Heiji Hattori

Heiji Hattori
Profile
Japanese name:	服部 平次 (Hattori Heiji)
English name:	Harley Hartwell
Age:	17
Gender:	Male
Date of birth:	unknown
Relatives:	Heizo Hattori (father) Shizuka Hattori (mother)
Nicknames:	Hei-chan (Otaki) "The Great Detective of the West"
Statistics
First appearance:	Manga: Chapter 92 Anime: Episode 48
Appearances:	Chapters: 213 Chapters: 13 Episodes: 108 Movies: 10 OVAs: 7 Specials: 4 Openings: 40 Closings: 10
Cases solved:	All cases with Conan
Keyhole number:	Volume 10
Actors
Japanese voice:	Ryo Horikawa
English voice:	Kevin M. Connolly

Heiji Hattori (服部 平次 ,Hattori Heiji), also known as Harley Hartwell in the Funimation dub, is a character in the manga and anime series Detective Conan. He is a childhood friend of Kazuha Toyama.

Background

Heiji is the son of Heizo Hattori, chief of the Osaka Police Department, and his wife Shizuka Hattori. Heiji wants to become a detective, and his father is very supportive of this, helping him solve tough cases. However, his father has given him tough love, though mostly for the sole purpose of having Heiji get him to bring a suspect out. Heiji is also very skilled in kendo and has become a favored tournament contender for his school.

At one time during their childhood, Heiji had had the unfortunate idea of locking himself and his friend Kazuha together with a set of old handcuffs which had no key to unlock it; as a result they involuntarily had to spend time together even on some rather intimate occasions (i.e., bathroom visits) before the cuffs could be removed. As a reminder of this 'closeness' and for good luck, Kazuha fashioned two identical lucky charms, each incorporating a chain link from the cuffs, which she and Heiji have been wearing ever since.

Heiji attempting to disguise himself as Shinichi to alleviate Ran's suspicions.

One day, Heiji popped into Kogoro's detective agency looking for Shinichi Kudo. He had been publicly declared the Great Detective of the West, while Kudo was the Great Detective of the East, so he tried finding him to see who would win in a showdown of wits. (In fact, they had such a contest before, three years previously, during a skiing trip in the Yamagata prefecture, although they never learned about each other's identities at that time.) However, after Conan temporarily turned back into Shinichi, Heiji was soundly defeated in the case, but gained a lot of respect for Kudo.

During their second encounter, Conan knocked Heiji out to solve the on-going case, but during his presentation Heiji awoke prematurely and discovered Conan's secret. Ever since that revelation and after learning the truth about it, Heiji has been helping Conan in hiding his secret identity, though he occasionally slips up by calling him "Kudo" in front of Ran.

Heiji has helped Conan investigate the Black Organization on several occasions, such as when the two investigated Jodie Starling , or when Heiji investigated Eisuke Hondou on his own and then told Conan his findings. He's also helped cover for Conan during several of the brief instances where he regained his body and has even disguised himself as Shinichi on several occasions in order to protect his identity. When not working on a case, he regularly attempts to invite Conan to take in the sights and culinary delights of Osaka, which he considers more delightful than Tokyo's.

Personality

Even while solving a case, Heiji tends to be lighthearted and good-humored, preferring to work through it with a grin on his face. He is a big fan of baseball, and is most of the time shown wearing an Osaka cap, to support the local Osaka baseball team. He usually wears his cap with its visor pointed backward, but if he feels challenged, he turns the visor forward.

Despite him knowing the value and necessity of remaining calm in the face of a crime, Heiji tends to be impulsive at times, which tends to cloud his judgment a little. This was discussed directly in the "Detective Koushien" case, when Saguru Hakuba accused Heiji of being a poor detective for disrupting a crime scene in his rush to see if the victim could still be saved. Heiji, however, solved the case in the end, and retorted to Saguru that the detective's first job is to prevent death if he can. Heiji is also known to be extremely protective of those he values as close friends, and tries hard to keep them out of harm. There's several instances where Hattori tells Kazuha to wait for him or leaves her behind in order to keep her from being involved in cases, simply because he's afraid of her getting hurt.

Furthermore, he's pretty much always watching Shinichi's back, and does whatever he can to not only keep the boy safe, but to keep his identity under cover. Although he is very competitive when it comes to detective cases, when a case gets hot, he and Shinichi work effectively together. During Shinichi's first return to his high school during the play performance, Heiji let him take the lead role in the investigations, saying it was because they were in Tokyo, Shinichi's turf.

Although he frequently mocks Kazuha for her superstitions and enthusiasm for good-luck charms, Heiji has several times revealed that he puts more trust in them than he would admit. He once dreamed of Shinichi being murdered, and out subsequently insisted that Conan wear his omamori, the good luck charm Kazuha gave him. The omamori ended up saving Shinichi's life by deflecting a knife blow, but Heiji, without his usual protection, was shot in the stomach.. In another case, Ran hung a teruterubozu, a charm that's supposed to ensure good weather, in the window so that Conan would have good weather for his field trip the next day. Heiji, however, stayed up late to take down the teruterubozu so that Conan's field trip would be rained out and he could accompany Heiji on an investigation..

Appearance and Skills

Heiji has dark brown hair and dark skin, and his eyes are normally dark green but have occasionally been drawn as blue. He speaks with a strong Kansai Ben accent, typical of the Osaka region. He also speaks fluent English.

Heiji, like the other 'geniuses' of Detective Conan, has shown himself to have an eidetic memory, capable of remembering complex letter and number sequences at only a glance, such as when he was able to solve a code in his head during the "Heiji and Kazuha in Grave Danger" arc, and even reproduce another message using the same code to text to Conan.

As Shinichi is to soccer, so is Heiji to kendo. He's the fifth position, or taisho, and captain of his high school Kendo team. He is also a capable motorcycle driver.

Plot overview

Main Article: Heiji Hattori Appearances.

The Great Detective Of The West

One day, Conan (using his Voice-Changer Tie to imitate his old voice) calls Ran to tell her once again that he is all right and that he is still stuck with the 'special case' when Ran hangs up on him as someone has just entered the detective agency. Coming home, Conan finds to his surprise that the 'customer' is a youth who keeps demanding to see Shinichi Kudo. When Ran mentions that Shinichi has just called, without asking about Ran's state, the youth deduces that Shinichi must actually nearby, watching Ran from afar. Then he introduces himself as highschool detective Heiji Hattori and presents a gift, a bottle of baijiu, of which he gives Conan a swig. Just then, Kimie Tusjimura, the wife of a known diplomat, enters Kogoro's office to ask him to investigate the girlfriend of her son. In order to be inconspicious, Kogoro takes Ran and Conan along, and Heiji, hoping to flush out Shinichi, tags along as well. What is originally meant to be a simple investigation job turns out to be a murder case, as they find Kimie's husband slain at his desk.

Finding the One Truth

After this first case, it only takes one more run-in with Conan to get Heiji thinking about the similarities between Conan and Shinichi. It is on the "Holmes Freak Murder Case" that Heiji, despite professing a preference for Ellery Queen, exercises the Holmesian axiom: "When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Heiji thus discovers Conan's secret, which forces Conan to explain his situation to Heiji.

Fast Friends

On their third case together, Conan was initially irritated to see Heiji, but they quickly formed a strong team. Together they cornered the murderer and even took steps to preventing the suicide she had planned. When she realizes that she won't be able to kill herself she weeps piteously, causing Heiji to whisper to Conan, "perhaps we should have let her died." Conan replies that "a detective who corners a murderer with logic and then lets them commit suicide is no better than a murderer."

Although Heiji seemed to laugh this off at the time, soon after he invites Conan (and Kogoro Mouri and Ran Mouri, because otherwise it'd look suspicious) to Osaka. It is revealed by Kazuha Toyama (in her first appearance) that Heiji has been talking about 'Kudo' so often that Kazuha thought 'Kudo' was his new Tokyo girlfriend. Heiji suggests that the reason he invited Conan to Osaka is because he has been worried about Conan's safety; he has had dreams of Conan being murdered. On a case together in Osaka, Heiji gives Conan his omamori, which ends up saving his life by deflecting a knife thrust. However, without it Heiji is injured while trying to prevent the murderer from committing suicide. In the ambulance, he reveals to Conan that he has taken to heart Conan's admonishment.

A Friend in Need

Since that time, Heiji has quickly grown to be one of the people that Conan/Shinichi trusts most. Heiji has helped Conan investigate the Black Organization, including Jodie Starling, has disguised himself as Shinichi on multiple occasions to protect his identity, and has, perhaps most importantly, become Conan's closest friend and confidante.

Relationships analysis

Family & Friends

• Kazuha Toyama

Heiji's relationship with Kazuha Toyama is a very close one; they were childhood friends, and have stayed close through the years. Their relationship gets mistaken for a romantic relationship by everyone, even though they claim that they don't have that sort of relationship or feelings for each other. Heiji is clueless when it comes to love and has not yet realized he has actual feelings for Kazuha. However, he has shown that he is protective of her when she is with other guys and says that he will never let her get hurt no matter what. Kazuha knows she has feelings for Heiji, as she shows this by being protective and chasing off other women that might have a interest in him. Also, they have the same situation as Ran and Shinichi, being childhood friends that have romantic feelings for each other and have the same background as them. Heiji is a teenage detective and she is a police's daughter, like Ran is a police's daughter and Shinichi is a teenage detective. They are even called the 'Ran and Shinichi of Osaka' by fans of the series, since they're so similar. Although they are constantly fighting, they both are very close friends. It is also shown in the seventh movie, Crossroad in the Ancient Capital, that Kazuha is Heiji's first love, though he didn't know it was her at the time.

• Shinichi Kudo

Heiji acts rather brotherly towards Shinichi, even going so far as to pretend to be him on various occasions, so no one figures out that Shinichi and Conan are the same person. Of course, this might also be to make up for all the times Heiji calls him Kudo, which has nearly given Shinichi away multiple times. Heiji can be a little bit worried for Shinichi when he gets into trouble and in a life or death situation. They are as close as real brothers, both being detective's and having feelings for their childhood friends. When they're caught solving a case together, it's not unusual for their minds to move in sync; because of this and several other factors, they maintain a sort of friendly rivalry with each other, although when a case gets serious, they are both all business. Heiji has, on several occasions, declared himself to be Shinichi's best friend.

Character popularity

• eBookJapan held a character popularity poll from April 12, 2011 to May 12, 2011 in which readers of Detective Conan (international included) could vote for their favorite character. Heiji placed 6th in the poll with 261 votes out of the 5,883 that were cast.

Name origin

• Heiji's name comes from fictional Edo period police detective Zenigata Heiji (銭形 平次 ) and famous samurai and ninja Hattori Hanzou (服部 半蔵 ).

Quotes

“	Humans are suspicious and jealous creatures. When they see something perfect, they wanna find a flaw.	„

“	We can see the importance of life only because it is short.	„

Trivia

• Heiji has become somewhat infamous for the amount of injuries he has sustained throughout the series. A fan-compiled full list can be found here.
• Heiji, along with Shinichi, Kaito and Saguru Hakuba, are sometimes referred to as 'The Four Geniuses' or 'The Gosho Boys' by fans.

See also

• Characters
• Heiji Hattori Appearances
• ' Ahou Calling,' a fan-made Hattori Heiji reference site].
• Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama