Glass Mask (ガラスの仮面, Garasu no Kamen?) is a long-running shōjo manga by Suzue Miuchi, serialised in Hana to Yume from January 1976, and collected in 42 tankōbon volumes as of 2006. The story has also been adopted into anime several times, including TV series in 1984 and 2005 and an OVA. The title refers poetically to the mask of faces that actors wear - while expressing emotions that are not their own, the mask they wear (their acting) is as fragile as glass. If the actors are distracted, their mask will "break" and show on stage the actors' true feelings.

Glass Mask is a saga depicting the devotion of Maya Kitajima to the performing arts as a professional stage actress, and her competition with her skilled rival, Ayumi Himekawa. They are both pursuing the degree of acting proficiency and career success required to play the lead role of the legendary stage play "The Crimson Goddess" ("Kurenai Tennyo"). Maya has dreamed of becoming an actress all her life, but no one in her family believes she can do it, and she is determined to prove them wrong. On the other hand, everyone expects the gifted and multi-talented Ayumi to succeed, so she is determined to reach the top on her own without the help of her prestigious parents.

As the story unfolds it encompasses the tangled human relationships of many characters, including Maya's mentor, Chigusa Tsukikage, who discovered Maya's tremendous talent for acting during her search for a successor capable of performing the role of "The Crimson Goddess", and Masumi Hayami, the young president of a large production company, who often interacts with Maya as a crafty and cold-hearted entrepreneur, while giving her faithful support and warm encouragement in the disguise of an anonymous fan ("The Purple Rose Person", or "murasaki no bara no hito" as Maya calls him for his trademark gift of purple roses). Though there is an age difference of eleven years, Masumi falls in love with Maya and gives her encouragement in subtle ways.