#really sad i didn't finish another essay about them for the zine! but maybe someday....

[marshmallowgoop]

I've lived different lives

The Shinichi-POV AMV I edited to pair with my Heiji-POV AMV for COMPASS: A HeiShin Anthology, which you can download for free and read all about @haidocityzines!

Like Heiji's video, Shinichi's also uses a song by Fly By Midnight, "Different Lives," which took all of one listen for me to want to make a HeiShin AMV set to it. The zine includes a short essay with more details and thoughts, but to expand a little, in the time since I finished this video, I've written about what I think would be "the most narratively tragic ending for HeiShin," arguing that it would be either of them dying:

Shinichi becomes Conan because he does not rely on others or ask for help. (After all, if he trusted Ran to follow Vodka with him, there’s no way events would have carried out like they do.) Through being Conan, he’s somewhat forced to rely on others and ask for help, but when it comes to Heiji, it’s really a choice. He wants to investigate cases together. He wants Heiji to help him. So, if Heiji were to die in a case or in the fight against the Black Organization, I could see Shinichi falling back into his pre-Conan days. Relying on Heiji and trusting him got him killed. It’s better to do things alone, to not let anyone in. The progress Shinichi’s made throughout the series would be undone.

And that's something I was going for with the video, too. Shinichi is terrified of losing his loved ones, but there's a different level of terrified when it comes to losing Heiji. Because Heiji is someone he trusts. Heiji is someone he lets in. To lose that would be debilitating. Render him hopeless.

Because that's another thing about Heiji: he's hope. His alcohol (Episodes 48-49) serves as the first cure to APTX 4869. It gives Shinichi, literally, the first taste of victory—of undoing the poison, of taking the Organization down. Shinichi's life was so different before Heiji, and to be left without him... that's unfathomable. Terrifying.

Ramblings aside, this AMV can also be viewed on YouTube, in full 1080p and with optional subtitles, here!