#but I also pretty much love gosho sensei's rom com shenanigans

[alexiethymia]

shinran and kaiao

parallels, or perhaps contrasts 

Shinichi has to act younger than he is as Conan. Kaito has to act older than he is as Kaitou Kid,

so it makes a lot of sense why Ran and Aoko appeal to them immensely on top of the numerous other reasons these boys are in love with their childhood friends. 

For all that Gosho has made the two couples look alike (since Shinichi and Ran are in a way an iteration of Kaito and Aoko from his earlier work on Magic Kaito), he keeps things different enough that you can enjoy both ships uniquely.

Ran is often thought to be mature for her age. She fits the gentle and mothering archetype quite well. Even characters older than her, namely Ai, has seen a resemblance of their older sister figures in her. I definitely agree with some fics that Shinichi’s primary attachment is Ran. At four years old he was already drawn to her so quickly. 

In contrast, Aoko’s childishness is repeatedly emphasized, from her way of talking to other people’s comments about her, namely Akako. Akako makes a point to differentiate the both of them by emphasizing to Kaito how mature and adult-like she is, while wondering why Kaito keeps bothering with someone as immature as Aoko. 

But that’s the thing, I think that’s one of the things about Aoko which comforts Kaito. He has to play at being the dreamy, older gentleman thief half the time, and while there’s no doubt he enjoys it, I’m sure it also gets tiring being the object of affection (and you know, target by some shady men in black) of countless people who only see Kid. Meanwhile, Aoko cares not a whit for Kid but cares so much for Kaito. With Aoko, he can just play around like in the past without the weight of having to keep up a persona. 

In addition, while Kaito and Heiji can appreciate a cute face apart from that of their love interests, Shinichi is...there’s no other word for it, he’s Ran-sexual. Ok, joking aside, I think it’s partly true? I mean in situations where Kaito or Heiji would blush even if it isn’t with their love interests (like with Akako or Momiji respectively), Shinichi...doesn’t? Or hardly does at least. 

I remember the Bird’s Eye View Restaurant case, aka where Shinichi nearly seduced an older woman and Takagi was panicking about how to intervene, he does all that without any fluster or a hint of a blush. Even when he and his classmates were talking about the ‘hot, foreign teacher’ (Jodie-sensei), the anime did make him sound eager, but upon rereading the manga there wasn’t even a blush, and his expression was more like curious. In other words, Ran has had Shinichi wrapped around her tiny little pinky since age four.

I’m sure there have been instances but so far, besides anything related to Ran, the only times I saw him have a blush was on the cover where Sato was wearing her omiai kimono, and some times when other couples have moments (like when Sonoko held Makoto’s hands or with some Heizuha moments). I probably just haven’t seen some of the others, but honestly the two above are pretty cute by themselves. 

Even when Kaito and Aoko act similarly to Heiji and Kazuha, there are some differences there too. Like in Heizuha’s case, Kazuha was the one who knew early on that she was in love with Heiji, while in KaiAo’s case, if the recent relationship chart is to be believed, Kaito ‘loves everything about Aoko’ but Aoko isn’t sure about her feelings for Kaito (which again makes sense considering her innocent persona). 

And again, this is mildly hilarious to me, that Kaitou Kid, practically everyone’s dream boy, beloved by millions...has a pretty crappy love life, and he has no one to blame but himself. Because teasing the girl you like by calling her flat-chested doesn’t exactly scream romance. 

No wonder Aoko can’t see Kaito liking her (that has a lot of angst potential, but let’s keep things lighthearted for now). I guess I fell in love with KaiAo so fast because of the hilarious irony of how Kaito can charm anyone as Kaitou Kid being the smooth talker that he is, but reverts back to the mentality of a grade schooler who always puts his foot in his mouth or a frog stuck in his throat when it concerns his feelings for Aoko, and that’s not even counting the canyon of secrets between them.

tldr: I have a lot of feelings for shinran, kaiao, and heizuha that I needed to get off my chest haha