The Spring 2025 Manga Guide

Kaya-chan Isn't Scary

What's It About? 

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! What will happen to this five-year-old who gets in trouble when she's only trying to help?

Kaya-chan Isn't Scary has a story and art by Yuritaro, with English translation by Kathryn Henzler. This volume is lettered by Magmell. Published by Seven Seas Entertainment (April 29, 2025). Rated OT.

Is It Worth Reading?

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

When I got to the postscript of Kaya-chan Isn't Scary, I was delighted and not at all surprised to learn that the author used to be a kindergarten teacher. Anyone who spends a lot of time around young kids can tell you how good they are at scaring adults. Whether they're telling you about an invisible friend with a deadpan expression on their face, or making believe that there are imaginary people standing right next to you, little kids are great at freaking me out because they're not really trying. It takes a person who spends a lot of time around little kids to really nail that creepiness, which is why I'm certain X's previous career went a long way toward making Kaya feel so much like the real five year olds I know. This mix of kindergarten and horror was so incongruous that it couldn't be anything but humor, but still maintained an edge of suspense as it slowly revealed more about its sweet, spunky heroine.

Kaya isn't trying to be her kindergarten's problem child. It's only that she's five years old and has trouble justifying her strange behavior. When she tells other kids they can't play on the swings or read a certain picture book, she's not trying to be mean. It's just that every time she says she's trying to save her classmates from evil spirits, they don't take her seriously. Not only can Kaya see ghosts and ghoulies all around the school; she's also powerful enough to deal with them herself—so long as a well-meaning teacher doesn't get in her way. But soon, Kaya gains allies. Chie, one of her teachers, soon realizes that there's a reason behind each of Kaya's troubling behaviors. And a strange middle-aged man named Mob (this has definitely got to be a reference to Mob Psycho 100) thinks Kaya is the most powerful psychic he knows. But there are some forces even Kaya isn't capable of quelling… and one of them might be her own mother. By the end of the volume, it's clear that the kindergarten ghouls are child's play, and Kaya will soon be called upon to face even scarier foes.

As the chapters progress, they gradually veer from comedic horror to psychological horror, all while keeping an age-appropriate lens on its child heroine. Kaya is cute but she isn't sexualized; one frame that depicts her in the bath shows only her head above the water. If you'd like to read a spiritual successor to Mieruko-chan that combines horror beats with the innate creepiness that small children seem to have a monopoly on, this is the spooky fun you've been looking for.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

Kaya-chan Isn't Scary: it's Mieruko-chan, but in kindergarten! That was my initial flippant assessment, at least, but as it turns out, what began as sarcasm turned out to be truth. Kaya-chan Isn't Scary is, in fact, very similar to Mieruko-chan in most ways – Kaya is able to see ghosts and ghouls, there's something supernaturally amok at her home, and even the way the monsters are drawn calls to mind that other series. The main difference is that Kaya is much more proactive than Miko, boldly stepping into the fray to protect others from menaces that they can't see.

Well, and there's no gratuitous fanservice. That's a good thing, given that Kaya's roughly five years old.

It's not surprising to me that series creator Yuritaro originally worked as a kindergarten teacher, because this volume understands the sometimes-odd world that very young children inhabit. Kids sometimes see things that no one else does, whether or not you believe that those things are really there; what's important is that the child believes that they are. In Kaya's case, most of the adults around her think she's just a troublemaker, but new teacher Chie has just enough supernatural sense to recognize that Kaya is fighting battles no one else is aware of. She can't always see what Kaya's looking at, but she does, within two chapters, realize that the little girl always has a reason for what she's doing. This creates a very nice relationship between them – Kaya knows that there's an adult who has her back, and Chie gets to protect all of her students.

Kaya's relationship with the world around her is probably the most important aspect of this story. There are some very nice details that Yuritaro puts in, such as the way Kaya's pigtails are drawn loose. At first that just looks like a stylistic choice on the part of the artist; it's a cute look. But when Kaya's mother (or something like her) comes in at the end of the volume, we realize that they're loose not because that's just how they look, they're loose because Kaya's dad has been doing her hair, and he isn't good at it. It's a small moment, but an important one, and it sets the stage for a more in-depth exploration of Kaya's world in the next volume.

Kaya-chan Isn't Scary feels like the sort of series that, like Mieruko-chan, will get stronger as it goes on. This is a good start to an interesting story, and I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.