Review by Frank Plowright

Blades of Furry has the interesting premise of a world where humanoid animals compete in a sport combining the grace of figure skating with martial arts. The object is not only to skate artistically, but to bring your opponent down. It’s a funny idea.

Unfortunately, though, it’s secondary to a will they/won’t they? romance plot moving forward extremely slowly. The focus at the start is Emile, shy and lacking confidence, but nevertheless a newcomer to the sport discovering that instead of the planned tournament match-up he’ll be facing reigning champion Radu against whom he has no chance. Under normal circumstances, that is. Emily Erdos’ sample art shows the moment changing everything, enabling Emile to win against the odds.

Based on what’s been transferred to book format there’s a great demand for romance comics updated daily on sites like Webtoons. There is, however, a considerable difference when it comes to physical collections. Readers checking in daily are less likely to notice how slowly the plot moves forward, how it can also go round in circles, and how the drawings are so similar. Taken as individual illustrations, Emily Erdos produces perfectly acceptable art. Her humanoid animals have personality, and there’s a variety of creatures used. However, cumulatively there’s so little variation, and while Erdos is better in this respect than some others, the storytelling form of tease, embarrassment and misunderstanding demands many, many head and shoulders reaction shots. And because pencilling, inking and colouring enough panels a day to satisfy demand is a lot of work, there’s little in the way of backgrounds.

The big moment comes early when Emile discovers Radu is a vampire, although a rather more laid back version than those of legends. Vampires are forbidden to compete in the sport, and there’s already another competitor constantly on his trail, but unable to locate definitive proof. Emile’s prepared to keep Radu’s secret, and because he’s better at combat and Emile brings dancing skills to the ice, they start training together. That doubles down on the danger as relationships between competitors are also banned.

It’s apparent in short doses that Deya Muniz’s script has charm, and the bumbling attraction initially transmits well, but Blades of Furry’s opening volume is over five hundred pages of so little progress in slow motion. 350 elapse before a greater injection of plot beyond the threat of discovery and the supporting cast expanding beyond very minor roles. A brief final story not first seen online reveals how two of that supporting cast came together.

Even if you’ve greatly enjoyed Blades of Furry online, you might find the repetition here too much.