Japan Celebrates Detective Conan Couple After 28 Years of Waiting!
IMAGINE WAITING 28 YEARS FOR YOUR SHIP TO BECOME CANON! The wait was so long that Japan is now throwing a massive celebration.
Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama have finally become a couple in Detective Conan, and Japan is celebrating their long-awaited romance in style! After 28 years of watching the two stumble around their feelings for each other, fans can celebrate their relationship with advertising trucks, a themed boat, and even a special experience at one of Osaka’s most famous buildings.
Their relationship was confirmed on October 10, turning one of Detective Conan’s most anticipated romances into a reason to celebrate. After all, when a love story takes nearly three decades to move forward, even a simple confession deserves a celebration!
Detective Conan: Heiji and Kazuha Finally Get Together After 28 Years
Heiji Hattori, the talented teenage detective from Osaka, and Kazuha Toyama, his childhood friend, have spent years showing their feelings for each other without ever managing to make their relationship official.
Kazuha first appeared in the anime in 1998. Ever since then, fans have watched countless situations where it seemed like the two would finally confess their feelings, only for something to go wrong.
Let’s be honest: anyone who watches romance anime knows how this goes! Sometimes, characters need an entire season just to hold hands. In Heiji and Kazuha’s case, it took 28 WHOLE YEARS to reach this moment.
The thing is, their relationship is part of a much bigger story. Detective Conan, created by Gosho Aoyama, follows the investigations of Shinichi Kudo, a young detective who gets trapped in a child’s body after being poisoned by a criminal organization. Under the identity of Conan Edogawa, he continues solving cases while trying to get his original body back.
With so many mysteries to solve, Heiji and Kazuha’s romance has developed slowly throughout the series. But now, fans finally have a reason to celebrate!
Japan Celebrates the Romance With Trucks and a Boat in Osaka
The couple’s confirmation has sparked a special celebration on the streets of Osaka, Heiji’s hometown. According to reports from Livedoor News, the promotional campaign includes vehicles decorated with artwork celebrating their relationship.
Fans can check out the following attractions:
- Advertising trucks: Traveling through the Umeda, Shinsaibashi, and Namba districts until October 17.
- Themed boat: Cruising along Osaka’s Dotonbori River with celebratory advertisements. The boat is scheduled to depart daily at 4 p.m. until October 13.
If it took 28 years for a couple to get together, I’d celebrate with an advertising truck too!
And Osaka makes perfect sense as the setting for this celebration. Besides being the city associated with Heiji, it also plays an important role in his identity and his friendly rivalry with Conan.
Voice Actors Celebrate Heiji and Kazuha’s Confession
The excitement isn’t limited to fans. Ryo Horikawa, the Japanese voice actor behind Heiji Hattori, also shared his thoughts on this long-awaited moment.
He said he’d imagined several different ways the character might confess his feelings, including a straightforward declaration while looking Kazuha directly in the eyes. In the end, however, the confession happened more spontaneously, after so many failed attempts.
Kazuha ended up overhearing what Heiji had to say, and the situation led to the two finally confirming their feelings for each other.
Horikawa also joked that his character was one lucky guy and told him to take good care of Kazuha. The voice actor added that he’s rooting for the couple too, humorously declaring that he’s Heiji himself.
Meanwhile, Yuko Miyamura, Kazuha’s Japanese voice actress, celebrated the successful confession as well. She pointed out that everyone around the pair already knew they had romantic feelings for each other, but Heiji insisted on finding a spectacular location for his declaration, one worthy of competing with Big Ben.
The voice actress also highlighted an important detail: although the audience waited 28 years, that same amount of time hasn’t passed within the story’s timeline. A long-running anime’s broadcast history doesn’t necessarily match the amount of time its characters have experienced.
When Will Shinichi and Ran Finally Get Together?
Now that Heiji and Kazuha are officially a couple, it’s hard not to think about another relationship fans have been following for years: Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mori.
The main Detective Conan storyline also keeps their romance as an important part of the plot, while Shinichi continues trying to get his normal life back.
If Heiji and Kazuha becoming a couple has already inspired trucks, a boat, and a tourist attraction, just imagine the celebration when Shinichi and Ran take an even bigger step! Will Osaka launch another special campaign, or will the whole country join the party? After waiting 28 years for Heiji and Kazuha, fans surely have opinions about who deserves the next big celebration!