Zodiac P.I.

Zodiac P.I. is a manga series created by Natsumi Ando, originally published in Japan as Jūnikyū de Tsukamaete (十二宮でつかまえて) starting in late 2001. The series is published in Japan by Kodansha, and it was published in English by Tokyopop; the English Tokyopop version is out of print as of August 31, 2009.

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 Lili), 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 for college. 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, except Hiro (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. Using this ring, Lili has to try to solve many cases including the first published one, about Chihiro, a murdered girl in her class.

Her other cases take her around to different places from a piano school, to a fortune telling TV studio, to a wedding. She solves cases with Hiromi's help.

To solve crimes, she will figure out the birth date of the victims and then their signs such as Leo, Virgo, etc. Next, using the power of the ring, she will call upon the spirit of that person's sign. Then she'll ask for the horoscope of the victim on a specific date that is connected to the crime. Along with the horoscope, the spirit will give her a clue so she can solve the crime.

Main characters
Lili Hoshizawa- Really Spica P.I. (otherwise known as Private Investigator Spica). She is actually the daughter of the real Spica, her mother who disappeared a year ago, the 'real Spica'. She is an energetic Aries girl who loves cracking cases. She has a precious ring from her mother that holds the 12 zodiac spirits who gives main hints to Lili's cases. She is good with horoscopes and even tells her classmates's horoscopes at school!

When she was in kindergarten her best friend was Hiromi Oikawa, who reunites with her when he moves back to Japan from America.

Lili's favorite thing to do is go into many disguises and solve cases, and try to stop the mysterious Sirius who thinks she's better than Spica. Her best subject is P.E., considering she is a bit of an underachiever. Lili often comes off as a little clumsy, awkward, and extremely extroverted.

Hiromi Oikawa- He's really smart, even a genius, and was Lili's childhood friend in kindergarten until he moved to America for studying criminal psychology. He's allergic to girls, caused by Lili when she didn't respond to Hiromi's love letter he wrote to her, and gets rashes everywhere when touched by a girl. She leaves the letter in one of her notebooks and finds it ten years later so Hiromi has to go through the embarrassing experience of telling her it was him who wrote the love letter to her. Lili explains she didn't know how to read the letter as they were only in kindergarten and Hiromi was so advanced.

He was nicknamed "Hiro" in kindergarten by Lili. He has a crush on Lili. It is often shown by his acting bitter and sarcastic to her. Many people in the manga notice this and point this out, but Lili never realizes this. During one case, Lili becomes trapped in a burning church and Hiromi kisses her to help her stop coughing from the smoke. After he rescues her, they notice that his allergy has not acted up. Since then, Lili is shown being able to touch Hiromi without him having a reaction. At the end of the series, they are still partners and are in love.

Sirius- A mysterious private investigator just like Spica. In the final volume of the manga series, she is revealed to be Lili's long-lost mother. She gave Lili a test in the second volume that could've harmed Hiromi (though she later revealed that she never intended to harm him and even set up safety precautions). Sirius did this because she had been the hypnotised by a man named Zeus. Zeus hypnotised her because he was under the false impression that Sirius (Lili's mother) had kidnapped his old sweetheart, causing the girlfriend to fall into a comatose state. Lili manages to free her mother by taking off a ring that caused the hypnosis and at the end of the series, it is shown that her mother took over Lili's fortune telling business (while Lili becomes Spica full-time).

Inspector Hoshizawa- Lili's dad. He's a police officer and always ends up in Lili's cases somehow. He knows that Spica is actually his own daughter but disapproves of it. He was also searching for Lili's missing mother. He's also an Aquarius.

Megumi - Hiromi's sister. She attends an all-girl school and is fairly vain about her looks. In the first volume she is introduced in, Lili and Hiromi sneak into her school to investigate a series of kidnappings. Megumi herself is kidnapped later, but rescued. She later gets a fortune telling for her tutor from Lili and tells her about how Hiromi got sick from waiting for Lili in the rain after he left her the love note.

Zeus - Zeus is a fortune teller who appears in the final volume of the series. He is polite to Lili at first, but then poisons and locks up her father. After Hiromi rescues Inspector Hoshizawa, Zeus takes Hiro captive and demands the star ring from Lili. He is talented at using gems to hypnotize people, which is how he kept Lili's mother (under the alias of Sirius) in his power. He hates Spica, as he believes that she (Lili's mother) kidnapped his girlfriend and hurt her. Lili later reveals that his girlfriend feared that Zeus desired the star ring more than her love and asked Spica to have him decide between his girlfriend or the star ring. When Zeus hesitated, she was devastated and threw herself off the cliff. After learning this, Zeus loses his desire for the star ring and lets Lili, Hiromi, and Lili's mother leave.

Astral Spirits
Demeter- Is the Astral Spirit of the Virgo. She is sensitive and delicate. She also nags a lot, which sometimes make Lili crazy. It was also shown in the Star Talk that she is a worrywart in which she overreacts and always made a lot of impossible imagination of the future. When outside the Star Ring she usually holds the Crystal of Truth in her hands.

Antares- Is the Astral Spirit of the Scorpio. She hasn't forgiven Lili ever since Lili said that her Flamenco Dance looked like an Octopus Dance. She is a vengeful person but also very calm and cool. When outside the Star Ring she usually holds the Crystal of Truth is on a rod she carries.

Regulus- Is the Astral Spirit of the Leo. He also open with his opinions and will comply with Lili's wishes if she is nice after one time when she possibly bashed him on the head for seeing her panties and saying it was not a very sexy choice, in which to Lili its sexual harassment. It was shown in the Star Talk that he gets frustrated easily after he was not able to get a card. When outside the Star Ring he usually sits on the Crystal of Truth while it is floating

Parn- Is the Astral Spirit of the Capricorn. He is a bit of a know-it-all and seems to look formal, but is really sweet. He sticks to the rules, is really polite, but a bit of a push-over. Unlike anyone else, he doesn't like going out of the Star Ring. He wears his Crystal of Truth around his waist, on his belt.

Astrea- Is the Astral Spirit of Libra. She is very laid back, very self-conscious, and is kind and treats everyone equally. She is also elegant, attractive, and a smart individual with a great aesthetic sense. She carries her Crystal of Truth on the staff she rides on.

Castor and Pollux- Are the Astral Spirits of Gemini. They are cheerful, talkative, and romantic. They are very friendly and easily make new friends. They tend to get bored easily and give up on relationships quickly. They always seem to bicker about who goes out of the Star Ring first by sports like sumo wrestling on top of Lili's head. They keep their Crystal of Truth around a chain on both of their necks.

Chiron- Is the Astral Spirit of Sagittarius. Chiron is impatient, liberal and tries to strive towards its ideals. Chiron is cheerful, optimistic, and very outgoing. Chiron seems to have a rivalry with Io. Chiron keeps it's Crystal of Truth on the staff, in which one end of the side that resembles the end of an arrow it carries around. It was noted several times that may be female, but in the Star Talk subplot, it was strongly evident that Chiron is male.

Io- Is the Astral Spirit of Taurus. She is a gentle soul who is very affectionate. She perseveres on her efforts and keeps herself on track. Her ultimate goal is to have a family which gives her comfort and peace. She keeps her Crystal of Truth on the hakama of her kimono.

Aries- Is the Astral Spirit of Aries. She is scatter-brained, and loves to try new things. She is very stubborn and always gives her best at everything she does. She usually stands up for Aphrodite. She keeps the Crystal of Truth on the staff she carries around.

Aphrodite- Is the Astral Spirit of Pisces. She is romantic, sensitive, and pure-hearted. She is seems shy, but actually is willing to sacrifice herself for others. She has a crush on Ganymede. She keeps her Crystal of Truth on the front of her dress.

Ganymede- Is the Astral Spirit of Aquarius. Though he looks unapproachable and serious, he is actually very unpredictable. He is free-spirited, and independent but he doesn't like too much affection from others. Aphrodite has a crush on him. His Crystal of Truth is not usually visible, but its on the staff he carries around.

Praesepe- Is the Astral Spirit of Cancer. She is very kind, obedient, and is always concerned for others. She's also very good at paying attention to detail and taking care of other people. She always keeps her Crystal of Truth in a gold ring at hand.

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 unflipped, 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 Riri'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.

Release
The series is also published in Finland by Sangatsu Manga.