This review is based on the fact that I have not watched the other series, so I cannot compare the two. This review is just for the show itself, and nothing else. This anime is fairly recent and there is only four episodes at the time of this review. I can say that I haven't enjoyed an anime as much as I did watching Kaitou Joker. In the pros, the characters are all amazing. The creators made a good decision by not making any of the characters really perfect. The show's protagonist (or however you want to consider him), Phantom Thief Joker, makes miracles out ofthin air. But he also has flaws. He is also hot headed, sometimes denies his shortcomings and can't come to terms with his rival.

Another thing is that all of the characters are memorable. Phantom Thief Joker and Spade probably have the best design in the entire show, but the supporting characters also get some love. Like for example, Detective Oniyama is over the top and has a burning passion to capture Joker. Mister Kaneari is a self-absorbed snob. Spade is what you would probably call a gentleman of sorts. Hashi, Joker's sidekick, just wants to help. 

This is not a perfect anime, mind you. While there are only currently four episodes, it would be understandable that some things wouldn't be explained. But there are some mentions of groups or organizations that we are not completely aware of. There is also the problem that sometimes, the characters could get a little annoying to listen to. This was meant for a younger audiences, and you will probably hear some catchphrases being thrown around here and there, which depending on your view, could be tiresome.

But don't let those cons ruin the show for you. This is not a show you can take extremely seriously. It is a fun, humorous show that lives in its own little world, and it executes its characters very well. Sure, sometimes there will be some annoying parts, but that shouldn't deter your experience with it.

Give it a shot, and you might be surprised with what you have.
      

        Honestly, I freaking love this. Although others compare it to Magic kaito, it isn't the freaking same! Just because both are phantom thieves doesn't make them copy cat one another.. Kaitou joker is a thrilling, comedic relief, adventurous anime that will set you on your toes to cheer for Joker. Although this anime may not seem ideal for those who are looking for a more "mature and serious" atmosphere, the anime does have its serious moments. Joker is a magician who has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, from balloon gums to flashing cards and joker's funny disguises, there are even times where heruns out of items to showcase his tricks.. Joker with his sidekick Hachi they embark on adventures to steal the finest artworks..and treasures, in the while they find old friends and defeat the rich who are up to no good. 

The art is adorable and very animated. Not stiff.  I quite like the art style. Sometimes there may be a mistake (joker going out in disguise in public) or missing a mark, but rarely do they appear and because of all the things going on it's easy to overlook it. 

Sound. Can I just say how much I love the opening? I sing to it. It's very catchy and makes you want to dance. Also there are a couple seasons so you can check up on those too.
I love jokers voice acting as well. As well as the other characters Hachi, Spade, and Queen. Their voices match up to their character.

Characters: the characters each have their own story to them and it is interesting. Joker, queen and Spade are childhood friends who share their story of becoming phantom thieves. They often appear as well, but they are no companions most of the time. Because Hachi is the main sidekick. The villains are your typical rich guys-but since it's a gag, they are more comedic.

Overall, I really liked this. And I watched all the seasons which I recommend you do if you are taking up this anime because it makes it EVEN better.
      

        Season 1 review. Let me start with QUEEN's diamond eyes are so attractive and her design just sings cute cute and cute. In the first season, she don't debut until episode 8 if you waiting for her, and at the start she is filled with hatred because of Professor Clover, so no diamond eyes yet. Since this is Season 1 review, I'll give an introduction to Kaitou Joker. It is one great troll anime I've ever seen and it is also a children's show. WOW, I did not know I'd be loving it that much! Things get deadly, even braver than Magic Kaito. There's a reallygood villain here, Shadow Joker under Professor Clover and the plot, really good, finishes in Season 2.  I will talk more about Professor Clover in the Season 2 review.

I've seen both Kaitou Joker and Magic Kaito, on paper they're similar, but are different. Magic Kaito is putting on a magic show, stealing under police surveillance, then doing a disappearing act using smokescreens and disguises. 

Kaitou Joker is more fancy and creative being the miracle maker the anime is themed about. Joker is not afraid of being caught or arrested, in fact unlike Kaito Kid he don't need to hide his real identity, he's a full time Kaitou thief living on an airship lol. Joker is much bolder with entrance and escape, there is lots of trolling and fun. Joker likes to disguise a FAKE DOUBLE of people and the stuff he trying to steal in his tricks to confuse. Using a gimmicky tool, Joker cleverly camouflages, pulls off switcheroos, creates distractions, and uses mind tricks to fool people. Joker comes up with brilliant ideas even when things look bad. Kaitou Joker is putting on a game, a challenge.

As a person I'm also trolly, that's why seeing Joker trolling so hard when stealing is really hilarious. Joker is trolly with his friends too even when they need help, but he's joking. He would help them, just not out of the reason to be helping. He takes pride as Kaitou Joker with playing cards as main weapon, would never give up, and is simply the best troll. 

Spade is super cool and is as good at the heist as Joker and he is handsome. He's another Kaitou trained also by the same master Silver Heart and plays as Joker's rival and ally with great enough skills to outsmart him. His assistant Dark Eye and Joker's assistant Hachi also have their competition who can be the better assistant. Spade uses an ice gun and his appearance always makes the episode more interesting. 

I've talked about Queen in the beginning, she is a villain in this season because of a misunderstanding, but is really a sweet girl. Queen, Spade, and Joker were all friends trained under Silver Heart in the past. She has a diamond sword that is her favorite weapon. Right now she got the angry eyes, but until we see Queen happy again with her diamond eyes, her hatred and struggling side was also good to see. We know it's flat to see a cute girl just being the good and cute girl, even if she is cute lol This is a little out of topic, but from the SukaSuka anime, I was happily surprised to see a picture of Rhantolk crying, cause she is a strong girl, the crying side is cute XD
      

        I've found this anime by random chance, and got attracted to it due to its art style, that it is kinda good for the target audience, kids. The story on show is episodic, but vaguely connected as the plot advances to expand on the characters. The structure on the episodes it's usually that the main characters plan a heist, announce it into advance and then execute. The way the heist is realized is usually with disguises, dispositives and gadgets, but it always amuse the viewer. The humour/comedy is the kind of thing that works for kid shows, like the sidekick getting mad at the protagonist because hedoesn't clean his room, or the antagonist hitting his head in a sign while climbing a train on movement. Simple humour but it works.

The art style is clearly focused on kids, with strong colors and characters with a good shounen style - colorful costumes and identifiable symbols. The sound has a good work by the voice actors, and the effects are good as expected.

The characters are as good as a shounen kids show is - have some flaws so you can identify, but are really good on what the show proposes. They are funny, and some with a small sad backstory, but all in a good mood.

Overall, I would recommend this show if you are looking for a simple, cheerful anime but with the protagonist winning by using his wits instead of super-powers or magic.
      

        Joker is about said Phantom thief who travels the globe in search for treasure to steal, but he always sends an advanced notice so it's fair challenge between him and the current owner of the treasure.(it's still stealing though). What I like about joker is that this is an episodic anime, anime usually has story progression in every episode unless it's has filler or is poorly written but this series is like an action cartoon like Miraculous Ladybug or Danny Phantom where there are stand alone adventures but They also have episodes with story progression. It's a nice change of pace considering it's anime. Ialso like the fact that it takes place all around the world And they use that to there advantage like an episode in Greece has Medusa guarding the treasure, in France they fight a painter who can bring paintings to life and in the middle of the ocean they engaged pirates. Not every treasure has be based on a specific place to stand out like the golden Egg or the ones from there flash back episodes. The show's color-scheme matches it tones great with flashy colors too. Any flaws I have is that Joker can kind of be a dick sometimes but it never that bad and some jokes don't always hit. Still I recommend it a lot.
      

        It's a really really underrated anime, and I really hope that someday somehow, it'll get the attention it deserves. It was entirely unpredictable and really got those brain gears churning, but not in a headache sort of way. There was a perfect amount of comedy written well into it, the villains had realistic retaliations, but at the same time not exactly realistic considering that even though the solutions to the problems in every episode are realistic, there are things like bubble gum that blows up big enough for you to use it like a balloon, a talking dog, a woman that can shapeshift into a cat,and a cat that eats treasure.
Not to mention, the intro is pretty catchy too.
      

        Okay so I'm a fan of "Phantom Thief" themed shows. The main characters are thieves that steal treasure after giving an advanced notice to the police. It's a game of Thief vs Cop and whoever wins gets the treasure. The "Phantom Thief" idea is a pretty common story in Japan, I've seen lots of shows use the theme to varying forms of success. DNAngel, Phantom Thief Kaito, and Cat's Eye for examples. This is one of the few series that really sticks to the phantom thief theme, it stays being about thievery and trickery for its entire run (whereas most other shows get sidetracked bycharacter drama.) Since it's a kid's show it can ignore a lot of reality that gets in the way. They can go anywhere in the world, use all kinds of crazy weird tech gizmos, and steal stuff without being weighed down by the consequences.

There’s a deeper arching plot line as well. By episode 5 we find out there is a dark backstory to the characters, so there is a bit of intrigue to pull in older viewers.

It's a fast paced story but it managed to make me like all the characters. All of the side characters get some background, almost all of them have at least 1 or 2 episodes devoted to developing their backstory and personalities. The main characters themselves have plenty of development and go through changes as the story progresses. Friendships and romances are tested and played with, so the story isn't too afraid of changing the status quo, but it IS an episodic storyline so any overarching development is slow.

Character designs are colorful, playful, and over-the-top. At first it can be a bit much, but the longer I watched the more it grew on me. Due to the fantastical art direction, they had a chance to draw some really stunning backdrops and fight scenes. While it might seem a bit childish with how vibrant it is, I really do think some of the scenes in this show are visually beautiful.

Now for as much as I love it there are still a few downsides:

* It is still a kids show, so it just doesn't go quite deep enough at some junctures. If you are watching this primarily for the dark drama, you will be a little disappointed.
* The explanations of gizmos/tools/science shown in-show have varying degrees of accuracy to real science. Some explanations are downright wrong, but this doesn't really impact the plot. (If you're watching this with kids, be prepared to re-explain some of this bad science haha.)
* There are a few side characters that can get annoying due to their repeated catchphrases and tendency towards shouting. Thankfully their screen time becomes less and less as the season goes on.
* In the beginning, our main character gets an 'apprentice' that is super annoying and whiny. But! The apprentice actually gets character development! By the end of the show he’s genuinely a character you like.

Great show, I really do love it. And bonus points for being set in modern day, and having our characters have cell phones and actually USE them!

(EDIT: Fixed a few autocorrect typos)
      

        This review kind of includes SPOILERS. Kaitou Joker is a good anime in my opinion but why I'm rating this a 6 is the story doesn't make sense in season 1&2 and about 3/4 of the series is a filler episode. Also Joker freakin is a time traveler, although they don't mention he's a time traveler but in the whole series about 1/4 of the tricks aren't even tricks and just prediction/already knowing whats happening. Just watch episode 52 on crunchyroll and you'll know what I'm talking about. I've got the manga of Kaitou joker and the story and tricks are sooo BAD the tricks are sopredictable and has even less meaning. at the start it was really bad. At about volume 8 they revealed the main villain of the story line but how it introduced it was really bad so I didn't realize it was a villian. Near the end of the Manga the whole series got better I rate the Manga a 5 or 4.

At the end it's and ok series.