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Now in Japan
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 07 June 2005 09:39 |
 Here's something you don't see in anime very often - a remake. Glass Mask
originally appeared as a 23-episode TV series in 1984, and a 3-episode
OVA series in 1998. This 2005 series revists the same story, only
with a dash of current style...
1 - The Girl who Wears a Thousand Masks
13-year-old Maya Katajime doesn't have the easiest of lives - her
father passed away when she was younger, and she has to help her mother
out at the Chinese restaurant they live at. Problem is, Maya has
a passion for theatre that tends to get in the way of her daily chores
- but it looks unlikely that she'll ever be able to turn her dream of
becoming an actress into reality. Her luck changes when one day
she meets reclusive actress Chigusa Tsukikage - although their first
meeting frightens Maya, Chigusa turns out to be the one person who
could help her acting dreams come true...
Mostly a setup episode, this one, introducing Maya and her family
(including one true bitch of a sister), the people she lives & work
with, and two people who will become major parts of her life over the
coming years: Chigusa, who is decidedly creepy ('eccentric' is the word
- famous people are never strange :) ), but also is the person who will
take Maya under her wing and help her to develop an acting career; and
Ayumi Himekawa. Ayumi's the same age as Maya and is destined to
become her greatest rival as the story progresss.
As for the story - a little research shows that Glass Mask
follows Maya's life and career over a number of years, showing how she
achieves her dream despite Ayumi's competition and the problems that
come her way. It's an interesting enough idea, but I'll admit to
not being enough of an acting nut to find it overly appealing.
The pacing and presentation of this episode also didn't do anything to
help overcome the preconceptions - it just didn't grab me.
Any story that's done well enough to make it to a third incarnation is obviously doing something right - but in the end, I'm just not the target audience. Pass.
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