Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary!, vol. 1 | Review

Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary!, vol. 1

Story & art by Yuritaro

Seven Seas Entertainment, published 4/29/25

Age rating: Older Teen 15+

When I first found out about Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary, the first thought that came to mind was…

Please don’t be like Mieruko-chan.

And in a way, it is but it isn’t. Think of Kaya as Mieruko in kindergarten instead of high school. And she’s not dealing with perverted ghosts and cringy fan service. 

Kaya is considered a problem child in her kindergarten class. She would block other kids from using the swings, block off toilet stalls so other kids could not use them, or even push her classmates without provocation. The adults are troubled by her behavior and wonder what’s causing it. But one of the teachers, Chie-sensei, discovers the reason.

Kaya can see evil spirits and is actually trying to save her fellow classmates from them!

So Chie-sensei takes it upon herself to help Kaya without looking like she’s gone insane. How does she help this gifted little girl who constantly finds herself in trouble when she’s actually helping them?

I found this manga to be a breath of fresh air and really, dare I say, adorable. Kaya-chan Isn’t Scary is like the manga version of The Sixth Sense. You have a cute child who can sense spirits and is trying to help those around her. She has no idea why it’s happening, and while she is treated like a nuisance, it takes only one teacher, Chie, to witness the occurrence to understand Kaya and become Kaya’s advocate. 

The malevolent spirits are similar to those in Mieruko-Chan, with extremely dark situations. The story builds on the suspense, especially towards the end of volume one, when there’s another person who comes onto the scene, and they validate Kaya’s experiences. The story does have extremely cute moments to balance the dark aspects. We are reading about hauntings at a kindergarten and how Kaya handles each spirit ranges from cute to “holy crap, it’s a female version of Damien from The Omen.”

That was a scary kid, y’all.

Also, we have to give props to the artwork, lettering, and translation during the interactions with the spirits. It was done perfectly and kept everything intact, ranging from terrifying to straight up cuteness. 

I look forward to volume two and reading more about this adorable, (not-so) scary child.

Filed under: Graphic Novels, Manga, Reviews, Young Adult