Cinch: "There's no way she wants to be an animal."
Me, a terminal furry: That is a bold statement, my friend.
I loved this one. I have a couple criticisms here and there, but this was cute, extremely entertaining, and very well executed, especially in terms of presentation.
Working through each criterion, spoilers from this point forward:
Implementation of Theme:
Going to get the biggest knock out of the way early - this was the weakest part for me. I think it's arguable, with Cinch and Chang'e serving as "lights" for each other, but I never felt that there was any particular "darkness" though. The lowest point for either of them in the story is effectively a mildly rough patch in an otherwise loving and fulfilling relationship. I guess you could maybe look at it as the werewolf forms being bodies the characters feel comfortable in, so they're like lights to the darkness of self-doubt? I don't know, that feels like more of a stretch. I think there were other submissions that handled the theme more effectively.
Story:
Very cute. Cinch and Chang'e both felt mostly believable, with the occasional understandable step outside of that to create a fun mix of humor and drama. I liked the overall tone of this one - staying positive and keeping the humor intact really sold that these two cared for each other, even when they were disagreeing. Also like that Chang'e does in fact like the wolf form (preach) and the werewolf's representation of finding a version of yourself that you're most comfortable with.
My one big issue with the story is that I wish Cinch and Chang'e were given a bit more leeway to figure things out for themselves. Auntie Crystal guides them through practically the whole process like a video game tutorial, and I think it would have better supported the theme of the couple learning to communicate if they had to come to some of those conclusions by talking it through with each other rather than like, a subject matter expert.
Presentation:
Awesome! Tons of art for this and all of it was extremely cute. Music did occasionally get repetitive and there were times when I thought some different choices could have fit the mood of the scene better, but it didn't really impede my enjoyment of the VN.
Creativity:
In this jam I've seen a ton of G's and a sprinkling of B's and T's here and there, but I think this is the first L that I've played and I love to see the representation for the lady wolves. There's a lot of fun stuff at play here as well with the magic system, the familial background and curse, and the idea of appropriating what was originally a curse to be something positive that you choose to live with.
I would absolutely be first in line for that Awoopocalypse wedding.