The Fictive Family Ties of “Kotaro Lives Alone”

A New Netflix Series About A Lone Four-Year-Old Explores Japan’s Changing Society

This article contains plot spoilers

Kotaro Sato is a very serious four-year-old boy who lives by bushido, which he has learned from a cheesy cartoon samurai named Tonosaman. Like a tiny warrior, Kotaro carries a (toy) sword, speaks an antiquated Japanese not used since the end of the Tokugawa Period, and prides himself on his stoicism and self-discipline…