Revenged Love actually isn't omegaverse, but ABO Desire is.

Not that I'd recommend Revenged Love. Despite not being omegaverse, I think Revenged Love does more gender stereotype-y things than ABO Desire. Revenged Love does the whole 'very toxic top relentlessly pursues unwilling and legitimately scared bottom, who still eventually reluctantly gives in' -type sex-negativity. It's really not for me. That is one of my least favorite tropes: sex as a scary and shameful but necessary duty that the feminized partner is obligated to perform for the pleasure of the masculinized partner, because 'that's just what romantic partners do'. Comphet, but with the woman swapped out for a feminized guy. I haven't managed to finish Revenged Love yet. I will one day, probably, but it's a struggle.

In ABO Desire though, I actually think they're trying to break/flip/fuck with gender stereotypes. The alpha is the one to magically get pregnant (typically impossible in omegaverse), and the omega was faking his omega-ness the whole time, and he stays quite femme even after the reveal of his superpowers and his top-ness. It even has a (barely present) pairing between a female alpha character and a male omega character. ABO Desire was my first foray into omegaverse (outside of video essays by Rowan Ellis and Strange Aeons), so I'm not at all familiar with the genre, but I think if it's used in order to break gender stereotypes then I can definitely vibe with that. But if they just do the traditional alpha x omega thing then no thank you. For me the purpose would be to exaggerate gender roles to make it clear how absurd they really are, and to name them explicitly so that they're easier to subvert.

But the secondary couple in ABO Desire is very stereotypical, and there's a bunch of consent issues in both couples, so... yeah. It's not ideal.

ABO Desire got a lot of hate from terfs in MDL comments before it started airing, with the excuse that it would reinforce gender stereotypes, but those same terfs loved Revenged Love if you looked at their profiles, and if you pushed them on it, it turns out they were really just disgusted with the idea of pregnant men for transphobia reasons. So yeah, I'm not ready to cede the omegaverse discursive ground to them. I think omegaverse can be used in progressive ways and in conservative ways, like most genres can, really.

I used to hate the masculinized top x feminized bottom trope more than I do now, because it used to be ubiquitous and really formulaic, especially the early Japanese ones (and A Man Who Defies the World of BL makes fun of that formula in a brilliant way). But now there's more diversity, so I'm less icked out by it. It feels less pigeon-holed. In the end feminine gay guys who are bottoms do exist irl and they should get a piece of the representation pie. But the early Japanese formula didn't actually even really give us that.

I notice that positive representation of flamboyantly feminine gay guys has always been quite rare in BL. In early Thai BLs like 2gether they were there, but they got heavily villified/reviled. Like, the main character was 'one of the good ones', contrasted with loud flamboyant background characters who took their queerness 'too far', who often had a darker skin tones, more weight on their bones, and who were often vaguely transgender. Violence against them got played for laughs, and it was just... not pretty.

The bottom in the traditional BL formula isn't flamboyant, he is feminized by being represented as younger, softer, prettier, smaller, weaker, purer, kinder, lower in status, more insecure, more passive, a damsel in distress, maybe even demure (Or only a subset of those attributes). I know 'demure' is a meme word now, but I think it went viral as a desirable adjective to be because 'demure' was exactly that conservative feminine ideal, the same ideal that BL bottoms kind of embody in the standard formula, as the perfect stand-in for a respectable female character worthy of love. Case in point, both seasons of Fourever You. In 2gether the top even keeps referring to the bottom's 'boobs' as if he has any. He really is a stand-in. I'm not a big fan of that type of gender politics. (But in the end maybe media has to meet people where they're at and if this helps some conservative women be the teensiest bit more flexible about gender, fine I guess.)

I loved how The Eclipse subverted that 'respectable versus cringe' dynamic. It had the stereotypical group of loud flamboyant characters that got heavily bullied and villified by the rest of the school, but they were bravely rebelling against the restrictive social structure of the school (read: society) and the narrative presented them as being in the right, and the main characters were on their side by the end. Honestly that's such a good show. Dealt with internalized homophobia head on.

Japanese stories, especially older ones, often put ukes in drag at some point, which the character is then horribly embarrassed about, e.g. Love Stage, and School Trip. There is a forced feminization/emasculation aspect to it, which feels uncomfortable to me. But a show like Marahuyo Project or Therapy Game, where the character fully owns their femininity, love that, heck yes for confident gender-nonconformity. Also, Colorful Love, not a BL, but an exploration of male femininities and self-acceptance that I just friggin' love. And Ore No Bijoka, about a straight guy with social anxiety who overcomes it by becoming a drag queen hostess, excellent!

That was a lot of shows. In conclusion:

• Gender in The Eclipse, Marahuyo Project, Therapy Game, Ore no Bijoka and Colorful Love: Yay!

• Gender in 2gether, Fourever You, Love Stage, Revenged Love and School Trip: Nay!

• Gender in ABO Desire: eh I can see the attempt. Some hits some misses.

That's also the division between 'stuff I recommend' versus 'stuff I don't'.

Sorry this got really long. I have a lot of thoughts on gender haha.

Uhm. My own least favorite trope? Stepbrothers I guess. And bury-your-gays.