Main characters

Jin-Ho Myung (Korean: 명진호; RR: Myeong Jin-ho; MR: Myŏng Chin-ho) / Kenichi Kando (神門 健一, Kando Ken'ichi)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Drama CD)

Jin-Ho 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 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.^[2] 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.

Hae-Young Nah (Korean: 나해영; RR: Na Hae-yeong; MR: Na Hae-yŏng) / Elina Takanashi (高梨 エリナ, Takanashi Erina)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Drama CD)

A beautiful woman in her mid-20s, 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.^[3] She also seems to be following her mother's career path: she was also a teacher and became the district superintendent before retirement.^[4] 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 (Membership Training) trip, they kissed several times.

Supporting characters

Young-Gi Cha (Korean: 차영기; RR: Cha Yeong-gi; MR: Ch'a Yŏng-gi) / Hiro Hanai (花井 尋, Hanai Hiro)

Voiced by: Hiroaki Miura (Drama CD)

Jin-Ho's friend and classmate. They have been placed together in the same class for the previous six 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.

Ji-Soo Ha (Korean: 하지수; RR: Ha Ji-su; MR: Ha Chi-su) / Mai Sugihara (杉原 麻衣, Sugihara Mai, English manhwa: Ji-Sue)

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Drama CD)

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

In the After Story, Jin-Ho reveals to Hae-Young that he had always suspected Ji-Soo having feelings for him. At one point, Jin-Ho wanted to date her, but kept quiet because he was aware of Young Ki having feelings for Ji-Soo. He admits that if he had actually dated Ji-Soo, he would probably end up betraying her for Hae-Young.

Ami Eun (Korean: 은아미; RR: Eun A-mi; MR: Ŭn A-mi) / Ami Nagumo (南雲 亜美, Nagumo Ami)

Voiced by: Mai Goto (Drama CD)

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

Caroline Pendleton Korean: 캐롤라인; RR: Kaerollain; MR: K'aerollain) / Caroline Takanashi (キャロライン 高梨, Kyarorain Takanashi)

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Drama CD)

Nicknamed "Carrie", she is a Eurasian (half Korean/half British) woman who has recently arrived in Korea. She has lived in the United States for a while, learning the French martial art of savate. 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 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 is Hae-Eun Nah. Whether she changed her name while living in America or while living in Britain remains unknown.^[5]

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 spends the remainder of the Manhwa supporting Jin-Ho and Hae-Young's romance.

Jae-Kyung Park (Korean: 박재경; RR: Bak Jae-gyeong; MR: Pak Chae-gyŏng) / Akane Honda (本多 茜, Honda Akane)

Voiced by: Omi Minami (Drama CD)

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,^[6] and seems that Jin-Ho has been rather more distant with girls since she left.^[7] 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 long before Hae-Young's arrival, Jin-Ho was best friends with Jae-Kyung and had a crush on her. Jae-Kyung initially didn't return his feelings, but afterwards she secretly changed her mind. Before graduating from high-school, Jae-Kyung tried to seduce Jin-Ho, but he rejected the idea, because he was interested in a meaningful relationship and not an affair. The two parted ways but remained good friends.

Afterwards, Jae-Kyung dated a guy but later broke up with him and decides to have a proper relationship with Jin-Ho. She is displeased to discover that Jin-Ho is in love with Hae-Young. Jae-Kyung threatens to steal Jin-Ho from Hae-Young, prompting the latter to desperately confess her love for Jin-Ho. Jin-Ho meets Jae-Kyung to politely decline her feelings and leaves. Jae-Kyung is devastated and develops temporary anterograde amnesia. Feeling responsible for her, Jin-Ho is forced to break up with Hae-Young. Jae-Kyung recovers but decides not to tell Jin-Ho so that he will accept her affections. Ji-Soo discovers Jae-Kyung's ploy and starts slapping her for deceiving Jin-Ho. Jae-Kyung relents and allows Jin-Ho to reunite with Hae-Young.

Manhwa

Unbalance Unbalance began biweekly serialization in Daewon C.I.'s Young Champ magazine on May 30, 2005. The first bound volume was released in South Korea on June 25, 2005 under their Young Comics imprint,^[8] and sold ten volumes until January 13, 2012, spanning 82 chapters throughout its run.^[9] 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. The manhwa was licensed in North America by Infinity Studios, 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, and in Japan by Kill Time Communication, where it was serialized in Comic Valkyrie from the November 2010 issue (published on September 27, 2010) to the January 2012 issue (published on November 28, 2011).^[10][11] The Japanese releases 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, 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.^[12]

Drama CD

A drama CD produced by Indies Mega was released in Japan on September 26, 2009.^[13] It featured Tomokazu Sugita and Kikuko Inoue as the voices of Kenichi Kando (Jin-Ho Myung) and Elina Takanashi (Hae-Young Nah), respectively.