Anime 506

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Glass Mask

Japanese: ガラスの仮面

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 23

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 9, 1984 to Sep 24, 1984

Premiered: Spring 1984

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: Studio Jack

Licensors: Maiden Japan

Studios: Eiken

Source: Manga

Genres: Drama, Romance

Theme: Performing Arts

Demographic: Shoujo

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.36¹ (scored by 2,741 users)

¹ indicates a .

Ranked: #2466²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #6566

Members: 9,373

Favorites: 45

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

7.36

Ranked #2466Popularity #6566Members 9,373

Spring 1984TVEiken

Synopsis

Kitajima Maya, a 13-year old girl with a talent for acting, was discovered by the reclusive actress Tsukikage. The story follows Maya's growing up, intense training, overcoming challenges, and evolving into the foremost actress of her generation (she is about 20 so far). Maya's greatest rival is Himekawa Ayumi, the beautiful daughter of a famous movie couple. They ultimately vied for the most sought-after role - the "Crimson Goddess". An equally important subplot Maya's relationship with the handsome and ruthless entertainment mogul Hayami Masumi, who secretly became her number one fan, but misunderstandings and bad-timing obstructed their romance...

(Source: ANN)

Background

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Glass no Kamen
Alternative version:	Glass no Kamen (2005), Glass no Kamen: Sen no Kamen wo Motsu Shoujo

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Kitajima, Maya

Main

Katsuki, Masako
Japanese

Hayami, Masumi

Main

Nozawa, Nachi
Japanese

Himekawa, Ayumi

Main

Matsushima, Minori
Japanese

Tsukikage, Chigusa

Supporting

Nakanishi, Taeko
Japanese

Sakurakouji, Yuu

Supporting

Mitsuya, Yuuji
Japanese

Mizuki, Saeko

Supporting

Takizawa, Kumiko
Japanese

Onodera, Hajime

Supporting

Fujimoto, Yuzuru
Japanese

Himekawa, Utako

Supporting

Asae, Yuki

Supporting

Narrator

Supporting

Kitahama, Haruko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Sugii, Gisaburou

Director, Episode Director

Kase, Mitsuko

Episode Director, Storyboard

Tsunoda, Toshitaka

Episode Director, Storyboard

Sakata, Junichi

Episode Director, Storyboard

Opening Theme

"Glass no Kamen (ガラスの仮面)" by Mariko Ashibe

Ending Theme

"Purple Light (パープル・ライト)" by Mariko Ashibe (eps 1-23)

Reviews

Jul 28, 2011

movoning

Recommended

If the art is in the way, get over it.

now moving on to the story itself. I'm a Glass Mask fanatic. I've watched both this and the 2005 version, plus the tv drama and ova, and I've read the manga, which is still continuing for those who don't know.

You have to watch the story, especially this older version, with an open heart, not as a critic prepared to voice your opinions.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. In fact, there isn't another story that I enjoyed as much as this one. Skip Beat comes next.
I'm not someone who's into showbiz, so the showbiz factor is ...

Aug 30, 2022

CataOrShane

Mixed Feelings

Visuals:
1) considering this anime aired originally in 1984, the art style is very classic. Personally I don't mind it at all.
2) the animation is obviously dated but it never interfered with the enjoyment that the anime gave me
3) unfortunately I noticed several occasions where animation mistakes were made. As simple and spoiler-free example, I can mention that on the 18th episode, a green haired character had for 5 seconds black hair.

Sound:
1) all the seiyuus cast in this anime are now considered genuine legends in the industry so expect top notch performances. Also, most of the cast had participated in other animes ...

Feb 12, 2019

ggultra2764

Not Recommended

I've heard of Glass Mask being one of the more popular long-running titles of the shoujo demographic thanks to its focus on Maya's budding acting career, thus had interest in wanting to see how this adaptation fares and must say this got rather frustrating to watch.

A major barrier to this adaptation of Glass Mask for me was the heavy dependence on melodrama to add conflict into the series. There were a few ways that this 1984 adaptation of the series does this. One way consists of Maya being encouraged by her mentor, Chigusa Tsukikage, to adhere to understanding her role to a rather extreme degree. ... In acting, emotionally identifying completely to a role is called method acting. I've heard of behind-the-scenes stories where actors like Leonardo Dicaprio, Christian Bale, and Jared Leto did quite a bit of method acting to get into many of the major roles they would become famous for. However in the world of Glass Mask, method acting is milked to a rather ridiculous degree for Maya to get immersed into any roles she takes on for theatrical performances, enough as such where it usually causes physical and psychological abuse to her. In one particular case where she is learning to take on the role of Helen Keller for The Miracle Worker, Maya resorts to sensory deprivation by blindfolding herself and stuffing her ears with cotton balls to simulate living life being blind and deaf while tripping and falling into things.

The second way was that many of the plays that Maya participated in faced some sort of sabotage through different events or jealous rivals. This is a recurring plot device that Glass Mask milks in a forced attempt to create drama and test Maya's abilities to improvise over the sabotage and win over the crowd during her performances. I didn't feel these did anything to aid in developing Maya's character growth as an actress, as they felt tacked on in a lazy attempt to add forced drama to the plays that Maya participated in.

The third and worst way that melodrama gets milked is the heavy amounts of angst that Glass Mask likes to milk. Any negative situation, regardless if it's minor or major, leads Maya to get way too overemotional in response to it. Rather than this angsting having me sympathize with her, it made me want to slap Maya since she takes every little thing happening to her way too personally thanks to the anime's rather questionable choices in story direction.

But perhaps the biggest problem I had with this adaptation of Glass Mask as a whole is that it doesn't do a good job of having me convinced that Maya grew as a character in her experiences as an actress. The series gets too immersed into the emotional extremes that she goes through to overcome any major hurdles as such that it doesn't devote enough focus to lighter moments that explore the motives of other characters supporting Maya's growth or Maya reflecting on the events within her present crisis to learn how to overcome it, thus allowing audiences to connect with her as a character. A rather noticeable flaw with Maya's acting throughout Glass Mask is that she gets too immersed in her role as such where she isn't conscious of the nuances and actions of the other performers she is supporting in the advancement of a play's plot. This does get addressed at a few points in Glass Mask, but the series never devotes time to having Maya learn how to overcome this flaw and still unconvincingly tries having you believe she was a budding actress with strong potential.

The series also tries to play up a romance angle for Maya with a couple different male characters within Glass Mask. One character gets too limited development and screen time to make that potential relationship mean anything. While the potential with the mysterious "Mr. Purple Rose" is a little more convincing and nuanced in its developments, the series regrettably ends inconclusively before it can get into this relationship any further.

If there is one plus I can give for Glass Mask, it would have to be Ayumi Himekawa. Her character as a friendly rival of sorts to Maya is a deconstruction of the "rich girl" character type seen in many anime titles. Ayumi isn't portrayed as a haughty character with bitter jealousy for Maya's increased fame nor does she exploit her wealth for personal gain or to get an edge over Maya in any way. She sees Maya as an equal to her and a source of motivation to improve on her own abilities as an actress, and there are a few points where she reprimands a few jealous crew members who attempt to sabotage Maya's performances in any capacity. Ayumi's character had quite a bit of dimension compared to Maya and it's a shame that Maya's character is rather flawed in this adaptation of Glass Mask, as the chemistry between the two could have made for interesting developments if Glass Mask wasn't too focused on the emotional extremes of Maya's developments.

Overall, I find this adaptation of Glass Mask to be quite flawed. The series dabbles too heavily into melodrama at the expense of Maya's development to have me convinced of her character's growth and development as an actress, and could have been a far better series if not for this. I've heard that there's a 2005 remake of Glass Mask that is a superior adaptation of the shoujo manga compared to this adaptation. I might be tempted to see that one down the line to see what it's like. But as for this 1984 adaptation? I wouldn't bother watching it again due to the many issues it has with its storytelling.

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Synopsis

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Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Kitajima, Maya

Hayami, Masumi

Himekawa, Ayumi

Tsukikage, Chigusa

Sakurakouji, Yuu

Mizuki, Saeko

Onodera, Hajime

Himekawa, Utako

Asae, Yuki

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