15 Best Anime Like Kotaro Lives Alone You Need to Watch 

Kotaro Lives Alone has crept into a lot of anime fans’ hearts. The story of Kotaro, a four-year-old boy who lives by himself due to his mother’s passing and his father’s abuse, has changed the lives of his neighbors and viewers. The heartwarming anime is extremely comedic and has several scenarios but manages to show the harsh realities of neglect and loneliness.

In the anime, viewers get to see how Kotaro manages to teach valuable lessons to his neighbors and how his neighbors do their best to raise the boy in place of his parents. Fans are also treated to a sense of community and family among the odd apartment dwellers as they finally bother to befriend each other for Kotaro’s sake.

If you just finished the anime and are looking for the next anime to deliver the same type of emotions Kotaro Lives Alone gives; then this list shows 15 anime that show some similarities to the heartwarming anime.

15. Okami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki/Wolf’s Children

In Kotaro Live’s Alone, Kotaro’s neighbors learn to care about each other in the series, especially caring for Kotaro since they will now raise him. They have a sense of responsibility to care for him now, much like parents have the responsibility to raise their kids as best as they can for whatever future they decide for themselves.

In Wolf’s Children, Hana tries her best to raise her kids, Ame and Yuki, without their father. She does a lot of research in order to teach them what it means to be raised as both a human and a wolf. Her husband couldn’t be more proud of how she raised their kids by herself.

14. Aishiteruze Baby

When someone dumps a child for you to take care of right at your doorstep, you learn a lot and fix up your act in order to become the kid’s new role model. Even Shin Karino took his guardian role seriously to give Kotaro a somewhat normal childhood in Kotaro Lives Alone.

Aishiteruze Baby is a shoujo manga that focuses on the resident playboy Kippei, who can’t help but flirt with any girl he finds attractive. However, he has to change his ways when his aunt suddenly abandons her five-year-old daughter, Yuzuyu, at his house.

With his little cousin now residing in his house, he now has the responsibility to take care of her and must become the parent figure to his young cousin. He learns to take care of his young cousin Yuzuyu and a girl named Kokoro, who helps him out.

13. Amaama to Inazuma/ Sweetness & Lightning

Instead of neglect, here we have a story of a father who would like to give his daughter the best home-cooked meals she could experience. The story follows Kouhei Inuzuka, who has been single handedly taking care of his daughter Tsumugi after his wife’s death. While he does an excellent job raising her, cooking isn’t in the arsenal of his talents.

Kouhei has been relying on convenience store meals to feed Tsumugi and has been feeling guilty for not being able to make anything fresh and nutritious for his daughter. He decides to learn how to make great homemade meals in one of his student’s family restaurants to feed his daughter healthy meals instead. With great food comes great family moments and good conversations with friends.

12. Princess Jellyfish

One of the key things that made Kotaro such an interesting show is the people involved in Kotaro’s new apartment life. The same goes for Tsuki Kurashita in Princess Jellyfish. The show revolves around the jellyfish-loving otaku and all her other otaku friends who live nearby. Take a look at how this odd bunch tries to fit into the real world with their skills.

11. Yurumates

Another tale of friendships found with neighbors and moving. Yurume is a ronin high school graduate who dreams of entering Tokyo University. In order to enter the school, she moves out of her old home to an apartment called Maison du Wish to study for the upcoming exams. The apartment complex is located on the outskirts of Tokyo, and it seems like other ronins are also residing there to study for the upcoming entrance exams.

10. Ponyo

It’s really more on how children affect us. Ponyo is a heartwarming tale for the family. Sosuke seems to have warmed his way to the hearts of the older adults in his town due to his mother’s work. All of them willingly look for him when he goes missing with Ponyo.

While it delves a lot into the fantasy realm, Ponyo still has similar lessons to Kotaro Lives alone, such as companionship, friendship, and trust. It’s also more suited for a younger audience, so if you’re also looking for something to watch with your kids, Ponyo is an excellent Ghibli film to try.

9. Poco’s Udon World

A highlight of Kotaro Lives Alone is his relationship with his neighbor, Karino, who has taken it upon himself to become Kotaro’s guardian. In Poco’s Udon World, Poco was originally an unnamed shape-shifting Tanuki who lives in Souta Tawara’s hometown. 

Upon Souta’s return to his hometown, he happens to run into the tanuki after discovering his family restaurant has closed down. Feeling sorry for the tanuki, he takes him in and names him Poco. Every episode revolves around the evolving relationship between Souta and Poco.

8. The Way of the Househusband

Kotaro wasn’t all too sad; it had a lot of funny moments too. However, if you’re looking for something less on the dramatic side and more comical to watch, then you should consider watching The Way of the Househusband, also available on Netflix.

The story follows Tatsu, a retired Yakuza boss who has given up his criminal ways to support his wife Miku by becoming a full-time Househusband. He has funny encounters due to his background of being a former Yakuza.

7. Spy X Family

Right after Kotaro Lives Alone, Spy X Family was the next big thing to hit Netflix. Anya Forger starts getting involved with the Spy named Twilight, and his life has been stressful ever since. But Anya and his wife Yor have been making him feel all sorts of emotions that he thought he buried during his training days as a Spy.

If you’re up for something lighthearted to watch but still want a bit of drama sprinkled in, Spy X Family has just enough of everything you are looking for.

6. Hinamatsuri

She may not be as young as Kotaro, but she does an excellent job of changing people’s lives by appearing. Hina manages to throw the life of Yoshifumi Nitta in disarray when she decides to time travel to the past. Yoshifumi ends up caring for Hina, becoming the girl’s de facto father in the process.

It’s trouble enough to suddenly care for another’s life, but it’s double the trouble when you find out she has unique psychokinetic powers and her existence in the wrong timeline might cause more destruction to the city. 

5. Kakushigoto

Being a role model to a kid is the parents’ or guardians’ job. Kakushi Gotou, a manga artist who happens to be known for drawing explicit manga, wants to hide the nature of his job from his daughter. He’s so paranoid that his daughter might find out that he goes out of his way to protect this secret.

The story follows Kakushi as he tries to hide his profession from his daughter. But eventually, as she grows older, she’ll have to find out about her father’s work. With it just being the two of them, Kakushi needs to do a better job at hiding his secret from his kid.

4. Usagi Drop

Usagi Drop is about a 30-year-old bachelor who is suddenly tasked with the responsibility of taking care of his grandfather’s illegitimate daughter. Well, Daikichi brought it upon himself to take care of Rin due to the harsh treatment the poor girl received from his other relatives.

Daikichi now needs to learn how to properly care for and raise Rin since he has no past childcare experience. The two of them are now family and have to look out for each other.

3. Clannad

People had similar feelings when it came to Ushio’s story. Unlike Ushio, Kotaro never really did makeup with his father, and Ushio’s tale might be slightly more tragic than that of Kotaro’s. To get into Clannad, watch it from the very first season.

Clannad follows the story of Tomoya Okazaki as he soon finds himself drawn to Nagisa, a soft-spoken girl from his school who wants to reopen the theater club. The two of them soon develop a relationship that keeps them strong during both their tough times. This all changes when Nagisa’s illness suddenly gets the best of her while she was giving birth to Ushio in the after story.

Now, Tomoya has to overcome his depression from losing his wife so he can be a proper father to their daughter.

2. My Roommate is a Cat

Let’s switch the story up and replace the role of the life-changing kid with a life-changing cat. My Roommate is a Cat is about an introverted mystery novel author named Subaru Mikazuki. He has trouble caring for himself but takes home a gray and white-haired cat he named Haru. Now, Haru is worried if her new owner will be able to care for himself and her.

1. Gakuen Babysitters

After the death of their parents, Ryuuichi Kashima now becomes the guardian of his much younger brother Kotarou. On top of taking care of his baby brother, he now has to become a school babysitter to pay for his education and the house they live in.