Kotaro Lives Alone

Synopsis

Shin Karino, a manga creator, encounters his new neighbor—four-year-old Kotaro Satou—who greets him with a box of tissues. Karino quickly realizes Kotaro is no ordinary child: he speaks with excessive formality and lives entirely alone, with no sign of any family around. Despite his solitary existence, Kotaro appears unworried and insists on his own self-reliance. Feeling concerned, Karino offers to take Kotaro along to a public bathhouse, where he learns that the young boy shares certain traits with him. As weeks go by, Karino and the other tenants in the apartment building grow fond of Kotaro and his unique quirks. In turn, Kotaro may be discovering a sense of belonging among these eccentric neighbors.