Tsukiko Sagi is a famous mascot designer who designed the popular Maromi. One night after encountering a creepy old lady, she is assaulted. She claims it was a young boy with a bat but no one believes her. Now the hunt is on for Shonen Bat as there is a series of assaults happening.

Was about to give up on Satoshi Kon's stories but after Tokyo Godfather, I thought I'd give one of his series a try.

Character designs definitely resemble his other works. There isn't any fan service but as with Satoshi's other works but there are mature themes involved so you have one character working as a lady of the night and also the odd shower scene which kind of resembles Perfect Blue.

All the victims have some sort of issue they have difficulty handling and our detectives are fairly much the only ones straight-headed, which also gives them a tough time handling the investigation. There's a bit of Shirobako in it as one scenario focuses on an Anime studio.

I think the creepy OP with the characters standing around laughing gives a good impression of what you're in for.

It's a depressing show despite its attempt at dark comedy. First half was bearable because there was something to blame but then it's back to Satoshi's movie fantasy weirdness again... It feels like it's lost the plot by the second half and just throwing ideas around.

Other than that, it's quite an interesting show looking at the mental health issues people face due to stress and pressure from society, driving them to escape via delusions. Be warned it contains scenes involving self-harm and minors.