(24 episodes)
What’s it about ?
Spin-off of Detective Conan about a kid Gentleman Thief. This already got a few TV movies over the years, but here it seems we’re getting a fresh start from the ground up.
Characters
Kaito, our protagonist, is your average lecherous high-schooler… scratch that, he’s an incredible illusionist who constantly enacts pranks and can still solve complex math problems (as well as look up the teacher’s panties) in the middle of them. One of his signature tricks involves putting on a fake head as he’s standing upside down, and his others are similarly impossible-looking.
Aoko, his long-suffering childhood friend and neighbour, isn’t a slouch in the smarts department either, and she would very much like him to cut the crap. Her father happens to be the kind of caricaturally incompetent police inspector you often see in those series. Kaitou often eats out at their home, as his mother is always on the move (sometimes abroad), and his father…
Well, his father was a stunt artist who “died” 8 years ago in an “accident”. But he was really “Kaito Kid”, a genius Gentleman Thief who also stopped making waves 8 years ago (for obvious reasons). Kaito’s just learned about his legacy, just as a Kaito Kid copycat has started showing up. Obviously, he’s going to investigate the fake and retake his legacy ! (And also follow up on the hints that Dad was murdered.) And as it turns out, Kaito Kid was Aoko’s father’s white whale…
Production Values
Perfectly okay, although there’s no way to make Kaito’s stunts look even remotely credible. The show does try its best, though.
Taku Iwasaki produces the score, and while it’s less wild than most of his recent production, it’s still very good.
Overall Impression
On the one hand, this is a deeply silly show. (Why the heck would Kaito’s dad choose such a revealing stagename ?) And Kaito’s panty-watching antics are quite aggrievating indeed for anyone above the age of 12.
… Still, it does have its charm ; it starts finding its feet towards the second half as the plot kicks in and Kaito gets to be something other than a jerk. And, well, I’m a sucker for mysteries, which are rather thin on the ground in anime ; together with Iwasaki on board, there’s a good chance I’m going to stick with this.
