Garasu No Kamen / (aka) Glass Mask:
- on going manga that started in 1975 but there was a 10 years hiatus. There are about 46 volumes by now
- if you want an anime version, I recommend the 2005 one that has 51episodes. Plus the main lead voice is reaaaaaally hot (its the same actor who does the voice of Takumi in Nana and Final Fantasy 7's Sephiroth - in all the versions-, if that tells you anything).
- But DON'T go for the dramas, it would change/ruin everything !
Masumi Hayami is 11 years older than Maya Kitajima.
The story starts when she is about 12 (right now in the manga she's about 21)
She is a genius aspiring actress and he is a millionaire producer.
They soon become enemies (well, he's after her teacher's copyright and she hates his guts).
Don't worry, the love story isn't the barely legal creepy kind, it's a well developped and touching relationship that introduced me to japan/mangaland. Also, the acting world isn't a pretext for a love story here, her journey to become a first-rate actress is as important as her love story, and this really adds some dephts to the manga itself.
It's the perfect mix between Shojo manga and Initiation manga. I actually think that the author of Skip Beat is a fan of Glass Mask, because there are just too many references to GM in SB^^
This is my first manga and my favorite by far.