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 Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 3:46 pm
Lili is just like any other girl except she can foretell the future! This 'Zodiac PI' relies on horoscopes and astrology to help her solve crimes and track down criminals. When there's trouble a'brewing, she transforms herself into the magic Detective Spica and looks to the stars to guide her way. Before long, she is joined by her childhood friend, Hiromi, who dreams of becoming a detective as skilled as Lili. Soon, no astral investigation is too arduous for this dynamic duo!
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Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:24 am
I have one and 2 of this series, I like it, it's cute lol
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Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 7:57 pm
i haven't gotten around to checking this one out
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 2:46 pm
It not one of those stories that really stand out. It's not genius, but it's not lacking in plotline. It's cute, but if you're on a budget like everyone is, this probably isn't one you want to spend money on. Borrow it lol.
Though, if you do decide to buy it, points for it only being 4 volumes long.
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Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:47 pm
Zodiac P.I. is a Japanese manga created by Natsumi Ando, originally published in Japan as Jūnikyū de Tsukamaete (十二宮でつかまえて, literally Zodiac Detective) starting in late 2001. The series is published in Japan by Kodansha, and it is published in English by TOKYOPOP.
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Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:48 pm
Plot
The main character of the manga, the "Zodiac P.I." of the title, is a 13-year-old girl named Lili Hoshizawa (星沢リリ Hoshizawa Riri), who uses horoscopes and astrology to solve crimes, accompanied and assisted by her male childhood friend Hiromi after he returns from ten years spent in America. Lili uses the Star Ring to tell fortunes and, at times, to transform into the disguise of "Detective Spica", in which no one recognizes her (such transformations are a common staple of Magical Girl manga.) The ring was left to Lili by her mother, who used it previously to transform into Detective Spica; one of Lili's long-term goals is to discover what happened to her missing mother.
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Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:50 pm
Format
The manga was serialized in the magazine Nakayoshi in Japan, and has been published in America in the format of four graphic novels (which are unflopped, meaning they are meant to be read in the original Japanese right-left format instead of the usual English left-right pattern), each of which has several chapters. The chapters themselves are printed in the usual (for manga) black and white.
There were color art pages (common in manga serials) featured in the manga's original release in Japan; these pages are also featured in the American graphic novel release of the series, but not in the original color.
Most of the chapters, while sequential and technically continuing several main plots and subplots (or to be more accurate, character development arcs and the central sometimes-background plots involving the mysterious character Sirius and the disappearance of Lili's mother), are what are also known as "stand alones", meaning the main plot (or mystery, in this case) of each episode is not specifically connected with any of the other episodes, and can be read and understood without having previously read the series. A couple of the mysteries are two-part episodes, but the rest are mostly self-contained.
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Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:52 pm
The Graphic Novels
All of the graphic novels (also referred to as TPB or trade paperback collections, and called "tankōbon" in Japan) for the series feature several chapters of the serial and notes from the creator in the side-bars, including information on astrology and character profiles. They also include brief manga-format side stories based on the Star Ring's zodiac spirits, and one of the books also includes a brief semi-stand alone story about how Lili and Hiromi met and solved their first case together as children in kindergarten.
Volumes 2-4 in the U.S. also include a brief plot synopsis and even briefer character bios, to avoid confusing first-time readers who have picked up the later volumes before reading the earlier ones. This practice is becoming especially common in the U.S. manga publishing industry, also featuring in such titles as Viz's Ranma 1/2 and Tokyopop's Fruits Basket collections.
The first (out of four) volume of the series was first published in Japan by Kodansha on November 6, 2001, and in English translation (using the dialect of American English) by Tokyopop on July 8, 2003. The English translations of volumes 2-4 were released by Tokyopop on September 9, 2003, November 4, 2003, and December 9, 2003, respectively. Each of the American volumes was priced at an MSRP of $9.99 USD. The page count for each English-language volume, save for volume 3 (which has 208 pages), is the same, at 184.
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Posted: Sat Jun 16, 2007 8:13 pm
It's been forever but I still haven't gotten past vol. 2
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:14 pm
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