#shinichi was just like 'you don't have to prove yourself to me' and that was just

[marshmallowgoop]

Howdy hey Goop! I had a funny observation with the episode Heiji first appears in (episode 48 I believe.) specifically with the english FUNimation dub.

While he talks about wanting to meet Kudo/always compared to him, he says "I want to see if the great Jimmy (Shinichi) Kudo is talented enough to be in my league, if he is he'll be the first!"

I wonder what he meant by that? Like, as in rivalry, or as in friends? I'd love to hear your interpretation on this, you always have such intriguing opinions and interpretations on things!

Howdy! Thank you!

My response here will actually be fairly heavy and discuss abuse, so please proceed with caution. There will also be minor spoilers for Episode 263.

To really delve into this question, I feel like I have to start by saying that the view I have of Heiji is that of an incredibly insecure person who struggles immensely with feelings of inferiority. No truly confident person would (assumedly) hop on a plane to go "prove" that they're better than a peer in their field. But that's exactly what Heiji does.

And his self-doubt is, sadly, sensical. His father Heizo is Osaka's Chief of Police, who, as Ran states in the man's first appearance (Episode 77), "[is] always on TV whenever something happens in Osaka." Heizo is presented as a huge, well-respected public figure, and that's got to be a lot for Heiji to live up to. Even when Kazuha's father attempts to be encouraging after Heiji is insulted (more on that later), his words only help pile on the pressure (Episode 263):

Ginshiro Toyama: He's the spitting image of you when you were younger, Heizou. Who knows what he'll grow into?

So, it's no wonder that Heiji is so absolutely desperate to prove himself. He's got big shoes to fill, that he's seemingly expected to fill, and, more than that, every interaction I've seen between him and his father is uncomfortably negative. Despite being a capable, experienced, and well-renowned detective of his own, Heizo constantly dismisses his son and his abilities, only ever complimenting Heiji when it's paired with a stinging barb. The first time you ever see the two on screen together (Episode 77), I'm not sure if Heizo comes off worse in the original Japanese script (top) or in FUNimation's English localization (bottom):

Heizo (Japanese script): He's still green, but he's got good intuition.

Heizo (FUNimation English dub script): But don't be deceived by his appearance. He's actually a whole lot smarter than he looks.

...well, in retrospect, maybe it's obvious that the English dub makes it so much worse.

But the point is, Heizo isn't portrayed as an especially supportive father. As far as I've watched, he never once says that he's proud of Heiji, and his insults only grow to be more degrading after this initial snapshot of their relationship. When even Kogoro applauds Heiji's work in Episode 263, Heizo can only belittle him:

Kogoro: Like father, like son! He solved that case in record time.

Heizo: No, this dull-witted son of mine just likes to play detective sometimes. He's got a long way to go to catch up to you, Mouri.

Later in the episode, Heizo even physically assaults Heiji, going so far as to draw blood, in front of a crowd of people:

Heiji: Dad...

And as if that wasn't enough, he verbally assaults Heiji, too, flinging insult after insult at him (and this is really only a small sampling):

Heizo: He's just getting in the way! The spoiled brat let all this nonsense about "high school detectives" go to his head.

I know I've kind of been dancing around the original question here, but I think this background is crucial. While it might be argued that Heizo is simply trying to keep his son humble through his brand of parenting, I feel like his behavior and treatment of Heiji has instead helped nurture something very sad: a boy who gallivants around acting the exact opposite of humble to conceal the fact that he's dangerously insecure.

After all, as I said before, no truly confident person would (assumedly) hop on a plane to go "prove" that they're better than somebody else. Why would they?

So, when Heiji says that he wants to "[confirm] whether or not the great Jimmy [Shinichi] Kudo is talented enough to be in [his] league" in FUNimation's English dub of Episode 48, or that he "[wants to] see if Kudo Shinichi's really worthy of being compared to [him]" in the original Japanese script...

Heiji: I wanna see if Kudo Shinichi's really worthy of being compared to me.

I see a boy so desperately trying to convince himself that he is good at what he does. If he can best Shinichi—the person he's compared so much to in FUNimation's dub that he's even robbed of his own name, known by some only as "The Kudo of the West"—then it means he's not the dull-witted detective his father (at least openly) thinks of him as. It means he's not a worthless embarrassment.

That's how I view it, anyway. I don't think Heiji sought to befriend Shinichi at all when he left for Tokyo, or that he was looking for someone "worthy" of being his friend, but part of what I like so much about Heiji and Shinichi's eventual friendship is that it starts when Shinichi tells Heiji to stop with the comparisons and competitions. So much of Heiji's life has been defined by comparison; even when people around him are trying to treat him kindly, he's still compared to his father, and, of course, he's also compared to Shinichi.

But in that classic moment, Shinichi doesn't compare Heiji to anyone. He explains straight out that he sees no point in it. And I think that's really, endlessly freeing to Heiji, and it's part of why he admires and loves Shinichi as much as he does.