The long game of cat and mouse comes to an end in Witch Watch chapter 182 as Kuon and his allies finally find the warlocks’ hiding place, triggering a pitched battle that’s surprisingly detailed for a comedy manga.

Flashback arcs seem to be all the rage at the minute, because Akane-banashi is doing one right now too. Both of them also happen to share the same basic aim: to illuminate the past of an otherwise elusive character. That being said, the main point of difference comes in who exactly this character is: in Akane-banashi, it’s the central antagonist, but Witch Watch had decided to center someone who has been nothing but the butt of a joke for at least half a year. Go figure.

A feeling of surprise pervades the entirety of Witch Watch chapter 182 as Kuon not only turns out to be a pretty interesting character, but Kenta Shinohara also displays a surprising amount of competence when it comes to writing fight scenes. To be fair, it’s not as if this series hasn’t cast off the comedy shackles before: the Day of the Disaster arc was pretty much entirely action, but it still hasn’t gotten old. Come for the comedy, stay for the punches.

In any case, Kuon’s relationship with the warlock child Hibana is undoubtedly the main focus here. After accidentally running into each other in the middle of the night last week, Hibana explained her tragic backstory in a way that was clearly meant to elicit sympathy from the audience and foreshadow her redemption, but turning her from the bad side isn’t going to be an easy task. Her explosion magic is one of the main things that our heroes have to contend with in this chapter, unless they want to return home in pieces.

Here’s where Witch Watch chapter 182 gets surprisingly technical. One of the reasons why Hibara’s magic is so formidable is that it doesn’t work as a projectile: Hibara simply points her hand at the point she wants to explode and it does, meaning that it’s very difficult to predict her next move. That being said, Reiji very quickly figures out that she has to charge up her magic before using it, meaning that rapid movement is difficult for her to react to.

While this clever tactic eventually does wear Hibara out, it ultimately turns out to be for nothing as Kokuryo was just playing for time until his summoning circle for Jura was complete. He actually uses his space-shaping powers to hide this fact from the protagonists until it’s too late: yet another technical arrow in this chapter’s quiver. All of this from a series that’s supposed to be a comedy… never change Shinohara, never change.

You can read Witch Watch chapter 182 for free via VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump.