Candy Candy

Candy Candy (キャンディ・キャンディ, Kyandi Kyandi) is a Japanese series created by Japanese writer Keiko Nagita under the pen name Kyoko Mizuki. The main character, Candice "Candy" White Ardley, is a blonde girl with freckles, large emerald green eyes and long hair, worn in pigtails with bows. Candy Candy first appeared as a manga in April 1975, written by Mizuki and illustrated by manga artist Yumiko Igarashi, a collaboration which was put together by the Japanese magazine Nakayoshi who were interested in recreating a "masterpiece" manga in the same vein as Heidi, Anne of Green Gables and other famous classic titles of literature read predominantly by young girls. The manga series ran for four years, and won the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo in 1977. The story was adapted into an anime series by Toei Animation. There are also three animated short films.
The Candy Candy manga provides a story for the shōjo demographic of young girls in early adolescence. Candy is an abandoned orphan taken in by Pony's Home, an orphanage near Lake Michigan around the start of the 20th century. She spends the first years of her life at the orphanage, to where she would often return to repose and to decide the next course in her life. When Candy was 6 years old, Annie, her best friend at the orphanage, is adopted. Without her friend, Candy runs to Pony's Hill while crying. There she briefly meets a mysterious boy dressed in a Scottish kilt and carrying a bagpipe, who tells her she is more beautiful when she laughs. Candy retains fond memories of that boy. She remembers him as the "Prince on the Hill". After he disappears, Candy finds a badge left behind by the "Prince"; this becomes her happiness talisman later in life.
When she turns 12, Candy is taken in by the Leagan family as a companion for their daughter Eliza. The Leagans treat her poorly and eventually make Candy a servant girl. While there, Candy also meets three boys; Anthony Brown, who looks exactly like the "Prince on the Hill", and the Cornwell brothers, the inventive Alistair and the flamboyant Archibald (Stair and Archie). They all become smitten with Candy and become friends. Candy has special feelings for Anthony, and he is her "first, innocent love". This does not go unnoticed by Eliza, who is also interested in Anthony, and she wants desperately to send Candy away. Both her and her brother Neal bully Candy at every opportunity. On one such an occasion, the two siblings plot against Candy, and she ends up being accused of stealing, causing her to run away. She wants to return to Pony's Home, but falls asleep inside a small boat and is in danger of falling off a waterfall. A mysterious bearded man who lives in a hut with animals saves her, introducing himself as Albert. Candy feels how kind this man is and he leaves a deep impression on her. Candy returns to the Leagans, and as a punishment for "stealing" she is sent away to work on their family farm in Mexico. Through the efforts of her friends, who write a letter to their rich Great Uncle William Ardlay, the head of the Ardlay clan, Candy is rescued when Great Uncle William allegedly adopts her. His true identity remains a mystery until the end of the story and the adoption is never confirmed but continuously disputed, especially amongst the members of the Ardlay family.
During Candy's pseudo-adoption party, Anthony dies in a hunting accident when he was thrown off his horse. Candy is completely distraught and decides she wants to return to Pony's Home. Georges, the personal assistant to Great Uncle William, appears one day and asks Candy to come with him. Great Uncle William will be sending her, along with Archie, Stair and the Leagan siblings, to London to study at the prestigious St. Paul's College. It is here she meets and becomes attracted to Terrence (Terrius/Terry) Granchester, the illegitimate child of a British Duke and an American Broadway actress, Eleanor Baker. Candy sees him for the first time, crying, on New Year's Eve while both are aboard the boat to London. Terry is Candy's "second and passionate love that has to be broken". Circumstances divide the pair when Eliza Leagan schemes to have Candy expelled from St. Paul's by manipulating them into a scandal.
After the scandal, Terry leaves St. Paul's to protect Candy's reputation and pursue his aspiration to become a Shakespearean actor. When Candy finds out, she also decides to leave the school in order to find her own path in life. She is hopeful she will meet Terry and Albert again as all characters embark on their individual life journeys in the United States. Candy is training to become a nurse in Chicago around the time of World War I, and Terry is pursuing a career as a rising star actor in New York. Meanwhile, they find each other again and hope to resume their relationship, albeit only a long-distance one through letters. At the same time, an actress and colleague in his theatre troupe, Susanna, is attracted to Terry. She confesses her love to him one evening at the theatre, but Terry never tells her about Candy even though he had numerous opportunities to do so. Instead, Terry confesses to himself that he is also attracted to Susanna. During a rehearsal, a stage light comes loose and before it falls on Terry, Susanna pushes him aside, but in the process she gets injured and eventually loses her leg. Susanna's mother blackmails Terry to marry Susanna, as he is the reason that her daughter's career is over. Susanna's behaviour becomes erratic, and she attempts to commit suicide, feeling that as long as she is alive she will be a burden for both Candy and Terry. Candy winds up saving her from falling from the hospital roof, but Terry, feeling responsible, is torn between his love for Candy and his duty to stay by Susanna's side. Candy, upon seeing the desperate turmoil on Terry's face, decides to sacrifice her own happiness, and leaves Terry behind with Susanna. She returns to Chicago to continue her life. Terry, on the other hand, does not stop Candy from leaving but returns to Susanna, whom he is also attracted to.
Before Candy and Terry broke up, Candy had become the nurse and caretaker of Albert, who by chance was brought to Chicago hospital suffering amnesia after a WWI bomb explosion on a train in Italy. After a while as a hospital patient, Candy decides to take Albert into her apartment in Magnolia House, to care for him and help him regain his memory. Albert is the one who comforts Candy when she returns severely depressed after her break up with Terry. Albert ultimately regains his memory, and briefly disappears, leading Candy once more to a broken Terry, who is acting at a travelling theatre stage in Rockstown. She returns home when she sees Terry regaining his old spark, having seen her in the audience. Once back at Pony's Home, Neal Leagan, who has fallen in love with her, tries to force Candy to accept an engagement. Albert reappears and finally reveals his true identity to Candy; he is Great Uncle William. He stops the engagement with Neil, and at the end of the manga, in a very tender scene, Albert also reveals to Candy that he was the seventeen year old boy at the Hill that day she was crying; her "Prince on the hill". Candy runs with tears into his open arms.
The anime is significantly different in many parts of the story. This is because it was produced by Toei Animation, who had bought the rights for the story from the manga publishers. There were some plot and character differences between the manga and the anime: Candy's age was different for several events when she grew up at Pony's Home. In the manga, she was six or seven years old when she met her Prince of the Hill, but was ten in the anime. Her sidekick pet raccoon Kurin/Clint belonged solely to the anime version. The anime achieved worldwide success. What remained as a lasting memory within the fandom was the "open" ending of the anime, in terms of the romantic side of the story. Keiko Nagita had no involvement with the Japanese anime apart from writing the lyrics to the opening and closing credits songs.
In Italy, the anime's ending was changed, albeit without the involvement of Keiko Nagita or Toei Animation. In the Italian version, Candy and Terry meet again at a train station, deciding to stay together. This ending is strictly only shown in the Italian version of the anime and nowhere else.
The story of Candy Candy was also published in the form of novels, several times. Each time, the text and the look of the book was slightly changed. The first and second editions of the book contained drawings from Igarashi, while the editions released after 2000 did not contain drawings due to problems between the two creators.
In 2010, the novel Candy Candy: The Final Story was re-written one last time by Keiko Nagita (the real name of Kyoko Mizuki). In this significantly revised novel edition, Suzanna dies and Candy finds out while reading her obituary in a newspaper. After that, a short letter from Terry addressed to Candy arrives, where he lets her know that his love for her still remains. During his stage career, Terry is known as Terence Graham. He no longer is using his father's surname "Granchester" as he had renounced it upon his departure from the UK several years ago. The letter itself has been the source of endless debates between fans of Terry and fans of Albert. The novel ends with Candy in her mid-30s living near Avon river in England, with the man she loves the most as World War II is approaching. The identity of this man is never revealed in the text. Keiko Nagita leaves it up to the reader interpretation to decide who that man is. In addition, there is no indication whether Candy is married or not, whether she has continued her career, or if she has children of her own. All the reader knows is that she is happy to be with the man she loves the most.
Kyoko Mizuki's (the pen name of Keiko Nagita) Candy Candy novel, consisting of three volumes, has piqued the interest of Candy Candy fans outside Japan for some years. This novel was only available in Japan and published in Japanese. The third volume covers the period after the events chronicled in the manga and anime. The novels have been translated in their entirety by Western fans but the translations confirmed that, true to her artistic form, Kyoko Mizuki did not provide concrete closure to the story. Yet, in the last letter that closed out the novel, Candy was still an optimistic, life-loving and cheerful heroine.
In 2010, Kyoko Mizuki, under her real name Keiko Nagita, rewrote from the start and published the "Candy Candy Final Story" (CCFS). CCFS was published in two volumes and not three volumes as the earlier novels. She announced that this was her final effort to tell the story as she always intended from the beginning, without the influence of the manga illustrator or the manga production team. In broad lines most of the plot of the story remains the same as with the previous novel editions, with many minor details having been changed. The most significant change is Susanna's death and Terry's letter which comes right after the death of the actress in the book. The style of the writing also is more mature and sophisticated. Keiko Nagita herself has said this novel edition is for Candy's fans who are now adults. Furthermore, she specifies that she wants her readers to imagine the characters' appearances based on the manga illustrations of Yumiko Igarashi as there are almost no such descriptions found in her own novel.
The final section of the novel or "Epilogue" is where a series of letters are exchanged between Candy and Albert. They describe the aftermath from the revelations about Albert being the Great Uncle William and the Prince of the Hill. Albert's past is also explored, as a young boy in the Ardlay clan and how he became the mysterious Great Uncle William. Candy includes a recollection of her (unsent) letter to Anthony where she reflects upon her life thus far. Keiko Nagita also added a final scene where Candy, in her thirties and living near Avon river, greets her beloved as he enters their home. The man's name is never revealed, but Nagita said that she was satisfied knowing that Candy now lived a happy life with that mystery man.
In 2015, the Italian publisher Kappalab obtained the copyright to publish CCFS in its entirety in Italian. The first volume was published in early 2015. The second volume was released in summer 2015. Later, the book was published in Spanish under Arechi publishing.
Announcement of the Candy Candy manga appeared in the March 1975 issue of Nakayoshi. The first chapter was published in April 1975, and continued until the last chapter in March 1979. However, the story did not appear in the November 1975, December 1976, January 1978 and June 1978 issues. The manga was published in nine volumes.
After the manga had become popular among Japanese girls, an anime series was produced for NET (now known as TV Asahi) that was originally aired on Fridays from October 1, 1976 to February 2, 1979. The anime has 115 episodes which run for 25 minutes each, and it had a wide popularity in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
There are three animated short films: Candy Candy: The Call of Spring/The May Festival (1978), Candy Candy's Summer Vacation (1978) and Candy Candy the Movie (1992).
In 1981, a Korean drama/family live action film based on the series was produced by Chu-ji Choi, directed by In-hyeon Choi, and written by Man Izawa. Shin-hie Choi starred, alongside Do-hie Kim, Hyo-jeong Eom, Bo-geun Song and Eun-suk Yu. Due to licensing issues, the film was only released domestically.
An Indonesian production house Sinemart made modern adaptation titled Candy. It was produced by Leo Sutanto and directed by Widi Wijaya aired on channel RCTI in 2007 starring Rachel Amanda, Nimaz Dewantary, Lucky Perdana & Bobby Joseph.
During the 1980s to early 1990s, VHS within Japan and the rest of the world were being serialized and distributed under the approval of Toei. These international VHS releases were released in places like France, Italy, Britain, the USA, Mexico, Sweden and Finland. Other international VHS releases other than these countries are unknown. From 1985 to 1989, Toei released 8 official VHS volumes containing 24 episodes + a VHS with the additional two OVAs, The Call of Spring and Candy Candy no Natsuyasumi under the label name Toei Video. These VHS included 30-second previews as well as advertisements for other related anime. In 1992, a special film of Candy Candy was released in theaters along with the Goldfish Warning! movie before the showing of Disney's Cinderella which was being reshown in theaters. This release had two home releases, a VHS tape and a Laserdisc.
Between 1998 and 2001, three lawsuits were settled between Kyoko Mizuki, Yumiko Igarashi and Toei Animation over the ownership of the Candy Candy copyrights. These lawsuits made Toei halt the broadcast of the Candy Candy anime, which Mizuki has expressed disappointment over. In the 2000s, Candy Candy episodes began to be sold on bootleg DVD format, as the legal lawsuits between the authors halted any production of licensed goods. In 2005 and 2006, illegal/unlicensed Candy box sets began to appear. The first was from France, which included the French and Japanese dialogue. Two Korean box sets are now out of stock, they include the Japanese and Korean dialogue, and Korean subtitles. 20 discs altogether are divided into two box sets and available from HanBooks and Sensasian. Prior to the release, illegal/unlicensed Spanish DVD sets with poor audio and video were widely available on eBay. The illegal/unlicensed DVD set is issued in both Mandarin and Japanese with Chinese, English and Korean subtitles. On January 8, 2007, Chilean newspaper Las Últimas Noticias began issuing illegal/unlicensed DVDs of Candy Candy with its issues every Monday, with plans to continue to do so until all 115 episodes were released. In 2008, an illegal/unlicensed 115-episode DVD set was released in Taiwan.
In 1980, ZIV International acquired the U.S. rights to the series. The first two episodes were dubbed into English, with a new theme song and score created by in-house composer Mark Mercury. This was ultimately condensed into a straight-to-video production, released on tape in 1981 by Media Home Entertainment and then by Family Home Entertainment. It is unknown if any more episodes were dubbed for the American market. None of these have been subsequently reissued.
In the early 1990s, co-creators Mizuki and Igarashi, along with Toei Co. Ltd., battled over the legal ownership of the title. Igarashi was producing Candy Candy material without the consent of Mizuki or Toei. In 1998, Mizuki brought her case to a Tokyo district court to prove that she had equal rights of ownership of the Candy Candy title. In October 2001, the court ruled the case in favor of Mizuki and ordered Igarashi and five companies that distributed the unauthorized merchandise to pay Mizuki ¥29,500,000, or 3% of their sales. In June 2002, Igarashi sued Toei to enforce her rights on the Candy Candy trademark, forcing broadcasters to stop airing the series.
In September 2003, a toy manufacturer based in Misato, Saitama sued the two copyright managers of Candy Candy for ¥11 million for loss of revenue due to legal battle between Mizuki and Igarashi. The manufacturer was commissioned by the copyright managers to produce Candy Candy jigsaw puzzles without being informed that they could be immediately dismissed by Mizuki any time for copyright infringement. The Tokyo high court ordered the copyright managers to pay ¥7.8 million to the toy company.
In 2011, the series was parodied on a Saturday Night Live sketch, "J-Pop! America Fun Time Now!"