A foray into angsty omegaverse: Shima Yashiki’s “This Poor Beta Doesn’t Know About Love”

With the forces that decide which manga I get to check each month being out of my control (and fully in the hands of the team project coordinator), Shima Yashiki’s incredibly angsty and sexy “This Poor Beta Doesn’t Know About Love” (Awarena Betaha Koio Shiranai) appeared on my laptop screen at work quite unexpectedly.

Up until this story, I had never read omegaverse once (yet, after this, I also got to enjoy a certain fox-and-mouse romance), so this was a wholly new experience at that time. Obviously, as a twenty-something that spends most of her time online, I’m familiar with the concept, but not the nitty-gritty of it, you know? So, a couple of comprehensive guides later, I rolled up my sleeves and was ready to dive into this manga—to discover the perfect BL about fictional mind-games and emotional edging (maybe even the physical kind, too).

MINDGAMES GALORE, I SAY

Now. This manga. Where do I even start.

Our story revolves around the titular beta Suzuharu Seno, a devoted butler for the powerful Isezaki family. Their leader is alpha Ryousuke Isezaki, who, while capable and intelligent, prefers fooling around with multiple omegas, and, of course, has a knack for playing Suzuharu like a fiddle.

What Ryousuke doesn’t know is that Suzuharu has a not-so-prim-and-proper side that comes out at night, under his master’s nose: he sets up blind dates with alphas for no-strings-attached hook-ups, just so he can roleplay being an omega.

Multiple partners ask him why he’s so hung-up on pretending to be an omega, and, to answer that, we need some omegaverse hierarchy 101. While omegas are generally understood to be at the bottom of the social ladder, omegas also get to enjoy (depending on your vantage point) several perks: the immense pleasure that comes from sex during heat; the unique physical and mental experience of mating with an alpha for life; and, most pertinently for this story, the social position that would allow you to be scouted as a powerful alpha’s potential mate and parent of their children.

But, a beta can never have any of that.

A male beta could not have a male alpha’s children. A beta could not be an alpha’s forever mate. A beta could never experience the wholeness that comes from sex with their fated alpha during heat.

All things that Suzuharu craves to share with his dear Master Ryousuke.

(As a sidenote, a friend who’s very knowledgeable about omegaverse said that it’s rare to explore a beta’s perspective this thoroughly, to the point that even the matter of infertility would seem so central to a character’s arc. Considering that, later on, there are even drugs to simulate omega heat in a beta, I wonder if technology to address infertility exists in this world, like IVF; suppressants are a common trope in omegaverse, after all, so why not procedures for reproduction?)

I shan’t spoil the story with explicit details, but let’s just say, Ryousuke has a unique perspective on this entire situation as well. And yet, Shima Yashiki’s writing constantly leaves you guessing what his intentions and feelings towards his poor, blindly devoted butler are. What’s true from chapter 1 is that, for one reason or another, Ryousuke loves toying with Suzuharu’s feelings (until… maybe… the two FINALLY get to have an honest conversation with each other, without Suzuharu’s insecurities and Ryousuke’s possessive pride getting in the way? I dunno. Maybe).

Having said that…

In most BL, there’s the generally accepted standard that, no matter how mean a seme might seem, it’s always out of a deep-rooted love for the uke. While this is absolutely true for these two, there are several psychological quirks at play here that hinder not only Suzuharu, but also Ryousuke, to the point that it’s not just ‘love’ under the surface of their actions.

Which means, there are times when these complex characters become delightfully three-dimensional and, dare I even say, relatable. I recently got to check chapter 10 and had to steeple my hands over my mouth and blink repeatedly to not let my colleagues see that I was crying, because Suzuharu’s backstory punched me straight in the feels. The same goes for those rare glimpses into Ryousuke’s mind that allow you to see that this alpha was most likely just never taught how to convey love in a straightforward way.

And this leaves the two going around in circles, constantly, constantly, until maybe they can finally stop and meet somewhere in the middle of their angst maelstrom.

50 Shades of Master Ryousuke

I could harp on and on about how deliciously dark the story is, but I might just harp on and on now about how beautiful the art is, instead.

Masterfully slick line-art, delicate figures, an uncanny touch in the characters’ expressions that, for the first half of the story, leaves you doubting their motivations and feelings all the time. Why is Suzuharu meeting strange men in alleyways? Why is Ryousuke torturing the poor beta so much all the time? The characters don’t give away anything, up until you get to the emotional revelations and their facial expressions shift with The Feels™.

And, of course, a review would not be complete without mentioning the steamier parts of the manga, and, rest assured, there are tons of that here. If obvious dominant/submissive undertones are a flavor you enjoy in your BL, do not miss out on this one. Expect lots of powerplay tactics, mirroring the mind-games mentioned previously. What’s interesting about these scenes is the difference between Suzuharu’s nameless rendezvous and his intimate moments with Ryousuke—the former have plain ol’ lust written all over them; the latter are imbued with Suzuharu’s desire to belong to Ryousuke, to meld their bodies together, to lose all sense of self and entrust everything to his one and only Master.

All in all, if you’re in the mood for some darkness in your fiction, some convoluted relationships and characters that would definitely benefit from years of intensive therapy, or if you’re generally an aficionado of angst like yours truly, be sure to check out Shima Yashiki’s “This Poor Beta Doesn’t Know About Love.” And, if you’ve never read omegaverse and don’t know if it’s your cup of tea yet, fret not; it’s a perfect introductory course for the as-of-yet uninitiated.

What are your thoughts? Have you read “This Poor Beta Doesn’t Know About Love”? Do you plan to? Or, maybe you know other omegaverse manga that the team or other readers should check out? Just comment down below and let us fall down the rabbit hole together.