| Kaito Kuroba | |
|---|---|
| Magic Kaito, Case Closed character | |
Kaito Kuroba in his Phantom Thief Kid disguise |
|
| First appearance | Magic Kaito Ch. 1 |
| Voiced by | Japanese Kappei Yamaguchi[1] English Jerry Jewell[2] |
| Profile | |
| Notable relatives |
Toichi Kuroba[3] (father, deceased) |
Kaito Kuroba (黒羽 快斗 Kuroba Kaito), the true identity under his alias Phantom Thief Kid (怪盗キッド Kaitō Kiddo) is a fictional character created by Gosho Aoyama for the Magic Kaito series. His father Toichi Kuroba (黒羽 盗一 Kuroba Tōichi) was the original Phantom Thief Kid and was killed by an unknown organization. Kaito Kuroba then takes on the role of Phantom Thief Kid after learning the organization is after a gemstone called Pandora and decides to find and destroy the it.
Kaito Kuroba has made significant appearances in the Case Closed franchise. His strong resemblance to the protagonist of the series, Jimmy Kudo, allows Kaito to impersonate him without a mask. He is also voiced by the same voice actors as Kudo.
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Kaito Kuroba is a seventeen-year-old high school student who is an adept magician due to the influence of his father, Toichi Kuroba.[3] Eight years prior to the series, Toichi had mysteriously died and was also the last time the Phantom Thief 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 Phantom Thief Kid's gadgets and costume in the room, Kaito dons the disguise and decides to confront Kid who has recently resurfaced after his eight years of absence. Kaito discovers Kid to be Konosuke Jii (寺井 黄之助 Jii Kounosuke), his father's butler, who ascertains Toichi was the first Phantom Thief 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 Phantom Thief Kid as he searches for his father's killer.[3]
As the Phantom Thief Kid, Kaito 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.[4] To lure out the murderers, Kaito adopts a tradition of sending a note of his intending theft to the location beforehand.[5] After a successful heist, Kaito either return the stolen treasures or throws them away.[6] As the Phantom Thief Kid, Kaito 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.[6] As such, he begins the tradition of checking gemstones from his heists under the moonlight before returning them to their rightful owners.[7]
Kaito, as the Phantom Thief Kid, appears in Aoyama's manga series, Case Closed. He was introduced as Phantom Thief 1412 and is referred to as Kid later on.[8] 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.[9] In the Case Closed film series, Kaito reveals he knows Conan Edogawa is actually Jimmy Kudo.[2] Due to Kaito's strong resemblance to Kudo, he is able to disguise himself as Jimmy Kudo without a mask.[10]
Kaito has made four 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.[2] In Case Closed: Magician of the Silver Sky, he continues his search for Pandora as Kudo attempts to impede his heist.[10] Kaito makes his third appearance in Detective Conan: The Private Eyes' Requiem where he indirectly helps Kudo solve an old murder.[11] 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.[12]
On a Case Closed character popularity poll, Kaito ranked as the top most popular character of the series.[13] On an online poll by Conan Movie.jp, he placed second with 19% of the votes.[14] 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.[15] SequentialTart.com's Amanda Tarbet remarks the Phantom Thief Kid to be an amusing character due to his gentlemanly manners and skills.[16]