Glass Mask
ガラスの仮面 (2005)Two Girls. One Dream. And the entire world for a stage. At 13 years old, Maya Kitajima seems destined to spend the rest of her life toiling in a crowded restaurant alongside her bitter and unstable mother. But when her incredible acting talent is discovered by the legendary diva Chigusa Tsukikage, Maya finds a new future filled with both golden opportunities and terrifying risks. For Ayumi Himekawa, success has always been assured, yet she longs to be recognized for her own talents and skills, not her famous parents' connections. For both, the ultimate prize is the role of The Crimson Goddess in the play of the same name, a part created by Chigusa. To achieve this goal, both Maya and Ayumi must seek out and conquer every acting challenge, pushing the limits of their talent and endurance to the utmost, until they are worthy of the part… But for one to win, the other must fail! (Source: Sentai Filmworks)
Reviews
kiel99 - 2015-07-02 08:54:19
At first, I had second thoughts about the anime, but I kept watching and I don't regret it. The story was great and every now and then there would be some drama. I loved all the characters and the anime but my only problem is the ending. The ending didn't satisfy me and it didn't wrap everything up very well in my opinion but overall, it was still a great anime.
cartwright.jensen - 2013-05-21 20:17:25
I am truly fascinated by this anime. It took more than a year to search for the episodes and to watch them, but it really worth it. To be a shoujo manga adaptation it is full with realistic allusions and it appears that the mangaka put a lot of work to form the story and the characters. This 51 episodes perfectly enough for the story to progress and also for the characters’ development.Story: I have to say it is really amazing. The best shoujo anime I’ve seen so far and of course the second Tv anime adaptation of the great manga, Garasu no kamen. Unfortunatelly I haven’t read the manga, but truly did enjoy the anime. Already the first episode caught my attention and I was determined to find the rest of it and in spite of it took really long, I was able to complete it.First maybe you think of it as another shoujo anime, with romance and ’I want to be an actress’ and the main character actually a genius who captivate everybody around with her talent and pureness. Of course it wouldn’t be a shoujo, if it doesn’t contain these parts. But the creator somehow put these things together so right, so realistic and many times so dramatic that you can’t stop watching it and you’re always curious what is going to happen next. It shows you not only the sparkling, amusing side of the theatre but also the cruel things. I liked especially the plays and how the roles were formed almost perfectly. The unusual love made it really sad but romantic, unforutanely it isn’t well developed. At the half of the series there is a tragic happening that the most heartwrecking thing that I’ve ever seen in anime. Of course the consequences were well made and the most character development happens at this point. Another point of view this is a story of growing up, we can see how the little, clumsy Maya becomes a wonderful actress and the whole hard work she does for it. It is really good to see how the good or bad things make her stronger but she doesn’t lose herself and she is always keeps going forward for somebody who is always support her from the backgrounds. There is always the one that we fight for and unknowingly that person becomes our most important thing, but do we really have to lose that thing to realize how precious it was? 10 pointsCharacters: The characters were the soul of the whole anime. Their personalities were made real, living, I liked them the most in it.In details:Maya is going through a lot of things, grow up in front of our eyes, become a famous and wonderful actress but also lose precious things in her life, but no matter what, she keeps going forward and does her best to reach her goal and play the role of Kurenai Tenjou. She shows us that pure talent is not enough to fulfill our dreams, we also have to make sacrifices for it. We can’t earn something without doing anything. I liked in her that until she got to know about the Kurenai Tenjou she did acting because this was the only thing Maya was good at, acting was her life and doing it made her feel happy. She has friends to support her and a secret fan who encourage her with the well known purpe roses, which always gives Maya a push to do her best. While growing up she learns more about herself and about acting and she fall in love for the first time, she is a real shoujo heroine. Himekawa Ayumi: She is the daughter of a famous actress but she tries to separate herself from her mother’s fame and earn recogniction on her own. She also realized Maya’s ultimate talent in acting and this is what motivates her to be the best and don’t lack the hard work. She even takes special trainings on her own or with the lead of Tsukikage Chigusa. Unusually she doesn’t recognize Maya as an enemy and doesn’t try standing in her way with nasty tricks. Also she sometimes helps her to develope her talent. She just see Maya as a rival who she must surpass and that’s why she starts do acting seriously. She also claims that she couldn’t beat Maya in acting a single time since she appeared. Like Maya, acting is everything to her, she hasn’t got even friends because she thinks she doesn’t needs them. Acting is a special bond between them and unconsiously they became really close friends and they support each other in a way. Ayumi is a real lady also in her actions and speach and I really liked this in her.Hayami Masumi: He is the president of the Daito Entertainment and he was enchanted by Maya’s talent and pureness and in spite of the age difference he falls in love with her. Masumi appears to be a cold hearted business man but Maya really starts to melt the ice around his heart. He supports her as Mr. Purple Rose and he tries to make it easy for Maya to develope her talent. He suffer from the love for her and he doesn’t know what to do about it, because of the age difference he feels guilty. He has a really complicated personality, while he loves Maya he also tries to keep a distance from her, calling her Chibi-chan or tease her, but he knows how important his purple roses for Maya. He also can’t forgive himself causing Maya so much suffering in an incident and that made him easy not to allow Maya to be close to him. Unfortunatelly their relationship wasn’t developed so much in the anime, but it is really beautiful relationship.Tsukikage Chigusa: She is the former Kurenai Tenjou and she was a genious in he young years, but because of an accident she has to quit from acting. She is desperately tries to keep away the entertainment companies from Kurenai Tenjou, because she would like to find the one who can play it and it is also the only thing that left from her late lover. She is very strickt but she only want to develop Maya in acting and she is like a mother to her. I liked her character because of it’s admirable and respectfull aura that’s surrounds her. She once was a well known actress but after so much time people still recognize her as the greatest actress, and this is a proof of her highness. Also in spite of her bad health she just keeps doing her best to protect the Kurenai Tenjou and she just wants to live until one of the actresses are able to play her role. If she was a real person, I would truly respect her.The characters were so detailed and well formed that I can't skip so I gave it 10 pointsArt: The art is great, a little bit different form the original, but it is a product of the 21. century so I think it is well animated. And of course it developes time to time and the last episodes concentrating on the Kurenai Tenjou are really fascinating. Also the animation of the plays are great, detailed, the colors are vivid so it is good to see. The facial expressions are real too and these are really important in an anime like this. 9 pointsSound: The ost was really suited for this anime and highly affected the enjoyment. Sometimes especially during the plays, I had goosebumps from them so they were truly great. The opening themes and endings were also fit for the story and style of the show, some of them were quite energetic and they all gave the impression of a shoujo anime.I was really fascinated by the seiyu performances, because they did a very important role in this. I mean they had to play their character also they had to be able to do the roles of the plays. And they did a really great job, for example Kobayashi Sanae as Maya. She became my favourite seiyu because of this role, also I really like Ayumi’s seiyu. Thanks to them the characters became alive and they formed them the best way they should be. I appreciate their work. 9 pointsEnjoyment: I really enjoyed the series and I hoped for a continuation for it. Truly every episode was special, I knew so many plays and roles. Some of their performances impressed me the rate I searched for the book or the story for example I read Wethering Heights influenced by Glass Mask. And this, that they also used real plays, stories to perform was a great choice form the creator. With this, Glass Mask is really the story of a real girl and not just a fictional one. And this makes it so special and mostly the best shoujo story of all. 10 pointsOverall: I enjoyed the show from the begining till the end, and I highly recommend it to everyone who would like to watch a truly great anime. Of course this is especially for shoujo fans but don’t ignore it because it is a shoujo and you don’t like them. Just give it a try and I’m sure you will like it for sure. 9 pointsP.S. Don’t just say this is not helpful because you don’t agree with me.