In the Japanese anime Kotaro Lives Alone, Kotaro picks premium tissues as the housewarming gift to hand out to his neighbors on moving day. And it isn't only for that occasion — even for the tissues he uses himself, he passes over the budget options and takes his time, poring over the ingredient labels before he decides. At a glance it might look like nothing more than a slightly fussy, particular streak. But the reason behind Kotaro's tissue choice lands as a genuine shock.
Source: Copyright. Liden Films
Why Kotaro Chooses Premium Tissues
Instead of the character tissues his peers rave about, Kotaro insists on expensive moisturizing ones. His reason is simple: thanks to their high-quality ingredients, they are not only soft and fragrant, but they also taste "sweet" on the lips.
At first glance, this might seem like a fussy, particular quirk. However, the show reveals the heartbreaking truth through an interview with a survivor of neglect. In the past, Kotaro ate tissues to soothe his extreme hunger, and he now relies on those memories to choose the "sweetest" tissues.
In reality, some premium moisturizing tissues do leave a faint, sweet taste on the tongue due to ingredients like glycerin and sorbitol, which are added to reduce skin friction. For Kotaro, this sweetness is no luxurious preference—it is a survival sense he was forced to acquire to endure a harsh environment.
Eating to Survive: Pica
In medicine, the repeated eating of non-food substances is called pica, a mental and behavioral disorder. Among children in neglectful environments, pica often appears not only as a way to endure extreme hunger, but as a form of self-soothing — a way to ease the intense stress that comes from a lack of parental affection or from isolation. Cases in which children chew on nearby paper, tissues, or clothing to soothe their anxiety have been widely reported in child counseling and clinical settings.
Clues Left by Child Neglect
Kotaro Lives Alone scatters clues about Kotaro's past through small, everyday episodes. In one scene, he keeps plastic gloves on hand in case his mother returns and wants to avoid direct skin contact when touching him — a heartbreaking detail that tells us the physical contact between this parent and child was anything but ordinary. We can guess that, left alone for long stretches or without meals, Kotaro ate tissues as a way to survive, and that somewhere in that process he developed his own sense of which tissues tasted better.
A Return to Ordinary Meals
A kind supermarket clerk and Kotaro happily swap impressions of new tissue products and the ones they've recommended to each other. His friends are simply puzzled that Kotaro uses adult-brand tissues instead of character ones.
But his neighbor Karino had always been watching Kotaro's words and actions closely, so the moment he saw that TV interview, he connected it straight to Kotaro's past. Calmly, Karino tells him, "You'll never have to eat tissues again," and offers Kotaro the cheap tissues he uses himself — because he understood that what matters to Kotaro isn't the expensive tissue, but the life he has now, one where he no longer needs to eat tissue at all.
Constantly complaining of hunger, or showing an abnormal appetite, can be an important sign that proper meals aren't being provided at home — the kind of signal that lets neglect be caught early and met with help.
Surrounded by the warm attention and care of Karino and the others around him, Kotaro will slowly find his way back to happiness. Hopefully, these days will multiply — days when there is no need for extravagant meals or premium tissues to feel safe. My simple hope is that Kotaro enjoys full, warm meals and continues to live a wonderfully ordinary life.
References
- Kaminotakuhaibin: Children Who Eat Tissues
- Asahi Shimbun: Children's Cafeteria and Child Poverty
- h-navi: Stress Signs in Children and How to Help
- e-Heart Clinic: Understanding Mental Health Through Film
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology: Guidelines on Child Poverty (PDF)