#zenigataposting

[larcenylupin]

lupin doing the mask-reveal to zenigata would just shatter him i think. ultimate demythification of lupin and thereby his own myth ends as well and now he's just an old man with very little going on in his life. bad times all around.

[larcenylupin]

when i do comic books i always do stupid scales evaluating character incarnations. loopzoops and their likelihood of cuddling:

part 1: increasingly unlikely and in fact every last bit of their dynamic is stored in the space they keep between them. the way they're framed constantly emphasises Meaningful Looks and Meaningful Distance. a butterfly flying past one of them and landing on the other is the height of intimacy. zenigata doesn't even strip search him himself. the only time i can think of them actually touching is when zenigata slaps on the cuffs in when the seventh bridge falls. that's one time in 23 episodes. and even then i don't think he touches him with anything other than metal. upon reflection i think being close would be unbearable for them

part 2: see they are slapstick bumping into each other and thumb wrestling and even throwing an arm around each other on occasion. and i guess one time lupin just started kissing his face. zenigata just gets a lot closer a lot more often. he's lost his dignity but gained the ability to be touched. they could hug and cuddle if lupin initiates it to tease him.

part 3: zenigata just huddles up to lupin at the slightest provocation i think. he allows it.

part 4: zenigata literally tried to hug him and hold him close and was foiled by the simple fact that he's too respectable. lupin considers him way too much of an actual threat to stay and cuddle about it. some part 1-style repression enters the picture as well, what with sitting back-to-back against those iron walls sixty centimeters thick. they trust each other deeply, but it's to behave predictably, not to avoid harming each other. i guess the pattern is: the deeper the fucked up brain connection is the less they can touch.

part 5: these two could manage a companionable shoulder-to-shoulder sort of thing. if it comes off as insincere at all then no dice but i think lupin could be mature about it for two seconds and it would be fine and indeed deeply comforting. much more straight-forward care and affection here.

part 6: unfortunately zenigata is a cardboard cutout in a trench coat.

[larcenylupin]

most comprehensible drafts in my possession

[larcenylupin]

saw those mamo storyboards and i'm sorry to put this so bluntly but when zenigata can't dedicate himself to lupin he doesn't dedicate himself to his job or other criminals he goes straight to dedicating himself to The Gods. like the only thing that's even close to equivalent is religious fervor.

[larcenylupin]

i think if zenigata had sex with a man even once he would be instantly cured. like he would quit his job on the spot and become an alpaca farmer. happy pride month

[larcenylupin]

i do think this doesn't really square with most of canon or zenigata's typical fan appeal but i really love the concept of him actually being lupin's exact moral equal. both are primarily invested in the narrative of their life and their own ego. they love each other because they love themselves and they feed into each other's self-perception. they both commit occasional acts of heroism and occasional acts of bastardry.

but ultimately zenigata values the narrative over the actual weight of his actions or else he'd be doing literally anything else. i can imagine how one might make the case that his pursuit of lupin is genuinely noble but i cannot buy it. he is doing that, as they say, for himself

[larcenylupin]

that episode is almost too fanficcy but imo the most genuinely shippy thing in it is actually that little moment where lupin, after being incredibly pissed off about zenigata stealing his gig the whole episode, does a little threemouth and goes, well, maybe he's happier like this. like, ultimately he would've accepted him as a rival copycat thief. that's insane. lupin accepting something as identity-threatening as zenigata switching sides just because it might let him live more happily is an INSANE level of care

[larcenylupin]

aough shut up 1) it's true 2) it's also true the other way around 3) it's one of my favourite most underrated tropes ever