Earlier today, NHK's morning variety show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）devoted its truncated time (the Diet is having Question Period these days) toward manga which has had a deep impact on people.
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One such manga is the 1976 "Garasu no Kamen" (Glass Mask) about a young girl willing to go the distance to become a stage actress. One woman featured on the show adored the manga so much that she opted to get away from her delinquent way of life and pursued an acting career for several years before settling down.
In April l984, an anime adaptation was put on NTV and I have to admit that the opening credits are honestly quite creepy with Maya Kitajima's（北島マヤ）frozen mask of a face (maybe that's the point; I've never read the manga) as she's prancing about in her blue swimsuit. Suddenly, images of that Darren Aronofsky film "Black Swan" come to mind.
However, I've got no problems with the opening theme "Garasu no Kamen" since it mixes together a combination of City Pop supplied by singer Mariko Ashibe（芦部真梨子）and Frank Stallone's 1983 hit "Far From Over". And of course, with the opening credits and the melody, "Flashdance" also pops up in the memory. Masao Urino（売野雅勇）supplied the lyrics while Gouji Tsuno（つのごうじ）came up with the snazzy music with Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）handling the arrangement (my compliments on the horn section).
Ashibe is already profiled here through a couple of articles based on two tracks from her one-and-only album under that name (she has gone by Reina Muramoto（村本玲奈）, jazz singer, since 1986), "Street Scandal"（ストリート・スキャンダル）.
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