The Winter 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Kaya-chan Isn't Scary

Kaya-chan is a notorious problem child in her kindergarten, but none of the adults know her secret--till Chie-sensei is put in charge and learns of Kaya-chan's hidden ability to see evil spirits and vanquish them with a punch.

Kaya-chan Isn't Scary is based on Yuritaro's Kaya-chan Isn't Scary (Kaya-chan wa Kowakunai) horror action manga. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.

This anime highlights one of the core things children need while growing up: someone in their corner. Kaya is a kindergartner. Over her short life, she's learned two things. The first is that only she can see, hear, and defeat the monsters looming around every corner. The second is that no one will ever believe her.

This has left her as a troubled child when viewed from the outside. She seemingly does mean things constantly, like blocking children from using the swings or taping books shut. Yet, this never seems to be for selfish reasons or personal gain. She doesn't want to play on the swing herself, nor does she want to read or keep the books. Moreover, she never seems to have any ill intent—she's not relishing in the pain she's causing others. She just gives blunt orders with no additional rationale or explanation.

Chie, while frustrated with Kaya initially, is at least able to understand that she is missing something vital. Kaya's actions don't fit with normal child logic or emotions. It's only after experiencing one of the supernatural events that Kaya's trying to protect everyone from that Chie can connect the dots.

And for the first time, Kaya has an ally—someone who doesn't write her off as a problem child and is willing to stand up for her and even take the blame and punishments in her stead. Chie doesn't even need to hear Kaya's explanations to take action—she has trust that Kaya is acting in everyone's best interest.

Kaya has gone from a lone, tragic hero, doing what is right and receiving only condemnation in return, to a girl with at least one person who sees her for who she truly is, and that makes all the difference. And perhaps now, when she returns home to face the unstoppable monster possessing her own mother, she'll have the strength she needs to fight on for another day.

Much as I enjoy the manga this series is based on, I will admit that it doesn't start on the right foot. That carries over to the anime's first episode – while it's not bad, it also doesn't quite show what makes the story so entertaining. I realize that's an odd statement, given that the concept is pretty cut-and-dry: kindergartener Kaya-chan can see ghosts and similar monsters, and when she touches them, she can exorcise the evil spirits. But since no one else can see what she's fighting, she just comes off to them as an irredeemable brat. As the story progresses, a macro plot emerges that ties everything together, but in this episode, it is scattershot, which doesn't necessarily do the story or the characters any favors. It just feels like Mieruko-chan, but in kindergarten.

This episode introduces us to Kaya-chan and her situation. She's got a reputation as the worst troublemaker at her school, and new teacher Ms. Chie has been saddled with her, implying it's sort of a rite of passage. (Or lowkey workplace bullying.) Chie's got the right attitude for the situation – and just enough psychic ability that she figures out what's really going on. Maybe she's simply more open-minded than the other teachers, but she's able to put the pieces together about accidents on the swings coming to an abrupt halt after Kaya refuses to let classmates on them, and she actually sees the evil spirit lurking in the pages of a peek-a-boo book. But more than anything, she believes Kaya, which seems to be a new experience for the little girl.

It's clear that she's used to people not understanding what she's doing. When her dad has an evil spirit on his head, she doesn't tell him; she instead makes up an excuse to touch his hair to banish it. She doesn't tell Chie the picture books are haunted; she just says no one should read them, which is both a fair approximation of what a child her age would say and a sign that she's aware she sees what others can't. Kaya's not old enough to really disguise her actions or make excuses for what she does around most people, but she clearly is acting out of a desire to keep people safe. Does this stem from whatever's going on with her mother? It seems likely; right now, her mom is either possessed by something or is a ghost herself. Kaya's obviously afraid of her, even though she desperately loves her, which raises the question of whether or not she's always been this way or if it's a recent development. Either way, we see plenty of little clues that Kaya misses her mom and that her dad is trying his best, even if he is always the last parent to pick up his child.

The English dub is fine and does a good job of matching Chie's and Kaya's voices. In neither language do the kids sound too much like adults trying to sound like little kids, and there's some good use of spoken vs written language, like Chie saying that Kaya is really “pushing her buttons” in English while the subtitles opt for a less idiomatic approach. Probably my biggest issue is the way the images flash when there's a ghost on screen; it started to give me a headache after a bit. I understand that they were going for “uncanny disruption,” but if you're sensitive to light flashes, be warned. It's enough to make me stick with the books rather than watching it, even though I know that the story starts to come together fairly quickly.

The title Kaya-chan Isn't Scary is unfortunately apt for the experience of actually watching the show, because it isn't scary, despite trying very hard to wring at least a little bit of tension from its core premise. The titular Kaya is indeed present as a spooky little tyke, though the real horrors end up coming from the “terrifying” entities from the world beyond that the girl is adept at seeing and warding off. So, the tension in the show comes primarily from two sources: The more direct interactions that Kaya and her kindergarten classmates have with the creepy spirits that are lurking all around and waiting to strike, and the mystery angle of the story that sees adults like Chie, one of Kaya's teachers, trying to unravel the mystery surrounding Kaya and her connection to the spirit world.

If we're looking at Kaya-chan Isn't Scary from the lens of pure horror, the show has sadly been set up to fail from the get-go. In live-action media, involving little kids in horror media is always a tricky situation, because you have to strike the right balance of exploiting the natural anxieties that come from kids being involved in dangerous, supernatural situations with the fact that children simply aren't very convincing actors most of the time, which ends up breaking the spell of disbelief required to make horror effective. Every now and then you get lucky with a hit like Weapons that knows just how to effectively wield the young actors of the story, but for every Weapons we get stuck with two or three Imaginarys or Five Nights at Freddys.

It's even harder for anime, because we know from the get-go that none of these children are real, much less in any tangible danger from the Adobe Effects Filters that pass for “ghosts” in so many productions. Worse yet, they're all very clearly being played by adult actors putting on their most squeaky “But Miss Teacherrrrrrr” impressions. Kaya-chan Isn't Scary is one of the select Crunchyroll titles that is getting an English dub this season, which is a baffling choice, because anime focused on a cast of precocious tykes almost never work in English. In native Japanese, at least, it is easier for our brains to accept the typical performing styles of adult actors as what kids are “supposed” to sound like in this medium.

Even though the actors in this English dub are all trying to put on a good show, they simply can't sneak by our minds' filters in the same way. If the dub made the bold choice to go the Bluey route and cast actual kids in the roles, I could maybe see Kaya-chan turning into something effectively creepy…or it would become an unmitigated disaster. As I said, the show really cannot win here because the genre demands emotional investment that a bunch of thirty-year-olds in a recording booth will have a very hard time mustering when they're whining about getting pushed off the slide and being afraid of the spookie-ookies.

I think the only anime horror stories that really use such young characters effectively are the ones that go for camp or shock value by making the kids themselves into the monsters, like in Higurashi: When They Cry. Kaya is not actually scary herself, though, just like the title says. When the show isn't making feeble attempts to genuinely creep us out, we're meant to latch onto Kaya, her classmates, Ms. Chie, and the rest of the characters, as the cast leans more toward a supernatural mystery and comedy. On this front, it is easier to appreciate what the show is going for, both in its Japanese and English-language presentations, though I can't say it works for me much more than the horror material does. The direction is stiff and awkward most of the time, the writing is far too on-the-nose, and despite not being very scary, Kaya-chan isn't all that cute or entertaining, either. We'll let the kindergartners play on their haunted playground in peace. I'd much rather hang out with big kids like GeGeGe no Kitarō, instead.

Hi everyone, it's your resident preschool teacher here. Rarely has my experience felt quite so relevant, because Kaya-chan Isn't Scary isn't just about watching a kid be cute and have adventures. It's about a little girl experiencing something strange and scary in her home life, and how it affects her behavior in the larger world. It's about how the adults around her respond to her behavior and how that affects their relationship with her. So, warning: this is going to be a pretty personal response.

This goes well beyond my typical metric of whether or not a fictional child even vaguely resembles how human children think, act, and process. Kaya and her classmates are on the more realistic end of the spectrum, but I felt a much deeper connection to Chie-sensei. After accidentally witnessing Kaya stopping a ghost, she ends up looking out for and sticking up for this little girl in her care, who has a reputation for causing so much trouble that her previous teacher quit. This hit me hard because working with children with special needs is one of my strengths as an educator. I'm not a specialist or a therapist, but I focus on building trust with and addressing the needs of the children in my care instead of labeling them as “difficult” or “trouble,” and I'm proud of the work I do.

While I doubt they'll cover hauntings in the health and safety course I'm currently taking, the way Chie took Kaya seriously resonated strongly with my experience. Kaya marks books with tape to show that they're haunted, and while Chie is frustrated at first, she starts to pay attention to the little girl's warnings when a ghost almost gets her. She covers for Kaya when a ghost makes a mess of the bathroom. These are the actions of a genuinely supportive adult, rather than one who just wants Kaya to stop causing problems and act normally. When we learn more about Kaya's home situation, things fall into place, as they so often do.

However, I have to admit that for most people, the mediocre scares will override the great caregiver-child relationship. Kaya-chan isn't scary, and neither is this anime. Ghost stories are just as much a product of timing as comedies, and this one's sense is way off. I was affected by the depictions of children in peril, yes; the sound of a preschooler sobbing in terror will always set off my protective instincts. However, the ghosts themselves just lacked the necessary effect. The animation relied too heavily on distortion effects to convey a sense of danger and otherworldliness, while the direction failed to create either a creeping dread or to startle us effectively. The effective soundtrack does make up some lost ground, but the lack of atmosphere to the visuals just hinders it too much.

Like I said, this is a personal one for me. Some people may respond negatively to seeing a horror series that puts children in danger, but real children deal with scary, confusing things in their lives all the time. Kaya-chan Isn't Scary speaks authentically to behavior as the language of needs and how adults can support children through these challenges.