History Main / MinorLivingAlone

** Although she has friends and family she could stay with if she wasn't too polite to ask, [[AllLovingHero Tohru]] decides to try to live on her own in a tent after she's orphaned and her grandfather's house is being renovated. Fortunately, the Sohmas are persistent enough to get her to stay with them...although one could just as easily question the logic of moving in with three guys she barely knows. (Then again, Tohru is kind of a BlackSheep to her family save for her grandfather, and when she ''does'' temporarily live with them, they treat her like crap until the Sohmas go fetch her.)

* Sui in ''Manga/TwilightStarSuiAndNeri'' is a preteen girl who lives most of her life parentless and with an absent adult company on her side. She is mostly taken care of by Neri, her pet sloth, something that is the closest there is to an "adult figure" for her.

* Billy Batson in ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'', usually. (In the 90s he was eventually adopted by the Bromfields, in other versions he [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold stays in an orphanage]], or [[WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010 with Uncle Dudley]], and in [[ComicBook/New52 the most recent version]] he has a foster family.)

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* In ''Film/{{Zebrahead}}'', the delinquent Nut lives with some friends in an abandoned house across the street from Nikki. When the principal asks to talk to his parents, Nut is evasive about why they aren't available.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', Mikado and Anri are both shown living alone, in Mikado's case because his parents rent an apartment for him closer to his school (see below under RealLife) and in Anri's case because she doesn't have any family left. Masaomi is the only one who actually lives with his parents, and they have such a HandsOffParenting style that he might as well be living alone.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': Subverted. Yuki Nagato looks to all appearances like a minor living alone, and that's even the cover story that Kyon tells Haruhi about Yuki's living situation, but in fact [[spoiler: she's actually an alien android, not a teenage girl, and therefore not really a minor at all]].

* ''LightNovel/SuperCub'' has the main character, Koguma. She has no parents ([[spoiler:her father died when she was very young, and her mother abandoned her without explanation]]), no relatives, and no friends. She lives alone in an apartment with help from a stipend and a scholarship to attend the local school.
* In ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'', Shino Asada lives in her own apartment in real life. It's [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in that Shino often has trouble making ends meet, some of her classmates befriend her so that they can use her apartment to party, and [[spoiler:because she lives alone in a building with little security, she becomes a viable target for Death Gun]].

* Deconstructed in ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'', through Taiga Aisaka's story. Typical examples of this trope have children acting like perfect miniature adults who expertly cook, clean house, do laundry, pay bills, and sometimes even hold jobs; Taiga lives alone because she can't get along with anyone in her family, but her parents never taught her any domestic skills before they (effectively) threw her out of the house, and they don't bother checking up on her once she's gone. Until she meets Ryuuji, she's [[TrashOfThetitans living in filth and squalor]], subsisting on a diet of convenience store food and suffering from chronic allergies due to her terrible living conditions. ''And'' she's never held a job either. The series emphasizes the fact that even though she's technically living on her own, she's actually completely dependent on Ryuuji's care [[spoiler: and the monthly cash deposits she gets from her father.]] Part of her character growth arc involves her learning to acknowledge that she can't do everything on her own and start to address the issues that led to her isolation in the first place; this leads her to [[spoiler: return to her family home so she can rekindle her relationship with them and, through this, become a better person before she and Ryuuji can start out a new life together.]]

* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'': Bu-ling is a preteen girl living without adult supervision. Due to her father [[ParentalAbandonment being away training martial arts]] and her mother [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest being dead]], she's been [[PromotionToParent promoted to parent]] for [[MassiveNumberedSiblings five younger siblings]] while she's an ''elementary schooler''. In addition to that, she also works at a café ''and'' is a crime-fighting half-monkey superhero. At the very least, the anime included a kindergarten teacher who offers to help Bu-ling and her little siblings out.

* ''Literature/{{Thora}}'': In the first book, the ''Loki'' docks at the seaside town of Grimli, where Thora's human DisappearedDad used to live. To avoid being seen, her mermaid mother Halla lives on a small, barren island called the Rock five miles from shore. Her ParentalSubstitute Mr Walters has to go to Argentina to attend a relative's funeral, leaving ten-year-old Thora alone on the ''Loki'' most of the time. Local busybody Mrs Grubb unsuccessfully tries to get her into foster care.
* Deconstructed in ''LightNovel/{{Toradora}}'', through Taiga Aisaka's story. Typical examples of this trope have children acting like perfect miniature adults who expertly cook, clean house, do laundry, pay bills, and sometimes even hold jobs; Taiga lives alone because she can't get along with anyone in her family, but her parents never taught her any domestic skills before they (effectively) threw her out of the house, and they don't bother checking up on her once she's gone. Until she meets Ryuuji, she's [[TrashOfThetitans living in filth and squalor]], subsisting on a diet of convenience store food and suffering from chronic allergies due to her terrible living conditions. ''And'' she's never held a job either. The series emphasizes the fact that even though she's technically living on her own, she's actually completely dependent on Ryuuji's care [[spoiler: and the monthly cash deposits she gets from her father.]] Part of her character growth arc involves her learning to acknowledge that she can't do everything on her own and start to address the issues that led to her isolation in the first place; this leads her to [[spoiler: return to her family home so she can rekindle her relationship with them and, through this, become a better person before she and Ryuuji can start out a new life together.]]

* Daniel Striped Tiger of ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' is a tiger cub who lives all by himself in a the clocktower of the Kingdom of Make-Believe. He is explicitly said to be an orphan and no one appears to be supervising him. Oddly, the sequel series, ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' portrays the now-grown up tiger as the son of Grandpere Tiger, suggesting he was adopted at some point between the two shows.

* Daniel Stripped Tiger of ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' is a tiger cub who lives all by himself in a the clocktower of the Kingdom of Make-Believe. He is explicitly said to be an orphan and no one appears to be supervising him. Oddly, the sequel series, ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' portrays the now-grown up tiger as the son of Grandpere Tiger, suggesting he was adopted at some point between the two shows.

* ''Manga/ChainsawManga'':
** After Denji's father died, his debtors pretty much enslaved Denji, leaving him to live in a [[HorribleHousing ramshackle shed]] with only his dog-like devil Pochita as company. When Denji is [[JoinOrDie drafted into]] Public Safety at the age of 16, he's made another agent's roommate.

* ''Manga/Chainsaw'':

[[folder:Light Novels]]

* In ''LightNovel/EndoAndKobayashiLiveTheLatestOnTsundereVillainessLieselotte'', Endo lives alone in an apartment complex owned by his aunt so he can be closer to his high school, chosen for its baseball program. He could have moved back home after [[CareerEndingInjury he retired from baseball]], but by the time he started having a crush on Kobayashi.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': Tobias has technically been one since the first book after his ModeLock into an adult hawk, eventually getting his own territory and living as a hawk, since in his human life he was an orphan taken in by a separated aunt and uncle who didn't care about him (once he disappeared, both thought he was living with the other). Then a cousin of his shows up wanting to take care of him ([[spoiler:actually Visser Three tracking down Elfangor's human son]]), and the lawyer handling the case says Tobias looks healthy and well-dressed enough for someone living off the grid (the former because he acquired his human form thanks to TimeTravel, the latter because [[TheFashionista Rachel]] picked out his clothes for the meeting). He does come off as having NoSocialSkills, but that's because he's no longer used to human emotions.
* In Jeramey Kraatz's ''Literature/TheCloakSociety'' novel ''Villains Rising'', it is not a minor but seven minors, the oldest fourteen. On the other hand, they are extremely mature about it; the six who can't do anything useful toward the rescue until the GadgeteerGenius devises a way spend their days training to keep up their abilities.
* ''Literature/TheEvolutionOfEmily'': August's stepdad Blake moved out of his homophobic parents' home when he was fifteen. He spent three years as a homeless busker, enduring robberies and assaults. Once someone even peed on him while he was asleep. His life improved when he joined the band Funkalicious, and the drummer let him sleep in his van.
* This is the state of affairs for the eponymous character in the second ''Literature/JackBlank'' book, and he's only thirteen years old. However, Jack lives in the Imagine Nation, which is a fictional country that functions as a safe haven for superhero fantasy, so the laws may be different there. Even so, 13 is still quite young for someone to be living alone.
* In ''Literature/TheMissingPieceOfCharlieOReilly'', Jonathon [[spoiler:was RetGone by Brona and taken to the limbo-like Asylum before escaping into a world where no one remembers him]], so he lied about his age and started working for a lawn care company that pays in cash and doesn't ask questions. His boss rents him a one-room apartment over his garage. Jonathon will be eighteen soon, so he won't have to lie anymore.
* In ''Literature/Mouse2017'', fifteen-year-old Bliss tells her friends that her parents spend most of their time in Hong Kong and her brother is at prep school, leaving her alone in their suburban house. [[spoiler:The truth is, her family doesn't exist in this timeline. She "borrowed" a vacant house in the suburbs when she traveled back in time to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.]]
* The title character Nickel in ''Literature/NickelPlated'' lives alone at age 12, after having [[DarkAndTroubledPast escaped from child pornographers]] (and it's implied [[spoiler:killed them]]). He signed the lease by paying a homeless guy to pretend to be his dad, and makes enough money to survive by selling marijuana to high schoolers, blackmailing pedophiles on the internet, and working as a KidDetective (usually for people who don't know his age).
* ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'' lives alone in Sweden with a horse and a monkey in her own house. Her father is king of a southern island, her mother is deceased. Pippi even avoids school because she sees no need for education and she's wealthy given how much gold her father left behind for her. At times, the adults in the town wants to help or assist her, but she prefers to take care of herself most of the time. Her father did offer to pick her up, but she couldn't bear leaving Tommy and Anika behind and seeing that Pippi has grown more attached to her two best friends than to her father, she declines going to the seas with him.
* ''Literature/SecretVampire'': James is seventeen and lives by himself in an apartment his parents own. Poppy thinks this is really cool because of the independence it gives him, although it becomes clear it's a symptom of the utter lack of closeness between James and his parents; they're happy to let him more-or-less fend for himself despite him being a high schooler, while he doesn't even want to be under the same roof as them. It does come in handy later, as it gives Poppy somewhere private to stay after she turns into a vampire.
* Simon from ''Franchise/TheShadowhunterChronicles'' has to live alone for a while after he is turned into a vampire and his strictly religious mother considers him a monster and banishes him from her apartment. It doesn't take long, however, before a werewolf named Jordan Kyle lets him live with him.
* Watch in ''Literature/{{Spooksville}}''. His Mom, Dad and sister all live in seperate states and while he first claims to live with an aunt, it's eventually made clear he lives alone. It's never explained how this all came to be but he seems well off despite all this, although this does cause him to be rather lonely.
* ''Literature/{{Stim}}'': When Chloe was sixteen, her father moved overseas and left her in New Zealand. Her mother was in a mental hospital, so she moved from flat to flat and worked as a waitress to pay rent.
* In the ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'' novel ''The Youkai Computer Knows'', Nanaki is in this condition due to the application of OnOneCondition--he can only inherit the family if he stays in the family mention until 20, and he's 12 at the point. While he doesn't mind, [[AudienceSurrogate Aya]], after recalling her FriendlessBackground, finds this appalling.
* ''Literature/TogetherlyLong'': Oukii and Chiisai, the older of which is ten, live in a hut together in the human village in the magical land of Kuni.
* Alvie from ''Literature/WhenMyHeartJoinsTheThousand'' is a teenage FosterKid who used to live in a group home for emotionally troubled teenagers, where she was severely bullied and ran away three times. After the third, she told the judge that she preferred being homeless to staying in that place, so the judge agreed to let her move into her own apartment, as long as the social worker Dr. Bernhardt checks up on her twice a month. Alvie now works at the zoo, feeding animals and cleaning cages, and makes enough money to scrape by.
* In ''Literature/WhereTheCrawdadsSing'', Kya's entire family abandons her in a shack in the marsh by age ten. Without Pa's disability checks to support her, she gathers mussels and fish and sells them to Jumpin', who runs the gas station. She uses the money to buy food and kerosene, and mostly wears hand-me-downs from her vanished siblings. She pretends Pa still lives with her so the authorities won't take her away.
* ''Literature/WildflowerRanch'': After the disappearance of Alyssa's mother, she spends two weeks pretending everything is normal because she's afraid social services will separate her from her autistic half-brother. She tutors other kids in order to buy food. When the lights go out because she can't pay the electricity bills, she wonders how Ethan will cope without his morning glass of cold milk. It turns out she doesn't have to worry about it, because the next day Ethan breaks his arm, the hospital can't contact his mom, and Alyssa is forced to tell the truth.
* ''Literature/{{Thora}}'': In the first book, the ''Loki'' docks at the seaside town of Grimli, where Thora's human DisappearedDad used to live. To avoid being seen, her mermaid mother Halla lives on a small, barren island called the Rock five miles from shore. Her ParentalSubstitute Mr Walters has to go to Argentina to attend a relative's funeral, leaving ten-year-old Thora alone on the ''Loki'' most of the time. Local busybody Mrs Grubb unsuccessfully tries to get her into foster care.
[[/folder]]

* In the United States, very rarely a teenager can seek to be legally emancipated if they can prove that they are financially self-sufficient and it would be in their best interests to live alone. This is most commonly seen with Hollywood actors, as they have the money (and sometimes come into conflict with their parent-managers over how it should be spent).

* In the United States, very rarely a teenager can seek to be legally emancipated if they can prove that they are financially self-sufficient and it would be in their best interests to live alone.

* ''WesternAnimation/PetAlien'': 12-year-old Tommy Cadle lives in his lighthouse with the titular aliens, but very little parental supervision. His mom occasionally communicates with him through a speaker, but [[TheVoice makes no on-screen appearance]] and is otherwise out of the picture.

[[caption-width-right:350:"The best part about living alone? He gets to make his own rules."]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"The best part about living alone? He gets to make his own rules."]]

Schoolday's over. Students prepare to leave... but not all of them go to meet friends, hang out with friends, a LoveInterest or to a family. For various reasons, some live alone, younger than you'd expect. The most common cause for this trope is that [[ParentalAbandonment their parents are dead or absent.]]

* In ''LightNovel/AccelWorld'', Kuroyukihime lives alone, and is estranged from her parents [[spoiler:because after Kuroyukihime's sister tricked her into killing Red Rider, Kuroyukihime confronted her sister with a knife, leading to Kuroyukihime getting kicked out of the house]].

* ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'': Bu-ling is a preteen girl living without adult supervision. Due to her father [[ParentalAbandonment being away training martial arts]] and her mother [[DeceasedParentsAreTheBest being dead]], she's been [[PromotionToParent promoted to parent]] for [[MassiveNumberedSiblings five younger siblings]] while she's an ''elementary schooler''. In addition to that, she also works at a café ''and'' is a crime-fighting half-monkey superhero. Of course, when her little sister's teacher suspects that no one is living with them, she offers to help Bu-ling and her siblings out.

[[folder:Lights Novels]]

* Daniel Stripped Tiger of ''Series/MisterRogersNeighborhood'' is a tiger cub who lives all by himself in a the clocktower of the Kingdom of Make-Believe. He is explicitly said to be an orphan and no one appears to be supervising him. Oddly, the sequel series, ''WesternAnimation/DanielTigersNeighborhood'' portrays the now-grown up tiger as the son of Grandpere Tiger, suggesting he was adopted at some point.