Kaito Kuroba

Kaito Kuroba
Magic Kaito, Case Closed character
Kaito Kuroba in Kaito Kid disguise, as seen in a Case Closed TV special
First appearance	Magic Kaito Ch. 1: "Return of the Phantom Thief" (1987)
Voiced by	Japanese Kappei Yamaguchi English Jerry Jewell
Profile
Aliases	Kaito Kid Kaito 1412
Relatives	Toichi Kuroba (father, deceased) Chikage Kuroba (mother)

Kaito Kuroba (Japanese: 黒羽 快斗, Hepburn: Kuroba Kaito), the true identity of the gentleman thief "Kaito Kid" (怪盗キッド, Kaitō Kid, "Phantom Thief Kid"), is a fictional character and protagonist of the Magic Kaito manga series created by Gosho Aoyama. His father Toichi Kuroba was the original Kaito Kid before being killed by an unknown organization. Kaito Kuroba then takes on the role of Kid after learning the organization is after a gemstone called Pandora and decides to find and destroy it.

Kaito Kuroba has also made significant appearances in Aoyama's Case Closed series. His strong resemblance to the protagonist of this series, Jimmy Kudo, allows Kuroba to impersonate him without a mask. He is also voiced by the same voice actors as Kudo. When Case Closed was localized into English, Viz Media chose the rōmaji Kaito Kid for the manga, while Funimation Entertainment referred to him as Phantom Thief Kid in the anime.

Appearances

In the Magic Kaito manga series

Kaito Kuroba is a seventeen-year-old high school student who is an adept magician due to the influence of his father, Toichi Kuroba. Eight years prior to the series, Toichi had mysteriously died and was also the last time the Kaito Kid was spotted. In the present time, Kaito discovers a secret room in his home that was set up by his father to reveal itself on that very day. Finding the Kaito Kid's gadgets and costume in the room, Kuroba dons the disguise and decides to confront Kid who has recently resurfaced after his eight years of absence. Kuroba discovers Kid to be Konosuke Jii, his father's butler, who ascertains Toichi was the first Kaito Kid. Jii reveals his took on the role as Kid to lure out Toichi's murderer. Upon learning that his father was murdered, Kaito continues the role of the Kaito Kid as he searches for his father's killer.

As the Kaito Kid, Kuroba uses his skills of perfect disguise and the gadgets his father left him to complete his heists. The most prominent of those gadgets are his cape which transforms into a hang-glider, a gun that shoots sharp metallic playing cards, and smoke bombs. To lure out the murderers, Kaito adopts a tradition of sending a note of his intending theft to the location beforehand. After a successful heist, Kaito either returns the stolen treasures or throws them away. As the Kaito Kid, Kuroba eventually meets the organization who killed his father. He discovers they are searching for the gemstone called Pandora (パンドラ) which grants immortality if the water it emits during Volley's Comet is drank. Pandora is hidden in a larger gemstone and can only be seen if shone under the moonlight. Kaito decides to search for Pandora with the intention of destroying it and begins focusing his heists on large gemstones. As such, he begins the tradition of checking gemstones from his heists under the moonlight before returning them to their rightful owners.

In the Case Closed series

Kaito Kuroba, as the Kaito Kid, appears in Aoyama's manga series Case Closed. He is introduced as Kaito 1412, but is referred to as Kid later on. He is confronted by the protagonist of the series, Jimmy Kudo; teen detective turned child under the alias Conan Edogawa, who attempts to foil and capture him. Kaito also garners the attention of Jirokichi Suzuki who wants to capture Kid for fame. In the Case Closed film series, Kaito reveals he knows Conan Edogawa is actually Kudo. Due to Kaito's strong resemblance to Kudo, he is able to disguise himself as Jimmy Kudo without a mask.

Kaito has made six appearances in the films. In Case Closed: The Last Wizard of the Century, he steals a fabergé egg to return to its rightful owner while helping Kudo on his investigation for an assassin. In Case Closed: Magician of the Silver Sky, he continues his search for Pandora as Kudo attempts to impede his heist. Kaito makes his third appearance in Case Closed: The Private Eyes' Requiem, where he indirectly helps Kudo solve an old murder. His fourth appearance takes place in Case Closed: The Lost Ship in the Sky where Jirokichi baits him with a large gemstone on an airship as he attempts to capture him. He is also featured in Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan: The Movie and "Case Closed: Sunflowers of Inferno".

Reception

On a Case Closed character popularity poll, Kaito ranked as the top most popular character of the series. On an online poll by Conan Movie.jp, he placed second with 19% of the votes. John Sinnott from DVD Talk considers Kaito Kuroba as an interesting character as he was able to escape from Jimmy Kudo, the protagonist of Case Closed. Rebecca Silverman, writing for Anime News Network, has also described him as "interesting", noting that it "is a lot of fun" to see how he can defy Jimmy, and be a "foil figure" to him. SequentialTart.com's Amanda Tarbet remarks the Phantom Thief Kid to be an amusing character due to his gentlemanly manners and skills.