Mousou Dairinin

A mysterious attacker nicknamed “Shounen Bat” appears in Musashino City, racing on rollerblades and striking victims with a golden baseball bat. His first known target is character designer Tsukiko Sagi, already under enormous pressure after the success of her popular mascot Maromi, and the lack of evidence soon causes people to doubt her story.

Detectives Keiichi Ikari and Mitsuhiro Maniwa take the case, but the attacks continue and every new victim makes the assailant harder to define. Rumors spread faster than the investigation, until fear begins to behave like something independent of fact. While the detectives search for a real person they can arrest, the city itself starts creating the version of Shounen Bat that its anxieties and excuses seem to require.