Title: Faster than a Kiss

Original Japanese Title: キスよりも早く (Kisu Yori mo Hayaku)

Alternative Titles: Kiss Yori mo Hayaku, Kisu Yori mo Hayaku, Tsuki to Himawari

Author: Meca Tanaka (田中メカ, TANAKA Meca)

Type: Manga

Publishers: Hakusensha

Genres: Comedy, Romance, School, Shoujo

If you want a manga about romance in school life, giving you a great laugh (especially between student vs teacher), and still making you have a sigh (on the progress of the main characters relationship development), well, give this a try.

This is between KAJI Fumino and OJIRO Kazuma.

KAJI Fumino is a 16-year-old girl who is often described as an delinquent in Kumaneko High School. But she is not, it is just because she always interrupts bullies and other bad students in violent ways. She has a good sense of justice after all, the matter is ... she has a strong personality but sometimes loses her temper.

She has a little brother (Teppei) whom she protects so much. Their parents died in a car accident, so she had to become responsible for her little brother. As a result, she has become more mature and practical than others her age.

So everything starts with Fumino and her brother hop from one relative to another. Finally, getting tired with all those moving, Fumino decides to quit school, to support her brother on her own. Nobody has been seeking for her, except OJIRO Kazuma, her 24-year-old English teacher who suddenly appears in front of her, even agrees to her demanding of marrying and supporting both her and her brother, to her shock.

Is this teacher serious or just playing around?

How is their marriage life? And how is the development of this teacher-student relationship?

If you want to get a good laugh, and legitimate teacher-student relationship (they are married after all), and you don't mind any romance between teacher-student as the plot is not immoral compared to some other teacher-student relationship manga out there. For example, even though they are married, Fumino and Kazuma sleep separately. He occasionally sleeps in Fumino's room, but only next to Teppei. Just examine the way Kazuma treated Fumino and her brother, give this manga a try.

Some things are truly interesting about Kazuma himself. Never underestimate his appearance as "plain, glasses-wearing English teacher". There is truly something really cool about him that will reveal as you keep reading through chapters of the story. Kazuma isn't open about his past. However, as the story keeps flowing, it is revealed that Kazuma was once in a gang, so Kazuma used to be a delinquent when he was younger. According to his old "gang" friends, he was called as Jigoku no Mā-kun (地獄のまーくん) or Mā-kun from Hell, because he beat up 100 motorcycle gang members without getting even a single scratch. He still has such formidable fighting abilities. So it seems that there are some reasons on why he became a delinquent, was forsaken by his family, left home, and somehow he finally turned away from his dark path and becomes a teacher to pave a new phase of life. At the end, he is a gentleman with flaws which is actually hard to find (some can say he is every woman's dream), even in the world of Shojo manga nowadays.

Just a warning: once a reader has picked up this manga, the reader will be unable to resist reading until the end. Girls and women can't go wrong with this romance comedy. This is really worth to read.

Volume 1 contains an extra story titled "Tsuki to Himawari".

The manga is still ongoing, and the series has 6 volumes in total until November 2009.