Worth repeating again – Kaya-chan wa Kowakunai has absolutely no fear. It’s so much darker than I expected going in. That’s one of the reasons why even as a sleeper it’s exceeded my expectations, though not the only one. That wouldn’t matter if the writing and direction weren’t solid generally. This is one of the better conspiracy plots I’ve seen in anime for a while, interesting to follow without giving too much away. It’s also interesting to try and puzzle out where the paranormal is asserting itself and where the true horror is just human nature (which the show is very smart about observing).
Even by Kaya-chan standards that first chapter was grim. We get a flashback to when Kaya was first told that her mother was pregnant. At that time everything seemed to be fine, but at some point not long after it all went wrong – from Kaya’s perspective. She seems to take that rather stoically, even for her. While her mother is in the hospital for complications (which I can only assume are related to whatever is inside her not being human – it’s also noted that she had Kaya via emergency C-section) Kaya has a freaky encounter with a ghost in an empty room.
This incident is more proof that Kaya can’t always tell the difference between a specter and a living human. There seems to be a living patient freaking out and bothering the nurses (Room 303), but also a woman who died during labor and lost her baby as well. Naturally that’s who Kaya is drawn to while on a walkabout after peeing. The poor woman is being smothered by the spirits of dead babies (which paints what Kaya does next in a disturbing light). After Kaya dispels them the woman is able to reunite with her child, and both pass on the other side (at least that’s what I’m assuming).
The incident at the park is one of those “is it or isn’t it?” moments. I know what Chie-sensei voice-overed in the omake, but maybe the specter possessing Saku and Kenken is just normal childhood recklessness and stupidity? I mean, I guess there really was something freaky Friday with that sign but truthfully, you don’t need a supernatural explanation for five year-olds doing dumb stuff and almost getting themselves hurt (or worse). And a pissed-off teacher probably does look like an oni to the guilty toddlers, doesn’t she?
At this point – as usual in the third act – the recurring plot takes over. Aunt Nana makes her appearance, having sent a card to Kaya’s father offering her help if any was ever needed. With Mom in the hospital Dad needs help with Kaya, and his mother (perhaps because of Kaya’s oddness) flat-out refuses. You might quibble with Papa trusting a woman he barely knows to look after Kaya, aunt or no, but he’s desperate. This is a chance for Kaya to learn some valuable lessons about the hidden world – Aunt Nana is astonished that she doesn’t even know the “rules”, like not to stare at specters (which reasonably explains why she attracts them).
However, Nana learns some stuff too. Even she’s never seen a power anything like Kaya’s. She clearly doesn’t know how to process this, especially given what’s happened with her mother. She leaves Kaya to watch “Nobi the Looong Cat” (the series’ Cat Day tribute, no doubt) while she searches for something in Mirai’s room. Kaya disobeys her warning and lets a specter in – again, she’s fooled into thinking it’s human (Aunt Nana), but deals with it in a way Nana was never expecting. Obaba Nana leaves it with “I knew it, Kaya. You’re…” leaving us (and future eps) to fill in the blank.
There’s one more crucial element to this scene, that photo. I’m pretty confident the crossed-out figure (a boy, I think – though it could be Nana) is Shishou. I was already suspicious that he was a rogue member of the Ebisumori clan – maybe from another branch of the family, but the photo suggests a sibling of Nana and Mirai. If he’s Mobuo’s master that means he’s spiritually gifted, and the Ebisumori fill that role in the mythology so far. And he seems to hold an impassioned grudge against them. Speaking of Mob, he’s missing when Chie-sensei calls to warn him the jig is up about the nursing home visit – Shishou answers his phone. Whoever this guy is, we’re about to learn a lot more about him, it seems.
