YMMV / Zig & Sharko

• Designated Hero: Sharko might be heroic in several ways, but several moments show that he can play as dirty as Zig. This is ESPECIALLY prevalent in season 1. Season 1 examples, include "Marina's New Friend", he forces Zig to masquerade as another mermaid, endangering his girlfriend. He does the same thing in "Sharko and His Folks" because his parents do not accept his Interspecies Romance. He shaves basically everyone on the island and almost shaves Zig, (and later uses him as a replacement for his dorsal fin after Bernie used it to create a hair growth serum) in "Hair Story" just to make a wig for Marina. He openly flirts with another mermaid in the "Manic Mermaid", although Marina is his girlfriend. In "Goin' Home", Sharko cries about how much he misses beating up Zig.
  • It should be stressed that he DOES get better season 2 onward, though shades of season 1 can pop up as seen with "The Parsley".
• Draco in Leather Pants: Despite him clearly having no interest in Marina besides eating her, a couple of fans think Zig is trying to eat her because he loves her so much.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Probably due to them being Friendly Enemies (at least when Marina is out of the picture), some fans ship Zig and Sharko themselves.
• Ho Yay: There are fans who ship Zig and Bernie, likely due to them being close Heterosexual Life-Partners. Though many have jumped ship after learning the two are step-brothers.
• Jerkass Woobie: Yea, Zig is a sneaky rat bastard. But it's hard not to feel bad for him considering everything the show puts him through. He's widely disliked, easily suffers the most physical abuse out of all the characters (although he's an Iron Butt Monkey), frequently goes hungry, and Sharko often abuses him.^note While at least some of what Sharko does to Zig is justified, it doesn't change that he can go too far (e.g. "Rockstar Marina"). Sometimes you just gotta root for him even if you know Failure Is the Only Option.
• Obscure Popularity: The series is very popular, with its official YouTube channel having over 14 million suscribers, but it is not talked about much nor does it have the same level of recognition as other Xilam productions such as Oggy and the Cockroaches.
• Ron the Death Eater: Yes, Zig isn't the greatest person in the show. However, a couple people portray him as sexually assaulting Marina, which he clearly wouldn't do in canon.
• Rooting for the Empire: Likely due to what a Jerkass Woobie he is, some viewers want Zig to eat Marina.
• Self-Fanservice:
  • Probably because she's a Ms. Fanservice, some people draw Marina as even more fanservice-y than she is in the show.
  • While Sharko isn't ugly in canon, some artists actually portray him as a Mr. Fanservice.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: While the titular Sharko has his moments, Sharky from "The Rival" deserves a special mention. Everyone else in the show originally sides with him despite him constantly antagonizing Sharko just because he threw a sandwich on his face and laughed at him once. And it was back when they were both children.

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