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Glass Mask Manga's Miuchi Acknowledges End is Near

Manga creator Suzue Miuchi has acknowledged that she feel that the time has come to bring her Glass Mask (Glass no Kamen) shōjo romance epic to an end "soon." Miuchi began the story about an aspiring actress, her lifelong rival, and her suitors in Hakusensha's Hana to Yume magazine back in the beginning of 1976. 34 years later, Hakusensha has shipped the 44th volume and has printed 50 million copies of the entire series.

In the last 16 years, Miuchi has drawn only five volumes. However, the latest two volumes both came out this year, and Miuchi restarted the magazine serialization in Hakusensha's Bessatsu Hana to Yume magazine. Miuchi says that the lead characters Maya and Masumi have suddenly come to the forefront of her mind in the past one to two years. She adds that she feels that "the time has come to bring [this story] to an end soon."

Three decades after Miuchi first wrote about the fictional Crimson Goddess stage play in the story, Maya and her acting rival Ayumi Himekawa are finally practicing for the play's last audition in the 44th volume. Her editor says that she "didn't want to just present any ending" and her perfectionism was the biggest reason for the drawn-out storyline. According to Miuchi, she already decided on the manga's final scene over two decades ago.

The manga inspired a 1984 television series and a 2005-2006 television remake. There was also a three-part video series that started in 1998.

Source: Asahi Shimbun

Update: Crimson Goddess' description as a play fixed. Thanks, Shigi.