ガラスの仮面(Glass Mask)(1976-)


ガラスの仮面 1
link to amazon
Kindle comics in Japanese language

written and illustrated by Suzue Miuchi
Genre: Drama
Volumes: 49 already published

A poor girl who loves seeing drama meets a retired famous actress and seeks to become a top actress, with overcoming tough situations.

This is a soul-stirring story.

The girl Maya Kitajima and her mother are poor and live at a Chinese restaurant and work as waitresses for the restaurant. The girl loves seeing drama, such as movies, TV dramas, and theater plays. She often too much focuses on seeing them even during delivery.

A retired major actress, who is planning to train an/some actress(es) to be the lead role of the legendary stage play “The Crimson Goddess” (“Kurenai Tennyo”), which was her former role, notices Maya’s talent. Maya begins to study acting at the school which is run by the retired actress.

Maya encounters difficult situations, including bullying, again and again but overcomes them and keeps going to perform better. That is very touching.

The latest volume 49 was published in 2012 but as of 2019 the next volume hasn’t been published yet.

This manga has some anime series.

There is a spin out gag/comedy version short anime series “ガラスの仮面ですが” (Glass no Kamen Desu ga) . Each episode is 3 minutes and 30 seconds including almost 1 minute ending song.

There is another spin out gag/comedy version short anime series “3ねんDぐみガラスの仮面”.