Story:
I tried to like the story but it opted for cheesy melodrama, bad action sequences and a love triangle that I did not care about. It tries to go for gut wrenching emotions but falls short because it does not bother to establish a conflict we truly care about, nor does it establish characters that I really cared about much at all.
Art:
The art ranges from absolutely awful, to pretty good, sometimes varying wildly between episodes. One thing that I absolutely hated was the CGI dogfight scenes, the action and the choreography were well done, but the computer generated graphics felt clunky and out
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May 8, 2008
Glass no Kamen
(Manga)
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Glass mask is one of the best shoujo manga out there. Despite having a common enough shoujo setting, the plot hardly ever falls into any of the comon cliches that shoujo manga often times fall into. The artwork is in a classic 80s style, nothing outstanding, but the mangaka does not skimp on the minor details, and her understanding of common facial expressions is top notch.
Where Glass Mask really stands out is in the main characters and in the story. We are presented with a main character that is hard not to sympathize with and all the supporting characters and antagonists are really well ... 
Apr 24, 2008
Nodame Cantabile
(Manga)
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As a former student of music I found this to be an absolutley fantastic read. The story is realistic and has a good feel to it. The characters in multidimensional and engaging and the understanding of music and musical terms is very good.
I would reccomend also listeing to the nodame cantabile CDs in accompanyment to reading the manga, it makes it a much more enriching and enjoyable experience. The only downside to this is that tje romantic development is very slow, though it does not fall into any of the typical shoujo manga cliches. 
Apr 18, 2008
Glass no Kamen (2005)
(Anime)
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I know this is grave digging, but After having discovered the Glass Mask manga, and then this anime, I was suprised how superb they were. The newest version updates the style of the characters, but it still follows the manga fairley closely.
THIS is the kind of shoujo I want to watch, much, much better than the typical shoujo we get these days. The characters are all engrossing and interesting, even all the supporting characters are well fleshed out and with an interesting and realistic story. If anyone hasn't seen this I strongly reccomend watching the manga, and then watching the anime. |
