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I said in my FujiLup divorce rant that the divorce is why everyone is acting the way they are and I wanted to elaborate:
I swear the divorce is why Goemon is so easily coerced into fighting Lupin by Enzo. I swear it’s the divorce and the fact there is no way in hell Lupin or Fujiko talked to him about it.
Fujiko didn’t talk to anyone about it. She just made vague comments at Zenigata and half assumed Lupin told everyone their business.
Lupin only talked to Jigen about it. He wasn’t actually going around trying to air out his and Fujiko’s dirty laundry to the world, he just needed to talk to someone, and that someone was Jigen!
it’s why Jigen isn’t thrown off by the mind game bullshit! He knows where he and Lupin stand with eachother! Lupin came to him after the divorce!
Goemon, meanwhile, is totally in the dark! he has no clue what happened between Lupin and Fujiko after the wedding and doesn’t feel like it’s his place to ask! And Lupin thinks he doesn’t want to know, which is why he hasn’t told him!
So while Fujiko and Lupin are testing and reestablishing their boundaries, Goemon (who I will remind you DOESNT UNDERSTAND HOW PEOPLELOG WORKS) isn’t able to figure out the group dynamic anymore. He’s been trying to get answers, but the ones he’s getting don’t really answer his questions! And it’s Lupin’s own shitty explanation of how peoplelog works that convinces Goemon that he has to figure out where he stands.
And Goemon only knows how to do that one way because he wasn’t exactly taught emotional coping skills alongside how to kill people.
He challenges Lupin to a fight, and Lupin knowing his friend in that moment realizes just how confused and honestly kind of terrified Goemon is in this moment. That’s why he agrees. He doesn’t WANT to fight Goemon, but they’re past the point of talking him down the point to talk him down was weeks ago.
So they fight. Goemon wins.
And Goemon realizes two things:
One, he sees the phantom of himself a version of himself he’s been fighting against since he met Lupin the version that’s just a killer and that’s what he’s really fighting here. The fear that he’s just a tool to be used, even by his closest friends.
And Two, he just hurt one of the few people who took the time to see him as more than a weapon.
It’s why he drops Zantetsuken.
It’s why he refuses to even touch the blade, instead rushing to Lupin’s side and trying to undo even some of the damage he inflicted.
And it’s seeing that realization on Goemon’s face, seeing him come back to himself, that has Lupin smiling before he collapses. Because Lupin, no matter how selfish he can be, is willing to put himself through HELL for his people.
So. Part 5 all takes place post divorce, we know this, which shapes why everyone is acting the way they are. That’s not the point of this I want to talk about what actually seems to happen with the divorce.
So. This whole thing is sort of set up for disaster, because the idea to marry Lupin comes in the wake of the Rebecca situation. Fujiko’s anger at the wedding is partially about the treasure and not being included but it’s more so about being caught off guard by the idea of Lupin getting married.
Women are constantly told that getting married is just something you will do. So even subconsciously Fujiko may have just been assuming that some day her and Lupin would get married. Not because she particularly wants to marry him (or anyone for that matter) but because getting married is just the thing you do.
That being the base this marriage is formed on already gives it this heavy weight of obligation and jealousy and like Lupin is making up for the Rebecca incident.
But despite this Lupin and Fujiko get married, and for a while it works. The marriage is shiny and new, and still entertaining enough for them. Lupin is enjoying being domestic and playing Mr. Husband and Fujiko always loved being doted on.
After a while, It’s Fujiko that realizes it’s not working. Lupin is playing Mr. Husband to the best of his ability, they’re in Paris, they’re supposed to be happy. But Fujiko realizes having Lupin has taken the thrill out of life. It’s bad enough they’re not stealing and scheming but she thought that with his personality, if anyone could make domestic life interesting it would be Lupin.
But there’s no chase, no thrill, no uncertainty. Not when they wake up in the same bed every morning, unless he’s gotten up early to surprise her with breakfast. He’s doting and loving and everything she should want.
But since when has Fujiko Mine ever done what she was Expected to.
So she leaves.
‘Adieu’ written in lipstick the only note she gives.
And here’s where it gets good (and tragic).
Lupin has two choices.
Chase her to the ends of the earth and refuse to let her go when he catches her, and to let her go.
Fujiko thinks she wants the chase, but really? If Lupin chased her down, caught her and refused to let go?
She’d hate him for it. She’d feel trapped and suffocated and everything good about the two of them would be gone in that moment. After that she’d be trying to Escape him. He’d be turning into just another man in her eyes.
So Lupin, knowing there’s no winning here, but at least that losing her for now means there will be a chance to have her again in the future, let’s go. He doesn’t fight it.
She’s mad he didn’t fight it, obviously. Why wouldn’t he fight it, doesn’t he care, doesn’t he want her?
He loses her in the short term.
But in the end that was the right choice.
Because she comes back.
They’re never going to be the same again. There’s always going to be this shadow on their relationship (which in my opinion is why the Part 6 kiss in the rain is so tragic), but they’re able to still be in each others lives. To have each-other in smaller ways, and that’s really the best outcome they could have asked for.