'A Werewolf in Charleston' is a political thriller/horror contemporary tale that takes the concept of the werewolf myth and turns it into a political allegory, with some slight morbid pornography for just a pinch of shock value. By virtue of being a very self-proclaimed political commentary tale, there is a lot of explicit and implicit imagery and concepts that this story is dealing with: religion, conditional love from family, political violence, propaganda, LGBTQ+ rights, personal identity, radicalization, cult-like indoctrination, self-harm, and gay sex. There are aspects of this story that I think were handled well and really got right, and other parts that I think were pretty weak in their conceptualization and were put in just to really hammer in more of the political posturing, and some parts that felt were inserted into this just because it's a My Wolf genre of visual novel.
To talk about the story, is to look beyond what is simply presented, because even in the case of what it explicitly states, there's a lot of devil in the details, and when trying to make a political message, delivery of the message kind of matters, or else it just turns into propaganda. To start out, You have Andy, who is the son of a church pastor, and on his 21st birthday, he transforms into a werewolf. In this universe, werewolves are a known thing, except that it's legally okay to kill and lynch them, because of reasons. Anyway, upon Andy's first transformation, he runs away in fear of being killed and lynched, and luckily runs into Luis, another werewolf, who then takes him to 'the Den' where there are a bunch of other werewolves. They give him the low down, and the rules are: 1) You didn't get a choice in being a werewolf. 2) Human during day, werewolf at night, except sometimes werewolf in day because it makes for a good plot point. 3) During the lunar eclipse, you need to swap body fluids with another werewolf to stay a werewolf forever. 4) Is entirely your choice to become a werewolf forever. 5) If you don't turn into a werewolf forever, you instead become a horrid amalgamation of a werewolf monster. 6) It's totally your choice. 7) If you don't become a werewolf forever, you better kill yourself or the werewolves will kill you. 8) Did I mention, it's totally your choice. Anyway, after some more waffling about, where Oliver has a scare of possibly being outed as a werewolf, seeing werewolves be hung in the center plaza, having sex with Luis, a protest march that ends violently and several werewolves and cops dead, and then a club shooting (where Oliver wracks up a body count of 3). Turns out that pastor dad was a werewolf this whole time, but the kind that didn't swap fluids and now he's a horrible amalgamation, of which he tries to kill Oliver/Andy, but then Oliver/Andy just kills him instead and eats his heart. Very Oedipus. And uh, that's it.
Okay, I don't normally do this, but I'm going to write down all my retorts and comments I had about this story, because it's very front and center, I think the story is inviting it, and I need to write this down:
> Oh, good, we're immediately transforming into a werewolf, no need for a bunch of will I/won't I to get to the issue.
> I think that werewolf is metaphor for homosexuality, but then it gets a bit conflated with transgender identity, and then also with just general non-socially accepted taboos like drinking and other taboo vices, so it gets really muddled for me.
> Despite it's intention as taboo, the story werewolves also have a code of ethics, that include consent and making sure that sex is between consenting adults over the age of 21. I just think it's a bit undermining of the message when the vagueness of werewolf parallels suddenly also have a purity angle.
> I notice that this story goes from a critique on Christianity, then suddenly shifting to a completely new religion, except that this one is apparently the true one with the moon goddess. Swapping one religion for another, thus, weakening the message against blind adherence to a religion without proper reflection on the religion itself.
> Awfully convenient that the next lunar eclipse is in a month. I get it's for story purposes, but it's just such a plot convenience that adds on a countdown clock as well as inducing fomo in Oliver, who if it wasn't clear before, is clearly being coerced into being a werewolf fully. (I thought we cared about consent?)
> Just how old is Luis anyway? I gather at minimum 26 since his boyfriend died at least 5 years ago, but this detail is glanced over.
> Don't get me started on the whole "We never tell anyone our human identities." Which is like, totally groomer behavior and the craziest red-flags about an organization that he's forced into. Doesn't even make logical sense, unless they were in-fact, doing some crazy shady stuff.
> Oliver/Andy is very one dimensional. He has no real point of view, aside from just "being a good boy". Can't really articulate any meaningful thoughts, and yet is blamed for like, everything. Even at the end, a lot of his actions are forced by circumstance, so it never feels like he shows any agency.
> Luis is just as bad. For someone who's been in Oliver's shoes, he has very little empathy for him and expects him to have an emotional maturity greater than he ever shows. Talk about avoiding accountability.
> Zizi is pretty terrible as a group leader, for letting Oliver lead the protest, and then straight up murdering a cop. She also is the least helpful and least informed wolf, despite being portrayed as someone who should know better?
> Randolph Crane is like the best character, if only because his views and motivations are very well established, and he is the perfect character for delivering the message of "If you don't create a safe space, how do you expect to be trusted by your children," for parents. That being said, it's still very weird that he just carries a switchblade and expects his son to straight up put a wolf out of it's misery. (I get that it was foreshadowing, doesn't make it feel less like it comes out of nowhere though.)
> Why is the Moon Goddess a thing? Like, talk about bring in way too many existential questions, undermining the nature of religion being based on belief, and taking away even more of Oliver's agency. Never explained, never justified, just blindly obeyed because I say so.
> I know that the self-mutilation of cutting of the finger is supposed to be shown as like, denying yourself for safety purposes, but also, Andy absolutely did the right thing in that situational moment. His instincts were entirely right about how that company would have immediately just killed him on the spot.
> I know Luis was making a point about how humans kill for sport to paint them as evil, but technically other animals do that too (I'm 'um actually'-ing).
> The chemistry between Oliver and Luis is so forced. Like, it's jarring how quickly those two go from weary/distrustful of each other to having sex on a boat in the middle of a lake. And then even after all the murder, still going to have sex.
> This is apparently the first time that Oliver has seen the werewolf bodies be hung in public, and it's like you'd think that would be on the news or something. Quite a way for Luis to put Oliver in a dangerous situation, and then, have Oliver kill someone to save Luis's life. Masterful plan.
> I just kept writing 'melodrama' over and over in my notes as I was reading. No one has a proper talk, they just talk political points to each other.
> I put a note that the boat sex scene was unintentionally funny with the way Oliver looked down at Luis.
> I have to question the logic of Oliver who saw cars willingly mow down werewolves, as if doing a public protest wasn't about to also result in blatant murder.
> I was surprised that it wasn't a massacre with how many times they've just been shot at for just existing.
> Radicalization of one of Andy's friends who was told the location of the Den, which apparently Randolph knew the whole time? Feels a bit plot-hole-y just to have a club shooting scene for dramatic effect.
> Oliver having a higher body count should really count for a lot more, considering how blasé the rest of the werewolves are.
> Do we ever even meet a werewolf that fully became one? We never even examine how drastically might change someone's life. We really are just going all in on assumptions aren't we?
The presentation of this visual novel is extremely well done. The striking typography, the stylized background shades, even the character designs have all been vastly improved since the last few visual novels that Corvus productions has done. Not that previous entries weren't good, but you can see the steady increase in production quality, from extensive use of sound effects for immersion, and the art is just improving too. I made a joke about the sex scene being unintentionally funny, but as a CG, it was also really hot as the scene went on. Monster design is really good, and I enjoyed even the gore-y bits. Maybe it's cause the style isn't as hyper-realistic, so I can stomach it a bit better. The writing definitely has a point of view, and that view is to go on rants. I do wish there was a bit more introspection done by all the characters, as it feels very surface values despite the werewolf motif supposed to being a metaphor thing. It's weird because I don't disagree with the message the story is trying to portray, but it doesn't plot doesn't really allude to why being a werewolf shouldn't be something to be condemned for. The main message I get is "being a werewolf sucks, being a person sucks, because of other people". I feel like the point of this story is meant as a warning to loved ones who might push away their loved ones by the way that they don't make them feel safe, yet this isn't the type of story that would reach those people. As a result, it feels propagandist in favor of leaving your family behind and fully embracing a new but unknown culture without question.
The folklore aspect makes sense, can't go wrong with the classic southern gothic horror and a werewolf motif. Maybe a deeper explanation into the moon goddess allegory could've helped it feel like it's own timeless version of the world, but as it is, it feels like a weird amalgamation of many different time periods, yet belonging to none of them. It is a fun interpretation of the werewolf myth, where it's more of a parasitic entity within you that waits patently until your 21st birthday to make you a monster that humans want to kill, but you also get the added benefit of having sex with other hot werewolves. I'm actually surprised how little homophobia was mentioned by the church goers, I guess werewolves are a much easier target to hate. That might've been funny to have homosexuality be accepted and not were-wolfism, but we know that according to the Den, it's all still taboo. I think I've gone on too much of a rant myself.
Anyway, overall this is an excellent presentation by Rhetto, who has clearly found his voice and niche about infusing his outspoken activism into a bunch of classic horror plots. I think in this case, there was a heavy handed amount of political commentary frosting topped on top of this werewolf body-horror/romance cake. If I scrape off a lot of this frosting, I find a cake that I really enjoyed. The whole father/son plot line layer was really relatable and emotional. The wolf romance layer with Oliver and Luis was super hot and I was into it. The graphic body horror layer was also really shocking and grotesque. It's just somehow in combining these cake layers, you've added so much of this political frosting holding it together, I get a mouthful of frosting and barely any cake. (Does this metaphor make sense?) Like, I get what this was going for, but wow do I feel like there needed to be some edits being made here. Honing in on the core theme/message of the story, and whether each element is going to either help reinforce that message, or help develop characters, or help develop the world. Then again, if you weren't trying to be subtle, you definitely achieved it.