Kotaro Lives Alone is difficult to watch but it’s not what you think
I started watching the Netflix anime Kotaro Lives Alone when it first debuted on the streaming service in April. However, I only finished the series yesterday, well into September. The reason? It was really tough to watch. But it’s not what you think.
Kotaro Lives Alone (コタローは1人暮らし or Kotaro wa Hitori Gurashi ) is about a 4 year old boy who rents a room at a small apartment building, alone. The boy is overly polite and absolutely stoic. It doesn’t take long before the neighbors all come together to figure out what is up with this 4 year old boy living alone. It is based off of a manga series Mami Tsumura.
We here try to avoid spoilers as best as we can, but in this case, not only is it obvious but it is required info for someone looking to watch this show. The reason the boy is alone is because his parents are not able to care for him. We’ll leave it at that.
Although going in you may think the series is light-hearted and really about a precocious kid finding out about life through his seemingly dysfunctional or odd neighbors, it really isn’t. You’ll find out pretty quickly that it’s much deeper than that. Which is also why it was so difficult to watch.
So warning before going in: it ain’t your typical slice-of-life, lighthearted show. Although it does have those moments, there are also moments that make you want to tear your heart out and question humanity. But then there are also moments that make you want to put your heart back into your chest. The kicker is, some of these moments come in an almost nonchalant manner which sometimes leaves you unprepared. Yet it never is done in a way that seems forced or structured – it feels natural, sometimes brutally so.
So, yeah, it is a tough watch but not because it is bad, rather it is because it is good on such a deeper, emotional level.
Now, that is done, I’ll go into the other aspects that I usually cover in a review/breakdown like this.
First of all, the art is simplistic in nature and as stylistic as One Piece. This is not to say it is bland or generic, but it is its own style that is quite distinct yet not so far out that one would not recognize it as anime – the familiarity is especially evident in the female characters. It is not off-putting, and by the end of the series, I had found it rather charming. The animation was artfully done as well. You would think that is a basic requirement, but nowadays so many series are rushed out without much consideration for art or artful use of elements, such as CG. Here, the CG is used to enhance the series rather than something that is forced or as simply a cost-saving measure.
The voice acting is fantastic, especially Kotaro’s. Most of the female characters feel a bit rougher, compared to what one is used to in a typical anime, but that is not to say it was bad. I think maybe we are used to having some of the same stable of extremely high paid female VA take all the roles in anime that having someone not so main stream (read: a normal VA) might feel slightly odd. Still, their acting was excellent, and, if they really did avoid giving roles to mainstream female VAs, then that is really great.
The music is a bit on the quirky, light-hearted side, and honestly is not my style, but they aren’t bad. What I liked about the ending credits is that they often put in additional story moments in it through still images. Sometimes these images helped decompress your emotions and feelings from a tough episode.
So, overall recommendation? You should watch it, if you can. I don’t mean that in an availability sort of way, but rather if you are able to, mentally and emotionally. Is Kotaro Lives Alone a sad anime? It can be, but it can also be very uplifting as well. Hopefully some of what I’ve written here will help you be a bit more prepared than I was, in addition to actually convincing you to watch it. But even though it is a tough watch, I think it can make you leave a different person… even if just slightly so.
