Current mood:	amused
Current music:	Someday we'll be drinking with the seldom seen kid.
Entry tags:	detective conan, detective conan/magic kaito, magic kaito, series:rooftop conversations

Title: Archetypes
Author: Icka! M. Chif
Word Count: 825
Warning: Crack
Rating: General
Author Notes: Random Crack because they wouldn't shut up. Thanks to Bex for discussing Shonen Sunday Series. Un-beta'd.
Summary: Conan and the Kaitou Kid decided they wanted to sit on a rooftop, eat sorbet and discuss anime archetypes. So they did.

---

“So you have two main types of heroes.” Conan lectured, waving his small wooden spoon around as he did so. “The ‘Naive but Pure Hearted’ character, which you are not-“

The Kaitou Kid snorted, his mouth full of raspberry sorbet.

”-And the ‘Tragic Hero trying to Make Up For Something In their Past’ type.”

”More like before my past started.” The thief muttered quietly, stabbing his ice with a vicious gesture. Conan was pretty sure that he wasn’t supposed to hear the comment, but kept his mouth shut, hoping that the thief would let more secrets drop.

”Of course, that’s assuming that you are in the hero role.” Conan couldn’t help but helpfully add as he dug into his lemon sorbet.

”Hah.” Kid snorted and kicked his feet slightly, heedless of the fact that the street was many stories below him. Of course, Conan was doing the same thing, but straddling the edge of the rooftop for safety. But what he could see of the thief’s face looked pleased.

When he’d opened up his copy of this week’s Shonen Sunday to read as an after-dinner treat, he’d been rather amazed to discover a note book marking the start of Ifrit: Danzai no Enjin. It simply asked what his thoughts on Yu and Ninami’s predicament versus the organisation that changed them were. On the bottom had been a caricature of the Kaitou Kid’s grinning face.

And on the back had been two words written in pen. ‘Rooftop’ and a time. Which lead him to the current predicament.

”I still can’t believe that you invited me up here to discuss the latest Shonen Sunday series.” Conan muttered. He was still slightly wary, unsure of what to make of the invitation, or the offer of sorbet. But it seemed that the Kaitou Kid mostly wanted a chance to relax and talk, so he was holding off on using Agasa’s toys. And he had to admit that the Italian Ices were good, after sampling a taste of the Kid’s to make sure they weren’t poisoned. “I don’t care what your real age is, aren’t you a bit old to be reading children’s books?”

The Kaitou Kid carelessly pointed to his nose. “Kid.” He said with a lazy shrug.

There were days that Conan could have cursed his father for mistaking the numbers ‘1412’ with the English letters ‘K-I-D’.

”There's not really anyone else I can discuss them with.” The Kid mused, talking with the small wooden spoon dangling from his lower lip. “S’not like I can walk up to Nakamori-keibu and ask what he thought of this week’s Hayate the Combat Butler.”

Now that was a scary thought. Right up there with Nakamori-keibu wearing Maria’s frilly apron. ”What about that other one?” Conan waved his spoon around in small circles. “The blond. Hakuba?”

He got the impression from the thief’s shadowed face that the Kid was raising a sceptical eyebrow at him. “Can you -see- him reading manga? I think the world would fall off its axis.”

... He had a point.

”Okay, so Shonen series archetypes, you have the Hero, the Best Friend and/or Sidekick, the Love Interest, the Magical Assistant, the emo Rival and the Evil Organisation.” The Kaitou Kid carried on, leaning back to look at the sky, his face still shrouded in shadow. “Not including helper characters, such as Grandparents, Mad Scientists, Fan Service and Racer X.”

”I still say you’re over-simplifying it.” Conan grumbled, digging out a particularly stubborn piece of ice from his sorbet and ignoring the Speed Racer reference.

The Kid waved a dismissive hand. “We could spend all night coming up with archetypes and mixing them together.”

Conan mused it over, coming up with at least nineteen different variations. He shrugged and ate his sorbet, refraining from agreeing with the thief. “If it was my series, it means that you’d be the mysterious helper from the shadows instead of the hero.”

”There are worse things.” Kid dismissed it. ”Besides, you’re obviously the second type of hero as well, ‘Making up for Sins of the Past’.”

Conan made a face at that. That was true, he was far from naïve, if he had ever been. ”Agasa-hakase is definitely the helper type.” Ran fell under both ‘Love Interest’ and ‘Best Friend’, seeing as they were childhood friends.

”What about that Shonen Tantei of yours?” The Kid asked thoughtfully. “I would think they’d see life as a Role Playing Game.”

They did fit the parameters listed, and there was the Mysterious Organisation that shrunk him as the Evil group. “Wait a minute.” His eyes narrowed as looked at the Kid, as patterns shifted and fell into a different alignment in his head. “If you switched it for ‘Naïve’ hero, that would make Mitsuhiko the Hero, Ayumi the Love Interest, Genta the Sidekick, Haibara the Magical User and me as the emo Rival.”

The experienced Rival, who knew everything that the Naïve Hero didn’t, helped to teach and push the Hero’s boundaries.

Conan slumped. “I’m not even the main character in my own series.”

The Kid patted him on the shoulder with a commiserating air. “At least you still have one.”

-fin-


Akemi's 19 Anime Archetypes (PDF format), Encyclopedia Dramatica's list of Animu Archetypes.
Ifrit and Hayate are current series running in Shonen Sunday, alongside Detective Conan. Speed Racer is not. Standard disclaimers apply.