The plot thickens. Kind of.
Honestly, we mostly return to vignettes for this pair of episodes. Kaya visits a hospital and deals with some angry ghosts bothering a woman, only to learn she was also a ghost. A spirit possesses some of the kids to act rowdy on playground equipment so that the show can point out that removing playgrounds isn’t the solution to child injuries, vigilant adults are. Kaya and friends are playing in the sand box, and Kaya once again makes a save.
Then we have the plot elements. In one, Kaya is at home with the aunt taking care of her when a specter tries to get someone to open the door. Eventually, Kaya does, but to the aunt’s shock, Kaya displays her ability to dispatch it. Aunt doesn’t experience the same fright as grandma did, seeing both the dangerous power and the little kid underneath it.
On the other line, Mob is missing for a bit, and his mentor uses Chie as bait to lure out possessed Mob, freeing him in the process. After that we have Kaya and family go to a festival where she gets separated and targeted by a regular old human child abuser, from whom Mob’s mentor rescues her, explaining that her powers don’t work on ordinary humans.
First of all, Mr. Molester is scarier than the ghosts to begin with, and the fact that the normally hyper-capable Kaya is as powerless as a regular kindergarten kid really amps the horror. When there’s a spook, we know what’s going to happen to it. This guy? Way more dangerous.
Second, Mob’s mentor (I suppose I should drop his name – Namu) seems to know the lore behind… what exactly Kaya is, and possibly what’s afflicting her mother, refering to Kaya as the eighth Shrine Maiden of her line, hence her incredible nature.
The show does still have four episodes to dig into this. I believe the manga is ongoing, so I don’t expect this main plot to really resolve, but there’s more than enough time left to give some payoff at the rate that Kaya-chan is going.
And I think I would like to see it. This show has gone and introduced plot, rather than just being vignettes, and it’s made moves to progress it, so while I can’t get a proper ending I’d at least like something that’s a decent stop, maybe an answer somewhere along the line? Part of me remembers raving about gecko endings in my review of Dream Eater Merry, and I think this might be another example of why they were done and might be done again.
All the same, the more comparable works to this – Dark Gathering and Mieruko-chan – both managed to have something that felt like a climax for their climax, so I’m sure Kaya-chan is capable as well. We’ve just got to follow this path to its end.