Glass Mask - Characters

Characters

• Maya Kitajima (北島マヤ, Kitajima Maya?). A talented young actress (a 13-year-old at the beginning of the story) who originally worked as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant alongside her mother. Her father died when she was a little girl and her mother, Haru (Louise in the French anime), who is mentally unstable, thinks of Maya as useless (aided in part by Maya's tendency to be sidetracked by anything to do with acting while in the middle of working). She is discovered by the former diva Chigusa Tsukikage and starts a promising, yet thorny acting career under the older woman's wing. Her mother discourages her daughter from an acting career, believing that her daughter would be a laughingstock. Maya's mother refused to attend a school play Maya was in, especially because Maya's role was that of a pitiful and wretched minor character, which only confirmed her belief. Maya performed the role magnificently, giving more depth and sadness to a character who was originally meant to be portrayed as laughable and pathetic. Later on, Maya is given the opportunity to make a living as an actress. Maya proclaimed that she wanted to be an actress. Tsukikage cuts off Maya's ties with her mother, making the decision of becoming an actress adamant. However, Maya is consistently given encouragement through an anonymous fan who sends her a bouquet of purple roses. The person who sends these bouquets is none other than Hayami Masumi, whom Maya shows an antipathy towards, especially since she believes he took malicious enjoyment in bringing down Tsukikage's acting school.
  Maya's talent for acting comes from both her natural skill and emotional personality, unlike Ayumi whose skills are more technically-driven; in fact, Maya practically 'becomes' her characters when she plays, so brutal her training methods are and so intensely she performs. During the beginning of her training sessions, Maya has always displayed unconventional performances of the assigned tasks, such as laying on the floor to "sit on" a toppled chair. People often note how unremarkable Maya is until she takes the stage. In fact, the prodigy actress Ayumi comments that Maya knows how to captivate the audience, even though she isn't aware of doing so. Despite having enormous potential and raw talent, Maya doesn't seem to recognize her own abilities. She thinks of herself as unremarkable and "useless", as her mother constantly referred to her as, though she is compelled to pursue a career in acting because "acting is all she has". She also harbors moments of inferiority in comparison to Ayumi, who is beautiful, talented, and rich. Despite all this, Maya doesn't harbor any malice or ill will toward Ayumi, though Ayumi is secretly competitive toward Maya. Maya has three nicknames. One is "The Stage Storm," referring to her innate ability to drown out other actors' importance in a play even while in a bit part. Tsukikage refers to Maya as "the girl with a thousand masks" in tribute to her versatility whenever taking on character roles. And she is addressed as "little child" (ちびちゃん, Chibi-chan?) by Masumi Hayami, a diminutive nickname he's given to her due to their broad disparity in age and height, to satirize her naivete, and eventually out of true affection.

• Ayumi Himekawa (姫川亜弓, Himekawa Ayumi?) Maya's biggest rival, the honor-bound and noble Ayumi was born as the daughter of a very famous actress, Utako Himekawa (once the student of Tsukikage,) and a successful director and producer, Mitsugu Himekawa, and has been touted as a prodigy from an early age. Ever since learning she got her first acting role just because of her family links, Ayumi has striven to shine on her own and never falls into arrogance. Ayumi becomes aware of Maya's prodigious gift for acting when they first meet in a practice session; from then on she views the younger girl as a life-rival. She is ambitious enough to try to surpass her own mother, who is a widely recognized actress. People have jokingly told Utako that her daughter will steal the role of the Crimson Goddess from her. Even though Ayumi is young, she believes that she will re-vitalize the renowned role. Thus, she takes it upon herself to get as much experience as she can by trying out for any roles, including minor ones. At first, when Ayumi took on the role of Tom in The Prince and the Pauper, the children in attendance didn't like the performance because they were used to seeing Ayumi as a beautiful young woman rather than a dirty and homely boy. Yet Ayumi soon draws the children's favor by begging for "money" in a hat, to which the children offer her their candy. The people behind the stage were surprised that Ayumi would do such a thing, particularly since Ayumi generally would have thought such things beneath her. Her passion to become the Crimson Goddess is undeniable, however, as she continually strives for perfection to attain the role. Even though critics generally favour her over Maya, Ayumi is upset at being unable to reach the sort of emotional peaks Maya does when she performs.

• Chigusa Tsukikage (月影千草, Tsukikage Chigusa?) Maya's mentor. She once was a very talented and beloved actress, most notable for her role at the legendary play "Crimson Goddess" (紅天女, Kunenai-Tennyo?) whose performance was so acclaimed that its author left the rights over it solely to her in his will, but she got horribly scarred in an onstage accident (a lamp lighter hit her and burned half her face off) and had to leave the acting scene, opening an acting school instead. She has very weak health and must be hospitalized several times during the story. Yet she is a woman of unstoppable will, refusing to give the rights of "The Crimson Goddess" to Masumi Hayami and his father, as according to her, currently there is not an actress suitable for the main role. After finding potential in Maya, she takes her under her wing despite her mother's objections and strives to shape her into the best actress ever, so she can contest with Ayumi for the leading role in "The Crimson Goddess". Tsukikage understands that an actress's face is her most important feature, and she covers Maya when Maya's incensed mother tries to throw boiling hot water in her daughter's face.

• Masumi Hayami (速水真澄, Hayami Masumi?) A successful businessman and son/substitute of the president of the Daito Entertainments (大都芸能?), he is brutally attempting to obtain the performance rights for "The Crimson Goddess" from Chigusa, efforts which ultimately lead to the disbanding of her acting school. When he sees Maya act as Beth in "Little Women" despite a high fever, he is impressed with her strong will and devotion to her acting dreams. He secretly sends her purple roses and financial support as encouragement (thus Maya refers to her anonymous fan as "The Purple Roses Man"; her friends call him Daddy Long-Legs), but acts mocking, cynical and even cruel in front of her to conceal his anonymous identity. Originally a normal, happy child, his cold exterior grew from the death of his mother, Aya, when he was a child, and his bad relationship with his stepfather Eisuke, who is responsible for the Crimson Goddess author's death. As the manga proceeds, he becomes more and more infatuated with Maya and finally falls deeply in love with her - at one point being the sole person to brave deadly, typhoon-level weather to attend the premiere of one of her plays. He doesn't reveal either his alternate identity or his true feelings for many reasons, one of which is the belief that Maya hates him since he indirectly caused her mother's death.