DCTP Forums

I'd like to have your opinion on this

We know that Shinichi Kudo is a genius

This mainly has to do with his upbringing, both his parents being geniuses themselves.

His mother is a natural-born actress, while his father has posesses above average-intelligence.

Moreover, the Kudos seem to be quite wealthy. This allows Shinichi to travel around the world, pick up interesting skills and experience things few people have.

Oh, and he has an immense library, which is likely where Shinichi got most of his knowledge from. We do know he likes to read a lot.

Then we got to see a glimpse Shinichi's childhood. He's not even 5 yet, but we are shown that he already posesses a precocious intellect. He is unusually observant for his age, and he can even read Sherlock Holmes stories on his own. So yeah, Shinichi really is a genius.

Then there is the fact that, at the age of 17, he is already an accomplished detective.

I repeat, he is but a mere adolescent, but his skills surpass those of professional investigators.

To compare, let's take the example of the DDS class from the Tantei Gakuen Q manga. Like Shinichi, they have solved tons of criminal cases already.

However, they are still STUDENTS. Which means they are still training. They are still learning to devellop their skills as detectives.

But as I said, we never see Shinichi do that. He has a yearning for mystery novels, and is father took him to crime scenes since he was little. Adding to all that his genius intellect, vast culture and keen senses, this is what makes Shinichi an accomplished detective.


Now, going into the subject, let's talk about Heiji

His father is a high-ranking policeman, and his mother seems to be a housewife

He has a rather mundane upbringing. But compared to Shinichi, Heiji is a lot more hot blooded

His father is quite strong and strict, and his mother is described as very supportive. Plus she practices martial arts.

These traits seem to have be bestowed on their son.

He is very hard working, brave, impulsive and probably practices kendo to vent out all this energy he has

But the thing is, Heiji doesn't strike me as a genius like Shinichi.

So then, where does his detective skills come from ?

As I said, Heiji is very hard working (contrary to a genius), and he is also very determined

I don't picture him enjoying reading a lot of books like Shinichi would. But if he wants to do something, he would surely do it.

Heiji has to double efforts in order to be a detective, and to be able to gain all the knowledge he has, it is likely to he had to force himself into reading books

According to me, the fact that he wants to be a detective stems from three things

1) His father is a cop. A high-ranking one in fact. He admires his father and since he has grown into this environment, it is natural that he would be interested in criminal investigations

2) He is hot blooded as already stated. Just like kendo, catching criminals permits him to use all his energy and experience a satisfying feeling when he has succeeded in stopping the bas guys.

3) He is very competitive, so of course when he does something he wants to be the best in the world. Which is why he desires to be the best detective in the world

Now, contrary to Shinichi, Heiji is much more prone to errors (we see this in his first appearance and also teh Detective Koshien case)

Moreover, he is a little bit dense when is isn't in full concentration mode (almost always calling Conan 'Kudo' in front of others)

He is also reckless, he gets hurt more than anyone else in the manga. He hardly thinks before he decides to act. Conan is more of a planner or strategist. Heiji would just beat up anyone who annoys him.

And that is why I think that Heiji is not a genius detective, but just a hard working teenage boy

Technically, he deserves more praise than Shinichi, whose skills were practically handed to him from his birth

Heiji is just a level below that of genius Shinichi thanks to sheer determination, and that is an accomplishment

But the thing is that to be considered Shinichi's rival you have to be considerably better than most. Also he has his status as the great detective of the west and when you look at our latest teen detective Masumi it honestly seems like Conan doesn't even pay attention to her since she isn't on his level. Conan and Heiji have cases where they were both wrong until the last hint kicks in and they would have had hell of a time trying to catch the culprit if they were alone like the 20 year old murder intent and whenever the setting is bigger than one apartment.

k11chi wrote:But the thing is that to be considered Shinichi's rival you have to be considerably better than most. Also he has his status as the great detective of the west and when you look at our latest teen detective Masumi it honestly seems like Conan doesn't even pay attention to her since she isn't on his level. Conan and Heiji have cases where they were both wrong until the last hint kicks in and they would have had hell of a time trying to catch the culprit if they were alone like the 20 year old murder intent and whenever the setting is bigger than one apartment.

I don't think we ever saw Sera's full potential though

Clearly, Shinichi is the better detective between the two of them, he is a natural talent for this and his upbringing & parents were major influences in shaping his character.

Although Heiji pales in comparison, I'm not sure if he can't be called a genius. He is less genius than Shinichi. Is there such a thing? We rarely really see Heiji solving cases all alone, but when he does, he is quite good at it. It's Shinichi who is too much of a genius and not Heiji being just an average intelligent boy who strives to be a detective.

We don't really know too much about how much Heiji read or how he enjoyed them, although he read the classics mystery novels and reads modern, recently published mystery novels too, that is for sure. He is definitely not an otaku, I agree, but Shinichi is a total mystery freak. However just because Heiji is not an otaku it doesn't mean that he is not well read. And reading does not define natural talent. It just helps to develop it.

I don't think that Heiji was born that much less of a genius than Shinichi, that he would need extra efforts to be on Shinichi's level, it is just that Heiji's character is different from Shinichi's and Shinichi's characteristics are more suited to be a really good detective than Heiji's and it always clearly shows.

Heiji is more immature than Shinichi and he is not as sophisticated as him. Shinichi understands grown-up, mature things better, or rather he can sense them a bit better than Heiji. It seems like Shinichi understands people's hearts better.

It is true, as you said, that if Heiji wants to be a greater detective he needs to work on his character and faults more than Shinichi.