And that rivalry is what I consider the main strength of this 2005 adaptation of a classic shoujo work. Maya, our main character, is set against Ayumi Himekawa. Ayumi is the daughter of a famous actress and comes from great wealth.
In most anime, you probably already know this character and what she’ll do. But Ayumi's character is done brilliantly! Never does she tear down Maya for coming from a poorer background or from lacking the same acting resources she has. Most of the anime, Ayumi is in awe of Maya’s raw talent and even gets a little jealous. The way Ayumi and Maya uplift and encourage each other despite being big rivals really makes Glass Mask stand out from what we’ve seen done so many times.
This series is not without its flaws though. One of the biggest and most noticeable is the mediocre character art and animation. Maya and Tsukikage look great and also close to the original, but not many other characters do.
The character designs from Maya’s original theater troupe friends look very low effort. Ayumi is a mixed bag, she does look more realistic in this than the 1984 anime and original manga, but some of the charm and drop-dead beauty is missing. As far as animation, it can be very stiff and lifeless, while some play scenes were impressive, they needed much more oomph to sell Maya’s talent to us.
There’s also the ending, which I won’t try to spoil but it’s a little open and a little anticlimactic, but still... not the worst I’ve seen.
Was really between a 7 and 8 on this one. And while I chose 7, that's a still a good score in my books and highly recommend this show if you're interested in theater or character drama!
