The Revived Phantom Thief (Manga)
| N/A | List of Chapters | The Police Are Everywhere › |
| Magic Kaito Chapter 1 | |
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| Title: | The Revived Phantom Thief |
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| Japanese title: | 蘇る怪盗 (Yomigaeru Kaitō) |
| Original release: | May 27th, 1987 |
| Shōnen Sunday issue: | #26/1987 |
| Volume: | 1 |
| Pages: | 34 |
| Anime adaptation: | Special 1: The Revived Phantom Thief Episode 1: The Revived Phantom Thief Kid |
The Revived Phantom Thief (蘇る怪盗 Yomigaeru Kaitō) is the very first chapter of the Magic Kaito manga and the first chapter of the first volume. It was written and drawn by Gosho Aoyama with some help by his present assistants (fellow students and members of the Nekketsu Manga Konjō-kai back then) and originally appeared in the Shōnen Sunday issue #26/1987, released on May 27th, 1987. It depicts the origin of the current incarnation of the phantom thief Kaitou Kid, being the high school student Kaito Kuroba, as well as the motivations for his actions.
Contents
Characters
Introduced
In order of introduction:
Gadgets
Introduced
In order of introduction:
| Card Gun | |
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 |
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Heist
Settings
Introduced
In order of introduction:
- Tokyo
- Unnamed jewellery
- Ekoda
- Minato
- Toshima
- Ono Bank
- Chūō
- Ginza
- Fujiya Store (Background)
- Ginza
- Chiyoda
- Kioi
- Hotel New Otani (Background)
- Kioi
Plot
The Return
The phantom thief Kaitou Kid, who has seemingly left the face of the Earth eight years ago, is suddenly active again - as evidenced by the professionally carried out robbery committed by a masked person with Kid's trademark white top hat and suit, who recently appeared in Tokyo, as witnessed by two guards during a gem theft, who are flabbergasted by his apparent skill of turning his body invisible. The events from the previous night are the number 1 topic of the students at Ekoda High School, too. Only Aoko Nakamori - the daughter of inspector Ginzo Nakamori, who was already in charge of the hunt for the Kaitou Kid eight years ago - seems to be less enthusiastic about this and more concerned about the troubles her childhood friend Kaito Kuroba, an avid hobby magician, is giving her again. His attempt to distract her with a doll of himself, trying to catch a peek under her skirt, proves her assumption right, whereupon she chases him across the classroom with a mop, despite the fact that the math lesson with their teacher Erika Konno has already started.
Despite their argument, both are able to casually answer the teacher's questions, which only leaves her frustrated after Kaito fires a playing card gun across the room. Aoko then gets a hold of Kaito's ego by telling him that all his tricks are nothing compared to the performances that the Kaitou Kid pulled off on a regular basis, whereupon he apparently disappears in front of everyone's eyes, for which he gets applause even from the teacher. Aoko, on the other hand, is certain that Kaito will never be able to compete with Kid. Meanwhile, her father, inspector Nakamori, is in a state of excitement at the Minato Police Station because Kaitou Kid has already sent his next announcement: At exactly 11.54 pm he wants to steal the "Eye of the Moon" from Ono Bank. Nakamori prefers Kid's note to show up over an urgent investigation into a murder, and prepares to catch him for good after eight years of inactivity.
The Secret Room
When he gets home, Kaito also sees the news report about Kid's announcement on TV and looks at the portrait of his father Toichi Kuroba, who was a world-famous stage magician and illusionist; in his sons's eyes the best in the whole world. He died eight years ago during a stage show, which was recorded by the police as an accident. Kaito recalls a performance by his father that Aoko and he went to when they were both young. Kaito teased little Aoko, whereupon his father admonished him not to annoy the "lady" and explained to him that regardless of what happens and no matter whether the situation looks good or bad, Kaito should never forget his "poker face" - that is, to never let other people guess the cards you hold and to put on a confident face at all times in order to remain in control of the situation. When Kaito, back in the present, touches his father's portrait, it suddenly starts to rotate and thus triggers a mechanism that throws him directly into a secret room full of technical gadgets and old stuff.
In the meantime, Aoko arrives at the Kuroba's house and meets Kaito's mother, Chikage Kuroba. Aoko finally wants to get back at Kaito and asks her to reveal Kaito's greatest weakness, which she actually does. Both hear the sound of the secret room mechanism and Chikage realizes that Kaito has found his father's room, while Aoko is just puzzled by what it could have been. Kaito first looks around the secret room, confused, listens to Toichi's old and unfortunately incomplete tape recording, and, to his own confusion, notices Kaitou Kid's costume inside. Full of unanswered questions, Kaito decides to put on Kid's costume himself, wanting to confront the currently active Kaitou Kid at night on the roof of the Ono Bank, since his father apparently had a connection to him and the phantom thief might have something to do with his death.
The Heist
Night falls and it is only minutes before the time announced by the Kaitou Kid. Both the police and the currently active Kaitou Kid, as well as Kaito Kuroba count the last seconds. At 11.54 pm, Kaitou Kid appears in front of the pedestal with the Eye of the Moon and takes it. In tears due to the joy about his return, inspector Nakamori and his unit follow Kid up to a window through which he jumps into the depth. However, the officers standing on the ground level notice that it's just a doll which was used as a distraction. The inspector and Kaito also saw through this trick and realized that Kid will flee in the opposite direction, to the roof of the bank, where Kaito Kuroba is already waiting for Kid and confronts him with the fact that his tricks are "not worthy of a Kaitō (gentleman/phantom thief)".
In the duel that follows, Kaitou Kid uses his invisible body trick again, which initially horrifies Kaito Kuroba, but shortly afterwards thinks about his father's saying: Never forget to put on your poker face. After a brief pretended laugh about this trick being cheap, used to gain some time to analyze the situation, he understands it: Kid wears a suit made of mirrors that reflect the nightly scene, causing it to seemingly merge with the dark environment and create the optical illusion of an invisible body. Kaito uses his playing card gun to shoot the mask and mirror suit off of Kid, who then turns out to be just an old man named Konosuke Jii who believes to recognize his former master Toichi in Kaito Kuroba. He reveals to him that he was posing as the Kaitou Kid because he wanted to lure his murderers out of their hiding place, who have killed him eight years ago in a staged-up accident. Kaito is shocked by what he learns and Jii realizes too late that he is the son of his former master. At that moment, Kaito Kuroba makes a decision: From now on, he will take on the role of a phantom thief as the third Kaitou Kid, in order to find out about the murder for himself, as well as to find the persons responsible and avenge his father's death. He enables Jii to escape and draws all the policemen's attention to himself before he escapes - as in the classroom before - by apparently simply disappearing into thin air, only leaving a rose for the inspector.
The Epilogue
The next day at Ekoda High School: Kaito Kuroba examines the Eye of the Moon and thinks about its value of four million yen. However, his thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Aoko, who, thanks to the revelation of Chikage, brought along exactly what Kaito deeply fears: a fish. In the ensuing chaos, Kaito loses the gem, which is swallowed up by the large fish in Aoko's arms. Kaito then confides to her that this fish is worth four million yen. Later on, when her father, the inspector, prepares the fish, he finds the Eye of the Moon, leaving him with a puzzled reaction.
Omake
The Omake for chapter 1 depicts the "film shooting" of its story - more precisely the scene on the roof of Ono Bank when Kaito Kuroba asked Konosuke Jii whether his father Toichi Kuroba actually was the phantom thief Kaitou Kid. The director, Gosho Aoyama, interrupts the shooting because Kaito is wearing the monocle on the wrong side of his face.
Continuity
- Toichi Kuroba's purported death or, alternatively, Kaitou Kid's vanishing is established as happening eight years before this chapter.
- The plot of the chapter takes place over two subsequent days: Konosuke Jii's theft shortly after midnight on the first page, the following morning hours at school up to Kaito Kuroba's and Jii's meeting on the roof of the Ono Bank that night, and the following school day.
- Jii's first heist at the beginning of the story was at 12.42 am of the first day.
- The students of Ekoda high school wear their winter uniforms (October 1st - May 31st) in the chapter.
- It is waxing moon 🌒 (first quarter) during the nights in this chapter.
Referenced in
- Hustler vs. Magician (MK Manga: 13): Aoko Nakamori puts on a fish-patterned underwear to scare Kaito Kuroba at the Blue Parrot Pool Bar after intentionally provoking him to look under her skirt again like he did in this chapter, where she also learned about his fear of fish from his mother, Chikage Kuroba.
Errors
- During Kaito Kuroba's and Konosuke Jii's conversation on top of the roof of the Ono Bank, the moon phase changes from a waxing to a waning moon for one panel.
Real Life Models
Crossing in the fourth block of Ginza
The crossroads the helicopters pass close to the end of the first chapter to catch Kaitou Kid is a real crossing in the fourth block of Ginza (Chūō Ward, Tokyo), especially identifiable by the Fujiya Store to the left.
The view would thus be to the southeast, with the helicopters in consequence flying to the northeast to reach Ono Bank (which probably was a nod to the Tokyo Bank, which indeed was located in the Nihonbashi District, to the northeast of Ginza, back then (before merging with Mitsubishi Bank and moving to Chiyoda Ward), which is supported by the fact that "Ono" was a generic placeholder word for terms with "Tokyo" and "Japan" in it, used by Gosho in the same vein as "Tōto" nowadays). Interestingly, this intersection is right next to another famous crossroad in Ginza, in which Kid did his teleportation in Detective Conan later on.
Fourth block Ginza crossing in real life.
Fourth block Ginza crossing in chapter 1.
Ekoda High School
Ekoda High School, in this incarnation of the story, is very probably based on the main building (#3) on the Ekoda Campus of Musashi University, right next to the Ekoda Campus (fine arts) of Nihon University, where Gosho Aoyama and Yutaka Abe (a past mentor and current assistant of his) studied and lived, also not far away from Ekoda Station, which was close to Gosho's apartment.
Interestingly enough, building #3 was a high school once and what is the Ekoda Campus of Nihon today once housed another high school associated with the university, called Ekoda High School(jp) (also shortened as 江古田高校 (Ekoda kōkō), like the school in the manga), which closed in 1976 and is also used as a university building today. All of the mentioned campuses and buildings are located in the adjacent neighbourhoods of Asahigaoka(jp) and Toyotamakami(jp) in Nerima Ward, right at a quadripoint it shares with the wards of Toshima, Nakano (where the actual Ekoda District is located at the border with Nerima) and Shinjuku. Ekoda High School was first used by Yutaka Abe in 100% Tantei Monogatari in 1986 (set in the same universe as Magic Kaito and made with the assistance of Gosho).
Ekoda Campus of Musashi University
Ekoda High School
Hotel New Otani
During Kaito Kuroba's and Konosuke Jii's fateful encounter, a night-time view of Hotel New Otani Tokyo and its surroundings in the Kioi District of Chiyoda Ward can be seen.
Hotel New Otani in real life.
Hotel New Otani (right) in chapter 1.
Crossovers
100% Tantei Monogatari
- Ekoda High School originally was one of the main settings of 100% Tantei Monogatari, inspired by the area its author Yutaka Abe and his assistant Gosho Aoyama lived in and studied at. The latter used this educational facility for his own works later on, starting with the first chapter of Magic Kaito, reappearing in Yaiba, the anime of Detective Conan and mentioned in 3rd Base 4th.
PLAYBACK EPISODE
The Treasured Edition of each Magic Kaito volume contained some short comments by Gosho Aoyama about every chapter. The one about this chapter was:
"The memorable first chapter! I actually became a mangaka because I wanted to write about a high school phantom (grin) and so I drew it under great tension! And, well, back then I was short of money which is the reason why the hatband around his tophat isn't shaded with screen tone..."
Trivia
- This chapter was preceded by a prototype, Nonchalant Lupin, revolving around Kaito Lupin and Aoko Holmes, who served as blueprints for Kaito Kuroba and Aoko Nakamori.
- 4,000,000 Yen - the stated value of the "Eye of the Moon" - would be the equivalent to around 36,416 US Dollar (as of May 28th, 2021).
- An old man appears in the flashback about Toichi Kuroba who probably is a still unnamed James Hopper, predating his second, named appearance in a flashback during "Red Tear" (MK Manga: 22).
Adaptations
- Magic Kaito: Kid the Phantom Thief Special 1: The Revived Phantom Thief
- Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 1: The Revived Phantom Thief Kid
Differences
- In the manga chapter, Aoko Nakamori meets Chikage Kuroba in person at the Kuroba residence where she reveals to her Kaito Kuroba's greatest weakness, with Chikage noticing the mechanism of the secret room Kaito just discovered; in the first special of Magic Kaito: Kid the Phantom Thief she receives this information by SMS from Chikage, who is currently in Las Vegas. In episode 1 of Magic Kaito 1412 on the other hand, Aoko has a video chat with Chikage, who currently is in Paris, and receives the information this way.
- The theft is carried out in the Tokyo City Museum instead of the Ono Bank in the special, which, in terms of appearance, seems to be roughly based on the Tokyo City Mori Art Museum, which is located at Roppongi Hills in Minato. The Ono Bank appears only at the very beginning of the special, during the first theft committed by Konosuke Jii, instead of being the location of the second heist.
- In the Magic Kaito 1412 episode, the Ekoda High School is based on the Tokyo Metropolitan Senior High School of Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Classical Music (東京都立総合芸術高等学校 Tōkyō-to Tachi Sōgō Geijutsu Kōtō Gakkō) and, judging by the surroundings and despite its name, seems to be located in the Tomihisa district of Shinjuku, just like the real school. In general, many places from and in Shinjuku can be found as part of the setting in Magic Kaito 1412.
- Toichi Kuroba's final show is a roller coaster escape trick in Magic Kaito 1412, instead of some unspecified stage trick like in this chapter.
- Furthermore, Shinichi Kudo's and Ran Mouri's cameos from Magic Kaito 1412 during this trick aren't present in the chapter, since Detective Conan didn't exist back then, besides their presence as high schoolers not really making any sense in terms of chronology.
- Kaitou Corbeau's short appearance at the end, after Kid leaving the roof of Ono Bank, is only present in Magic Kaito 1412.
- The scene at the end of the Magic Kaito 1412 version of this story, where Aoko and Kaito talk over their balconies, with her inviting him to dinner and then deliberately giving him the fish he fears, is completely new and serves as an alternative to the final scene in the class room. Aoko and Kaito also don't seem to be next-door neighbors in the manga, as seen in this episode.
See also
References
