Glass no Kamen (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)

Kitajima, Maya Main

Kobayashi, Sanae Japanese

Hayami, Masumi Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Himekawa, Ayumi Main

Uechi, Aki Japanese

Tsukikage, Chigusa Supporting

Fujita, Toshiko Japanese

Sakurakouji, Yuu Supporting

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Mizuki, Saeko Supporting

Sakuma, Rei Japanese

Himekawa, Utako Supporting

Katsuki, Masako Japanese

Onodera, Hajime Supporting

Hijiri, Karato Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Himekawa, Mitsugu Supporting

Nakao, Ryusei Japanese

Hamatsu, Mamoru Director

Nogami, Kazuo Episode Director

Mihara, Takenori Episode Director, Storyboard

Takagi, Shigeki Episode Director

Reviews

Oct 7, 2023

RudolfTostarrica

Recommended

This anime can be enjoyed by anyone, as it does have similar patterns to most anime. However, it is true that the central theme and the various climaxes it presents are something so specific that the "general" anime audience, especially those who prefer shonen genre, may find it boring and not get past half an episode. I don't blame them, if they're looking for a shonen, they won't find it here, even though it has all the elements of self-improvement and character evolution.

The main characters, the ones we see in the poster image, have a development and depth that is more than notable. Even the ... secondary characters are more than just fulfilling their roles. They all have clear motives that drive and evolve the plot very effectively. It is true that there are moments of "coincidences," even the same one repeated 3 or 4 times, but they are quite common coincidences in the world of real acting (the typical situation where the protagonist wasn't going to perform but at the last moment, they are left without an actress and only she is there to fill the role). However, most of the obstacles and triumphs come from something meaningful and lead to something meaningful.

The series consists of various arcs, almost like micro-arcs, one for each theater play that is going to be performed. Although there are changes in the central part that diverge significantly from what was seen before. The formula repeats itself, with certain variations, but it doesn't get boring as each play is quite different from the others.

The astonishing quality of the art, animation, and voice acting is worth mentioning, as they manage to convey the characters' emotions to the viewer in such a way that you can see when a character is acting well and when they are not, when they subtly change their movements or expressions to portray a certain posture according to what they have to interpret. The soundtrack is also noteworthy, with 4 or 5 pieces that are very fitting for the situations they cover.

The art style maintains, to some extent, the original style of the manga, making it appear somewhat older. However, they have managed to adapt that style to the time of its production, reminiscent of the early 2000s.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 26, 2023

ilymoon

Recommended

It was pretty good, It doesn’t have an ending a fully over and done with ending, but it’s one of the few out there that includes acting. It’s a unique story, I can’t really compare it to anything else.

I do recommend it, but there is an age gap, but nothing really develops until… anyways it is a bit older so don’t hate on the art, and especially in the wolf scene I know it was supposed to be serious but you’ll understand if you watch that far. The characters develop well they do change and that’s pretty cool I guess.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 11, 2024

z4yin

Not Recommended

glass mask. the invisible mask an actor puts on before standing on stage. a mask that can easily shatter and cannot be worn by just anyone. the mask of so many different people, so many different lives. this anime portrays acting so well and it was really enjoyable to watch how the characters portray their acting. maya, our main character, is a very passionate and driven girl when in comes to her only interest; acting. she is portrayed as a girl who is not good at anything but acting. despite the people around her bringing her down, her mother, her acquaintances, and the general lack ... of faith people have of her dream, she proves them wrong and continues to pursue the one thing that genuinely makes her feel alive. for this girl, being on stage is her life. it's like the moment she was born she knew that this was what was put on the earth for her. watching her throughout the story was very inspiring as a person that struggles with becoming motivated at times to continue to pursue what i want. watching her was very interesting. she is a nice girl, but she also keeps her ground about the things she dislikes. the thing i didn't like while watching was seeing how the side characters were always so overly threatened by her presence as an actor and would just torture this poor girl, weather he realized it or not. was very frustrating to watch, but understandable since this is also categorized as a melodrama. but i genuinely think that there are limits to this. her mentor, tsukikage, is one of the things i dislike, in order for maya to understand a role, at times she beats her or makes her stand out in the cold, and do all of these intense things for the sake of "acting" in order for maya to get her role down to the tee. it's not great to watch. on top of that, the amount of manipulation i've witnessed from the adults is INSANE?? i feel really bad for maya as the mc cause she thinks this treatment as an actress is normal, but it just seems so abnormal to me? i'm not an actor, so maybe i wouldn't know, but i disliked it and thought it was unnecessary to add. you can teach someone to act without being an asshole. despite this, the way maya acts and gets into character is so interesting to watch and is what mainly sucked me into the show. maya also has a rival named ayumi and she is SUCH A GOOD CHARACTER. i liked her a lot. despite everyone treating maya horribly because they felt threatened, ayumi never treated her that way despite feeling like she's lost to her every time. maya always feels like she's lot to ayumi, while ayumi feels like she lost to maya. their rival dynamic is what kept me in my seat and watching them develop as frenemies who also have so much respect for each other was really nice to watch. one of the other things i didn't like was the romance aspect. i hated it WITH A BURNING PASSION ACTUALLY!! because why was the story trying to pair maya with the director of one of the companies WHO IS A GROWN ASS MAN WHEN SHE HAS A BOY NAMED SAKURAKOJI WHO IS HER AGE??? the boy, sakurakoji was SUCH A NICE BOY FOR HER AND HE LIKED HER A LOT TOO??? idk what is up with older shojo and it makes me so angry while watching. throughout the show it kept hinting that masumi, the grown ass dude who should be in jail, likes her and is going out of his way to do things for her while maya literally hates his guts. and they were rlly trying to push the "enemies to lovers" trope which i hated so much!! thank god they didn't show them progress as a "couple" (i don't even want to call them that CAUSE THEY WILL NEVER BE THAT IN MY EYES NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS) if the author REALLYY wanted to write a romance, SHE SHOULD'VE WROTE ABOUT MAYA AND SAKURAKOJI INSTEAD. LIKE WHAT. STOP PAIRING YOUNG GIRLS WITH GROWN MEN. also the manga was still ongoing an had constant hiatus apparently, so the ending was so ass and it left it at an open ending. AND I HATED IT BECAUSE THEY MADE IT SEEM LIKE MAYA AND AYUMI WERE SO CLOSE TO THEIR GOALS AND FINALLY COMPETING FAIR AND SWARE AGAINST EACH OTHER FOR THE GOLDEN ROLE THEY'VE BEEN ACTUING FOR, ONLY FOR IT TO END WITH NOT EVEN KNOWING THE RESULT, AND THE TWO PARTING WAYS WHEN THEY'RE PRACTICALLY BEST FRIENDS?? yeah, no <3333 didn't like that at ALL. overall, the acting element was interesting. everything else in this show made me so angry and it took me like 2-3 months to fully complete and get though. now that it's over i am very relieved i can move on and watch other things.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Long animes (30+ episodes)

by lainnvx

31 Entries · 1 Restacks

Female Rivalries

by Ienjoyblueice

19 Entries · 19 Restacks

shoujo rated above 8 stars on mal

by melon_ramune

41 Entries · 84 Restacks

	Poll: Glass Mask (2005) Episode 24 Discussion Ston3_FreeN7 - Jul 3, 2009	11 replies	by z4yin »» Aug 28, 10:37 PM
	Poll: Glass no Kamen (2005) Episode 31 Discussion greentutu - Jun 26, 2013	4 replies	by Prox1mately »» Aug 2, 9:35 AM
	Poll: Glass no Kamen (2005) Episode 29 Discussion skreyola - Jun 21, 2013	6 replies	by Prox1mately »» Aug 1, 4:37 PM
	Poll: Glass no Kamen (2005) Episode 28 Discussion skreyola - Jun 21, 2013	8 replies	by Prox1mately »» Aug 1, 4:23 PM
	Poll: Glass Mask (2005) Episode 22 Discussion Ston3_FreeN7 - Jul 2, 2009	12 replies	by Prox1mately »» Aug 1, 8:18 AM