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Abs. wrote: Kaitou (thief) is written 怪盗

Kaito (name) is written å¿«æ–—

Btw in the subject you wrote the same two characters both times

Chibby wrote: I've noticed this, as well. Phonetically, it doesn't make a difference, as the "快" in Kaito's name is the same sound as the "怪" in "kaitou." As far as meaning goes, there might be something if Kaito was using it in a different context. But as there can be no doubt that, the few times it comes up, that it is in reference to Kaitou Kid, it's hard to say whether anything was meant by it. It might just be a phonetic joke -- we all know how fond of those Gosho is.

If we want to get hypothetical, I might venture that the alternate spelling is used to differentiate Kaito from his father's Kid. But then it would be weird, because (as far as I can recall) he usually uses the correct version. The Hustler chapter would be strange, too, because Kaito uses the correct spelling, and it's Tsujirou that uses the alternate.... Huh. That's the only time I can remember off-hand, but now I might just have to go through the whole thing and see if there's a pattern.

The Japanese name Kaito may be written with the characters for "ocean; sea" (kai) and the character for "Dipper; 10 sho (vol); sake dipper" chosen for graphic and phonologic preference rather than meaning. Other popular combinations of characters include "ocean; sea" (kai) and "soar; fly" (to).

From Japanese æµ· (kai) "sea, ocean" combined with æ–— (to), which refers to the constellation Ursa Major, or ç¿” (to) "soar, fly".