Glass Mask - Anime

Anime

There have been several anime adaptions since the manga began its serialization. The first adaptation was a 23-episode TV series produced by Eiken in 1984 which was directed by Gisaburō Sugii with animation contributions from Shingo Araki and character designs by Atsuko Nakajima. The main voice cast featured Masako Katsuki as Maya Kitajima, Taeko Nakanishi as Chigusa Tsukikage, Minori Matsushima as Ayumi Himekawa and Nachi Nozawa as Masumi Hayami. The opening and ending theme, Garasu no Kamen (ガラスの仮面?, Glass Mask) and Pāpuru Raito (パープル・ライト?, Purple Light) was performed by Mariko Ashibe. This adaptation was broadcast by Nippon TV.

Then a three episode OVA, titled as Garasu no Kamen: Sen no Kamen wo Motsu Shōjo (ガラスの仮面 千の仮面を持つ少女?, Glass Mask: The Girl Who Wears A Thousand Masks), was the remake of the first 3 arcs of the manga series. The OVA was released by TMS Entertainment in 1998. The voice cast from the 1984 series was not used and instead featured Megumi Ogata as Maya Kitajima, Keiko Toda as Chigusa Tsukikage, Naoko Matsui as Ayumi Himekawa and Jūrōta Kosugi as Masumi Hayami. The OVA was directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi with scripts written by Nobuaki Kishima, Tomoko Konparu and Yoshiyuki Suga as well as animation character designs by Akira Hirayama and Masako Gouto.

Seven years later, TMS Entertainment, the company who produced the OVA began a TV series which was directed by Mamoru Hamatsu with series composition done by Toshimichi Saekie and animation character designs by Akira Hirayama as well as music composed by Terashima Tamiya. This adaptation was broadcast by TV Tokyo and there were 2 opening themes, Promise which was performed by Candy for episodes 1-25 and zero by Aiko Ikuto for episodes 27-51. There were 4 ending themes which were Yasashii Sayonara (やさしいさよなら?, A Kind Farewell) for episodes 1-13 by Aina, Step One by Sister Q for episodes 14-24, Sunao ni Narenakute (素直になれなくて?, I Couldn't Be Honest With You) by Splash Candy for episodes 27-39 and Hello Hello by Core of Soul for episodes 40-51. Like the other adaptations, the voice cast was not reused and Maya Kitajima was voiced by Sanae Kobayashi, Chigusa Tsukikage by Toshiko Fujita, Akiko Yajima as Ayumi Himekawa and Masumi Hayami was voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa. The original voice actor for Maya Kitajima in the 1984 adaptation returned to voice Ayumi's mother, Utako Himekawa.

The 2005 adaptation has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks, and distributed by Section23 Films. The first half of the season was released on DVD, on January 19, 2010; however, the second half of the season has been cancelled reportedly due to low sales.

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