Zodiac P.I., Vol. 2

十二宮でつかまえて [Jūnikyū de Tsukamaete] #2

by Natsumi Andō

Lill is just like any other normal girl--except she can foretell the future This "Zodiac P.I." transforms herself into the magic Detective Splca 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 Spica. Soon, no astral investigation is too arduous for this dynamic duo

Genres: Manga, Mystery, Fantasy, Shojo, Comics, Graphic Novels, Romance

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

安藤なつみ, Andō Natsumi is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for Zodiac P.I. as well as Kitchen Princess, for which she won the Kodansha Manga Award for children's manga in 2006.

Favorites: Donald Duck
Favourite manga: Ossu! Ichijin and Kimagure Orange Road
Favourites: meats and fruits
Hobbies: shopping, reading and watching TV

Reviews

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mystery solutions are still pretty implausible, and I suspect that the first one is flat-out impossible. But she's solving mysteries with the power of the zodiac. I wasn't exactly expecting Holmes here. But it is a fun read, as long as I can keep up that willing suspension of disbelief, I really like the art, and I'm interested to see where this new rival storyline is going.

[Veera · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s just ridiculous and fun isn’t it

[Kayleigh Wiebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Zodiac P.I. series is so cute and fun! It reminds me of watching Sailor Moon growing up. The mysteries are fast-paced and engaging, but I often find the reveals leave me wanting more. Would recommend if you love murder mysteries and magical girl manga.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is growing on me! I love the author’s exploration of the signs and commentary throughout. A fun, cute read again reminiscent of Sailor Moon!

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Stejná recenze u každého dílu)
Moc pěkná kresba s roztomilými postavičkami.
Lilin převlek za Spicu se nedal nazývat převlekem, jelikož jediné co udělala bylo to, že si změnila oblečení. Ani si neobtěžovala nandat aspoň nějakou masku, která by jí zakryla obličej. Je zajímavé, že i přesto, že udělala jen toto, ji nikdo nepoznal. To měli i v pokémonech lepší kamufláž a to je už co říct. Kéž by to takhle fungovalo i v reálném životě.
Oceňuji trochu originální nápad se schopností mluvit s duchy jednotlivých znamení zvěrokruhu. Sice jsem už něco podobného někde viděla, ale jenom párkrát a snaha přinést něco nového se cení.
Obálky vypadají celkem hezky. Jediné, co mně na nich vadí je to, že odstín názvu a proužky na kraji má pokaždé jinou barvu.
Dávám 73% Jazyk: Aj

[Georgia De · Rating 4 out of 5]

That doll is going to be in my nightmares

[Bibliothecat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review for the complete series

Zodiac P.I. is a fun romp; admittedly, you'll have to throw your disbelief to the wind but it brings some fun elements to the table. Riri is a high schooler who lives through all your typical shoujo manga tropes; jumping school fences, crash landing on the new guy who also happens to get the desk in class next to her and so on - you get the picture. And while she isn't a magical girl per se, she does fit nicely into that niche. As a daughter of a police officer and a fortune teller, Riri gets mixed up with bizarre murder cases which she solves with the help of a magic ring which can summon horoscopes.

The crime cases are really out there; thing Case Closed where perpetrators become creative to a staggering amount of disbelief and yet it draws you in anyway. The magic aspect is fairly small but the little horoscopes are represented by little humanoid depictions of the zodiacs. They are both super cute but also fun as they all come with a set of typical traits - I for one felt very seen when pisces made her appearance!

The romance is nothing crazy but it's sweet, there's not much of drama such as love rivals. The supporting cast was largely unremarkle but I think Riri and her horoscopes were enough to keep the ball rolling. Given that it follows a case by case format, this series could have easily gone on for longer but it also does well with the four volumes we're given - we get to meet all 12 zodiacs and it was a decent time for the romance to develop.

The overarching mystery around Riri's rival Sirius was a little far fetched and something I didn't care for. It just felt a little too bizarre and the way it was wrapped up was rushed. It also didn't really do anything character development wise.

Take it with its flaws and clichés, it's a perfectly fun short shoujo series which stands out of from similar works with its little spin on zodiac signs.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with volume one, I can't give this a full five stars due to translation errors in the formatting. (The things you notice about something published through Tokyopop years later!)

Otherwise however, volume 2 lives up to the standard set by the first volume pretty well. I did remember the way the cases in this particular volume were solved as opposed to when I re-read the first volume but it didn't make the read any less enjoyable. Again, a nice combination of fluffy slice-of-life, humor, zodiac fun, and a splash of mystery. I'm eager to get my hands on the remaining two volumes and finish the series up! (Shout-out to all fellow Libras; the spirit of the sign Libra shows up in this book, and she's a fairly accurate representation of Libras on a general whole!)

[Erbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peri bintangnya unyu2 semua, bikin gemes!{}

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute but not really going anywhere...

[ChelseaFace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not in love with this series. It's okay. I will continue reading because I'm curious how it ends, but it's not very interesting or thought provoking.

[Paulette · Rating 4 out of 5]

More mysteries to solve! More (attempted) murders! This would have made a very cute and short anime. Is there one? I suppose I can go look it up myself.

[David Doel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes this is not, but the stories are fun and the art fits the motif.

[Starbubbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

the dry ice issue. great theory about having a block of dry ice craved like the golden bust. but i have some issues.

1)you can't really carve dry ice. your tools aren't designed for that temperature. plus, to get smooth surfaces with ice carving, you melt the ice a little with your hand. you touch dry ice, you will probably end up with frostbite.

2) okay, so assuming you are able to carve dry ice, when the case was opened, it blinded the cop. how? i've seen dry ice up close and personal. it's cloudy. plus, it's not like you can paint it gold or anything. the paint would freeze before making it to the surface.

3) when the case was opened, there was no fog. believe me, you open a case with dry ice, you get blasted with cold air, and there's fog. even if it doesn't overfill to spill outside of the case, there's still fog in the case.

so yeah, those were my issues. feel slightly childish, but it was a fun case. it would have been more plausable if the case had a false bottom that activated with the turning of the key, and it fell below the table into another case that was padded to muffle the sound of it falling. you know, be totally coperfield about it. haha.

[Jack Reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ando continues to boost Zodiac P.I. with charm as Lili gets a few more cases under her belt. I'm liking how she's setting up some of the later twists in the series by combining overt hints with Lili's confusion over the past. She's hinting at mysteries in her protagonist's own life, which are just as compelling as most of the case files. Hiromi is also getting more comfortable working with and being around Lili.

Outside of minor art quality and editorial issues (dialogue bubbles got swapped, which made some conversations hard to follow), this volume wasn't as consistent tonally. The mysteries involving the principal's statue and Sirius's introduction lacked the seriousness of the following two, even though the latter is important to the plot. Knowing this is in part because I've read the series before, but it feels like Ando isn't leaning into Sirius's character enough yet for her audience to get a proper read on her. This may (and should) change soon.

[Cornelia · Rating 1 out of 5]

22 When Lili assumes her secret identity of Spica, mysteries don 19t stand a chance because she 19s ready to solve them as a P.I. using her Star Ring and other secrets of the zodiac. I didn 19t really enjoy this book. Perhaps it 19s because it is the second volume, but I don 19t think so. It felt scattered and as though it lacked depth. The illustrations are busy and give a frenetic feeling to the fast paced-book. The plot lacked basis. Manga fans and readers who like short vignettes and action-packed series will likely enjoy this book. It gives good 1Ceyes on text 1D time.

[Brianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my third time reading this managa and i have to say that i still love the story line and the drawing in there. i will probably re-reading this series over and over again.

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read/rated this in grade school.

[Shinyfox · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good concept for a book but it wasn't executed well enough to keep my attention.

[Chelsea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume was a lot of fun and I am really enjoying the series so far.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading it because a dear friend said that I may like it. She was right. The story is quite OK and I really like the protagonist, because she's a quite strong female lead.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the crimes get more serious so does the plot line. Though each mystery may be simple I find them all still very endearing and interesting.