Kaitou Kid

Kaitou Kid (怪盗 キッド, Kaitō Kiddo), a notorious Phantom Thief known for stealing Big Jewels to secretly undermine the mysterious syndicate, is a protagonist in the manga and anime franchise Magic Kaito and a minor recurring antagonist in the manga and anime franchise Detective Conan.

Background
Kaitou Kid first appeared 18 years ago in Paris, a herald to the quiet retirement of the master thief, Phantom Lady.

Toichi Kuroba
Main article: Toichi Kuroba

Toichi Kuroba (黒羽 盗一 Kuroba Tōichi?) was secretly the original Kaitou Kid. Toichi as Kid was the greatest jewel thief in Japan as well as a world-renowned stage magician 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. A thief herself, his wife Chikage Kuroba was well aware of his double life, having witnessed the inception of Kaitou Kid. Toichi ceased to be Kaitou Kid only upon his death in a fake magic accident arranged by a mysterious rival group.

Konosuke Jii
Main article: 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
Main article: 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. Kaito's mother is aware that Kaito discovered Toichi's secret room and has taken up the mantle of Kaitou Kid.

Toichi as Kid
The classic Kaitou Kid outfit was originally developed for one of his stage performances to honor Arsène Lupin, but he decided to use it as his thief outfit after saving Phantom Lady.

Jii as Kid
Jii donned the costume of Kaitou Kid, but used a smiling mask, in order to lure out the organization that killed Toichi. He was only dressed as Kid twice before Kaito took over.

Kaito as Kid
Kid has dark brown hair (black in Magic Kaito 1412) 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. This, on occasion (particularly in the non-canon appearances), allows him to pass himself off as Shinichi whenever needed, without requiring a special disguise.

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's breadth 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, in as much 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).

Trivia

 * Kaitou Kid was originally referred to as "Kaitou 1412"'.
 * When Yusaku Kudo saw a News Reporter's hastily scribbled Kaitou "1412" on a piece of paper, he purposely misread it as Kaitou "KID" thus naming the thief "Kaitou KID".
 * Kaitou Kid's Character Design was clearly modeled after the Fictional Master Thief Arsène Lupin, by French Author Maurice Leblanc.
 * Kaitou Kid signs his Heist Notes with a drawing of his face in abstract as his insignia.
 * Kaitou Kid re-draws this insignia for each note, so that the Japanese Police will know that it was truly him and not an imitator using a scanned copy of a former insignia.
 * Akako Koizumi once dressed up as Kaitou Kid to trick Saguru Hakuba into thinking that Kaito Kuroba was innocent.
 * During Akako's escape with the target jewel, she screamed in a revealingly girly manner, causing Aoko Nakamori to deduce that the Kaitou Kid must be a homosexual.
 * Kaitou Kid is right-handed.
 * Kuroba (黒羽 or クロバ ?) (Kaito and Toichi's family name) is also a way to pronounce "clover" (クロバー kurobaa?) in Japanese (the only difference is a long vowel). This is most likely why a clover appears on Kaitou Kid's monocle. In addition Gosho's Animal Crossings characters are named after the playing card suits, "Clover" introduces itself as Kaito Kuroba and dresses as Kaitou Kid (except with a black top hat).
 * 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.
 * He made a cameo in A Challenge Letter to Shinichi Kudo ~Prologue Until Goodbye~, in his Hang Glider Cape when the bomb explodes in mid-air.
 * 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 but this is obviously not considered canonical in the main story of Detective and Kaito Kid.
 * 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.