Kaya-chan Isn't Scary

I really like the manga of this so I was looking forward to this adaptation. The original work is adapted with some gaps to fit part 1 of the manga (about 50 chapters) into 12 episodes. Due to this the overall story, design and characterisation are on point, no complaints there. My issue lies with the production. VA and Music are really good, I want to state this before saying anything else. In fact go listen to Maboroshi no Yukue/Whereabouts of the Phantom by Isekaijoucho right now. Stop reading this and just go, put it on repeat. Yes, so it's the animation for the mostpart and the visual stye sometimes. Aside of the various visible cheapout parts, there are some notable spikes in action at certain points in the series and they are especally bad. Still frames, rough cgi, very harsh inbetweening, shaking stationary flat models around to simualte movement, cutting off a limb and only moving that, et cetera. The last episode was the hardest to watch, as this episode has the most action overall. On the other hand, there are some stylistic changes that are sometimes inevitable when adapting from one medium to another, but to be honest it just feels cheap here. Again an example from the last episode with no spoilers: A picture is taken of the kindergartener class and there is a faded shadow over the side where Kaya sits in the manga, and just her whole head is black in the anime. It genuinely feels like they didn't want to draw the background properly and tried to apply a filter instead, saw that it looks like shit and just bucket tooled her head black. The music, VA and the original work especially, hard carry this anime up a hill while the animation and the cheap style changes dig their claws into the ground in futility. If you like horror and childcare and want to see a functional mix of both then read the manga of this and listen to Isekaijoucho in the meanwhile. The anime on it's own is unfortunately not great, not terrible. I feel like after all I've written, saying something like "I don't want to come off as harsh towards the studio" sounds stupid, however that's how I feel. This is such a niche manga that it's a miracle it even got adapted at all, and it feels like I should be thankful, if anything, but I can't help feeling disappointed.

This anime was so good, it had cute moments but then it also had those dark, scary moments as well. Best horror anime this season and well deserved. Animation and music: standard one. The animation was nice and fluid, the ghosts designs were great. Music is also basic, but when the scary moments come it can really improve the scene a lot. Overall - animation and music is industry standard. But when the scary scenes are screening you can really say that they put effort in them. Characters: Kana-chan is just a child, and she has that innocent childish behaviors. Trying to understand the world, hanging outwith others and make her mom and people she cares about happy. But she also has a dark secret - she can see ghosts and other entities and combat them. Her persona then changes into this dark one that can one hit most of those entities. And that, plus the lack of understanding of how to convey such threat to others, made her unlikable amongst other kids in her kindergarten class. To assist her she has Chie-sensei who is unsung her of the series, always be there for Kaya an helping her out. Other than those two we have Mobu, who is really developed and tragic character in this series and Nana, who is Kaya's aunt and a character that carries a lot of burden herself. There are several others but these one are the main characters who have most impact in the series. As far as characters go this series has a lot of them and a decent number of them is well developed and has grown. Overall - this show has a lot of characters and the story did a good job with them. It is enjoyable watching them on the screen, either being happy or struggling. Story: the story revolves around Kaya-chan and her daily battle with various malicious entities that are trying to assault either her or people near her. Then later half is dealing with Kaya-chan's family and it's past. And let me tell you that this anime, despite cutesy looks of Kaya and others, is really dark and scary. While scary situations can be cliché ones the monster (or youkai if you prefer) are amazing and can leave you unsettling. And in this anime the people are actually dying, which really took me by surprise in a good way. Overall - the story, despite looking cute, take itself seriously and it is very dark and scary. Overall grade: 10 for me, realistically this anime is between 8 or 9. The story was great and the various monster designs and battle agaisnt them were interesting to watch. Since people kept dying I was at the edge on who might die or survive by the end. In the end the family stuff at the end really nailed it in one of the best scary anime in recent times. I would recommend to people to check it out, especially if they like horror anime. I have no idea if they will ever do season 2, but if it is released I will watch it for sure.

Kaya-chan is not one of your usual seasonal filler flicks. The series comes off as a quirky childcare/horror combination, where preschool teacher Chie tries to understand one of her students - Kaya - a bit more, to get a read on her behaviour before finding herself pulled into the world of the occult. Meeting new and strange allies along the way and slowly building bonds with her fellow classmates, you feel like you see a decent level of character development as the story unfolds. It's a 12 episode series that feels pretty conscise and full of both information and storylines that'll keep you guessing at every ending,though it does seem to suffer a couple insantces of poor or "hasty" writing with some of the finer details. The OP and ED are pretty good, "Playmour" (ED) by SAK, TAO, biz and Zera caught my attention pretty sharply, giving me a vibe akin to some of Reol's 2016 entries. The soundtrack isn't necessarily anything special, with a handful of memorable songs, but Kohta Yamamoto and Shun Narita have put a decent amount of effort into encapsulating each of the different anomalies into their own sounds. Overall a decent watch for the 2026 opening season, however most likely to be overlooked due to some of the other heavy hitters out there, if you do end up picking up any "quick watches" make sure to get Kaya-chan on the list, you definitely won't regret it.

(Spanish review on my list) One of those anime where things aren't what they seem. While it starts as a "cute" anime with preschool children, one of whom has powers and exorcises curses more as a hobby than because she truly understands what's happening, yes, it begins episodically, with the occasional curse and children crying and playing, all seemingly "cute," but little by little, dark things are revealed... children who get lost after seeing a body in the river... then the "curse that didn't disappear" from the body that watches us through the window (the children saw someone... who was tired of life, from the street, but theythought it was a curse). Then it gets even darker with the protagonist's mother coming from a family of exorcists with a dark past of forced pregnancies, human sacrifices, giving birth to curses, and other quite disturbing things... Then, little by little, it becomes somewhat disturbing, but it still has a "pretty" animation style and focuses the story on the preschool girl who sees everything innocently. That contrast also gives it a special touch... And that's it. It's not a masterpiece, but it tells the story it wants to tell very well. In just a few episodes, it's somewhat self-contained; it doesn't need to explain more and handles it in a rather different way... Recommended, but be patient with the first few episodes, as that's when it's slower and doesn't reveal as much of the dark plot.