is a Korean manhwa

Manhwa

Manhwa is the general Korean term for comics and print cartoons . Outside of Korea, the term usually refers specifically to South Korean comics. The term, along with manga, is a cognate of the Chinese manhua...

 series written by Dall-Young Lim

Dall-Young Lim

Lim Dall-Young is a South Korean author known for scripting the manhwa Unbalance Unbalance and the Japanese manga Black God and Freezing. He is the founder of Artlim Media, which was established in 1999...

 and illustrated by Soo-Hyun Lee. The series focuses on Jin-Ho Myung, a high school senior, and his romantic relationship with his homeroom teacher, Hae-Young Nah. The manhwa began biweekly serialization in Young Champ magazine in May 2005, and the first volume was released on June 15, 2005 by Daewon C.I.. As of October 30, 2008, nine volumes have been published. The series had a long hiatus following the release of the ninth volume, and resumed serialization in Young Champ from October 2010 to October 2011. Unbalance Unbalance was licensed in North America by Infinity Studios

Infinity Studios

Infinity Studios was an American publisher of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa, publishing such series as Iono-sama Fanatics and Unbalance Unbalance.-Manhwa and manga distributed by Infinity Studios:*Animal Paradise *Bambi *Blood Alone...

, and released the first volume on January 11, 2007. A drama CD was released in Japan in September 2009.

Story

Jin-Ho Myung returns a wallet and cell phone to a beautiful young woman (Hae-Young Nah) in a book shop, little realizing that she would find out that he has already (rather presumptuously) taken 7000 won

South Korean won

The won is the currency of South Korea. A single won is divided into 100 jeon, the monetary subunit. The jeon is no longer used for everyday transactions, and appears only in foreign exchange rates...

 to buy a book he really wanted. The woman in question is understandably rather upset but decides to consider the money as a loan, which she expects to be paid back.

On the first day of the new school year, he learns, to his horror, that the very same woman is to be his new homeroom teacher. The bad news for Jin-Ho is that she remembers their previous encounter very well.

As the school year progresses, Jin-Ho and Hae-Young's relationship grows and develops despite Ji-Soo (Jin-Ho's classmate and their class president) and Jae-Kyung (Jin-Ho's old friend and former president of the Film Studies Club) having feelings toward Jin-Ho. Carrie, Hae-Young's half-sister from England, also makes her move towards Jin-Ho but she understands Jin-Ho's love to Hae-Young.

Currently, Jin-Ho denies Jae-Kyung's confession of love. Jae-Kyung regretfully accepts Jin-Ho's decision on loving Hae-Young instead of her. As Jin-Ho leaves the Film Studies Club room, Jae-Kyung cries in total depression. She soon has a mental breakdown, in which she wears her high school uniform and goes back to school, reminiscing her old days as the president of the Film Studies Club and thinking about Jin-Ho. Jin-Ho soon learns about Jae-Kyung's condition and she is rushed to the hospital. In hopes of bringing her back to normal, the doctor suggests Jin-Ho to support and love her in order for her to recover much faster. Later, Hae-Young arrives at Jin-Ho's house, telling she will do anything in Jin-Ho's desire. Jin-Ho, knowing Jae-Kyung's mental condition, becomes hesitant and suddenly did nothing which makes their relationship split apart. As Hae-Young breaks down in tears, Jin-Ho goes to the hospital, telling Jae-Kyung (who is now recovering) that he and Hae-Young had finally broke up. Jae-Kyung hears Jin-Ho's tearful confession, and relies on her hope that Jin-Ho might choose her.

Following her break-up with Jin-Ho, Hae-Young decides to resign from her post after the first semester of school. Ji-Soo later asks if Jin-Ho was aware of this fact and if Jae-Kyung was involved, but Jin-Ho denies the involvment of Jae-Kyung and claims that he no longer loves Hae-Young. Ji-Soo later goes to see Jae-Kyung where she overhears her phone call, saying that she had already recovered. After hearing the phone call, Ji-Soo confronts Jae-Kyung, who claims that she doesn't know Ji-Soo, who beats her out of anger for tricking Jin-Ho.

Hae-Young eventually goes to the airport to leave Korea, which she confesses to Caroline that she's happy to be her sister. When she arrives in the UK, she is confronted by Jin-Ho who hands her a device resembling an iPad

IPad

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

 containing a video message from Jae-Kyung.

Characters

The characters' original names are shown on the left, while their names from the Japanese version appear on the right. Only Carrie retains her name in both versions.

Main characters

/

The male protagonist of the series. He is a student in his final year at Arim High School and finds himself a student in Hae-Young's class. Seemingly caring little for schoolwork, he has been known to go to the nurse's office to sleep, watch erotic

Erotica

Erotica are works of art, including literature, photography, film, sculpture and painting, that deal substantively with erotically stimulating or sexually arousing descriptions...

 movies in school, and complete mathematics tests (generally unsuccessfully) using pure guesswork. In middle school, it appears he was something of a delinquent who got into many fights, becoming quite skilled along the way. When it comes to his teachers, friends, or family, he takes their physical abuse and, in most cases, takes the blame and punishments simply because he can (especially early on in the story). This has been a source of concern to his family, or at the very least for his aunt who usually acts more like an older sister than a parent figure. However, he can also become focused if something interests him, like film, which caused him to be the co-founder and eventually the president of the school's Film Studies Club.

He lives with his aunt and father and there are suggestions in the story that he is estranged or separated from his mother, a possible cause for some of his rather more reckless behavior. His sometimes rather cavalier attitude leads him into a number of compromising situations with his teacher. These instances have led Hae-Young to fall in love with him.

/

The female protagonist of the series. A beautiful young woman in her mid-20's, Hae-Young teaches mathematics at Arim High and also acts as the homeroom teacher for class 3-2. She lives with her sister and niece in an apartment block quite close to Jin-Ho's. Her father's unexpected departure from her life when she was young has had a huge impact on her. Even though she is extremely attractive and was apparently popular (and pursued) throughout her school life, she has become very guarded around men, feeling unable to trust or form relationships with them. Consequently, she is still a virgin and even shares her first kiss with Jin-Ho during the course of the story. She also seems to be following her mother's career path: she was also a teacher and became the district superintendent before retirement. There have been several instances where she acts rather childishly. In one instance, she takes out her (misplaced) anger on Jin-Ho after being reminded of her absentee father by a news article, and she repeatedly slapped him hard enough to give him a nosebleed because he didn't think he should apologize for a prior incident. Despite Hae-Young trying to be strict and meticulous in her work and home life, she has found herself in increasingly compromising and desperate situations with Jin-Ho. Much to her own initial displeasure and continuing discomfort, she finds herself developing increasingly romantic feelings for him, so much that during the course of the MT trip, they kissed several times.

Supporting characters

/

Jin-Ho's friend and classmate. They have been placed together in the same class for the previous five years. Like his friend, he is skilled at fighting. It has been implied that he likes Ji-Soo; he is very protective of her and careful of how she perceives him. Young-Gi also has a strong sense of justice and, despite his tall, athletic build, prefers to find the most peaceful resolutions to otherwise violent confrontations. His first encounter with Jin-Ho was back in middle school when Jin-Ho, who was a notable delinquent at the time, was harassing another student; the two fought and soon afterwards became close friends.

/

The senior class president as well as now being the president of the Student Council. She is hardworking, studious, performs well and is also popular. She appears to have liked Jin-Ho ever since her freshmen year of high school, when he helped her make origami

Origami

is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding, which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside Japan in the mid-1900s. It has since then evolved into a modern art form...

 flowers. He does not feel the same way towards her, though at one point he does suddenly notice that she is attractive.

/

She is a senior and a friend of Ji-Soo. She is shy and quiet at school, where she often reads yaoi

Yaoi

In careful Japanese enunciation, all three vowels are pronounced separately, for a three-mora word, . The English equivalent is . also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by...

 manhwa. She is one of the first to find out about Hae-Young and Jin-Ho's complicated out-of-school relationship. When Jin-Ho learns that she is the one who told Ji-Soo about his situation with Hae-Young, he attempts to confront her. During this face-off, she threatens to publicly reveal the relationship, which would be likely to get Jin-Ho suspended and, even worse for him, ruin Hae-Young’s career. She even forces Jin-Ho to kneel in front of her without a second thought so as to exert her power over him, and gets pleasure out of it. She seems to not like men in general, and also appears to dislike Jin-Ho in particular. It transpires that this was an empty threat on Ami's part, since she herself is also in love with Hae-Young; she even tries to force herself on her teacher, who then turns her down.

/

Nicknamed "Carrie", she is an Eurasian

Eurasian (mixed ancestry)

The word Eurasian refers to people of mixed Asian and European ancestry. It was originally coined in 19th-century British India to refer to Anglo-Indians of mixed British and Indian descent....

 (half Korean/half British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

) woman who has recently arrived in Korea. She has lived in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for a while, learning the French martial art of savate

Savate

Savate , also known as boxe française, French boxing, French kickboxing or French footfighting, is a French martial art which uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of western boxing with graceful kicking techniques. Only foot kicks are allowed unlike some systems such as Muay...

. She has come to Korea because she is curious about her father's homeland and her siblings, who turn out to be Hae-Young and Hae-Jung. When she first arrives, she lives in a temporarily motel

Motel

A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...

 while her father arranges for her to stay with her half-sisters for about a month. She has been employed at Arim High as an English teacher and an assistant homeroom teacher under Hae-Young. It is revealed by Hae-Jung that her Korean name

Korean name

A Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, 'ireum' or 'seong-myeong' usually refers to the family name and given name together...

 is Hae-Eun Nah. Whether she changed her name while living in America or while living in Britain remains unknown.

Her first encounter with Jin-Ho, like her half-sister's, is not entirely without its troubles, ending in a fight and injury (which she somehow gave herself as Jin-Ho did not actually hit her) for her. Her opinion of Jin-Ho changes however when he escorts her back to her motel room and shows concern for her well-being. As she has no full siblings, she appears to harbor a strong desire for a warm relationship with her half-sisters, though this is complicated somewhat by their rather cold and distant relationship with their father. She expresses great romantic interest in Jin-Ho and has challenged Hae-Young Nah to see who can first win his heart. Although this was originally just a ploy to provoke her half-sister, Jin-Ho's rather chivalrous inner nature made her realize she might actually fall for him.

/

She is a college freshman and a friend of Jin-Ho's. In her high school days (where it is revealed she had short hair), she was the co-founder and former president of the Film Studies Club (now passed on to Jin-Ho) as well as the former president of the Student Council (which is now succeeded by Ji-Soo). Even though she flirts with him, Jin-Ho feels comfortable enough with her to confide his girl problems to her. There are also hints that Jin-Ho may have had rather deeper feelings for her while she was in high school, and seems that Jin-Ho has been rather more distant with girls since she left. There are implications that Jae-Kyung has romantic inclinations towards Jin-Ho, most prominent when she breaks up with her boyfriend and seeking out Jin-Ho for comfort, and acts very coldly towards Hae-Young after she finds out he was waiting for her. Caroline even states that Jae-Kyung is one of Hae-Young's rivals.

It is later revealed that she was originally afraid of engaging with Jin-Ho in a romantic relationship and that she secretly believed he would still like her when she left, displaying regret that she never advanced beyond a friend with him. During these times, she has shown a certain level of deviousness, stating that she would sabatoge whatever relationship Jin-Ho has with Hae-Young as she claims she truly loves him, which meant she had to stop him from making the wrong choice. She has shown subtle manipulation of both Hae-Young and Ji-Soo and some amount of ruthlessness, intending to seduce Jin-Ho and even willing to have sex with him to make him hers. Her plan fails as Jin-Ho turns her down, Jae-Kyung realizing she missed her chance to be with Jin-Ho encourages him to go to the woman he loves, and shows her true feelings by crying after he leaves. However, this rejection, coupled with all the stress she is under, causes her to break down mentally, though she eventually recovers in chapter 79 not before hearing Jin-Ho announce his break-up with Hae-Young.

Other characters

Hae-Jung Nah

Hae-Young's older full sister and roommate. She is also, therefore, Caroline's half-sister. Like Hae-Young, she has not forgiven her father for abandoning them as children. She is the mother of a four year-old girl, Mina Choi. She seems to be the most sensible of all the sisters, and also appears to have the closest relationship with their mother.

Jin-Ho's screen writer aunt who lives with him and his father. She often talks to and looks out for her nephew and is not afraid of hitting him when she thinks he has gone out of line. She also acts to diffuse the tension between Jin-Ho and his rather authoritarian and distant father.

Hee-Chul Yang

Jung-Hwa Bae

Min-Suk Jang

Sang-Hoo Han

Seo-Young Yoon

Young-Ji Cha

Young-Gi's younger sister.

Sul-Hee Chu

Hae-Young's colleague.

Myung-Hee Kim and Yong-Ik Lee

A pair of sophmore students who are members of the Film Studies Club alongside Jin-Ho.

Sung-Chul Nah

A documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 maker and the father of Hae-Young and Hae-Jung. He left his family to go to the United Kingdom, though there is some question as to whether he or his first wife initiated the separation (In an argument with Carrie, Hae-Young claims it was her mother who left him). In the UK he fathered his third daughter, Carrie, with a British woman named Grace Pendleton. Even though his eldest daughters will not forgive him for leaving them, he has asked them not to take out their frustrations on their half-sister Carrie.

Hee-Won Lee

The chairman of Arim High, as well as an alumnus of the school. While he appears to be a strict and stern man inside school, he has shown an overly concerned side when he accidentally bumped into Hae-Young Nah in a minor traffic accident. He was a former student of Sook-Hee Jung, Hae-Young's mother, during his high school years at Arim, and claims it was her infuluence that inspired him to become chairman to make a better school. It is revealed he is the older brother of Hee-Chul Yang.

Sook-Hee Jung

Hae-Young and Hae-Jung's mother, as well as being Carrie's stepmother. She was a former math teacher at Arim High who worked her way to becoming the district's superintendent prior to her retirement. It is later revealed by Hee-Won Lee, the chairman of Arim High, that he was once a student of hers during his high school years.

Ji-Won Hong

A doctor at a local hospital where Hae-Young got her sprained ankle checked. He and Hee-Won were acquaintances in their college years, and seems to be quite a nosy person according to the latter when asked about Hae-Young.

Manhwa

Unbalance Unbalance began biweekly serialization in Daewon C.I.'s Young Champ magazine on May 30, 2005. The first volume was released on June 25, 2005, with a total of nine volumes sold as of October 30, 2008 under their Young Comics imprint. The series had a long hiatus following the release of the ninth volume, and resumed serialization in Young Champ from October 5, 2010 to October 1, 2011, concluding the series with 82 chapters. The manhwa was licensed in North America by Infinity Studios

Infinity Studios

Infinity Studios was an American publisher of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa, publishing such series as Iono-sama Fanatics and Unbalance Unbalance.-Manhwa and manga distributed by Infinity Studios:*Animal Paradise *Bambi *Blood Alone...

, and released two volumes of the series between January 11, 2007 and December 12, 2007 prior to its closure.

Unbalance Unbalance has been licensed for international releases in a number of languages. It is licensed in France by Tokebi, in Hong Kong, Macau and in China by Asia Comics, in Russia by Comics Factory

Comics Factory

Comics Factory is a comics imprint of major Russian book publisher AST. It serves as a translator and the licensor of European graphic novels, Japanese manga, manhwa, Taiwan and Hongkong manhua, Original English-language manga. It also released Russian-language manga of Russian and Ukrainian...

, and in Japan by Kill Time Communication

Kill Time Communication

is a Japanese publishing company focused on adult material, such as light novels, artbooks, adult magazines, manga. The company was established in November 1995...

. Japanese releases of the series feature unique cover art designs and uncensored scenes, as well as being localized to better suit Japanese readers. In a Japanese interview with Dall-Young Lim

Dall-Young Lim

Lim Dall-Young is a South Korean author known for scripting the manhwa Unbalance Unbalance and the Japanese manga Black God and Freezing. He is the founder of Artlim Media, which was established in 1999...

, the author of the series, he claims the reasons for the unedited scenes is due to Korea's stricter censorship policy keeping him from doing so. He also claims he has much more freedom in terms of mature content with the Japanese version than with the Korean version.

Drama CD

A drama CD produced by Indies Mega was released in Japan on September 26, 2009. It featured Tomokazu Sugita

Tomokazu Sugita

is a Japanese voice actor employed by Atomic Monkey. Best known for his role as Gintoki in Gintama, he also voices Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. He is also one of the three hosts on the radio show Bururaji promoting the videogame Blazblue which is produced and released on Nico Nico...

 and Kikuko Inoue

Kikuko Inoue

is a popular Japanese voice actress and singer. She has been part of the singing groups DoCo and Goddess Family Club, among others, and is the manager of her voice-acting company, Office Anemone. Inoue tends to play the "perfect girlfriend" or "motherly" role in many series, but she has also played...

as the voices of Kenichi Kando (Jin-Ho Myung) and Elina Takanashi (Hae-Young Nah), respectively.

Further reading

External links

• Unbalance Unbalance official website (offline)
• Unbalance x unbalance at Manga-News.com