It really should be repeated – Kaya-chan wa Kowakunai deserves more attention. This show is seriously good. The central premise is clever and well-constructed, and the characters all totally work as components of it. It can be genuinely frightening – that jump scare at the end was a banger. It combines elements of Japanese and Western horror really effectively, while also managing to be cute and funny (as a show about kiddygartners should be). And while the direction being great is expected with Ikehata Hiroshi at the helm, Tachibana Azusa’s turn as Kaya-chan is is a bit of a revelation.

As with Champignon Witch, though, we’re at that frustrating point of the plot really heating up just as the series is about to end with a sequel being a long way off, it it ever comes. Namu is emerging as a more and more important part of the story. He’s attached himself to Mabuo, feeling that his disciple is in too deep. He comes clean to Chie-sensei about his past. He’s from a branch of the main family (that was the other option I considered). He’s not supposed to be able to see or zap specters (I imagine his being a boy makes it even worse) so he was fostered out as a toddler.

Obaba-Nana steps up in her role, too. She gives Kaya a talisman for protection from spirits (actually inviting any curses onto herself), sensing that the little girl is off her game. And indeed she is – Kaya-chan’s encounter with the creeper has caused her to question her powers. Nana plays up the angle that a little kid shouldn’t have to fight specters anyway, but that’s clearly not going to hold much sway. And Kaya’s resolve is soon put to the test at kindergarten (this has to be the most haunted KG in Japan), when a game of hide-and-seek goes horribly wrong.

Seriously – how are kids like Kenken and Saku not terrified to show up to school every day? I know children forget stuff  and deal with things better than we give them credit for, but so many scary experiences… That thing in the shed was a nasty one, and Kaya really has to step up this time. At this point the others basically look at her as their esper bodyguard, clearly. Meanwhile Mabuo continues to do his best to get himself arrested, hiding in the bushes snapping photos of Kaya and whatever specters are hanging around her. And, he confides to Master, instant cameras (analog) are better at picking them up than modern digital ones (or the human eye).

Namu has clearly been impacted by his encounter with the specter inside Kaya – his ability to both see and dispel apparitions is not what he’s used to. So Kaya-chan has to come to the rescue again, this time of Mabuo and Namu (who she calls “Otoko-Obaba-Nana” in the most hilarious moment of the episode). Chie gets a look at what’s written inside her talisman (no, that’s not a butt) and decides it’s time to confide in Nana. I was a little bit nervous about that, but it does seem as if Nana is playing for the good guys more or less. Still – I’d have felt better if Chie-sensei hadn’t mentioned Namu’s involvement.

The blanks Nana fills in for Chie-sensei are unsettling to say the least. There is a lineage here, all the way back to “Ichi” – the progenitor of the Ebisumori Clan who was said to be divine in nature. But her powers – which made the clan wealthy – didn’t pass on naturally to her offspring. So the clan started gaming the process via “curse gestation” – if that doesn’t sound ominous I don’t know what does. But Nana, theoretically, as the eldest should have been the one to bear the next shrine maiden. And Mirai did something she wasn’t supposed to in order to usurp that role. Nana is shocked when Chie tells her Mirai is pregnant again with a specter (according to Uncle Mob) – it seems that should not be possible.

Then we have Nana’s trip to the hospital, and that jump scare. Every instinct was screaming that this was a bad idea, and Kaya-chan clearly agreed with me. We don’t know exactly what happened when Aunt Nana opened that door but it definitely wasn’t good. And what’s more., Mutsu seems to have dropped dead right at that very moment – and in the presence of Namu and holding a curse receiving amulet of her own, in fact. What we know about this family is disturbing enough, but whatever the real truth behind it is, it’s clearly far worse.