Tsukiko Sagi is a very shy woman who works as a character designer; she has had success with Maromi; a cute pink dog but is being pressured to come up with something new. Then one day she is hospitalised and tells the police she was attacked by a young boy who was wearing gold in-line skates and wielding a crooked gold baseball bat. Soon there are further reports of attacks and the young assailant is dubbed 'Lil Slugger' or 'Shonen Bat' (for some reason the name used in the subtitles switches after the first disc). The attacks are investigated by detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa.
Episodes tend to focus of different people; sometimes these characters will only feature in one or two episodes; other times they will be people who had been secondary characters before. As the story progresses we learn more about Shonen Bat and how his victims are selected then there is a revelation that makes us, and the detectives, question everything we've learnt before.
Viewers familiar with the films of series creator Satoshi Kon will know to expect a story where things aren't always what they seem and delusions and things that are imagined are expertly mingled with real events. The story can be fairly dark at times; the darkest, and surprisingly the funniest, episode involves three people who are determined to kill themselves. In fact this episode is so controversial that the UK DVD release has a mandatory one minute, twenty second cut despite having an eighteen certificate! Thankfully this cut doesn't spoil the episode. In short: this is a great series which is a must see for adult anime fans; the story is gripping, the characters interesting and the animation looks good.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
Episodes tend to focus of different people; sometimes these characters will only feature in one or two episodes; other times they will be people who had been secondary characters before. As the story progresses we learn more about Shonen Bat and how his victims are selected then there is a revelation that makes us, and the detectives, question everything we've learnt before.
Viewers familiar with the films of series creator Satoshi Kon will know to expect a story where things aren't always what they seem and delusions and things that are imagined are expertly mingled with real events. The story can be fairly dark at times; the darkest, and surprisingly the funniest, episode involves three people who are determined to kill themselves. In fact this episode is so controversial that the UK DVD release has a mandatory one minute, twenty second cut despite having an eighteen certificate! Thankfully this cut doesn't spoil the episode. In short: this is a great series which is a must see for adult anime fans; the story is gripping, the characters interesting and the animation looks good.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.