Ranked #520

Unbalance x Unbalance (Manhwa)

This is a recommendation with a difference: rather than recommending both, I'm recommending UxU to those who read or watched Please Teacher and were left unimpressed by how fake the characters acted. Where as PT is aimed squarely at those who fantasize over big-breasted doormats, UxU is a far more realistic take on romance between a student and his teacher. A must read for those who were left wanting more from PT.

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What sells UxU to most people is the lead. Usually in these type of stories the male lead defines pathetic; having no backbone, no strength, and still somehow getting a gang of hotties after him. But UxU's lead differs from the norm. He'll argue with aggression if anyone disagrees with him, and he has a nasty side to him where he totally loses it; even hitting females. He also wants to be a movie director, and one of his early encounters with the teacher he loves involves an argument over him watching what she considers to be porn at school--him questioning whether she's inexperienced and getting slapped to death as a result.

What's so great about him is that, as a reader, I could believe he'd have girls interested in him. Strong, protective, loyal, good looking--he has a lot of qualities. And, of course, because of his horrible temper, he also has a bad boy thing going for him. There's even the typical haremish bit where a slutty character throws herself at the lead to make him blush... and he responded by turning the tables on her; pushing her down, having a feel, and leading her to believe he was going to make a move on her.

As for the teacher the lead lusts after, she's not an alien posing as a teacher; determined to marry the king of all losers--that much is certain. It's hard to believe that a 26/7-year-old hottie could be a virgin who hasn't even had a boyfriend, but her total mistrust of males following her father abandoning her as a child just about explains her past actions, and why she's so resistant to trusting the opposite sex. A big part of the story is her fighting a mental battle between her duties as a teacher and her feelings for the lead, and she's far from an easy lay--not giving into the lead's persistent advances; even going as far as to challenge him to win her over within a short period of time or risk losing her completely.

There's a fair bit of genre confusion that makes the series more interesting, also. It starts out more as a rom-com as the main two get to know each other in comical circumstances - the two ending up believing they had a night of passion whilst drunk - but it's definitely more of a... uhhhh, 'rom-dra'; drama taking over almost completely later on. And, just to fill the Korean comic book violence quota, around halfway through there's a totally random delinquent arc where the lead gets it on with some nasty guys and girls from his school; showing his true, violent colours for the first time.

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It took me by complete surprise just how similar the two are, when I read B Reaction.

To begin with, both of the hot-headed, aggressive teenage male leads find themselves at war with hot-as-hell teachers in their 20s. Misunderstandings result in the two getting thought of as perverts, and all-out verbal (UxU) and physical (B) warfare results.

As the stories progress, the relationships quickly take romantic turns after the misunderstandings are cleared up and the pairings find themselves in increasingly compromising positions. Hate turns to love, etc etc...

One of the things that links the teachers - 2D attractiveness aside - is how they're both *SOMEHOW* virgins and both *SOMEHOW* never dated. UxU had more background info on this but, whichever way you spin it, in this world it wouldn't be possible for females with those looks to evade men for so long. (Just put logic aside for romanticism, Aion...)

B Reaction has stunning, drool-worthy art, and I'd say its first volume betters UxU with its combination of exciting action and amusing/panty-flashing romance. But then the art became inconsistent and it was canceled... which means it ended without ANY ending.

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