# Kotaro Lives Alone (2022)

> A lonely little boy moves into a ramshackle apartment building alone and forms a tender friendship with the broke manga artist next door.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/111128

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 27 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, comedy, drama
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Rie Kugimiya, Toshiki Masuda, Junichi Suwabe, Saori Hayami
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15490038/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: tender, wry, heartwarming, bittersweet, gentle, melancholic

## What critics say

Viewers broadly praise the series as a warm, tender blend of humor and heartbreak centered on a small, self-reliant boy and his neighbors.

## Synopsis

Kotaro Lives Alone (2022) is a Japanese animated slice of life series created for Netflix, adapted from a manga and produced by LIDENFILMS. Its protagonist is Kotaro Sato, a small boy who moves into a ramshackle apartment building on his own, voiced by Rie Kugimiya. His closest companion is Shin Karino, the broke manga artist next door, voiced by Toshiki Masuda, and the two build an unlikely bond across the age gap. Other residents, including Isamu Tamaru (Junichi Suwabe) and Mizuki Akitomo (Saori Hayami), drift in and out of the building's crowded hallways and tiny rooms. The engine of the series is small daily problems: how Kotaro manages cooking, money, chores and loneliness, and how the adults around him respond with awkward kindness. Each short episode is a self-contained vignette rather than a plot-driven thriller, and the ten-episode run unfolds as one gentle arc. Set in contemporary Japan, the show lives in cramped apartments, neighborhood streets and modest kitchens. The tone is wry, warm and quietly melancholic, mixing comic beats with moments of real heartbreak about a child who is strong enough to be loved yet still carries the weight of being alone. Fans of Barakamon, Yotsuba&! and Wolf Children will find resonance in its gentle humor and tender emotional register.

## Shows like Kotaro Lives Alone

- [Pardon the Intrusion, I'm Home! (2026)](https://ember.film/tv/1105194)
- [Tsukigakirei (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/61960)
- [Chosen Home (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/433089)
- [Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/88996)
- [March Comes In Like a Lion (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/57732)
- [Usagi Drop (2011)](https://ember.film/tv/41067)
- [The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/117310)
- [Poco's Udon World (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/59906)
- [Migi&Dali (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/116297)
- [Barakamon (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/59026)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt