Anime: Glass no Kamen (2005)

There are lots of shows that follow a character devoting themselves to something and trying to get better at it. Most of them focus as much on a character’s interaction with others on the way as they do about the theme –whether it’s acting, kendo, etc. Glass Mask is different. It is about acting – the beauty of it, the harshness of it. It is about personal drive, competition, growth, harsh realities, and obsession. Above all, it is about what it takes to improve yourself at anything. Glass Mask is a very powerful and dramatic anime. I recommend it to anyone who is drawn to those themes or who likes dramatic shoujous.

Story
Maya Kitajima is obsessed with anything related to acting. This comes out a bit too strong in the opening episodes. I thought about dropping it. However, her obsession is rendered in a much more realistic manner later on. Just grit your teeth and get through the first couple of episodes and you’ll be glad you did. There are several threads wound together to make up the story. There is a role, the Scarlet Angel, the most difficult and honored in the country, that Maya is trying for. That’s one major thread throughout. Everything she attempts is to one day be worthy of that role. There is also a rivalry between her and the starlet Ayumi, another big theme. This is not a remotely stock rivalry, it lives and breathes. It is one of the best Anime rivalries I have ever seen. And then there is something of a love interest as well (which unfortunately I can’t say the same for). Those 3 threads go on throughout.
There are also story arcs, one for each role Maya plays. They have some fun plays for this; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Miracle Worker, Little Women, and lots more. Maya’s struggle to get a handle on each play is shown, as well as her acting in the play itself, which also goes over the story of the play and several of its scenes. The Anime manages to make each of these story arcs interesting and tense, and each little story blends in with at least one of the larger threads beautifully by the end of each arc.
This story would be quite a winner if it weren’t for the ending. The story is just about to come together, just a few more episodes would have done it…but the Anime ends a bit early, and they just drop everything. They don’t even really attempt for an ending, they seem to just decide to stop there and let you read the Manga for the last bits, at least that’s what if feels like. In reality, the author had stopped writing the Manga, so the Anime just went as far as she’d gone and then stopped. It was a bit disappointing, but the rest of the Anime is so good that the story as a whole wasn’t ruined.

Animation & Sound
Animation is legendary. Not because the character designs are pretty, or have a high budget, or are really stylized; they are fairly realistic and slightly above average in that category. But that's not all there is to animation. Animation should further the plot and the character's feelings, and that is what the animation in Glass Mask does. What is really incredible is the expression of the character’s. Their movements. I only wish live-action actors could all act like Maya and Ayumi! The facial expressions are superb. Movements are incredibly revealing. The expression in the eyes is jaw-dropping. The movements are incredibly fluid and graceful, particularly Ayumi’s. This is especially common in the plays. I laughed, cried, and had goose bumps all over just because the animation is so good. The voice actors are also wonderful. Such expression, it’s amazing. This is by far one of the top anime when it comes to rendering emotions through animation and voice acting. Yes, its not the prettiest style, there are some akward looking still shots, and it isn't in exactly modern. All of these things are important in animation too, but if they lack expression and some degree of realism and the ability to portray people, an animation isn't worth much. And its these last things that the animation in Glass Mask does extremely well in. I also think the creators did a good job making this in retro style. Modern wouldn't have fit. Acting, in this series, is about portraying actual people as realistically as possible. Having a blue-haired, oddly proportioned heroine would not have been conducive to the this idea, even if they were cool looking. A brown haired, brown eyed, realistically proportioned, soft-faced girl fits much better.
As for the music, that’s a bit above average, but not much. In-story music is decent but didn’t have quite enough tracks for a 51 episode series. The lyrics and mood of endings often didn’t fit the anime, but the openings did. The scenes that played in the openings and endings, however, are great. They show the core of relationships and story elements without ever actually being spoilers. These scenes felt like they were truly part of the Anime, which is very rare, and for which the score is bumped up a little.

Characters
The characters work very well within the story. They have all the layers they need to further the plot. They do well within their roles. None of them are stereotypes. Unfortunately, they felt like characters and not like real people. They didn’t have any of the idiosyncrasies or originality of real people. They felt too much like tools for the Anime. This was especially glaring in Hayumi’s case, although it applies to all of the characters.
The relationship between the characters is very realistic though. Whether as rivals, teacher and student, or mother and daughter, they really shine. That’s bumped up the character score.

Value and Enjoyment
I really enjoyed watching this. Rewatchibility is a bit complicated. Glass Mask as a whole I don’t think would have much rewatch value, but the individual play story arcs do. I will probably pick one of those to rewatch every now and then, without going over the whole Anime. I’ll probably buy this.
I recommend Glass Mask to people who like dramatic Shoujo, Acting Anime, or people who like to see a character struggle to achieve something. If you are looking for comedy, fan-service, or violence you should probably look elsewhere.

Note: This review contains MINOR SPOILERS regarding the characters, but NO SPOILERS about the story.
I try to be as objective as I can when writing a review. But perfect objectivity is impossible and in my opinion, undesirable.
The average grade is completely irrelevant and shouldn't matter to anyone. I personally rated this show 9.

Overview

Glass Mask is based on a manga that has been running since January 1976. I wonder if any of the original readers still follow it to this day? Anyway, the manga has been adapted to anime before, once in 1984 as a 23 episodes series and in 1998 as an OVA. I haven't seen any of those and I haven't read even a single manga chapter.

Animation: 7

The art seems to be consistent with the manga and its previous incarnations. As such it seems quite old. We are talking about a manga from the 70s here. Probably thanks to that, there are no stereotypes in design that are so present these days. There are no two characters that look the same and the show has quite a number of them. And this is achieved without cheep tricks like crazy hairdos, wild costumes or abnormally huge body parts. Simply put, they look good even if you don't have much love for the 70s style.
Another good thing is that everyone looks as they're supposed to. For example Himekawa Ayumi is extremely beautiful and graceful. In contrast Kitajima Maya is a bit plain, but has that cute girl next door appeal. Their character design also changes slightly as they grow older which is a nice touch.
The backgrounds are fine and there is detail where detail is necessary. The stage sets in particular are a great example.

So why the low grade? Well, despite the art, the general animation is quite low budget and it shows sometimes. Most of the time the backgrounds are just good enough. The characters are required to make very elaborate moves in their plays and rehearsals and those are well animated. But the general movements are generic and sometimes they stay still and only their lips are moving. Fortunately, those moments aren't very often.
All this doesn't matter that much. What is annoying is that on occasion people faces look weird and different from usual. This happens in still shots and that is why it's so irritating.

Sound: 9

The opening and ending songs fit the show and they're good. The BGM captures the mood and is handled great.
What truly shines, in my opinion, are the seiyuu. Without good voice acting, an anime about acting wouldn't have a soul. Maya's seiyuu manages to portray extremely well how the lead practices for her roles and what difficulties she has at that time. The same is true for Ayumi's seiyuu and all the other ones.

Story: 9

I first picked up Glass Mask because I love a lot of shoujo anime (NANA, Nodame Cantabile, Honey and Clover, Ouran, Full Moon) and it had a high rating and pretty good comments on AniDB. I was extremely disappointed in the first episode. All the characters seemed one dimensional and the lead seemed to be a mental case (literally). It gave the impression that 98 % of people in Japan are complete assholes. I picked it up again after I finished Ship Beat!, thinking I would drop it by the fifth episode if it was bad. The only anime I ever dropped was Girls Bravo and I had watched a lot of shows of different genres, old and new. Anyway, I got more and more interested in the story and by the 15th episode, I started to watch 6-7 episodes in one sitting.

Glass Mask is a series that follows Maya as she tries to become an actress in present day Japan. In this regard it's comparable to Kaleido Star and Skip Beat!. But unlike those two it doesn't have any fantasy or comedy at all. This makes it very different from them. The general feeling is completely different.
In the beginning, Maya is just a 13 year old waitress. As the show progresses, she eventually gets to star in quite a number of plays in the course of a few years. The plot advances logically and things are never dragged down. Plays typically take 1-2 episodes including rehearsals and everything. This coupled with how varied the plays are make each and every episode very interesting. The twists in the storyline also ensure that it never gets predictable. It is a bit melodramatic at times but it never crosses the line. Very important is the fact that the plot feels connected with the characters. The finale is open ended which may put off some people, but it does give a good closure considering the manga is still ongoing.

Character Development: 8

As I said, in the beginning everyone seems one dimensional and this doesn't change for a while. We are constantly told that Maya is completely useless at everything except acting and even she acknowledges this again and again. This and her obsession with acting (that borders on insanity) don't make her exactly likable. Tsukikage Chigusa is like doctor Frankenstein in a dress. Hayami Masumi seems to help Maya only to keep her in the acting business, so he would be in a position to f*ck her brains out when she got older. I seem a little harsh, but that is the impression he gives for a very long time. Almost everyone else seems to be there to abuse the lead physically or mentally.

They don't stay like this, thank God. All of them change and develop. The lead and her rival in particular grow a lot during the 4-5 years (if I counted right). And this growth seems natural, not forced. By the end of the show every important character has its personality well nuanced. This is done without stupid filler that focuses on the side cast or entire episode flashbacks.

Value: 6

The value is pretty low. Maybe the series can be watched again, but its impact would be greatly diminished. Also, I can understand why this isn't popular. In hindsight, the first episode wasn't that horrendous, but it certainly looked that way the first time I saw it. The total absence of some sort of relief (like ecchi elements or comedy) from all the drama and melodrama is another thing that detracts viewers.

Enjoyment: 9

I'm not afraid to admit that I love shoujo anime, although I'm a guy. For quite a while, I believed that shoujo equals quality. I have since been cured of that silly idea. But, the fact remains that there are quite a lot of good shoujo/josei anime and even masterpieces. While not exactly a masterpiece, I loved this anime for its cast as well as the plays presented in it.

This is an easy recommendation for people who can live without comedy in their shoujo anime. For those who can't, try Skip Beat! for a similar theme.