Kaya-chan Isn't Scary

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Template:Nihongo is a Japanese supernatural horror manga series written and illustrated by Tarō Yuri. It began serialization on Shinchosha's Kurage Bunch manga website in April 2022. An anime television series adaptation produced by East Fish Studio premiered in January 2026.

Plot

Kaya is an infamous problem child in her kindergarten, always causing trouble for her friends and teachers. However, when teacher Chie is put in charge of her, she discovers that Kaya is actually protecting the children from evil spirits that wish to bring harm to others. A story of a misunderstood hero follows.

Characters

Main characters

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A 5-year-old kindergartener with powerful psychic abilities, which she uses to defend her classmates from evil spirits. However, since ordinary people cannot perceive these specters, she often gets misunderstood as a problem child. It is later revealed that her soul has been infused with the spirit of the ancestor of the Ebisumori clan, a result of her mother birthing her using the family's dark rituals.

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A caretaker at the kindergarten Kaya attends. She is the only person at the facility who is aware that Kaya is actually protecting the other children from evil spirits, causing her to defend her whenever she gets scolded by her colleagues.

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A supernatural enthusiast who takes an interest in Kaya and the Ebisumori clan. However, this often causes him to get mistaken for a child stalker.

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Mobuo's partner and a distant relative of the Ebisumori clan. Like Kaya, he possesses psychic powers that allow him to see and destroy evil spirits. This made him grow up as an outcast until he met Mobuo, causing him to be very protective of him. He is also wary of Kaya, perceiving the spirit of the Ebisumori clan's ancestor within her.

Kaya's family

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Kaya's father. He is an ordinary man who has no psychic powers and remains unaware of the existence of evil spirits. Though often having to work long hours, he still tries his best to be there for his daughter and pick her up from kindergarten whenever possible.

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Kaya's mother. A seemingly ordinary woman with no psychic powers, she is later revealed to be pregnant with a powerful evil spirit. Growing up within the Ebisumori clan, she went mad upon discovering their practice of having non-psychics like her birth evil spirits to eliminate their enemies, prompting her to flee and plot to destroy her extended family using their own dark rituals, with her first attempt failing and resulting in Kaya's birth.

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Kaya's aunt and the current head of the Ebisumori clan. Like her niece, she possesses psychic powers that allow her to perceive evil spirits, though not destroy them. After learning of Kaya's existence, she confronted and quickly bonded with her, picking her up from kindergarten whenever her father was unavailable. She wishes for Kaya to live an ordinary life, far away from evil spirits and the Ebisumori clan.

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Kaya's grandmother and the former head of the Ebisumori clan. Like her granddaughter, she possessed psychic powers that allowed her to perceive and destroy evil spirits. Though once an advocate for her family's dark practices, she seemingly came to regret her actions. She is later killed by the unborn evil spirit that her daughter is pregnant with.

Kindergarten

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Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Tarō Yuri, Kaya-chan Isn't Scary began serialization on Shinchosha's Kurage Bunch manga website on April 1, 2022. The series' chapters have been collected into eight Template:Transliteration volumes as of January 2026.

In November 2024, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they had licensed the series for English publication beginning in April 2025.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced on November 1, 2024. It is produced by East Fish Studio and directed by Hiroshi Ikehata, with series composition handled by Shigeru Murakoshi, characters designed by Taro Yamada and Hiroyuki Moriguchi, and music composed by Kohta Yamamoto and Shun Narita. The series premiered on January 11, 2026, on TV Tokyo and its affiliates, and other networks. The opening theme song is Template:Nihongo, performed by Template:Ill, while the ending theme song is "Playmour", performed by Sak and Tao featuring Azusa Tachibana as her character Kaya-chan. Crunchyroll is streaming the series. Medialink licensed the series in Southeast Asia and Oceania (except Australia and New Zealand) for streaming on Ani-One Asia's YouTube channel. An English dub provided by Kadokawa premiered on the same day as the sub version.

External links

• Template:Official website Template:In lang
• Template:Official website Template:In lang
• Template:Anime News Network