Kaito Kuroba

Kaito Kuroba (黒羽 快斗 Kuroba Kaito) is the main character in the manga franchise Magic Kaito, and a recurring character in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan. He is the current Kaitou Kid and the childhood friend and the romantic interest of Aoko Nakamori.

Background
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.

Personality and Skills
According to Hakuba's analysis during his search for Kaitou Kid's identity, Kaito is 174 cm (5' 8.5") tall, weighs 58 kg (128 lbs), has an IQ of 400, and is blood type 'B'.

Kaito as his normal self seems to be rather popular in school although he tends to get in trouble with the ladies, particularly Aoko, for flipping up their skirts or peeking on them in the locker room. He is a compulsive trickster who loves to demonstrate his magic tricks and share them with others, and hates to see people upset. Kaito seems to be quite good at many things, including skiing, but (much to Aoko's amusement) cannot ice skate or play billiards.

Although he hasn't demonstrated it while in full costume, Kaito has an extreme fear of fish (ichthyophobia) to the point where he freaks out upon seeing Aoko wear fish-print underwear one day. In OVA 10, while in the process of escaping Trap Island, a fish flops into his escape rowboat and he panics.

In some episodes and chapters, it is shown that Kaito is ambidextrous. He is sometimes shown using his left hand, but his right hand is dominant for tricks that require one hand only.

Appellations
Friends & relatives=
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Plot overview
Main article: Kaito Kuroba Appearances

Magic Kaito
The day after the Kaitou Kid makes his return after an eight-year hiatus, Kaito stumbles through a trap door in his room and discovers that his father, Toichi Kuroba, was the original Kaitou Kid. Kaito dons his father's costume to discover the identity of the new Kaitou Kid, revealed to be his father's old assistant Konosuke Jii. Jii tells Kaito that Toichi had been murdered eight years ago, and that he had dressed as the Kid and staged the heist in order to lure Toichi's killers.

So Kaito adopts the mantle of the Kid, having proven that he is more skilled than the aging and serious Jii. As the Kaitou Kid, Kaito stages several high-profile jewel heists with the intention of smoking out his father's killers (although he seems to be enjoying himself in the process). It isn't until the Blue Birthday heist that the murderers appear and reveal that they are searching for the doublet red-coloured 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 destroy it.

Detective Conan
Since then, he has appeared in several Detective Conan cases.If his target is a gem, he always holds it up to the moonlight, presumably to check if it's the Pandora gem, before returning it, even if Conan seemingly has him cornered.

In other instances, Kid has staged heists when people such as Jirokichi Suzuki have called him out, or when criminals have used the Kaitou Kid's name to deflect blame from themselves, as in the Sunset Mansion case or the Seiran case. He also appeared in the Ryoma case to expose several counterfeiters who were pretending to possess items that another thief called the Phantom Lady had stolen years ago. At that time, Kid implied that he may be a family relation of the 'Phantom Lady'.

A young Kaito also appeared in a flashback during which Conan recalled a riddle that he and Ran had tried to solve when they were in first grade. It turned out that the 'riddler' had been the original Kaitou Kid, Toichi Kuroba, who seemed to be a friend of Yusaku Kudo

In chapter 824, Kid had played a significant role in main Detective Conan plot by disguising as Sherry under Conan's request. Their plan successfully tricked the Black Organization into believing she is dead.

In The Lost Ship in the Sky, it's revealed that Kaito knew Conan's real identity of Shinichi Kudo. He helped Conan who was thrown out of the airship and they worked together to get back. Kaito has disguised himself as Shinichi four times, in The Last Wizard of the Century, in Magician of the Silver Sky, in The Lost Ship in the Sky, and in Sunflowers of Inferno which led Sato and Takagi to suspect that Shinichi was Kaitou Kid. The two later share their suspicion with Heiji to which he responded with an 'Are you kidding me?' face.

Aoko Nakamori
Main article: Kaito Kuroba and Aoko Nakamori Kaito and Aoko Nakamori have been best friends since they were little and first met at the clock tower. They are portrayed as a similar pairing to Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mouri (including how the characters are drawn) and Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama, 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.

In the last chapter of Yaiba a scene set after a three years timeskip has Keiko Momoi telling Sayaka Mine that Kuroba and Nakamori are a couple now, while Keiko's friend confirms having seen them together.

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. Akako grows to have great concern for Kaito as evidenced by her warning Kaito against going to a heist and later assisting Kaitou Kid to escape safely from the heist that she had foreseen him being captured at. In Volume 2, Akako openly states she likes Kaito in front of Aoko.

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. 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.

Conan Edogawa
Main article: Shinichi Kudo and Kaito Kuroba In the manga, Kid and Conan are rivals. Ever since Kaito met Conan, Kaito always seems to be anticipating Conan's appearance at his heists. Conan makes the heists more interesting for Kaito, while Conan views Kaito's heists as entertainment.

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".However, if necessary, the two can put their rivalry aside (for a little while) and work together. 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.

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. 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.

Heiji Hattori
Kaito and Heiji Hattori have never canonically met, although Heiji faced up against the Kid in Movie 3, and interacted with a disguised Kaito during Movie 10. They were also involved in the same cases in OVA 6 and Movie 14, but never directly interacted.

Lupin III
In Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie, while they never directly meet face-to-face with each other, Kaitou Kid and Lupin III had made their first encounter in the beginning of the film. Kaito Kuroba, while being in his citizen guise, was among the many people present to see the heists of Lupin, who was masquerading as Kaitou Kid, with a valuable diamond. Fujiko Mine claimed if Lupin was unable to save her, by stealing the Cherry Sapphire, she can always ask Kaitou Kid for help. By the end of the film where Lupin was in Japan, in contrary to how Conan had thought he had left, Lupin had tried to steal another valuable jewel only to find it already to be stolen and replaced by a small note left by Kaitou Kid; the act was most likely to return the favor for Lupin’s temporary identity theft, for using Kid’s identity, with the diamond heist. As Lupin was being chased, by Inspector Zenigata who didn’t believe Lupin didn’t steal the jewel, he had declared his rivalry with Kaitou Kid.

People who know Kaitou Kid's real identity
Main article: List of characters who know Kaitou Kid's identity

Name origin
The characters in Kuroba (黒羽) mean "black feather". Kaito's given name (快斗) has different kanji than the word 'kaitou' (怪盗), which means 'phantom thief,' although they intentionally sound alike.

Character popularity

 * 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/Kaitou Kid placed 2nd out of 10 with 18.99% of the votes cast.
 * 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. Kaitou Kid/Kaito Kuroba placed 2nd overall with 1,696 votes.

Trivia

 * A prototype version of Kaito appears in Aoyama's "Nonchalant Lupin (さりげなくルパン Sarigenaku Rupan)" short story. In this version, Kaito is named Kaito Lupin (流犯 快斗 Rupan Kaito).
 * The name 'Kuroba' is a transliteration of 'clover.' A four-leaf clover also appears on the tag of Kid's monocle.
 * Gosho Aoyama gave Kaito the same height and weight measurements that he had in 1990, as well as his own blood type.
 * Kaito and Gosho Aoyama also have the same birthday, June 21.
 * Kaito, along with Shinichi Kudo, Heiji Hattori, and Saguru Hakuba, are sometimes referred to as 'The Four Geniuses' or 'The Gosho Boys' by fans.
 * In both the Japanese and English dub, Kaito shares the same voice actor as that of Shinichi Kudo. Kaito and Shinichi already resemble each other so closely that in the Black Star case, Ran sees Kaito in the street and mistakes him for Shinichi. In Movie 8, Kaito disguises himself as Shinichi and without the use of a mask succeeds in completely fooling everyone except for Ran.
 * In Spanish, he doesn't share his voice with Shinichi, but with Hattori. However, this isn't much of a problem since he can perfectly mimic voices.
 * Although Kaito's and Shinichi's teenaged-selves share the same voice actor, Kappei Yamaguchi, two different voice actors portray them as children: young Kaito is still voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi, while Conan and young Shinichi are voiced by Minami Takayama.