Hentai is not something I enjoy; some things are better off in live- action. However, the reviews at Anime News Network spoke highly of this feature, and the artwork was very pretty, so my interest was roused. It took me sometime but I was able to track it down and watch it. And I wasn't disappointed. MASQUERADE (or its more appropriate Japanese title of ANCESTOR's GLORY) is more or less like every other hentai, where a guy and a girl get together and do it – but thankfully the story that centers around this is a fairly good one, that boasts a decent narrative and characterization.A newly orphaned teenager goes to stay with his grandmother, and learns that his family discovered the secret to eternal life - a golden liquid within their bodies that comes out whenever they get excited. The problem is, the more times he gets excited the closer he comes to dying, a fate all his relatives have shared. He ends up getting lucky with a lot of females: his housemaid, a foreign college student trying to get his golden fluid, his gorgeous school nurse and her overachiever daughter (who is the best character in the feature), and his new schoolteacher who is holding a secret of her own...

For the most part, the story is suspenseful and mysterious enough to be fairly interesting. Things move along at a fairly even pace, giving enough time for the story and the characters to develop well enough to be interesting. The artwork is well-done, reminiscent of TENCHI MUYO; it's actually made by the same people who did that show, and thus in some respects acts as a more adult version of the show. The voice actors are basic, but do their job all right (the English dub is sub-par, you're better off watching this in pure subbed Japanese).

There are probably better hentais out there. But this one at least has an engaging story and characters, and is worth watching once.