MAGIC KAITO

Magic Kaito

Magic Kaito (Majikku Kaito) is a shōnen manga series by Gosho Aoyama, about a thief named Kaitou Kid. Aoyama stopped work on the manga after three volumes due to the fact that he started Detective Conan, which was an instant hit. Chapters of the Magic Kaito manga have been released in Shōnen Sunday since then, and have only recently been collected into a fourth volume in February 2007. 


The cover of the first volume of Magic Kaito released on May 15, 1988.

 

Plot

Kaito Kuroba, a normal teenage high school student, stumbles across the secret of his father's death: his father was not only a magician, but the famous phantom thief Kaitou Kid, and was killed by an organization for reasons unknown. Taking up his father's mantle in an attempt to bait the killers, Kaito performs a number of thefts and eventually learns that his father died for interfering in the organization's quest to find the Pandora Gem. Pandora is said to glow in the light of the moon, and beneath the moon and a certain comet, will shed a tear granting immortality to whomever drinks it. Kaito then decides to search for Pandora as Kaitou Kid and destroy it, in order to prevent the organization from obtaining their goals. 

 

Characters

 

Protagonists

Kaito Kuroba 

Kaito Kuroba (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 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), 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 snooker.
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 usually used hand is his right hand, which is shown to be the one he usually uses for tricks that require one hand only.

 

Plot overview


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


A young Kaito Kuroba offers Yukiko Kudo a flower.

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 three times, in The Last Wizard of the Century, in Magician of the Silver Sky, and in The Lost Ship in the Sky 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.

 

Relationships analysis


Family & Friends


Kaito and Aoko.

 

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), 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


Kaito wishes he was with Aoko instead.

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.

 

Others


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", though that does not happen in the anime. Whether or not that was his actual motive, or if he was merely concerned for Kaito's well being, is unknown.

 

Shinichi Kudo/Conan Edogawa

Ever since Kaito met Conan, Kaito always seems to be anticipating Conan's appearance at his heists. As he said before, Conan makes the heists so exciting, as both of them are geniuses, one is a thief who creates puzzles while the detective unravels them. Conan views Kaito's heists as entertainment, since the crimes and mysteries he solves are getting a bit boring. However, Kaito dislikes when Conan unravels his tricks before he demonstrates them or when Conan gives him payback for a particularly troublesome trick. Despite this, Conan and Kaito have a friendly rivalry. Kaito sometimes helps Conan whenever he's in trouble; Kaito has helped Conan solve crimes and protect Conan's friends. Conan sometimes lets Kaito escape for various reasons, never telling the police about him, though sometimes not before getting a little revenge. Conan once said that "If Kaitou Kid is to disappear, it would become boring", yet Conan also says he will be the one to catch Kaitou Kid, and put him behind the bars. In the manga and anime, Kaito knows Conan is far smarter than an average grade school boy, but it unclear if Kaito knows Conan is the shrunken teenage Shinichi. In the movies, Kaito knows Conan is Shinichi from the events of Movie 3. Both Conan and Kaito have nicknames for one another. "Great Detective-kun" is Kaito's nickname for Conan and "Kid" is Conan's nickname for Kaito.

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