The Series (4/5)

    Maya is a young teenager with one aspiration, to act. Unfortunately, her life consist of working deliveries for a noodle shop, and going to school. That is until one day she meets a famous actress Chigusa Tsukikage, who was disfigured 20 years before during a stage performance and has not acted since. She recruits Maya for her new theatrical school, and together with Trukikage and her new classmates they begin to explore the difficult world of acting for the stage.

    Glass Mask is a Shoujo anime from 1984 that was remade in 2005. I honestly did not anticipate getting into the show, but I knew I wanted to see it based on the fact that not too much 1980's anime gets released on HD Blu-ray. I have a special fondness for the animation style of the late 70's and 80's period, and I knew on Blu-ray the animation would look better than ever, from that perspective I was right. However, I found myself also compelled by each episode. The struggles (as over the top as they occasionally could be) were compelling and well done, and the overall triumphs and difficulties of the characters kept me so into the show that I watched 22 episodes in 3 days.

    The animation is in a hand-drawn early 80's style. I, of course, love this. It's a bit stiff at times, but overall looks simple, solid, and in my eyes quirky and amazing. It definitely fits the tone of the show, as does the look and style of the characters and the locations. I guess at this point I have to see the 2005 version and compare.

Audio/Video (3.5/5)

    Sentai Filmworks presents Glass Mask in a very solid 1:33:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer. This one won't win awards, but I don't think anyone will be displeased. There is some softness, and I believe I noticed minor damage from the source, but overall it was pleasing to the eye, with colors that seemed to reflect the natural look and quite decent detail.

    Audio is handled by a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track in Japanese and comes through clear and crisp with no obvious issues.

Extras (0/5)

Nada.

Overall

    This is a pretty awesome anime series about a teenager girl with aspirations about acting and the struggles that come with that choice. The Blu-ray looks and sounds solid, but includes zero extra features. RECOMMENDED.