Glass Mask (Japanese: ガラスの仮面, Hepburn: Garasu no Kamen) is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Suzue Miuchi, serialized in Hana to Yume from January 1976, and collected in 49 tankōbon volumes as of October 2012. The story has also been adapted into anime and a live-action television series. As of 2006, the collected volumes had 50 million copies in Japan, making it the second best-selling shōjo manga ever. 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. After not publishing a new chapter of the story for more than two years, Miuchi re-launched Glass Mask in Hakusensha's Bessatsu Hana to Yume magazine in July 2008. Miuchi has announced that she intends to end the series soon.