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GLASS_MASK


                                             March 20, 2017

  Reading "The
  Glass Mask", a
  multi-volume           This was left unfinished for many years:
  manga from the         I've heard the author became a cult leader
  mid-70s...             of some sort, who explained she might
                         finish this some day "if god told her to".
                         Recently she's re-started the story with
                         the intention of wrapping it up soon.

                             Perhaps we need to get the author
                             of "Skip Beat" interested in religon...


This is one of the predecessors
to "Skip Beat": both are stories
of a young woman who impresses
everyone with her ability as an
actress, displaying an ability
to completely transform herself         METHOD_ACT
into another person.

Outside of that, there's only a
little resemblance between             Though there are I think a few
between the two stories.               "homages" to Glass Mask buried in
                                       Skip Beat.  For example, a
I could run through the many           prominent character in Glass Mask
differences: the lead character        is a dark-haired woman with half
in "Glass Mask" is a                   of her face scarred, who keeps it
standard-issue Shoujo Nice Girl,       hidden with her hair, similar to
with nothing remarkable about          the original version of the
her save her acting ability.           character Mio in one of Skip
She has nothing like Kyoko's           Beat's stories-within-the-story,
dark streak (her army of grudge        "Dark Moon".
demons); nor does she have
anything like Kyoko's deep roots         Also, in a relatively recent "Skip
in traditional Japanese culture.         Beat" a character muses to herself
The romantic triangle furniture          about how in Kyoko she may have
is completely different as well:         found an "immortal butterfly" with
in "Glass Mask" it's obviously           invisible wings-- that's a bit of a
secondary to the main story of           nod to the "Glass Mask" idea I would
the growth of an actress, and            say: the actor dons an invisible
the Nice Guy competitors to what         mask.
will obviously be her main love
interest are remarkable drips--
even the one who's supposed to
be a teen idol-- who drop out of     In "Glass Mask", the man who is
the race with out much of a          obviously going to be the main
fight.                               love interest is an older guy
                                     with a nasty streak who has a
One of the bigger differences I      reputation for being cold...
think is a matter of touch:          such is the way of shoujo manga,
"Glass Mask" frequently has the      where nice guys don't just
lead character acting in stories     finish last, they barely make it
that are already somewhat            out of the starting gate.
familiar (classic plays about
classic stories), and yet the
author still methodically steps
through the stories *multiple*
times (learning about the role,
rehearsing the role, dealing with
opening night emergencies...).

          In contrast, "Skip Beat" if anything
          tries too hard to avoid boring the
          audience and bounces around the
          story-within-a-story a little too
          much, occasionally leaving the reader
          feeling a little confused.

                                          
  A disturbing element of "Glass Mask":         A silly element of
  the main character often seems to be on       the "Glass Mask":
  a quest to surrender her humanity, to         our heroine impresses
  suppress all human capabilities.  She         everyone with her
  plays a doll, immobile on stage; she          *mime skills*.
  plays a robot; she plays a deaf, dumb         Ah, the seventies.
  and blind girl-- her ultimate goal is to     
  play the roll of "The Crimson Goddess":      
  a woman with the spirit of a tree.           
                                               
                                               
                                              
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