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Watch for the Uniqueness of Omegaverse and the Fun & Meticulous Manipulation
Subjective Gut Rating: 7.75
Where do I begin with this first somewhat major production of omegaverse in an Asian BL drama? It is definitely interesting. Is this drama perfect? Hell No! Is it interesting? Definitely. I would recommend “ABO Desire” to you if you are interested in checking out these characters in the omegaverse and get to know the characteristics of Enigmas, Alphas, Omegas and Betas. However, if you are looking for a great BL drama, this is not it.
Plot + Pacing
It all starts with Hua Yong’s obsession with Sheng Shao You. You will be amazed at the lengths he went to in order to make Shao You fall in love and be obsessed with him. Hua Yong’s manipulation is the best part of the drama. The meticulous planning of his scheme from years ago, his research of Shao You’s likes and dislikes in everything, to the ‘training’ he has to go through to turn himself to be one ‘worthy’ of Shao You. It was delicious just watching that all reveal. Of course, this wouldn’t be as good without Huang Xing’s acting. He’s the star of the show, because the rest of the actors aren’t that good. The pacing of the drama is uneven though. There are so many episodes where nothing really happened. The plot is not advancing and you are stuck in a loop of repeated manipulation. Then a couple episodes kicked in and more interesting storylines help move past the repetitiveness. I would have liked more on why Shen Wen Lang is at odds with his father, thus hating all Omegas. I also want a deeper dive into Shen Wen Lang and Hua Yong’s interesting friendship which involves some family backstories. But I think the most complaints from viewers will be coming from the last episode. There’s such great anticipation but all we got is a rushed and chopped up ending with multiple time jumps. The last episode tries to jam so many important events into one. I may not be a big fan of the novel ending of Gao Tu and Shen Wen Lang, but it can’t be this messed up storyline involving a father that should not appear on my screen. As viewers, we see how much Gao Tu went through in his life, we want to see him happy (with or without Shen Wen Lang). Is he living a happy life in the end? Maybe, but we wouldn’t know coz not much was shown. Oh, one more thing… the boring business and drug talk. So insignificant but took up so much of the dialog.
Acting
The acting is not good overall. Huang Xing is an interesting Hua Yong. He’s great, especially when you see him switch between good and evil and vice versa ( you also see his wardrobe change from white and black). The manipulation would not be so fun if not for some good acting. The next best actor is probably Li Pei En, who plays the beloved Gao Tu. He’s also the most experienced out of the four main actors, and has acted in bigger productions. It’s unfortunate the drama did not give him much to work with. Unfortunately, Qui Ding Jie’s acting isn’t that great as Sheng Shao You, and he’s not that much of a novice. He’s been in enough dramas that I wish he was better. Being the top S Alpha, he’s not charismatic enough. He’s been in many other mini dramas, I think I need to watch one of them to see if he’s better in it than this one. For a first acting assignment, the inexperience really shows for Jiang Heng. He is really not good at all. Luckily, he’s in such a popular drama that viewers probably won’t criticize him too much because we are all watching this for the omegaverse. If Jiang Heng’s performance is in another production, he will not be getting cheers in concerts. The rest of the supporting cast is average but a few of the very minor roles are pretty bad.
Romance
Yes, a lot more screen time is dedicated to Hua Yong and Shao Yao. I have no problem with that since they are the main leads. I do understand viewers wanting to see more of Gao Tu and Shen Wen Lang, because their romance could be very interesting. Besides, Gao Tu is so beloved, we want to see Wen Lang suffer and pine for him and then they all have a big happy ending. Did we really get that? Well, I won’t spoil it for you. But romance is strong in this drama. If you are a romance lover, this is for you. We have a toxic and manipulative main romance that you wonder why you are rooting for them. When Hua Yong and Shao Yao got all lovey-dovey, I felt rather weird after following their journey. I can’t deny I might have had a little smile on my face in the last few episodes, but it's still weird. And you know what, the kisses could have been better. They are too mild. On the other hand, we have a 10-year unrequited love from Gao Tu. There were so many times I was screaming (internally) that he should quit his job and leave Wen Lang. I want that knucklehead Wen Lang to suffer and then chase after Gao Tu in the middle of the drama. Did I get what I wanted? Maybe, and maybe not.
Production
When this drama is so popular and everyone is talking about it, I almost forgot this is a low budget production. I want to be lenient but I can’t deny there are many things that bug me. I hate the makeup, especially for Qiu Ding Jie/Sheng Shao You. He’s so pale and girly that I can’t see him as a bossy S Alpha. The dubbing also bugs me and makes the acting even worse. I think the actors use their own voices (and I like that) but oftentimes they are out of sync with their lips, or they are not annunciating their words clearly. There have been complaints about the lighting of the drama. You know, the scenes when the consummation happened and they claimed they couldn’t see the faces when the room was so bright? That was quite laughable. But the cherry on the top (as in the worst) is the sudden voice of a narrator out of the blue, and the narration from these bystanders telling me what is happening. The drama fails to show us what is actually going on and has to rely on others (not the main characters) to tell us. To end on a positive note, I do love the songs in this drama. The main theme song is catchy whether it’s the group version or the female version. It fits the mysteriousness of the omegaverse.
Do I recommend “ABO Desire”? Maybe if you are interested in the subject matter and want to see what the hype is about. But I won’t recommend it if you are looking for a high quality drama (BL or not). This is one of the very few dramas I watch while it’s airing and I had a good time watching it. The drama might not be great objectively, but the entertainment value is high for me. Despite complaining about every single category I listed about, I don’t think I can rate this too low. Not quite hit the 8.0 category because of some objective misses, but fun enough to warrant a 7.75. At least I enjoy this more than “Revenged Love”.
Completed: 10/11/2025 Review #632
Where do I begin with this first somewhat major production of omegaverse in an Asian BL drama? It is definitely interesting. Is this drama perfect? Hell No! Is it interesting? Definitely. I would recommend “ABO Desire” to you if you are interested in checking out these characters in the omegaverse and get to know the characteristics of Enigmas, Alphas, Omegas and Betas. However, if you are looking for a great BL drama, this is not it.
Plot + Pacing
It all starts with Hua Yong’s obsession with Sheng Shao You. You will be amazed at the lengths he went to in order to make Shao You fall in love and be obsessed with him. Hua Yong’s manipulation is the best part of the drama. The meticulous planning of his scheme from years ago, his research of Shao You’s likes and dislikes in everything, to the ‘training’ he has to go through to turn himself to be one ‘worthy’ of Shao You. It was delicious just watching that all reveal. Of course, this wouldn’t be as good without Huang Xing’s acting. He’s the star of the show, because the rest of the actors aren’t that good. The pacing of the drama is uneven though. There are so many episodes where nothing really happened. The plot is not advancing and you are stuck in a loop of repeated manipulation. Then a couple episodes kicked in and more interesting storylines help move past the repetitiveness. I would have liked more on why Shen Wen Lang is at odds with his father, thus hating all Omegas. I also want a deeper dive into Shen Wen Lang and Hua Yong’s interesting friendship which involves some family backstories. But I think the most complaints from viewers will be coming from the last episode. There’s such great anticipation but all we got is a rushed and chopped up ending with multiple time jumps. The last episode tries to jam so many important events into one. I may not be a big fan of the novel ending of Gao Tu and Shen Wen Lang, but it can’t be this messed up storyline involving a father that should not appear on my screen. As viewers, we see how much Gao Tu went through in his life, we want to see him happy (with or without Shen Wen Lang). Is he living a happy life in the end? Maybe, but we wouldn’t know coz not much was shown. Oh, one more thing… the boring business and drug talk. So insignificant but took up so much of the dialog.
Acting
The acting is not good overall. Huang Xing is an interesting Hua Yong. He’s great, especially when you see him switch between good and evil and vice versa ( you also see his wardrobe change from white and black). The manipulation would not be so fun if not for some good acting. The next best actor is probably Li Pei En, who plays the beloved Gao Tu. He’s also the most experienced out of the four main actors, and has acted in bigger productions. It’s unfortunate the drama did not give him much to work with. Unfortunately, Qui Ding Jie’s acting isn’t that great as Sheng Shao You, and he’s not that much of a novice. He’s been in enough dramas that I wish he was better. Being the top S Alpha, he’s not charismatic enough. He’s been in many other mini dramas, I think I need to watch one of them to see if he’s better in it than this one. For a first acting assignment, the inexperience really shows for Jiang Heng. He is really not good at all. Luckily, he’s in such a popular drama that viewers probably won’t criticize him too much because we are all watching this for the omegaverse. If Jiang Heng’s performance is in another production, he will not be getting cheers in concerts. The rest of the supporting cast is average but a few of the very minor roles are pretty bad.
Romance
Yes, a lot more screen time is dedicated to Hua Yong and Shao Yao. I have no problem with that since they are the main leads. I do understand viewers wanting to see more of Gao Tu and Shen Wen Lang, because their romance could be very interesting. Besides, Gao Tu is so beloved, we want to see Wen Lang suffer and pine for him and then they all have a big happy ending. Did we really get that? Well, I won’t spoil it for you. But romance is strong in this drama. If you are a romance lover, this is for you. We have a toxic and manipulative main romance that you wonder why you are rooting for them. When Hua Yong and Shao Yao got all lovey-dovey, I felt rather weird after following their journey. I can’t deny I might have had a little smile on my face in the last few episodes, but it's still weird. And you know what, the kisses could have been better. They are too mild. On the other hand, we have a 10-year unrequited love from Gao Tu. There were so many times I was screaming (internally) that he should quit his job and leave Wen Lang. I want that knucklehead Wen Lang to suffer and then chase after Gao Tu in the middle of the drama. Did I get what I wanted? Maybe, and maybe not.
Production
When this drama is so popular and everyone is talking about it, I almost forgot this is a low budget production. I want to be lenient but I can’t deny there are many things that bug me. I hate the makeup, especially for Qiu Ding Jie/Sheng Shao You. He’s so pale and girly that I can’t see him as a bossy S Alpha. The dubbing also bugs me and makes the acting even worse. I think the actors use their own voices (and I like that) but oftentimes they are out of sync with their lips, or they are not annunciating their words clearly. There have been complaints about the lighting of the drama. You know, the scenes when the consummation happened and they claimed they couldn’t see the faces when the room was so bright? That was quite laughable. But the cherry on the top (as in the worst) is the sudden voice of a narrator out of the blue, and the narration from these bystanders telling me what is happening. The drama fails to show us what is actually going on and has to rely on others (not the main characters) to tell us. To end on a positive note, I do love the songs in this drama. The main theme song is catchy whether it’s the group version or the female version. It fits the mysteriousness of the omegaverse.
Do I recommend “ABO Desire”? Maybe if you are interested in the subject matter and want to see what the hype is about. But I won’t recommend it if you are looking for a high quality drama (BL or not). This is one of the very few dramas I watch while it’s airing and I had a good time watching it. The drama might not be great objectively, but the entertainment value is high for me. Despite complaining about every single category I listed about, I don’t think I can rate this too low. Not quite hit the 8.0 category because of some objective misses, but fun enough to warrant a 7.75. At least I enjoy this more than “Revenged Love”.
Completed: 10/11/2025 Review #632
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