On a Leash
Writer/Artist: Aji
Platform: INKR, Manta, TappyToon
Publication Date: July 17 2022
Rating: Adult
Genre: Toxic Yuri, Military Drama, Furry
In a world of shapeshifting beasts, mammals and reptiles have joined forces to fight a fascist nation of bird-people. Irene Red is one such soldier, a young and head-strong wolf woman. She’s well on her way to becoming a battlefield legend. She also has a weakness: Ruce Duvall, a captain, medical officer and cruel snake woman. Duvall longs for death. Red won’t let her die. Red puts herself in harm’s way to help others. Duvall hurts her in the medical bay. Red’s new bruises scare her platoon and convince her childhood friend Edge that Duvall is a cold-blooded monster. But can Red and Duvall’s relationship be so easily defined?
On a Leash has quite a fascinating history. The author Aji began the series in 2017 on Lezhin. It was then put on hold after the first thirty-six episodes, including the first season and the first three episodes of the second. Aji had to wait three years before they could restart the series; in the meantime, they drew the fan-favorite historical drama Opium. On a Leash finally made its return to Ridibooks, where it ran for 139 episodes. Despite its difficult start the series became Aji’s longest to date.
Dogs of war
The first aspect of On a Leash that caught my eye was the coloring. Red, brown and orange dominate the first chapter. There’s a great scene where Red (dyed red) slaughters a bunker of orange bird soldiers. When she explodes the bunker with the enemy’s grenades, the sky washes yellow and shadows bury her fellow soldiers in cover. This is coloring as pure suggestion. Aji aims not to capture the literal truth of the battlefield, but instead to clue the reader into Red’s berserker headspace.
In the second half of the chapter, though, Aji switches location to Duvall’s medical ward and the coloring changes completely. Duvall’s domain is dark, shadowy and cold. The pale skin and blonde hair of her human form contrast Red’s red hair and brown skin. When the color red reappears, it’s as stark red blood on Duvall’s gray reptilian hands. Aji lays out the themes of the story for all to see: fire versus dark, hot and cold blood, mismatched opposites.
Running with the wolves
As is common for Korean webcomics, Aji can’t keep up the quality on a weekly schedule. Future chapters are far more literal in their coloring and design. Thankfully On a Leash has other strengths to compensate. The focus on human-animal shapeshifters allows for a wide range of funny and attractive character designs. Irene Red is the highlight as the fluffy red wolf, but her platoon also includes a down-to-earth sheep and a hapless pyrenees dog. The lizards as well strike a fine balance between elegant and unsettling.
Aji takes an approach to shapeshifting that I call “the Wolf’s Rain method.” The characters have distinct human and animal forms, but the transformation between them is never fully depicted on the page. Instead the shift happens in the blank space between panels. It’s absolutely a time-saving measure so as not to be caught up drawing elaborate transformations. But I respect it. It should be said, though, that Aji occasionally “cheats” by having animal features (like snake eyes or scales) show through on the human designs in moments of stress.
Snake in the grass
On a Leash’s military setting is fairly distinct from other webtoons. The cast are all adults in uniform who fight and die on the battlefield. As a twenty-five year old, Red is presented as a naive and inexperienced young person compared to the far more worldly Duvall. (Just how old is she, again?) Aji put some thought into designing the uniforms as well as the unique flags and signifiers of each shapeshifter nation.
The heart of On a Leash, though, is Red and Duvall’s relationship. In fact, Aji writes the story so that the war’s most dangerous players all have a stake in that pairing. So what does that mean? Well, On a Leash is an “enemies to lovers” romance in which two people who hate each other slowly realize they have more in common than they thought. Just as Duvall wanders the battlefield hoping to be killed by enemy fire in the line of duty, Red throws herself into dangerous situations without thinking. The two of them resent each other for inconveniencing each other constantly.
Cold-blooded reptile
What makes On a Leash a tricky read is the power differential. As a captain and a doctor, Duvall outranks Red, and knows it. She calls Red “puppy,” threatens to blackmail her for bad behavior, and even intimates sexual contact in the sick-bay. Red lashes out at every opportunity, even when it’s a bad idea. But there’s only so much she can do.
There’s a sequence about halfway through the first season where Red is in the hospital and Duvall is sick of dealing with her bad behavior. She chloroforms Red, puts a collar on her and then tries to have sex with her. When Red resists, Duvall beats her up (insisting that as a doctor, she won’t cause any permanent harm) and then threatens to discipline not just Red but her best friend Edge if she talks. The chapter ends with Red’s bruised face as she smiles so as to protect the people she loves from Duvall’s influence.
Shed skin
There are some folks who might find this scene to be really hot. Fiction, after all, can be a way to explore non-consensual relationships without hurting real people. My personal preference though is when every participant benefits. As a result, I found Duvall’s abuse of Red to be very unpleasant to read. It’s an extreme escalation from plausible (if toxic) romance into sexual assault. I had no idea after that point how Aji could find a resolution between the two of them.
I suspect Aji wasn’t sure either, because the second season is an immediate re-adjustment. Suddenly Duvall is sadder and more tired. Red has a little more agency. The dynamic between the two becomes flexible rather than Duvall beating Red up forever without consequences. Red surprises her, and with surprise comes a measure of power.
The doctor is in
An early scene to me sums up the gulf between the first and second season of On a Leash. Red is wounded in the sickbay. Duvall is frustrated, once again, that she keeps putting herself in harm’s way. The two of them get carried away and have sex. But then Red’s stitches tear and she nearly bleeds to death. Duvall realizes what happened just in time, operates on Red in a panic and saves her life.
On the surface this sequence isn’t any easier to take than the leash scene from the first season. Duvall abuses her power over Red to such an extent that she nearly kills her in pursuit of sexual gratification. What I do like, though, is how Duvall spirals out of control here. She is terrified not because her actions might be exposed but because (despite their constant friction) she does not want Red to die. The mask slips and the reader sees that “sadomasochistic top” is a role Duvall plays rather than the entirety of her personality.
Warm-blooded animal
There are deeper mysteries buried in the series regarding Duvall’s past, Red’s childhood and a special type of monstrous shapeshifter that nobody wants to talk about. These add tension to the narrative but are not the focus. Neither is the outcome of the war. The core of On a Leash remains Duvall and Red’s toxic relationship and the question of whether either can learn to communicate without hurting each other.
If you do not buy into their dynamic then this series will do nothing for you. If you are not willing to put up with animal people having ill-advised sex in the middle of a warzone then you should probably find another comic to read. On the other hand, if you’re a patient reader looking for an adult romance with teeth, you may enjoy On a Leash. Aji has a vision, and that’s worth celebrating in Korean comics.
