Desscaras, Kumugi and Ichi face an unusual trial in Ichi the Witch chapter 9 as they take on the Hisame Majik. To stop her from harming humans, they must make her look fabulous, but what does this mean exactly? In many ways, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

To be honest, the tone of Ichi the Witch has surprised me as of late. Although there were a few jokes here and there in its initial chapters, the main focus was on the mechanics of hunting and combat in this magical world, but the amount of gags has definitely increased ever since Komugi was introduced in chapter 7. VIZ translator Adrienne Beck also appears to be having a lot of fun inserting some online slang into the English translation to match the playful Japanese.

In any case, beauty is undoubtedly the main theme of Ichi the Witch chapter 9. If our characters want to seal the Hisame Majik and stop her from terrorizing nearby inhabitants, then they must first make her “look fabulous.” This inevitably invites a variety of interpretations as each one of our characters does what they think the definition of fabulous is: Komugi gathers flowers, Desscaras makes a case for inner beauty, and Ichi jumps inside of the majik to… filet it?

We’ll have to wait until next week to see what Ichi was cooking with this unusual approach, but it’s yet another example of Ichi the Witch relying on zany humor to propel its narrative forward. In fact, chapter 9 feels more like a series of gags around the theme of beauty than a real narrative exploring said idea or the tactics of taking down a magical opponent. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with this approach, but it does mark a strict departure from what made the series initially stand out.

Moreover, the theme of beauty isn’t one that usually resonates with the traditional Weekly Shonen Jump audience. Although the magazine also now has a sizable female following, it mainly caters to a young male audience, who may or may not be turned off by the concept of this arc. Some may be tempted to point the finger at Ichi the Witch’s all-female creative team, but plenty of other high-profile series in Jump have been penned by women in the past without touching on similar concepts, so it feels like a moot point.

In a week where first volume sales of both Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi and Hima-Ten! proved surprisingly solid, all eyes are on Ichi the Witch to see if it can keep up the success. Nevertheless, chapter 9 doesn’t inspire much confidence: regardless of whether or not you jive with the core ideas, shifting the tone so dramatically so early in any series’ run should ring some alarm bells. Evolution is great, but only when the story is established enough that the audience understands what said evolution is based on.

You can read Ichi the Witch chapter 9 for free via VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump.