I sometimes check Japanese Amazon.com site to look for some interesting books, and while I was surfing around the site, I happened to find a Japanese long time best-seller cartoon “ Mask of Glass “ by Suzue Miuchi ‘s series 43 finally !
It’s a series from a long long time ago, since when I was a child.
I started reading the cartoon when I was 13.
I collected all of them which were published until series 42 and was waiting for the next series coming.
It’s one of my all time favorite cartoons, because the story is really interesting.
The main story is about two theater actresses who were born in different situations, different type of talent. both girls challenge to perform in the legendary award story which is owned by a genius actress called Chigusa who was the only person who could perform the drama, and is considered as very
difficult to perform.
The main girl called Maya in the story was born in poor surroundings , with her mother who worked for a tiny noodle restaurant , and they were living in the upstairs of the restaurant.
Maya is described as boring, average, plain looks and with no talent for anything except for her natural talent for acting.
Maya’s creativities are unlimited, also she can memorize all the words for any stories naturally , just by seeing or reading once.
On the other hand, another girl called Ayumi was born to wealthy parents who both are famous actor and actress. She had strong background for acting and dance, in an elite acting school to be a great actress besides her beautiful looks.
Her peers call her perfect whatever she does and she always challenging to be the best.
Very smart girl. And more of effort perfectionist type. (IMO)
It’s a long story, so it’s hard to tell everything in short.
What interest me most in this story is the rivalry between a girl who is an effort perfectionist type who is more of a left brain person with a girl who has a natural talent which comes from her inspiration and imagination , who is more of a right brain type.
People who are true genius in some subjects or talent, often look like idiots in other areas.
But for that particular subject or talent , no one can reach the level of sheer genius of him/her.
I’m always interested in people who have natural talent in certain subjects, and they have this ability and do this without calculation.
The story is still continuing.
In the cartoon series, there are also so many ups and downs in Maya’s life , and depending on her psychical condition and mind, her genius sometimes appears and at other times disappears ( for example, when she is feeling depressed ).
Anyway, I hope at least Suzue Miuchi will publish the series once a year and will finish the story not so long later.
It already past 32 years since I read it first time , I wonder how old is she now ? Is she fine ?
Besides this story, Mask of Glass, I also loved Rose of Versaille and Bride of demos, and but this Mask of Glass is the only one which is still continuing so long time, so I‘m still buying the books.
I really regret that I sold the set of Mask of Glass series from 1 to 41, when had to leave Japan and didn’t bring them to USA.
Because I had over 40 boxes when I moved to USA so I wanted to remove things as much as possible at that time.
I may purchase all the series again when I visit Japan.
Maybe many girls love to read those cartoon stories when they were kids.
Some stories are very knowledgeable and I actually learned many things through those cartoons.
I always thought cartoon writers are so intelligent.