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Talking about bad adaptation, I guess most of us already know about the live-action “Dragon Ball Evolution” or the second season of “The Promised Neverland”. Welp, unfortunately, it just happened to be the same case for this Anime. I didn’t have much expectation when seeing the trailer but this is just too much to deal with. Calling this abomination a trainwreck is even an understatement.

The disaster inherently stems from the concept in the first place. Let’s imagine, if allowing Anime to be aired on Netflix through batch release is considered a crime, then allowing the masterpiece “Hi no Tori” to be directed by an incompetent ... person and exclusively aired on Disney+ is unquestionably an atrocious sin that must never be tolerated. Whoever came up with this idea has made the worst decision in their life.

You may already know or maybe not but the prototype of this one - “Nostalgia” is deemed one of the greatest arcs in the Manga, along with “Karma” and “Resurrection”. Harsh, raw, dramatic, high-stakes, psychologically heavy, these characteristics are what made the original highly regarded. It doesn’t shun bringing controversial subjects like incest, homicide, cannibalism for its thematic exploration. Yet sadly, none of those traits are presented in this adaptation. Instead of getting something deep and mature, we’ve got a light-hearted, shallow, frivolous, child-friendly story that is safe to watch in your living room with your niece or nephew.

The over-modification to befit the medium is repugnant to the point no trace of the source can be found. I really really do wonder if that director actually read the work himself. Almost every setting and world-building was altered. Characters should appear never appear, characters shouldn’t appear appear. The details should exist never exist, the details shouldn’t exist exist. The character should be dead somehow alive. What a heinous joke, I can’t remember how many times I shook my head while watching this.

Man, if only it had at least one saving grace. The characterization is even more cringeworthy and the theme of homesickness is portrayed in the most superficial way possible. In the work, Romy is depicted as a strong, determined, independent, decisive woman. Her struggle for survival and to carry the weight of being the only woman on the planet Eden, seeing her husband and her offspring gradually pass away causes great damage to her mind. It’s the trauma that begets an immeasurable pain of fear, loneliness, despair, and thus, leads to her strong feeling of nostalgia. The sincerity and earnestness make us sympathize with her and her story. So what do we have in the Anime? A weak, naive, happy-go-lucky mother who sleeps most of the time until her descendants wake her up because the show has to avoid incest which is not suitable for kids. Then she stays as the queen for 40 years, the motivation for her homesickness only boils down to her boredom. I’m crying hard for its cheap sentiment not gonna lie. In addition, her journey returning to Earth later is also a mess. The Manga provides us with an arduous voyage that’s full of terror and danger, a dark and vast universe as though depicted in Lovecraftian horror. Upon reading this part, I could feel every fiber of my body getting goosebumps. Alas, just like other elements, what is presented in this Anime hardly can’t be taken seriously.

It's all I want to talk about. Sorry if it feels like a rant but I’m not only madly disappointed but also irritated by this disgraceful piece of crap. If you feel tired of mainstream Anime and currently are seeking a new experience then it might not be a bad watch. However, if you’re a Manga fan or merely someone who loves to see something profound, intellectual, impactful, thought-provoking then I genuinely advise you to stay away from it at all costs.

“Can’t live without a good brother”. What an epic ending!! In general, this season is really great but could have been much more better. Honestly, I have ambivalent feelings towards some aspects of it and I guess it’s the same for many fans of this Donghua.

To begin with, let’s see how different it is compared to the prequel. It appears the most prominent thing that comes to our minds is the shift in tone and genre. In the first season, the narrative features a structure of episodic side stories going along with an overarching one. Having a steady flow and being self-contained, they can be ... enjoyed independently and slowly. However, in the second season, everything changes drastically. The tone becomes dark and intense, slowly shifts from drama-oriented to crime-oriented. This direction was already foreshadowed from the very beginning of the first season and apparently, there isn’t anything bad about it like most people claim. In fact, it presents a very action-packed plotline with many intriguing events. The fight between Xiaoshi and Tian Chen, the battle in the hospital, the heart-breaking backstory story of antagonists, the chasing sequence, the swap of Li siblings, the kidnapping and hostage exchanging scene, the confrontation between main characters and antagonists, the reveal of Tian Xi’s memory and Lu Guang’s identity. Yet concept and execution are two separate matters, the idea is great regardless but it seems the overall story quite struggles in the process of delivering, especially the middle part.

Pacing is the rate of events that occur as the story progresses. Based on this definition, the pacing here seems really inconsistent. Taking from my own experience, I don’t remember how many times I had to pause during the first 4 episodes because of information overload. New characters come to the screen, new plots arrive, new questions are thrown while those previous mysteries are still left unclear. It creates a sense of overwhelming that fits the atmosphere of a thriller show, with almost no moment for breathing as our eyes are glued to the screen and our brains being 100% concentrated on finding clues and hints about what’s really happened. In opposition to that, everything starts being stagnant after the backstory, the plot hardly moves. Sidestepping some flashbacks for the purpose of characterization, the story wastes too much screen time for filler scenes and unnecessary actions. Perhaps the original script is intentionally written for only 10 episodes and not 12.

Moreover, what’s worse here is that cliffhangers are so annoying and unpleasant. It used to be good but now no different than a cheap bait to tantalize viewers. Xiaoshi dove into Lu Guang’s body and hid himself inside the bathroom, a police noticed and was about to discover him. Is the past gonna change? Nope, another incident kicked in and distracted him, everything went back to normal. A kinda great suspension is solved by a generic plot device, which is just basically unsatisfying.

Another weakness that needs to be brought out is the mystery narrative. In season one, though most parts are drama and slice-of-life, hints are dropped deftly and every scene no matter how trivial is really important and has a certain purpose. All the mysteries are connected and the unfolding of plot twists perfectly ties up everything. Now in season two, what do we have? The story keeps jumping from this point to that point, leaves off some details to make it vague and only explains them in the next episode. What makes season one better is its subtle use of ambiguity and revelation in proper places, a mundane story turns into extraordinary, while season two literally just tries to change the event order with almost no significant details for addition in between. Not totally predictable but still is not enough to keep us on the edge of our seats like what it used to be. The reveal in the final episode is amazing but the buildup prior just feels a bit off.

The plot may suffer several issues as presented above but the characterization is excellent. Cheng Xiaoshi, who used to be spontaneous and impulsive, shows many great signs of maturity. He acknowledges from his past mistakes that the death can’t be reversed and doesn’t act without consideration anymore. When seeing the photo of Chen Bin, a brief thought of using it to save Lu Guang crossed his mind but he immediately refused to do that after introspection. He later actually uses that but only to alleviate the mind of Bin’s wife upon his death. Lu Guang, who is seen as laid-back and nonchalant, goes into full action. The opening wound still hasn’t healed and keeps hurting him a lot yet he’s willing to give his body to Xiaoshi for the move. In the tunnel scene, when Xiaoshi is in a disadvantageous situation against Tian Chen, Lu Guang doesn’t hesitate to plunge towards and rescue him. Qiao Ling, much like a supporting character, becomes an important role. She has a great personality of a big sister, taking care of her brothers and being strong when needed. Despite being a small girl, she goes out of her way to help Xiaoshi fight the thugs in the hospital. When Xiaoshi is scolded, she’s the one who intercedes on behalf by slapping Qian Jin’s face, not displaying any sign of scare or being inferior. The trio isn’t related by blood but throughout the story in this part, we can see the bond between them keeps strengthening. That’s a heartwarming point of this show. If season one is just them helping each other, this season shows they protecting and even sacrificing for others.

Along with the old cast, the antagonist side is very interesting to watch. Qian Jin, a lawyer who works for Liu Jing, appears to be a polite person with a mild personality and behaves with proper decorum. However, under this facade is a douchebag who would do anything at any cost to achieve his goal. He even deceives himself and others with a tragic past about his wife being murdered while it turns out he’s the actual culprit. That makes an interesting parallel between him and Li Fan, father of the siblings as they’re both pathetic, insecure, and misogynistic. Tian Chen, the red eyes, is the person who helps Qian Jin do the dirty job of killing people. He’s seen as a psychopath with a sadistic personality, very determined and talks with strong words. Ironically, it later reveals him to be not that kind of evil who doesn’t have any feelings towards people. Through the sharing of memory via Tian Xi’s ability, he experiences the emotion and memory of the person he controls. He cries a lot and can’t resist apologizing for the decision of killing Chen Bin. As his sins are unforgivable, his redeeming side can’t be trivialized. And finally, Tian Xi, the disabled sister with selective mutism. Tian Xi is innocent and naive, that’s why she suffers great pain seeing her mother getting abused by his father and it also affects her mental health. She is also an altruistic person, has a kind heart, and cares about her brother, she doesn’t want him to become a bad person. Just like the bond between the main characters, the bond between Li’s siblings is also well-depicted.

A big factor that makes the success of character writing is the use of experimental animation and montage sequence. What creates the magic for season one appears again in season two. The prison scene in episode 1 combines shots of different pieces of Xiaoshi’s memory with Lu Guang. The past story in episode 3 shows different sweet moments of Chen Bin and his wife. The ending of episode 9 intertwines three stories with three animation styles into one. The reveal in the last episode brings out all of Tian Xi’s memories and explores her psyche. I really love those cinematography techniques here. Not only does it enhance the aesthetics but also is able to communicate a huge amount of details and deliver a large range of emotions over a short span of time.

Talking about Link Click, I can not mention the music aspect, season two is on par or even better than season one. The opening is likely to be the best of this year, fascinating animation with smooth transitions and a unique gimmick of reverse that fits well the theme of this show. The ending is a cool reference to the novel “The Time Machine”, the song feels sad, melancholic, and ominous. Besides that, we’ve also got some insert songs and extra endings. They’re all stylish, attractive, and go well with the atmosphere of the situation they feature.

That’s all I want to say. In summary, Link Click season 2 is still an emotional roller-coaster like its prequel. With the unfolding of Lu Guang’s identity and the debut of the mysterious hat man, it’s pretty much excitement for the upcoming of the next season.

Yorokobe Touhou fans, after the long-awaited 12 years, MyAnimeList finally decided to add this entry to their database. Fantasy Kaleidoscope ~The Memories of Phantasm~ (MoP for short) is a fan-made Anime series produced by a doujin circle name Manpuku Jinja. Currently known as the most popular Touhou Anime, not only does it attract Touhou fans in particular but many Anime fans in general.

Anime adaptation from whatever source has always been a hot potato for studios. People may wonder why franchises like FGO, Azur Lane, Kantai Collection have managed to get an official adaptation but Touhou still has not. First, we need to answer this question. ... How do we turn Touhou into an Anime adaptation? The best you could think of is making it with the structure of half plot half fight, right? But here’s the deal, the original plot is very lacking and the fight is also very unusual.
+ About the plot, it often just follows the same pattern for most games: A supernatural incident happens caused by some random powerful entities. The main protagonist, the miko of Hakurei Shrine, Hakurei Reimu embarks on a journey to resolve it and bring back Gensokyo to its balance. Every time she encounters an opponent, there’s usually a conversation, then two parties start fighting each other. As you can see, there are very few interesting things here without considering the lore. It’s almost impossible to craft a faithful adaptation of the game story while at the same time also having to maintain enjoyment for fans.
+ In Touhou, the fights go by the Spell Card System. Unlike a normal duel, a Touhou fight is a mental contest in which the most beautiful one wins and it isn’t meant to kill each other (very similar to the covenant in “No Game No Life”). It somewhat lessens the intensity since there’s no death threat no matter who wins or loses. Even ignoring that issue, the essence of Touhou fight – danmaku is very flashy, garish, and ostentatious that does not appeal to general audiences. You can argue that those Minus-T videos on Youtube are pretty eye-catching. It’s not wrong but just remember one thing, they are two different mediums. I don’t think any person would like to watch an Anime episode that straight 10 minutes just splattering colorful fireworks, let alone it takes several years with a great amount of effort to animate it.

I’m quite rambling with tons of info dumps but it’s only to show the difficulties that Manpuku Jinja had to consider when making this Anime. For a series that is gameplay and lore-heavy like this one, it’s hard for any non-hardcore person to dig deeper and rather just prefer gazing at flowers while on horseback. Thus, it’s reasonable that they didn’t pick a risky choice that could potentially alienate the fanbase but instead chose to turn it into a fanon in which fanservice prevails the actual plot with the sole intention of entertaining the audience as much as possible.

Despite such reasons, MoP still follows the original story, just not in chronological order. The first episode introduces the incident in Touhou 7. The next three episodes take place after the event in Touhou 11 but retell the flashback of Touhou 6. The fifth and sixth episodes show the story that happened after Touhou 9. The seventh episode is based on Cirno’s route in Touhou 12.3. Episode 8 to 13 tell the story of Touhou 8. Episode 14 to 17 tell the story of Touhou 10. And finally, episode 18 is a tribute episode that is entirely original and features all characters.

Talking about the direction, Manpuku Jinja simplified the two main factors I mentioned in the second paragraph, the plot and the fight, while adding on many fanservice and original scenes. I’d like to name some notable ones: the Onsen scene in the opening, the Yakumo’s bathing scene, the Sakuya’s Dio time-stopping scene (oh wait, this is canon), the Remilia and Flandre’s fighting scene, the Yuuka and Cirno’s confronting scene, the Shiki Eiki’s lecturing scene, the Tewi and Reisen’s poisoning scene, the Kaguya and Mokou’s quarrel scene, etc. I myself enjoy every minute of them and really appreciate the circle. They have to love Touhou and understand the fandom greatly so that they could incorporate many references ingeniously. But of course, at the end of the day, it still is an unofficial series and most of the characterizations are very far from their actual depictions in the source. For example, in this Anime, Flandre is locked up in the basement against her own will and is mistreated by other members of the mansion. This is nearly opposed to the canon version of her which she chooses to stay in the mansion of her own volition because she can not fully control her strength. In the print work “Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red”, she is seen talking to Aya with her sister Remilia. She’s quite strange and eccentric but not to the point of unhinged or lunatic like what was depicted in the Anime.

I guess it’s enough for an analysis of story and character. Let’s move to another aspect, art and animation. FYI, most of Manpuku Jinja staff participated in this project like Lunamoon or Tasuke are all veterans who used to work in the animation industry and had a lot of experience within them. That’s why every moment of MoP is so beautiful and memorable, from the elegant demeanor of physically matured characters (Yukari, Yuyuko, Kanako) and adorable expressions of young-looking ones (Cirno, Tewi, Chen, Flandre) to mesmerizing animation during action scenes. Along with the stellar art are the bewitching soundtracks, each one of them is a remix of an original song from the game. I’m very picky when it comes to music but Yuuhei Satellite never disappoints, all 4 openings and 18 endings are excellent to me. Especially the first one “色は匂へど 散りぬるを(Iro wa Nioedo, Chirinuru wo)” became an earworm for me when I first listened to it and till now, it still stands firm as one of my all-time favourite songs.

Though this adaptation is quite decent, there’re still some minus points that can’t go unmentioned. First off, this Anime doesn’t feature any voice acting and the versions widely known to most of us are but a fandub. Next thing, the circle did show a part of the fight between Okuu and Reimu in the opening and provided a little hint about Hijiri at the end of episode 4 but sadly, we never have a chance to see these two arcs getting animated. Another thing is the issue with episode composition, the stretching is really awkward and frustrating. Only 10 to 15 minutes for each episode but about 5 minutes of the running time is covered by opening, ending and unnecessary summaries. Had all episodes been more condensed, it surely would have been more engaging to watch. Of course, I acknowledge the financial problem Manpuku Jinja had to struggle with when making this project but still, a bit of dissatisfaction is unavoidable.

Well, this is the end of my review. By and large, I think this Anime does a great job being a goofy fanon adaptation that’s enjoyable to watch yet still respectful to the source. It doesn’t truly reflect what Touhou is but definitely serves as a good entrance for many newcomers. No matter whether you are a Touhou fan or not, I highly recommend this series.

I. PROLOGUE:
“The one living my life, is me. I’m the one who stands up when I fall, and the one who decides the path I’ll take. I am the only one who can change my life.” – Mitarai Anzu.

“Mitarai-ke, Enjou suru” or “The Mitarai’s House is on Fire” is a hidden gem, one of the most underrated Manga I’ve ever read. The premise is similar to some Korean old-school family drama but beyond that theme, it’s a touching and meaningful story about people struggling to overcome their life’s problems.

II. INTRODUCTION:
Like the title just suggests, the story starts with an impressive scene that appears in ... the recollection of Anzu - the main heroine, her house was engulfed in flames and her mother prostrated in the inferno in front of her dad. It then progresses to the scene of Makiko – the stepmom of Anzu, who’s currently in charge of the Mitarai’s house. By her conversation with other people, it seems like she’s a good housewife, very polite and well-educated, but only till the next moment when she returns home, she immediately throws their gift into the trash can and casts a disdainful glance at it saying “It’s so ghetto”. Truth be told, she only puts on that friendly facade in order to cover her unkind and nasty personality. When Anzu enters the house and meets Makiko, Makiko doesn’t realize who Anzu is but Anzu’s already known her. In the next scene of the fire recalled from Anzu’s memory, a large group of people gathered around to discuss the incident. Among that crowd, Anzu was wide-eyed in amazement as she noticed a familiar figure of Makiko standing there with an insidious smile. It’s that smile that obsessed her for 13 years as she kept searching the clue for this mystery, which later lead to her plan of entering the house again as a housekeeper.

Only one chapter is sufficient to provide readers with enough information to grasp the theme of this Manga, a story in which the main heroine tries to uncover the truth of the mystery and take revenge on the woman who’s supposed to harm her family. Looking at Anzu doing her housework and seeing the way she embraces her mother’s hair brooch which was left beneath the sofa, readers could feel the sense of both strange and familiar of someone who has long yet returned home. And by following her re-discovery by checking other rooms, readers also have the chance to understand more about Mitarai’s house, a place where many major events in the story happen.

III. ARTWORK:
When reading Manga, the most notable thing to be noticed first definitely is the art. Since this is the first work of the author, it isn’t hard to realize how flawed the artwork is in the early chapters, most of the drawings are unrefined and some characters’ facial shapes are even lopsided. This gets better in the later chapters and the improvement here is really commendable. However, what’s worth mentioning is how the author deftly manages to utilize Manga illustration methods (shading, coloring, framing) and facial expressions in the key moments to create a thrilling atmosphere that impresses readers.

Again, still in the first chapter, right after Anzu picked the hair brooch and was immersed in the thought about the past, the next panel shows the legs of someone standing there menacingly looking at her. The drawing of her whole body is painted with a mere white color except for the outlines, subtly indicating that she’s petrified. On the next page, one horizontally narrow panel depicts her panicked face, one large panel zooms out the whole scene from an opposite point of view, one vertically narrow panel depicts her anxious look, and finally, one large panel zooms out the whole scene again but from the side view. No sound, no inner thought, no dialogue, a quiet and heavy atmosphere than sends shivers down readers’ spines.

IV. PLOT AND STORYTELLING:
As the Manga revolves around the mystery of the fire 13 years ago, a big question that readers keep wondering is who caused the fire and how did that happen. However, as the story progresses, many details slowly unfold. The elder son of Makiko, who used to be kind and amiable, a person Anzu adored, now retreats from society and becomes a hiki-neet. What is the reason behind that 180-degree turn? Anzu’s father after watching the video recorded by the surveillance camera decided to never talk about it again. Not so long later, he and Anzu’s mother got divorced. What is the secret these people try to conceal? Questions and doubts gradually stack up, once we get the answer to a question, another one just pops up.

For each chapter, there will always be some new and unforeseen events. When the story seems to be settled down, something unexpected would likely happen out of the blue, and every prediction made before become meaningless. Everyone harbors their secrets, who’s good, who’s bad, who’s guilty, who’s innocent, we will never know until finishing the last chapter. This kind of writing is very enticing as it always put readers on the edge of their seat. There’s hardly any safe room or actual silent moment in this Manga. Anzu, our heroine constantly has to handle difficult situations. She puts a lot of effort to infiltrate the house but later gets laid off only due to some small mistakes she accidentally commits. Despite that, she tries other ways to gain trust of Makiko. Everything seems to be smooth sailing for her. But “Man proposes, God disposes”, the compliant son whom she thought to be in the palm of her hand is just as crafty as his mother. He takes advantage of the camera footage to force Anzu to become his slave. Worried, anxious, apprehensive, that’s how readers feel when reading and following the main character.

In Manga, Anime, or other fiction, tropes are frequently used as they are tools to express creators’ ideas to the audience. This Manga is no exception and the remarkable trope being used is “Red Herring”, a writing technique to distract and mislead readers that there’s a surprising twist they didn’t see it coming. The author deployed it in a brilliant way here to put a surprise on readers’ faces. And not only that, each detail, each event, and each plot point is so well-planned that the whole story has got a certain level of complexity yet isn’t too confusing or contrived. When it reaches the climax and everything is exposed, there’s a sense of satisfaction as every piece matches up fantastically like puzzles of a picture. I really love the storytelling and plot structure of this Manga. Not too short to be called deficient, not too long to be called rambling, it’s just concise and fulfilling, a story that gets straight to the point, not only holding readers’ interest and attention but also maintaining consistency.

V. CHARACTERIZATION:
The success of this Manga doesn’t only come from the excellent writing but also come from the great characterization. They aren’t the type of stereotypical one-dimensional character or generic two-dimensional character but rather very realistic, dynamic, and lifelike.

The main heroine Anzu is depicted as a strong, agile, versatile, and prudent girl. Appearing to be perfect like that but in the end, she’s still a normal human. To avoid troubling her family, she decides to do her revenge alone. But reality is harsh, after many failures, she has to resort to having her sister help her. Anzu may look adorable and delicate most of the time but when needed, she can become such an entirely different person. She literally kabe-don Kiichi and shouts at his face “Shut up, I said, you freaking NEET.” In another scene where she confronts her father, she doesn’t hesitate to lodge a kick on his phone.

In contrast to Anzu, Makiko is the main antagonist of this Manga and also is the person Anzu tries to take revenge on. She’s menacing, astute, cunning, cautious, and manipulative. She thinks she’s better than everyone and likes to control people. She also gets some sort of Histrionic Personality Disorder. The most notable thing that could be seen from her disorder is how she’s willing to do anything by any means to put airs on herself, she wants to become the embodiment of a perfect housewife in the public eye. Moreover, ever since her first meet with Anzu’s mother Satsuki, she started mimicking her in every aspect, hairstyle, interests, and even her mannerism, to the point she almost becomes a clone of Satsuki.

Another important character in the story is Kiichi, a person with a close connection to the two female characters above. Despite being a 28-year-old grown man, he doesn’t have an academic background, work history, or even sociability, a complete shut-in NEET. However, he isn’t useless or incompetent. Just like his mother Makiko, he’s very smart and sharp-witted as he’s the first person to discover the real identity of Anzu. He’s also good at computer programming and even builds a website himself to make money out of advertisements. What leads to his downfall is the trauma he has long endured caused by various reasons in the past. Kiichi isn’t a good person but definitely isn’t unlikable.

Besides the elder brother and elder sister are the younger ones, Yuzu and Shinji. Like her sister, Yuzu is vivacious, sociable, and loves her family at heart. Yuzu is the one to take care of her mother on Anzu’s behalf when Anzu is busy with her revenge. She also invariably goes out of her way to secretly help Anzu. She tries to make friends with Makiko’s second son to collect private information, she alone goes to confront her father to directly ask about the fire. Talking about Shinji, he is an average student with not much distinction in terms of personality. He’s kinda slow and isn’t too smart, it takes him 4 times to pass the entrance exam. While he appears to be frivolous, actually he actually is very thoughtful and deeply cares about his family.

There’re other side characters like Anzu’s mother and father, the head nurse, and Shinji’s university girlfriend. They aren’t prominent like the main characters but aren’t poorly-written, the author gives them background and personality that makes them part of the big picture instead of just being a mere plot device.

The relationship between characters is another aspect nicely done. Reading this Manga, readers don’t only focus on the main story but also engage in seeing the interactions between Kiichi and Anzu, Shinji and Yuzu. They are very realistic and endearing but also cheesy like other romance shows. Sometimes it’s a typical conversation, sometimes it’s a quarrel, sometimes it’s a confession. Their relationships serve as a romantic subplot here. It doesn’t overshadow the main story but rather blends well with it.

VI. SUBTEXT:
The legend Hayao Miyazaki used to talk about the Anime-Manga industry being full of Otaku and produced by people who can’t stand looking at other people. His phrase doesn’t apply to the case of this Manga. I’m not only impressed by how great the story and characterization are but also by how realistic and relatable people and society it tries to show here. First is money, it’s a thing which causes jealousy among people. Makiko is jealous of Satsuki because Satsuki is a daughter of a rich family and also a wife of a chief doctor. The young Kiichi is jealous of Anzu because she can easily get the book she wants while he could only afford the old one even with all his savings. Money also rules everything else. Makiko pays Anzu more than normal to have her not spill the beans about any unnecessary things, she hands Kiichi’s friends to have them never make interaction with Kiichi again, she paid the university so Kiichi can pass the exam. Next thing is media, especially social networks, and how it influences our life. Kiichi creates a website full of gossip and baseless rumors about celebrity topics, pandering to every type of person, especially housewives and office ladies. It’s also social networks that spread the information of Kiichi’s backdoor admission, later causing him to become a NEET. Makiko is obsessed with the number of likes and followers on Instagram and always spends time embellishing her account, she even hires journalists to promote her and her family’s reputation.

As I’ve mentioned in the prologue, “The Mitarai’s House is on Fire” is a story about people struggling to overcome their life’s problems. No matter which person you are or which advantage you have, there will always be challenges and adversities you have to deal with. Yuzu has to find out the truth of the mystery and take revenge on her stepmom. Makiko used to be a single mom and worked like a horse to take care of her two sons and after becoming the wife of Anzu’s father, she has to endure the pressure of being compared to Satsuki. Kiichi always struggles to cope with society. Shinji has to work hard to pass the exam and be worthy as a son. Satsuki in the past was a weak and shy person, she has to learn a lot to become a strong woman. Even the feeble father of Anzu also has to keep the image and reputation of his family. A powerful message is subtly conveyed to readers by the dialogues between characters throughout the story – “I am the only one who can change my life”, “This is my life”, “I’ll decide for myself”, “The one who made my life a mess, is me”. We all have our own problems and we have to overcome it ourself.

One more thing I really love is how the author deftly uses the imagery of fire, it appears frequently in this Manga by any means. In the literal sense, it’s the catastrophe that destroys the main character’s house in the beginning, directly leading to the series of dramatic events that happen after. It also reappears again later in both the middle and the end of the story. In the figurative sense, the fire represents the madness of humans. It will always keep smoldering and can not be fully extinguished, only waits for a proper catalyst to start burning. About the Internet again, whenever someone or something goes on trending, people will jump on it like Kiichi said “They’re basically ‘on fire’. As Yuzu wants to help her sister, she also wants to know about the man called father who left her when she’s just a child. After a certain incident, her mind is filled with doubt, worry, and disappointment, the fire resides deep in her heart, a flame of indignation, starts igniting uncontrollably. In the end, it’s the physical fire that engulfs and destroys the Mitarai’s house and the metaphorical fire, which is the human-human conflict that brings down the Mitarai’s family.

VII. CONCLUSION:
From my perspective, a masterpiece doesn’t need to be impeccable or flawless but rather harmonious, beautiful in all the way it presents and leaves a strong impression. That’s the reason why “Mitarai-ke, Enjou suru” is undoubtedly a masterpiece to me.

Within the length of only 39 chapters, this Manga did a great job of encompassing everything from drama, psychological to mystery, suspense, and even romance. If you’re a fan of such genres, this is the one that you need to read. It may not be your perfect Manga but definitely will be worth your time.

Glass Mask is a classic Manga with an engaging, romantic yet deep and emotional storyline. It’s a world of people who have a strong passion for acting and are constantly striving to fulfill their own dreams. Behind those masks that the actors wear on stage are heart-touching stories about friendship, love and the everlasting passion for performing arts of characters whose fates are tied up with the work “Crimson Goddess”.

Have you ever wondered why acting, stage, role are so enchanting to artists? They can even give up their precious life for some brief moments to reverently live up to their characters on stage in front ... of thousands of audiences. Since ancient times, people have always cast prejudices towards artists. Even in Western countries, people still see artists as some sort of entertainment tool at parties or even some items which can be transacted with money. In the Asian region, especially a country with a rich history spanning thousands of years like Japan, the artists more or less do not stand a firm place in society. Through many ups and downs, even with the harsh truth that is the rule of elimination, they still live devotedly for their career with all their passion.

In terms of creative thinking and the true value of acting, it’s indeed we probably can not talk over it all. However, through 49 volumes of Glass Mask, Suzue Miuchi has skilfully portrayed a vividly lifelike picture of artists’ world, their struggles and efforts, what happens behind the stage and even the loss just to be alive for the passion to present in the limelight. The moment the artists step on the stage, they are no longer being themselves but rather assimilate themselves into their characters, having to wear the invisibly transparent “glass mask” on their face to cover their identity. Still having that same face but the person on stage isn’t a bashful and timid Maya girl but instead is a beautiful and noble character like Princess Aldis or a wild wolf Jane or even a quintessence of the millennial plum tree – “Crimson Goddess”.

The masks that they worn aren’t fictitious like ordinary people would use to assign the artists. Those are but the result of serious work and are truly valuable and worthy of respect, knowing the artists have put their heart and soul into their emotional and sublime performances in order to satisfy the audience. But alas, life is always full of insidious people who harbor hatred, envy and are willing to harm each other for their own benefit. The life of an artist is no exception, sometimes the stage is actually the most ferocious battlefield. When people have dreams, they live meaningfully. With extraordinary energy and effort, little Maya has overcome everything to achieve her ultimate purpose which she’s dreamed of, living as a theatre actress and playing many different roles on stage. To Maya, feeling a character isn’t limited to subjective emotions but is a process of striving to discover and live rightfully to the psychology of the character that she will act. When referring to young actors, people will normally have unfriendly looks to them as being impulsive, arrogant, aggressive, egotistical and likewise. But Maya is not among them. She may be different people on stage, can wear countless masks of all shapes and sizes when acting but when she is herself, she lives wholeheartedly for her friends and fairly competes with her biggest rival – Ayumi.

If you hate cliches and tropes in some Manga where the main characters being too perfect that makes them unrealistic and unrelatable then your worry is unnecessary. The two heroines of Glass Mask – Maya and Ayumi are not stereotypical, they live rightfully with their human emotions. Regarding Maya, apart from her talent for acting, she can not even remember a simple mathematical formula. When she is angry or hates someone, she will react vehemently without giving in and one of her victims is the Daito Art’s cold and heartless machine – Masumi. Maya hates him because he indirectly caused the death of her beloved mother and also tried to suppress her teacher Tsukikage as well as her small group.

Talk about Ayumi, who is called a genius and was born to play the main role, her image is akin to a happy, beautiful, light-hearted, talented princess. She is very confident in herself but never shows any sign of arrogance. She is well aware that she must grow mature and stand up on her own two feet as she can not live under the influence of her family forever. When facing Maya, a redoubtable rival who is even more talented than her in terms of acting, it’s natural that she may develop jealousy and find ways to harm Maya but on the contrary, she has always been respecting Maya and regards Maya as her biggest opponent. There’s even one time when Ayumi retaliated upon the person who harmed Maya, causing Maya to leave the stage and be ostracized. She always takes Maya as a goal to strive, to fight for the right to perform as the main actress of the superb work “Crimson Goddess” because only when competing with Maya that she can truly feel “I can do it”. In Ayumi’s eyes, ignoring all objective situations and the idea of being rivals to each other, Maya is a good friend who can become her confidante because they both share the same passion for acting and stage.

Even Masumi, the man is notorious for being called a workaholic because he never pays any heed to anything besides his business. However, standing in front of the innocent smile of the pure soul of a little girl 11 years younger than him that he realized his heart started beating unrhythmically from that moment. Masumi in reality isn’t as cold-blooded as everyone has ever thought of. It’s just his past is too painful and tragic that he wants everything to be rested, always aspire to become the most successful one, ignores everything and doesn’t need to love someone. In spite of that, since the human heart inherently has pulsation, it can’t help but vibrate and little Maya is the flame that melted the thick layer of ice covering his heart. As an adopted child himself, he has to suffer unforgettable obsessions about his poor mother who was estranged because his adoptive father just lived with the memory and adored the image of “Crimson Goddess”. Within Masumi’s subconscious, “Crimson Goddess” feels so distant but also very clear and lucid. Seeing that beautiful portrait got burned to ashes in the fire gave him haunting memories. At first, his purpose of obtaining the exclusive right for Daito Art to legally perform the play “Crimson Goddess” only has a goal to bury his tumultuous past but later, after knowing Maya that he wants to do it to see the image of a goddess through the girl that he falls head over heels in love with.

“Mr. Purple Roses”, “Daddy-Long-Legs”, those are aliases used by Maya to refer to the person who has always been supporting her since the early days. How ironic it is when that person is none other than Masumi, the one who Maya hates the most. As a classic Shoujo, the borderline between love and hate is really vague and often hard to define. Still, it’s an endless topic that will never make readers get bored because it reflects the purest form of emotions dwelling deep inside each person’s heart. The love between Masumi and Maya here is as beautiful as the stars in the sky when all resentments and hatreds seem to have vanished. On the opening day of the play “Forgotten Wilderness”, an unforeseen circumstance happened when a terrible typhoon directly hit the region, preventing people from coming to the theatre. However, despite that adversity, Masumi still went out of his way to come in the middle of the typhoon only to keep his promise to Maya. On that night, there was only one person sitting in the auditorium. Stewart’s blue scarf that “Jane” used to dry off the water droplet remained on the face of the “Daito Art’s machine”, that scarf was used only once on the first night. And “Mr. Purple Roses” finally made his appearance, he’s always been there, been tacitly supporting her for many years. It’s that event that set the stage of fate for their love to bear fruit. Whatever will be, will be. Later, in the hometown of “Crimson Goddess”, after seeing Ms. Tsukikage’s sublime performance, Maya started thinking about the love of the goddess. And just like that, as if guided by fate, Maya put on the robe that used to be worn by the goddess and at that moment, paranormal events occurred. Meeting Masumi on the other side of the river, she realized how fervent her love for he is. Their souls were likely to escape from their bodies and were about to join together and become one. But the reality is harsh, that moment is but an illusion that only happened in their own mind, or perhaps their two also didn’t have belief in the miracle.

In “Glass Mask”, not only do we find the love between young people and their passion for art but also understand the hardships that they have to go through since their path isn’t strewn with roses. Just as Yin and Yang are the two aspects of Taiji, our world also has bright side and dark side. While there’re people who choose the path of trampling on others to move up, there’re also people who choose to move up of their own will. Solidarity is strength, true friendship is always present as long as we have mutual trust and success is inevitable if we work earnestly with the love for stage. That’s what the Tsukikage group and the Ikkakuju group did. Even though they are two different groups, they became friends and teamed up for a performance of the play “A midsummer night's dream” that attracted more than 6000 audiences. That was also the stepping stone to bring Maya back to the stage after being ostracized. The friendship between Ayumi and Maya can be compared to princess and cinderella yet they still become good friends with each other. The kinship-like relationship between Maya and Rei and their co-stars in the Tsukikage group is also significant. Especially, the teacher-student relationship between the former “Crimson Goddess” – Ms. Tsukikage and Maya, Ayumi contributes to putting this Manga to its climax. Some people may say Ms. Tsukikage being strict and stern because she was hasty to have an heiress for “Crimson Goddess” as she didn’t want that play to be wasted. Some even said she’s too selfish. But “Spare the rod and spoil the child”, if you thoroughly look at it again you will realize her motivation. Were Ms. Tsukikage really that selfish, she would always live in the past when she was acting as “Crimson Goddess” and would never relinquish it nor give it to anyone. But she did not do it as she acknowledged that “Crimson Goddess” doesn’t belong to her alone. It is the quintessence of stage and acting, a classic work that is worthy of being handed down to posterity. She wanted to revive the divine spirit hidden inside the plum tree through another image and she devoted herself to it. It may sound extravagant but “Crimson Goddess” had already become her life.

There’re much more things in this Manga to discuss and analyze but I’d like to stop it here. And also, I want to spend a few words to appreciate Miuchi-sensei for creating “Glass Mask”, knowing that she barely has any knowledge about stage and acting before writing this Manga. Between Maya and Ayumi, who will earn the right to perform “Crimson Goddess”? Will Maya and Masumi become lovers? The hiatus has been prolonging for 10 years but I hope one day we can see the ending of this story. With 50 million copies being sold, Glass Mask has become the second highest-selling Shoujo Manga ever made. Old but gold, despite how obsolescent it may appear to be and how unsung it is in modern-day industry/market, this Manga is undeniably one of the classic masterpiece with a magnificent character-driven story that hooked people who’re in love with stage play in particular or merely a Shoujo Romance fan in general.