Kaitou Kid
| Kaitou Kid | |
| Japanese name: | 怪盗キッド (Kaitō Kiddo) |
|---|---|
| English name: | Phantom Thief Kid |
| Age: | 17 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | June 21 |
| Relatives: | Toichi Kuroba (father, deceased) Chikage Kuroba (mother) |
| Nicknames: | The Magician Under the Moonlight The Heisei Lupin The Last Wizard of the Century |
| Aliases: | Kaitou 1412 Phantom Thief Kid 1412 |
| First appearance: | Magic Kaito Chapter 1 Manga: File 156 Anime: Episode 76 |
| Appearances: | Chapters: 39 Episodes: 24 Chapters: 1 Chapters: 2 Chapters: 78 Chapters: 34 Episodes: 44 Movies: 8 OVAs: 4 Specials: 16 Openings: 22 Closings: 6 |
| Keyhole number: | Volume 16 |
| Japanese voice: | Kappei Yamaguchi |
| English voice: | Jerry Jewell |
Kaitou Kid (怪盗キッド Kaitō Kiddo, lit. Phantom Thief Kid) is the main character in the manga and anime franchise Magic Kaito, and a recurring character in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan.
Contents
Background
Kaitou Kid first appeared 18 years ago in Paris, a herald to the quiet retirement of the master thief, Phantom Lady.[1]
Toichi Kuroba
Toichi Kuroba (黒羽 盗一 Kuroba Tōichi) was the original Kaitou Kid. Toichi as Kid was the greatest jewel thief in Japan as well as the best stage magician in Japan until he was murdered in a fake magic accident. Sometime prior to his death Toichi had his attendant and friend Konosuke Jii promise him that he would never tell Kaito about his thieving.[2] Chikage was well aware of her husband's double life, having witnessed the inception of Kaitou Kid.[1] Toichi ceased to be Kaitou Kid only upon his death in a fake magic accident arranged by a mysterious rival group.
Konosuke Jii
Konosuke Jii (寺井 黄之助 Jii Kōnosuke) temporarily portrayed Kaitou Kid eight years following Toichi's death in an effort to lure out Toichi's murderers. Jii ceases being Kid and becomes Kaito's assistant when Kaito dons the mantle of Kaitou Kid himself. Since then, Jii has occasionally been a decoy Kid on Kaito's behalf, but more commonly he assists on heists in other ways.
Kaito Kuroba
Kaito Kuroba (黒羽 快斗 Kuroba Kaito) is the current Kaitou Kid. Kaito is a second-year student at Ekoda High School Class 2-B alongside his childhood friend Aoko Nakamori, the witch Akako Koizumi, and transfer student detective Saguru Hakuba. Kaito discovers his father's identity as the original Kaitou Kid after eight years following his death thanks to a secret room inside his house as well as talking with his father's attendant and friend, Konosuke Jii. Wanting to pick up where Jii left off, Kaito continues to be Kaitou Kid in an effort to lure out his father's murderers by making Kid a world-famous thief once again. It isn't until the Blue Birthday heist that the murderers appear and reveal that they are searching for the doublet red-colored gem Pandora, said to shed tears of immortality during the passing of a particular comet. Upon realizing the organization's aim and that his father was killed for his refusal to aid them in retrieving Pandora, Kaito vows as Kaitou Kid to find the Pandora gem first and shatter it into pieces.[3] Kaito's mother is aware that Kaito discovered Toichi's secret room and has taken up the mantle of Kaitou Kid.[2]
Akako Koizumi
Koizumi Akako (小泉 红子 Akako Koizumi) has dressed up as Kaitou Kid once, so that Saguru Hakuba doesn't arrest Kaito.
Personality
Toichi as Kid
Not much is given about Toichi as Kaitou Kid. However, we do know that at some point in time, a dark organization forced him to steal gems to find Pandora. His refusal led to his death in a "magic accident."
Jii as Kid
After the death of Toichi, Jii lived by himself. Over the course of eight years, he grew angrier and angrier until he donned the costume of Kaitou Kid in order to lure out the organization that killed Toichi. He was only dressed as Kid twice before Kaito took over.
Kaito as Kid
In both civilian and costumed life, Kaitou Kid is a compulsive trickster who is drawn to any challenge just for the sheer thrill of overcoming all hazards in the end. Kid is infamous for having a rather overconfident (close to the point of arrogance) attitude, always preferring to create as big a bang as possible. He loves nothing more than leading the police in wild goose chases, letting them get within a hair of catching him before exiting one way or another. Seemingly having a soft-spot for his fans, there has been more than one occasion when Kid has refused to show when the police tried to bar the general public from witnessing his act. Generally, when these instances occur, one of Kid's tricks rely, one way or another, on his ability to blend in with a crowd.
Kaitou Kid is also quite a charmer, seeming to always know just what to say to the ladies to leave them speechless. Kid hates to see others get hurt, and he never hesitates in leaping to rescue someone, whether physically or mentally. Despite his low reputation in some quarters, Kid does have a sense of honor, inasmuch as that he decides to leave the loot behind if it has no further purpose other than having challenged his trickster skills, doesn't contain Pandora, or when a more humane background stands behind their existence. These qualities are some of the reasons why he and Conan occasionally end up as allies in a common cause.
For some as yet unexplained reason, Kaito suffers from a severe case of ichthyophobia (fear of fish).
Appellations
Appearance
Kid has dark brown hair with fringe that ends just above his eyes, but the rest of his hair is normally covered by a white top hat with a blue ribbon band. When dressed in his normal outfit, his right eye is covered by a white monocle that has a dangling green charm with a white clover imprinted on it. Kid's outfit consists of a white suit jacket on top of a blue shirt with a red tie and white dress slacks. The white Hang Glider Cape is attached to the jacket at Kid's shoulders. Kid wears blue socks with white Oxford style shoes with white soles. In his original appearances Kid wore white loafer type shoes.
Kid has been seen wearing black shirts and pants along with a black hat to help cover his face, usually when doing information gathering for heists or when he has his "audience" at his heists looking elsewhere. Apart from these two outfits, Kid is a master of disguise and has been seen disguising as several people throughout the course of Detective Conan and Magic Kaito.
At several instances, it has been demonstrated that Kid shares a close natural likeness with Shinichi Kudo.[4] This, on occasion (particularly in the non-canon appearances), allows him to pass himself off as Shinichi whenever needed, without requiring a special disguise.[5][6][7][8]
Plot overview
List of disguises used
Kaitou Kid has used many disguises over the course of the series. These are the known ones used so far.
Kaito Kuroba in disguises
Relationships analysis
Family & Friends
Aoko Nakamori
Kaito and Aoko Nakamori have been best friends since they were little and first met at the clock tower.[26] They are portrayed as a similar pairing to Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri (including how the characters are drawn), except much sillier. Kaito often teases Aoko by flipping her skirt. However, it has been seen that Kaito is quite protective of Aoko and doesn't appear to want her to go on a date with Saguru Hakuba. Aoko was somewhat suspicious that Kaito was actually Kaitou Kid, and in order to prove his innocence, she brought him along to a movie when a heist had been scheduled. She handcuffed him to the seat, but Kaito managed to escape and pull off the heist, thus veering Aoko's suspicions away from him. The two appear to have feelings for each other, but neither has admitted it as of yet.
Akako Koizumi
Since Akako's first appearance in Volume 1, she's attempted to get Kaito to fall head over heels for her using whatever means necessary, including using a voodoo doll and hurting him in the process. Akako's obsession with Kaito comes from Kaitou Kid, whom she realizes is Kaito, being the only man on Earth able to resist her. Despite Akako injuring Kaito during their first confrontation, Kaito as Kid behaves like a complete gentleman and encourages Akako to be herself in order to get someone to like her instead of forcing them through witchcraft.[27] Akako grows to have great concern for Kaito as evidenced by her warning Kaito[28] against going to a heist and later assisting Kaitou Kid to escape safely from the heist that she had foreseen him being captured at.[29] In Volume 2, Akako openly states she likes Kaito in front of Aoko.[30]
Saguru Hakuba
The relationship between Hakuba and Kaito is a rather tense one; since Hakuba convinced himself early on that Kaito was instead Kid, and during the first few volumes he's constantly throwing out offhand comments that show his suspicion. However, later on in the manga, we have a small scene where Hakuba calls Kaito from Paris in order to give him some information on 'Chat Noir', a dangerous, fellow gem thief trying to outshine Kid.[31] Though Kaito continues to vehemently deny being Kid, Hakuba gives him the information anyways, ending the conversation with, "Do your best at least. I don't want to see you lose to anyone before I capture you myself". Whether or not that was his actual motive, or if he was merely concerned for Kaito's well being, is unknown.
Others
Conan Edogawa
In the manga, Kid and Conan are rivals. Before being shrunk, Shinichi had encountered Kaitou Kid once during the Clock Tower heist, though they did not meet face-to-face. In their next encounter, however, after Shinichi had become Conan, Kid disguised himself as Ran in order to steal the Suzuki Black Star pearl. When Conan cornered him on the Suzuki cruise ship, Kid suggested that he'd stolen all of Ran's clothes to impersonate her, and left her naked on the deck. While this ended up being a bluff, Conan was shocked and infuriated. In subsequent encounters between Kid and Conan, Conan displays a much more intense desire to capture Kid.
Since then, Conan is usually a serious threat to Kid's plans and stops Kid often enough from escaping with the jewel that Conan has gained reputation in the press as Kid's "natural enemy". In several instances Conan appears to be able to 'sense' Kid's presence; knowing Kid is close by often causes Conan to behave far more frenetically. Appropriately, Kid seems to find Conan dangerous enough to warrant specific measures to keep the boy distracted. Conan does not seem to like Kid, saying once "He's only a thief that uses magic".[32] However, if necessary, the two can put their rivalry aside (for a little while) and work together.[33] Conan has something of a gentleman's agreement with Kaitou Kid that he won't look for the thief outside of heists. In several instances, beginning with the "Big Adventure in the Eccentric Residence" case, when Kid does Conan/Shinichi a favor, such as saving Genta's life in the aforementioned case, Conan reciprocates by halting his investigation just shy of capturing Kid, thereby allowing him to escape mostly unhindered. This exchange of favors can sometimes become a bit unbalanced; Conan was perfectly willing to force Kaitou Kid against his will into facing a member of the Black Organization at gunpoint in a carriage filled with explosives.[34]
In the movies, Kid becomes aware that Conan is Shinichi after he once overheard Conan talking to Professor Agasa and displaying too much criminal knowledge for a 7-year-old.[35] As a result, he ends up using Shinichi's identity to either further his own goals and challenge Conan at the same time, or to pay back a favor Conan has done him. Since movies cannot be considered canon, it's unclear whether Kid knows Conan is Shinichi in the official manga. There is also some speculations on Conan figuring out that Kid isn't just stealing randomly. At the end of the OVA 4: Conan, Kid, and the Crystal Mother, Conan had turned with a serious face when he remembered a phrase that Kid had said, "Next time, I'll help myself to the Jewel of Destiny." In movie 14, Conan asked for Kid to disguise as him for a while.
People who know Kaitou Kid's real identity
The canon characters who know Kaito Kuroba is the Kaitou Kid are Konosuke Jii, Akako Koizumi, Ruby Jones, and Chikage Kuroba. The characters who are or have been suspicious of Kaito are Ginzo Nakamori, Aoko Nakamori, and Saguru Hakuba. There are also one time characters from Magic Kaito who has found out Kaitou Kid's identity such as Ruby Jones from the Recollection of the Golden Eye. In the Crystal Mother's Tears, Prince Phillip of Ingram also finds out that Kaitou Kid is Kaito Kuroba.
Character popularity
- eBookJapan held a character popularity poll from April 12, 2011 to May 12, 2011 in which readers of Detective Conan (international included) could vote for their favorite character. Kid placed 1st in the poll with 1,460 votes out of the 5,883 that were cast.[36]
- Kid placed 2nd in the results of a poll ranking the top 3 "ikemen" ("good-looking men") of the series aired during the promotional special for The Lost Ship in the Sky.[37]
- In honor of the release of the 15th movie, Quarter of Silence, the official Conan movie website held a popularity poll for the top 10 Detective Conan characters. Kaito Kuroba/Kaitou Kid placed 2nd out of 10 with 18.99% of the votes cast.[38]
- In honor of the release of the 800th manga chapter, Shonen Sunday held a popularity poll/contest containing 91 Detective Conan characters to choose from. Kaito Kuroba/Kaitou Kid placed 2nd overall with 1,696 votes.[39]
Name origin
Originally referred to as Kaitou 1412, Yusaku Kudo saw a reporter's hastily scribbled "1412" on a piece of paper and purposely misread it as "KID". Thus, Yusaku named the Kaitou Kid. [40]
Different looks
Quotes
| “ | Smiles and laughter are always good, but never forget your Poker Face. | „ |
| “ | A thief is a creative artist who takes his prey in style... But a detective is nothing more than a critic, who follows our footsteps... | „ |
| “ | You are right. I am not a detective, but a thief. And stealing is what thieves do best, even if it's a person's heart. | „ |
| “ | Better not.. Just because you don't know what's in it, and want to open Pandora's box, because if you know what's inside the box before you open it, it won't be interesting at all! | „ |
| “ | It's better trusting someone than to die doubting people altogether. | „ |
| “ | A thief will only live by stealing, would you mind if I steal your heart?
(Kid talking to Ran in The Lost Ship in the Sky) |
„ |
| “ | See you later, maybe next time we can meet under the moonlight. | „ |
| “ | I'm different from a thief that wears all black. I'm bold and flamboyant; I'm Kaitou Kid! | „ |
In other languages
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
 Japanese |
怪盗キッド Kaitou Kid | |
 English |
Phantom Thief Kid/Kaito Kid | |
 French |
(Kid l'Insaisissable)/Kid Cat Burglar/Kaito Kid | |
 Spanish |
Kaitou Kid / Kid el Ladrón (Kid the Thief) in the dubbed anime | |
 German |
"Kaito Kid", "Meisterdieb 1412" or "Phantom Kid" | |
 Galician |
Caco Kid | |
 Català |
Kid 1412 / Kid Kat, el lladre / Kaito Kid | |
 Vietnamese |
Siêu trộm Kid / Siêu đạo chích Kid / Đạo tặc Kid | |
 Arabic |
الفتى اللص Al-Fatah Al-Lis, اللص الطائر Al-Lis At-Tair | |
 Malay |
Kaitou Kid / Thief Kid | |
 Indonesian |
Kid si Pencuri, Kaito Kid in late episodes/chapters | |
 Tradional Chinese |
怪盜基德 | |
 Thai |
จอมโจรคิด | |
 Filipino |
Kaito Kid | |
 Italian |
Kaito Kid (manga), Kid il ladro/Furto Kid/Ladro Kid (anime) | |
 Finnish |
Kaito Kid (DC), Kaitou Kid (MK) | |
  Korean |
괴도키드 "Gwedo Kid" |
Trivia
- Kuroba (Kaito and Toichi's family name) is also a way to pronounce "clover" in Japanese. This is most likely why a clover appears on Kaitou Kid's monocle.
- Kaitou Kid was clearly modeled after the fictional gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, by French author Maurice Leblanc. In the French-speaking world, Lupin is as famous as Sherlock Holmes is in the English-speaking world. Interestingly, Holmes appeared in several Arsène Lupin stories; however, after Conan Doyle protested due to copyright laws, Leblanc changed the name to "Herlock Sholmes."
- Kaitou Kid signs his heist notes with a drawing of his face in abstract. He re-draws this insignia for each note, so that police will know that it was truly him and not an imitator using a scanned copy of a former insignia.
- In The Last Wizard of the Century, the police attribute 134 cases of thievery to Kaitou Kid, fifteen of which have been overseas including America, France, Germany, and 12 other places. In total, 152 gems have been stolen with a net worth of 38,925,000,000 yen.
- Akako Koizumi once dressed up as the Kaitou Kid to trick Saguru Hakuba into thinking Kaito was innocent. During her escape with the target jewel, she screamed in a revealingly girly manner, causing Aoko to deduce that the Kaitou Kid must be a homosexual.
- In both the Japanese and English dub, Kaito Kuroba/Kaitou Kid shares the same voice actor as that of Shinichi Kudo.
- Kaitou Kid apparently knows how to drive as shown when he was disguised as Kogoro Mouri in Volume 30: Sunset Manor Case.
- The relationship between Shinichi Kudo and Kaitou Kid seems to be based on the one time friendship between Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle until Houdini began debunking Spiritualism during the Spiritualist movement in the 1920's while Conan Doyle on the other hand believed in Spiritualism and became convinced that Houdini himself possessed supernatural powers Houdini was apparently unable to convince Conan Doyle that his feats were simply illusions, leading to a bitter public falling out between the two.
See also
- Characters
- Kaito Kuroba
- Toichi Kuroba
- Kuroba family
- Kaitou Kid Appearances
- This fan-made Kaitou Kid reference page.
References
- ^ a b Magic Kaito Volume 5, Chapters 29 and 30: The Phantom Lady.
- ^ a b Volume 1, File 1
- ^ Magic Kaito Volume 3, Chapter 7: Blue Birthday.
- ^ Manga Chapters 156-159: Kaitou Kid and the Black Star
- ^ Movie 03: The Last Wizard of the Century
- ^ Movie 08: Magician of the Silver Sky
- ^ Movie 14: The Lost Ship in the Sky
- ^ OVA 10: Kid in Trap Island
- ^ Conan vs. Kaitou Kid
- ^ Conan vs. Kaitou Kid
- ^ Magic Lover's Murder Case
- ^ The Gathering of the Detectives! Shinichi Kudo vs. Kaitou Kid
- ^ Kaitou Kid's Miraculous Midair Walk
- ^ Big Adventure in the Eccentric Mansion
- ^ Kaitou Kid and the Four Masterpieces
- ^ Kaitou Kid and the Four Masterpieces
- ^ Kaitou Kid vs. the Strongest Safe
- ^ The Kirin's Horn That Vanished into the Dark
- ^ The Kirin's Horn That Vanished into the Dark
- ^ The Kirin's Horn That Vanished into the Dark
- ^ Conan & Kid's Battle For Ryoma's Treasure
- ^ Mystery Train
- ^ Mystery Train
- ^ The Blush Mermaid
- ^ Movie 14.
- ^ "Episode 219: The Gathering of the Detectives! Shinichi Kudo vs. Kaitou Kid"
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1988-05-15). "The Scarlet Temptress" (in Japanese). Magic Kaito. 1. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 180. ISBN 4-09-122081-9.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1994-10-15). "Akako's Delivery Service" (in Japanese). Magic Kaito. 3. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 93-95. ISBN 4-09-122083-5.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1994-10-15). "Akako's Delivery Service" (in Japanese). Magic Kaito. 3. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 100-103. ISBN 4-09-122083-5.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1988-11-15). "Let Go of Him" (in Japanese). Magic Kaito. 2. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 11. ISBN 4-09-122082-7.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1994-10-15). "Golden Eye Part 1" (in Japanese). Magic Kaito. 4. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 18. ISBN 4-09-122093-5.
- ^ Anime Episode 515: Kaitou Kid's Teleportation Magic
- ^ Kaitou Kid and the Four Masterpieces
- ^ Manga Volume 78, File 7 (824): "Mystery Train (Final Destination)"
- ^ Movie 03: The Last Wizard of the Century
- ^ "『名探偵コナン』 人気投票結". eBookJapan. 2011-05-12. http://www.ebookjapan.jp/ebj/special/conan/vote_kekka2.asp. Retrieved on 2011-05-15.
- ^ The Lost Ship in the Sky Special Edition Blu-ray
- ^ "名探偵コナン「キャラクター人気投票」". www.conan-movie.jp. 2011. http://www.conan-movie.jp/camp_chara/camp15th_res.html. Retrieved on 2011-08-12.
- ^ "Shonen magazine detective conan official poll results published [magazine pic"]. eva. 2012-02-28. http://forum.dctp.ws/index.php?topic=8024.msg651566#msg651566. Retrieved on 2012-02-29.
- ^ Aoyama, Gosho (1996-18-01). "File 3" (in Japanese). Detective Conan. 55. Tokyo: Shogakukan. p. 151. ISBN 4-09-120628-X.
