It’s not that common for me to want to give a show an extra shout out when I’m not currently covering it. But this really is one of those rare times. If I didn’t go on about how excellent Kaya-chan has been this season then I’d just feel bad about it. This is a show that deserves as much attention as possible. I’m not particularly a horror person, but the storytelling and plot progression of this has been so good that I’ve kept locked into following where it would lead.

So, I’ll open up fully by saying that if anyone hasn’t checked this out that they should do so. Because I’ll be diving into why I think this show has been fantastic and just wrapping my head around the progression of the story. This show is good and treats the characters and story with respect. Even mistakes by the cast absolutely make sense from their point of view. And it really isn’t just “small child beats up monsters” and nothing else. This show smartly tells important lessons about safety, properly listening to children, and simply showing the value of having people in your life to confide in. The main character isn’t some OP genius child, but instead one that acts like a kid while having some extraordinary powers.

What a messed up situation

Now let’s get right into it! The main story is insane! This was such a clever story that I’m almost sad that more don’t have this level of tightness to the narrative. Everything lines up perfectly and stems from the Ebisumori family. Who is Kaya? The “failed” weapon of a woman who had a brutal childhood and lost her way due to rage and resentment. But Mirai (said mother) wasn’t supposed to end up like this. Her mother seemingly pushed her away because their family was so screwed up. Mutsu was trying to break a cycle that resulted in such tragedy.

Two daughters are born into the head family, one raised to be a priestess and the other to birth cursed tools that would be used in the creation of the next generation. You could argue both children end up brainwashed in that scenario. But the younger child is far more radicalized so that she’d be willing to throw her life away. The Ebisumori family is just a full out cult that actually has supernatural powers. It’s such a messed up family.

Every decision led to this

The tragedy is that choices were made and led to this terrible conclusion. Things can change in the final episode, but I think it’s clear that Mutsu was trying to push her daughter away. She didn’t brainwash her like was custom, she kept her in the dark about the supernatural, let her go to school despite having no reason to (she should’ve only been born to get pregnant/die) and then didn’t try to stop her from leaving or get her back. There’s no way that she wasn’t trying to give her daughter a normal life and save her from dying in the same way…her sister eventually did. I doubt when Mutsu was younger that she had the authority to stop her sister from being indoctrinated and likely had no way to get her to see reason after she was. It did build resentment from Mirai though.

What’s great and terrible in this show is how everything makes sense. Mutsu’s efforts did push Mirai away. But it pushed her in the direction of Yoshie (Mirai’s aunt) who was completely in with the family’s mission at this point. She made Mirai get attached to her and then left a very screwed up message for Mirai. Yoshie clearly wanted Mirai to “understand” how wonderful and important the role of dying for the family was. But because she was so messed up herself, she wasn’t able to indoctrinate her. What she did do was basically give Mirai a loaded gun and painted everyone that Mirai knew as blatantly evil. Because she didn’t see what her sister wanted and thought she was just doing a bad job of getting Mirai onboard.

Mirai’s revenge…

Now you have Mirai as the active antagonist of the show. She’s full of hate and anger…but directed to no one. Her mother clearly wanted this cycle to end. We can complain and criticize about how she did that, but her intent is hard to miss. Nana…is clearly done with all this. She was born prematurely and doesn’t have the power to really be a mystic anyways. But her mother clearly got across how bad this was and she has no desire to continue any of this. She just wanted to look out for her niece once she found out she existed and visit her sister. Before her sister nearly murdered her and did actually kill their mother.

The family is basically falling apart. Ebisumori Namu was basically kicked out as a kid (I presume to keep him distanced from all this), Nana is done, Mutsu is now dead, and Kaya is a kid. There’s no one for Mirai to get revenge against, but she’s going to do this anyways. She is a victim of neglect and her mother’s attempts to push her away. But she had a choice. She had many options. Complications resulted in Kaya being assisted in being born which wasn’t what Mirai intended. But she had a chance when looking at her child to change. Instead she waited until she could try again and this time she’s run from the hospital so no one can stop her. Mirai could’ve said “I’ve got a husband, a child, and another on the way. I could be happy.” But instead she’s only seeing red.

In the end, she’s just a kid

The wild thing in all of this is that Kaya is a total innocent. Unlike some child characters, she truly acts like a kid her age. She can’t possibly be told any of this because she’d never understand it. How could you tell her that she was intended to be a weapon of her mother’s revenge? Her mother saw her as a failure. Kaya is only OP because her mother kept her in the womb longer than anyone would have done for a previous priestess in the Ebisumori family. Poor girl was one step away from becoming a monster and ripping out of her own mother’s body.

Across the show Kaya has had a great journey. She started out as a lonely kid with powers she couldn’t understand. The ability to see and defeat monsters that no one else could even detect. Her mother never told her anything and her father is completely in the dark. There was no one to mentor this kid and she suffered as adults said she was lying about what she saw and kids treated her like a freak. And like any kid she stopped trying to communicate. But she was also a hero in that she kept dealing with monsters even when no one understood her. Chie eventually became an ally, but only after she was wrapped up in the supernatural first hand. But then she was there, Mobu approached, Nana eventually entered the picture, and Namu as well. Her circle is slowly expanding with people who can guide her.

Battle mode Kaya is great though

This show hits so many good moments while being very dark. You have that scene with the kids seeing someone that had killed themselves hanging in a window. Kaya beat up the spirit of that person when it went on the attack. But the body…was still up there. Only when Chie listened and it was reported did anyone know the person was dead. The show nailed the message of it being important to hear kids out. They may not see things as they are. But if they talk about having seen something…then they saw something. It might not be what they think, but it’s worth figuring out what it was.

On top of that the show can be pretty brutal. Karma can strike mercilessly and in ways that are excessive. A teacher gets replaced by her doppelganger in a mirror…but no one cares! Because she was kind of rude people are perfectly happy with her pleasant replacement. That’s just horrifying. To be sealed in purgatory and to have no one ever care. She wasn’t evil or anything. Just a bit rude. Same with an old guy on a train. He wasn’t a grumpy old man to be sure. But…did he deserve to go straight to the afterlife for that? I feel that might’ve been excessive! The supernatural in this show is absolutely dangerous. You can get your soul ripped out, trapped in mirrors, assaulted by monsters in closets/toilets/etc, or stocked by spirits.

Everyone has their role to play

I just really love how this show makes everyone fit into their roles. Kaya is a kid and brings a child’s perspective into things. Namu was kicked out as a kid, treated poorly because like Kaya he could see spirits, and only has loyalty to a fool like Mobu because he was the only person who tried to help him. While Mobu is super attached to Kaya because as an even younger child she saved his life. He ignored his knowledge about the supernatural when it came to the spirit of his deceased daughter and watched her fall into being a cursed spirit that nearly killed him and his wife. Mobu knows how dangerous it is when you look away.

If everyone spoke together much sooner things might’ve been easier. But everyone from their perspective acted rationally. Nana had no idea what her sister was thinking and was quietly looking into it. Chie was trying to be protective of her student so didn’t open up very quickly. That can even be extended to say Mutsu who grew up in a screwed up family and tried to protect her daughters in a way she could understand. But it ended in tragedy because it was a sloppy method and her brainwashed sister acted in a way that was in character for her. Miscommunication happens because of how people are. There’s very little plot induced stupidity.

Can’t wait to see how this ends

That’s pretty much where I stand with Kaya-chan. I don’t know if I can get across how good a show it is. It would’ve been easy to have it be a basic story with a super OP little girl that is mature beyond her years. But Kaya is a very likeable kid. Her powers make sense looking at the story and the main threat right now is her own mother. The story painted her as someone who was unaware of what was growing inside of her or why her daughter was scared of her. But she totally knew and this is her plan. I have no idea how this season will end or where the story goes from here since it seems like the manga is active. But this is easily one of the stars of the winter season for me.