Kotaro wa Hitorigura shi or Kotaro lives alone is a tremendously heartwarming story of Kotaro Sato, a five-year old who lives in an apartment all by himself. Kotaro has a life which is veiled by mystery. After moving into his apartment, the first thing Kotaro does is greet his neighbours including the skilled but, unknown Manga artist Karino Shin. Shin plays a primal role in this series as he gains affection for the little boy living alone and starts getting concerned for him. As the drama proceeds, the relationship between the two develops as they both start taking care of each other.
The show in its course introduces several characters, starting with the kind Keisuke, a teacher working in the kindergarten where Kotaro is enrolled. Mizuki, a neighbour of Kotaro and Karino, who was being harassed by her ex-boyfriend is also introduced. Other characters like Isamu who seems to be very hard and haughty but is a very loving person and the lawyer Kobayashi san are also seen appearing in the show. Every character in the show has something to contribute and are larger than life.
The episodes are heartening and revolve around the lives of Kotaro and his neighbours. We also see many versions of the characters and their interpersonal relationships such as Kotaro and Karino being playful and childish and also solving obstacles together such as when Karino’s ex-girlfriend tries to separate them with the pretext of Karino’s work being harmed.
Karino goes on to establish that Kotaro is an asset to his life and not a liability when Kotaro tries to be mature and tries to avoid Karino to let him focus on his work. These delicate moments make the show very sensitive but also very warm.
On the outer front it might seem like the adults around Kotaro help him to lead his life but on the other hand it is the five-year old boy who delivers happiness, growth, lessons and change in the lives of the adults around him. The emotions, fun, love, joy and all the other plethora of feelings makes Kotaro lives alone a very pleasurable watch and a perfect binge on Netflix.
