Ahhh … this is after they spent the night together in an old shrine, isn’t it? The second time Masumi stole a kiss from sleeping Maya. 🙂 Gosh, how I miss them! 😦
Hahaha, yes, he has a more aggressive character compared to Albert. His self control is very thin when it comes to Maya. He has a tendency to get drowned into a self destruction as well. To have it more complicated, he’s somewhat too weak to certain people, such as his father and Shiori. For me, no other fictional characters has beaten William Albert Ardley in perfection, to this date.
From what I’ve heard, Miuchi sensei is a perfectionist. So much so she herself cannot make up her mind what perfect ending she wants to Maya. Have you heard about her publishing a chapter in a weekly manga compilation magazine ( I forgot the name of the magz) years ago, then she cancelled it afterward and rewrite a completely different plot to replace it. “Amazing” huh? 🙂
I’ve (almost) lost my hope, too. But like Maya, I still have this 1% hope Miuchi would finish it someday. In a near future. Can you still speak your mother tongue, Beautiful Illusion? I have a link to a fan-fiction that seems to be a great closure to the story.
The way I see it when you compare it side by side, Masumi is human and Albert, for lack of better word, super human.
Putting biases aside, the reason why Albert seems to be so much superior to other characters (to Albertfans specifically, more than others) I think is because of the way Mizuki depicted him in the story. How much do we really know of him? Not much really, whether it’s from the manga, anime, or the novels. His character is shrouded in mystery. And what we do know is mostly through Candy’s perspective, as we rarely see him interact with other characters. Equipped with this limited knowledge, it’s difficult for readers to make sound judgment on his character. Consequently, this leads to mixed opinions in the fandom, with the majority is split between Albertfans and Terrfans. No surprise there. Depending on which side you are, you can either maintain a highly favorable and sympathetic view of Albert, brushing off his deception and lies as nothing (let’s be honest here. regardless of his motivation, what he did was still wrong, and worse he kept going about it for months), or the complete opposite.
I’m well aware of the chapters that were released on BetsuHana. How long ago was the last chapter released? Several years ago?
Artists and authors are notorious to be perfectionist. Unlike Mizuki who can only write, Miuchi is a mangaka, who assumes the roles of both the author and artist. So yeah I expect her to be a perfectionist. But I don’t think that’s the only reason why she has dragged her feet to finish the series. Speaking from my own experience, I can say that despite knowing how the story should progress and end, sometimes an author can still be stuck in a rut, with no motivation and no inspiration to continue. That might be the case with Miuchi, as she had mentioned it several times that she knew how the story should end.
Of course, I can still speak and read my mother tongue language, but I won’t attempt to write anything, as I know it’d be downright horrible. Years ago, when I was still an ardent fan, I had gobbled ridiculous numbers of GnK fanfics written in different languages, including Indonesian. In fact it was my obsession with GnK that ultimately brought me back to CC, convincing me to give the series (that I thought had a disappointing ending) another chance. As I began to immerse myself in the world of CC, inevitably my fixation on GnK faded. And now I’m just indifferent. Thank you for the suggestion, but at the moment I already have a lot on my plate. Maybe later in the future, after I’m done with my fics and my interest for GnK is resurrected somehow.
Hello there. I can’t recall the exact chapter/volume–I will need to check. But I can tell you this is the chapter in which Masumi and Maya were trapped in the small temple in the Plum Valley because and spent the night together.
Hello. To answer the question above, the picture is from Volume 37, Chapter 2. I checked the English scanlation. It is indeed when they spent the night in the temple in Plum Valley.
It’s too bad the story hasn’t finished yet. There are 49 volumes published as far as I know, and Volume 50 is still anticipated. It’s unbelievable that it started back in 1976 and is still going on. Let’s hope it will be concluded soon. I really admire those fans who know Glass Mask for years and have the patience to wait for the next volume. I have discovered it just a few months ago and haven’t read it yet. I have just found the English scanlations of the first 39 volumes and scanned through them. I intend to read all of it and form my own opinion about it. Hopefully more volumes will be published in English.
Hello Fay. Yes, you’re right the last volume that was published was volume 49, which was released in 2012. Can you believe it that it has been so long ago? I was so excited when I first found out about it and rushed to the local Kinokuniya to purchase it. I had high hopes that volume 50 would be released soon afterward. Alas, that didn’t happen. Such a pity 😦
So you only recently discovered it? Overall, it’s a very engaging story. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. But yeah… the dragging by the author to finish it, it’s a bit aggravating that I simply lost my interest. But I must say that without GnK, I wouldn’t be an avid supporter of Albert/Candy. For that reason, I have to thank Miuchi sensei 😀
I have all the GnK volumes in my possession. If you’re interested I can surely give you the summary and scan some of the interesting scenes. Alternatively, I think there’s an Italian forum from which you can gather all the information about GnK, including some scanlations and tanslations, both in Italian and English (if I’m not mistaken).
So you owe your support to Albert and Candy to Masumi and Maya? Well, with me it’s the other way around. Being an Albert-Candy fan, I was attracted to Masumi and Maya’s story. I guess there must be a lot in common between the two couples, and I can’t wait to discover them. I’ve got some idea about it watching the anime version. I hope it’s faithful to the manga and hasn’t misled me. I liked it, though. I’m glad to have found this story even now, after not knowing anything about it all these years, and it’s nice to see there are English scanlations of the first 39 volumes. Yes, I would like to have a summary of the story and some scans of the latest volumes, if it’s not too inconvenient for you. Thank you very much!
I didn’t know about this Italian forum you mentioned. If it’s also in English, it would be very helpful for a new fan like me to collect some general information before reading the whole story.
I surely do owe Miuchi sensei for taking off my blinders. It truly is difficult to accept Candy ends up with Albert if you read the manga as a casual reader. Only the third time I read it that it became clear to me what is the underlying plot, that CC is not only about Candy but also about Albert finding his way back to her. Third time is the charm, after all 😉
There are some similarities between Albert-Candy and Masumi-Maya. Their age gap, difference in social status, daddy-long-legs elements, their personalities though are quite different.
I don’t remember how it is in the anime. I watched it ages ago. Somehow, I recall being not 100% satisfied by it. Similar to CC, there are some important scenes from the manga that are excluded in the anime.
Are you currently reading the manga? Let me know when you’re done, as I don’t want to spoil the story for you–well, except if you don’t mind being spoiled 😉 I’ll give you the summary of what happens after volume 39, or if you want to know any specific volume. The same applies to the scan.
I think there are several forums focused on GnK. Since I’ve pretty much abandoned the fandom, I haven’t been to any GnK sites and seem to have misplaced the links. But I’m sure a simple internet search should be able to give you plenty of leads.
I have just begun reading the manga. Well, I have scanned through many of the scenes before that. Maybe this is not the best way to know a story, but it’s definitely a certain way to find out if this story is going to be interesting and worth reading. If you don’t like it, you just drop it. Scanning through it, I came to the conclusion that this particular story is very good and worth reading. I noticed the similarities between Candy-Albert and Maya-Masumi, although I don’t want to compare them too much yet. I need to delve further into the story to do that.
I have been reading Volume 1 currently, However, I don’t mind being spoiled (I have already spoiled myself going through several episodes of the manga), so you don’t have to worry about that. I suppose the charm of the story won’t be any less because of spoilers. I’d be grateful if you could provide a summary after Volume 39.
There is indeed an Italian forum with an English speaking section which contains several information about Glass Mask. I’ll browse through it and see what I can find. If I locate any extra interesting volume among those that haven’t been scanlated in English yet, I’ll let you know and ask for some scans of yours. (Thank you again!)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that in this story, unlike Candy Candy, the romance between the two main characters is very clear from the first reading.
LOL. No, that’s the best way all right. I’ve done that many many times, especially for the super long series. I’ll skim through the chapters and take a peek at the ending. Nothing wrong with that. Before I invest hours of my precious time, I want to make sure it will be worthwhile.
I see, so you only commenced your reading recently. It’ll be a long journey, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it thoroughly. I did.
Since you’ve given me the permission to spoil you, I shall not hold back, like I said I own the manga up to the latest volume, volume 49. Just message me and let me know what chapter/specific scene that you’re interested to learn more. I’ll do my best to provide those to you.
It appears you found the Italian Forum. I think there are 2 that I know of. The quality and variety of the contents are about the same though. So either one should be fine.
As for your inquiry, the answer is yes. The possibility of romance between the main protagonists are clearly laid out from the beginning, especially from the hero POV but not so much from the heroine. Although the development is painstakingly slow and at times stalled, it makes perfect sense considering the age-gap and is done in such a way that you can’t help but root for them. This right here is the major difference compared to CC. In CC, casual readers are simply unable to grasp the romance between Albert and Candy and that’s because the possibility is never presented clearly, and any hints for it is either implied or incredibly subtle that you can only comprehend it when you read between the lines.
I have finished reading all 39 volumes that are available in English. I have also found volumes 42-49 in Japanese and with the help of the English summaries of them which I found in an English speaking blog, I have understood the story beyond volume 39. I have to say I loved this manga. In some ways it is even better than CC. Of course there are a lot of similarities. Before going to that, I’ll state that it is fortunate that the creator of GM is the same person who made the illustrations, so she had complete authority and nobody else interfered with her work as Igarashi did with Nagita’s story.
I read that Suzue Miuchi said that she will have Volume 50 published in 2020. Hopefully it will conclude the story, and also there will be an English translation for the rest of it.
Masumi is very similar to Albert, and yet he is also very different from him. I think the circumstances in which both grew up and lived play a very important role in the development of their characters and their attitude. I have no doubt that if Masumi had grown up in a loving environment, no matter if his parents were alive or not, he would be just as gentle and kind as Albert. However, Masumi had a cruel and unfeeling stepfather who taught him not to trust anybody, while Albert had a loving sister who was like a second mother to him and taught him to love people and nature. The results would be inevitable for both of them, and surely if Masumi was in Albert’s place, he would turn up to be exactly like Albert, and the same goes for Albert too. There are very little basic differences between them as characters. While he had his mother, Masumi was a cheerful boy, he had friends, he was social, friendly, kind, he had a tender heart. Eisuke managed to change that and transformed him into a heartless and cold man who cared only for business and didn’t love anybody. But that was only superficial. I don’t believe he was ever really cold hearted. He just seemed that way so that people wouldn’t be able to hurt him. He had a heart all right, warm and passionate, and he just waited for the right girl to step into it. Sigh…
Beautiful Illusion 
Ahhh … this is after they spent the night together in an old shrine, isn’t it? The second time Masumi stole a kiss from sleeping Maya. 🙂 Gosh, how I miss them! 😦
Yes… Another example how Masumi is nothing like Albert.
Can you imagine what would’ve happened if Albert were like Masumi? 😀
I’ve long given up on the series. Not sure why it takes so long for Miuchi sensei to wrap this up.
Hahaha, yes, he has a more aggressive character compared to Albert. His self control is very thin when it comes to Maya. He has a tendency to get drowned into a self destruction as well. To have it more complicated, he’s somewhat too weak to certain people, such as his father and Shiori. For me, no other fictional characters has beaten William Albert Ardley in perfection, to this date.
From what I’ve heard, Miuchi sensei is a perfectionist. So much so she herself cannot make up her mind what perfect ending she wants to Maya. Have you heard about her publishing a chapter in a weekly manga compilation magazine ( I forgot the name of the magz) years ago, then she cancelled it afterward and rewrite a completely different plot to replace it. “Amazing” huh? 🙂
I’ve (almost) lost my hope, too. But like Maya, I still have this 1% hope Miuchi would finish it someday. In a near future. Can you still speak your mother tongue, Beautiful Illusion? I have a link to a fan-fiction that seems to be a great closure to the story.
The way I see it when you compare it side by side, Masumi is human and Albert, for lack of better word, super human.
Putting biases aside, the reason why Albert seems to be so much superior to other characters (to Albertfans specifically, more than others) I think is because of the way Mizuki depicted him in the story. How much do we really know of him? Not much really, whether it’s from the manga, anime, or the novels. His character is shrouded in mystery. And what we do know is mostly through Candy’s perspective, as we rarely see him interact with other characters. Equipped with this limited knowledge, it’s difficult for readers to make sound judgment on his character. Consequently, this leads to mixed opinions in the fandom, with the majority is split between Albertfans and Terrfans. No surprise there. Depending on which side you are, you can either maintain a highly favorable and sympathetic view of Albert, brushing off his deception and lies as nothing (let’s be honest here. regardless of his motivation, what he did was still wrong, and worse he kept going about it for months), or the complete opposite.
I’m well aware of the chapters that were released on BetsuHana. How long ago was the last chapter released? Several years ago?
Artists and authors are notorious to be perfectionist. Unlike Mizuki who can only write, Miuchi is a mangaka, who assumes the roles of both the author and artist. So yeah I expect her to be a perfectionist. But I don’t think that’s the only reason why she has dragged her feet to finish the series. Speaking from my own experience, I can say that despite knowing how the story should progress and end, sometimes an author can still be stuck in a rut, with no motivation and no inspiration to continue. That might be the case with Miuchi, as she had mentioned it several times that she knew how the story should end.
Of course, I can still speak and read my mother tongue language, but I won’t attempt to write anything, as I know it’d be downright horrible. Years ago, when I was still an ardent fan, I had gobbled ridiculous numbers of GnK fanfics written in different languages, including Indonesian. In fact it was my obsession with GnK that ultimately brought me back to CC, convincing me to give the series (that I thought had a disappointing ending) another chance. As I began to immerse myself in the world of CC, inevitably my fixation on GnK faded. And now I’m just indifferent. Thank you for the suggestion, but at the moment I already have a lot on my plate. Maybe later in the future, after I’m done with my fics and my interest for GnK is resurrected somehow.
what is the chapter and volume?
Hello there. I can’t recall the exact chapter/volume–I will need to check. But I can tell you this is the chapter in which Masumi and Maya were trapped in the small temple in the Plum Valley because and spent the night together.
Hello. To answer the question above, the picture is from Volume 37, Chapter 2. I checked the English scanlation. It is indeed when they spent the night in the temple in Plum Valley.
It’s too bad the story hasn’t finished yet. There are 49 volumes published as far as I know, and Volume 50 is still anticipated. It’s unbelievable that it started back in 1976 and is still going on. Let’s hope it will be concluded soon. I really admire those fans who know Glass Mask for years and have the patience to wait for the next volume. I have discovered it just a few months ago and haven’t read it yet. I have just found the English scanlations of the first 39 volumes and scanned through them. I intend to read all of it and form my own opinion about it. Hopefully more volumes will be published in English.
Hello Fay. Yes, you’re right the last volume that was published was volume 49, which was released in 2012. Can you believe it that it has been so long ago? I was so excited when I first found out about it and rushed to the local Kinokuniya to purchase it. I had high hopes that volume 50 would be released soon afterward. Alas, that didn’t happen. Such a pity 😦
So you only recently discovered it? Overall, it’s a very engaging story. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. But yeah… the dragging by the author to finish it, it’s a bit aggravating that I simply lost my interest. But I must say that without GnK, I wouldn’t be an avid supporter of Albert/Candy. For that reason, I have to thank Miuchi sensei 😀
I have all the GnK volumes in my possession. If you’re interested I can surely give you the summary and scan some of the interesting scenes. Alternatively, I think there’s an Italian forum from which you can gather all the information about GnK, including some scanlations and tanslations, both in Italian and English (if I’m not mistaken).
So you owe your support to Albert and Candy to Masumi and Maya? Well, with me it’s the other way around. Being an Albert-Candy fan, I was attracted to Masumi and Maya’s story. I guess there must be a lot in common between the two couples, and I can’t wait to discover them. I’ve got some idea about it watching the anime version. I hope it’s faithful to the manga and hasn’t misled me. I liked it, though. I’m glad to have found this story even now, after not knowing anything about it all these years, and it’s nice to see there are English scanlations of the first 39 volumes. Yes, I would like to have a summary of the story and some scans of the latest volumes, if it’s not too inconvenient for you. Thank you very much!
I didn’t know about this Italian forum you mentioned. If it’s also in English, it would be very helpful for a new fan like me to collect some general information before reading the whole story.
I surely do owe Miuchi sensei for taking off my blinders. It truly is difficult to accept Candy ends up with Albert if you read the manga as a casual reader. Only the third time I read it that it became clear to me what is the underlying plot, that CC is not only about Candy but also about Albert finding his way back to her. Third time is the charm, after all 😉
There are some similarities between Albert-Candy and Masumi-Maya. Their age gap, difference in social status, daddy-long-legs elements, their personalities though are quite different.
I don’t remember how it is in the anime. I watched it ages ago. Somehow, I recall being not 100% satisfied by it. Similar to CC, there are some important scenes from the manga that are excluded in the anime.
Are you currently reading the manga? Let me know when you’re done, as I don’t want to spoil the story for you–well, except if you don’t mind being spoiled 😉 I’ll give you the summary of what happens after volume 39, or if you want to know any specific volume. The same applies to the scan.
I think there are several forums focused on GnK. Since I’ve pretty much abandoned the fandom, I haven’t been to any GnK sites and seem to have misplaced the links. But I’m sure a simple internet search should be able to give you plenty of leads.
I have just begun reading the manga. Well, I have scanned through many of the scenes before that. Maybe this is not the best way to know a story, but it’s definitely a certain way to find out if this story is going to be interesting and worth reading. If you don’t like it, you just drop it. Scanning through it, I came to the conclusion that this particular story is very good and worth reading. I noticed the similarities between Candy-Albert and Maya-Masumi, although I don’t want to compare them too much yet. I need to delve further into the story to do that.
I have been reading Volume 1 currently, However, I don’t mind being spoiled (I have already spoiled myself going through several episodes of the manga), so you don’t have to worry about that. I suppose the charm of the story won’t be any less because of spoilers. I’d be grateful if you could provide a summary after Volume 39.
There is indeed an Italian forum with an English speaking section which contains several information about Glass Mask. I’ll browse through it and see what I can find. If I locate any extra interesting volume among those that haven’t been scanlated in English yet, I’ll let you know and ask for some scans of yours. (Thank you again!)
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that in this story, unlike Candy Candy, the romance between the two main characters is very clear from the first reading.
LOL. No, that’s the best way all right. I’ve done that many many times, especially for the super long series. I’ll skim through the chapters and take a peek at the ending. Nothing wrong with that. Before I invest hours of my precious time, I want to make sure it will be worthwhile.
I see, so you only commenced your reading recently. It’ll be a long journey, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it thoroughly. I did.
Since you’ve given me the permission to spoil you, I shall not hold back, like I said I own the manga up to the latest volume, volume 49. Just message me and let me know what chapter/specific scene that you’re interested to learn more. I’ll do my best to provide those to you.
It appears you found the Italian Forum. I think there are 2 that I know of. The quality and variety of the contents are about the same though. So either one should be fine.
As for your inquiry, the answer is yes. The possibility of romance between the main protagonists are clearly laid out from the beginning, especially from the hero POV but not so much from the heroine. Although the development is painstakingly slow and at times stalled, it makes perfect sense considering the age-gap and is done in such a way that you can’t help but root for them. This right here is the major difference compared to CC. In CC, casual readers are simply unable to grasp the romance between Albert and Candy and that’s because the possibility is never presented clearly, and any hints for it is either implied or incredibly subtle that you can only comprehend it when you read between the lines.
I have finished reading all 39 volumes that are available in English. I have also found volumes 42-49 in Japanese and with the help of the English summaries of them which I found in an English speaking blog, I have understood the story beyond volume 39. I have to say I loved this manga. In some ways it is even better than CC. Of course there are a lot of similarities. Before going to that, I’ll state that it is fortunate that the creator of GM is the same person who made the illustrations, so she had complete authority and nobody else interfered with her work as Igarashi did with Nagita’s story.
I read that Suzue Miuchi said that she will have Volume 50 published in 2020. Hopefully it will conclude the story, and also there will be an English translation for the rest of it.
Masumi is very similar to Albert, and yet he is also very different from him. I think the circumstances in which both grew up and lived play a very important role in the development of their characters and their attitude. I have no doubt that if Masumi had grown up in a loving environment, no matter if his parents were alive or not, he would be just as gentle and kind as Albert. However, Masumi had a cruel and unfeeling stepfather who taught him not to trust anybody, while Albert had a loving sister who was like a second mother to him and taught him to love people and nature. The results would be inevitable for both of them, and surely if Masumi was in Albert’s place, he would turn up to be exactly like Albert, and the same goes for Albert too. There are very little basic differences between them as characters. While he had his mother, Masumi was a cheerful boy, he had friends, he was social, friendly, kind, he had a tender heart. Eisuke managed to change that and transformed him into a heartless and cold man who cared only for business and didn’t love anybody. But that was only superficial. I don’t believe he was ever really cold hearted. He just seemed that way so that people wouldn’t be able to hurt him. He had a heart all right, warm and passionate, and he just waited for the right girl to step into it. Sigh…