically that is a huge difference for Fujiko with any other man she's been with. (This also deserves it's own post but abridged version once more) Fujiko is often placed into the role of sexy femme fatale, to the point where she just kind of expects to be treated like that. Hell, whether he means to or not, Lupin also pushes her into that category. So it has to be refreshing to have someone like Goemon, who she knows likes her, to treat her with respect and spend time with her without expecting (or wanting) anything in return. I think it's a relationship that could work out long term if we ever got a chance to explore it further.

ZeniGoe:

I'm mostly adding this for completion's sake. They don't really interact much to determine if they even have chemistry. I think they probably have a begrudging respect for one another, but that's about it...next!

FujiZeni:

(I'm guessing at these ship names, which should speak to their popularity lmao) Meh. The only time we really saw these two interact was in TWCFM and that whole thing was yikes. Zenigata barely qualifies as Zenigata in the series in my humble opinion (and idc about the manga 💅). And anytime these two do interact in the original series, it's mostly out of necessity so...next!

JigZeni:

Here we go! This one may only live in the realm of speculation, since again these two don't interact all that much (Zenigata is really laser-focused on Lupin huh?), but we can get something from what we know about the characters. I don't know if Zenigata would be all that into Jigen, but I reckon Zenigata fits Jigen's type to a T (if all those exes we've seen are to be believed). If things were different and Zenigata wasn't a cop hellbent on throwing them all in jail, he would probably try his luck. I've also read a fic or two where they get together out of mutual pining for Lupin, and b o y that's fun to unpack.

FujiJig:

It's really hard to place how exactly I feel about this ship tbh. On one hand, the dynamic they have is usually one of my favorite type of ships (anyone that knows me from Gorillaz knows that I'm a huge Russdoc shipper). On the other hand, I have never seen two characters more repelled by eachother lmao. Like even when they're being nice to eachother, I think the idea of being romantic disgusts them on a deep visceral level. And honestly? Good for them! I actually like that they can get along and not be into eachother. I think that's a trope that has been done to death and it's nice to just see them be (sort of) friends. I also believe that Jigen is 100% gay. I know that's something that is open to interpretation in the canon (whether he's gay or bi I mean, because he sure as fuck ain't straight), but I see a lot of myself in him and how he handles relationships, and I'm gay so yeah :) Basically, these two have sibling vibes more than anything, can't stand eachother but really do care about the other deep down. Tell ya what though, I do like the idea of them fighting over Lupin. I prefer it to be a friendly competition between them though, rather than anything with actual visceral.

JigLup:

Gee take a guess lmao. Honestly though, these two are my OTP. They have so much chemistry and compatibility, it's kind of shocking! Obviously, nothing has ever been outright stated, and I highly doubt anything ever will be stated, but there's a lot between them that is hard to read as just platonic. The cigarette lighting, the fierce loyalty and faith they have in eachother, the palatable JEALOUSY Jigen has anytime Lupin so much as looks at a woman. Like, how exactly are we supposed to take this? There's also the fact that Lupin admitted Jigen is "the most stable thing in his life" and holy shit if that isn't a significant role to assign to someone, especially for someone like Lupin. Honestly, I can talk all day about these two, but I wouldn't be saying anything that hasn't already been said a million times. It's a great ship and these idiots clearly are in love with eachother.