Candy Candy

Candy Candy (キャンディ・キャンディ) is a Japanese novel, manga, and anime series. The main character, Candice "Candy" White Ardlay is a blonde girl with freckles, large emerald green eyes and long, curly hair, worn in pigtails with bows. Candy Candy first appeared in a prose novel by famed Japanese writer Kyoko Mizuki in April 1975. When Mizuki joined forces with manga artist Yumiko Igarashi, the Japanese magazine Nakayoshi became interested in Candy Candy. The series was serialized as a manga series in the magazine 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 several Candy Candy movies which were never released outside of Japan.

Plot
The Candy Candy manga is a "slice of life story" in the shōjo genre. Candy is an abandoned orphan taken in by the orphanage Pony's Home near Lake Michigan around the start of the 20th century. She spends the first years of her life at the orphanage, where she will often return to repose and decide her next course in life. Growing up she gets adopted twice, first by the Leagans who treat her poorly, and after that by a wealthy benefactor whom she does not meet until the end of the story. But he is heir to an important estate, and a relation of her first love Anthony and his cousins the Cornwell brothers. After Anthony dies, Candy gets an education in London where she meets the rebellious Terry, her second and grand love (in the words of the author Keiko Nagita/Kyoko Mizuki in the essays found on Misaki's website, "the great love that cannot bear fruit"). Circumstances seem to constantly divide the pair. Upon her return to the US, she trains and gains experience as a nurse in Chicago, around the time of World War I, while Terry tries to become a Broadway actor. A member of his theater troup, Susannah, hopes to get between Candy and Terry. Eventually both have to make a decision to sacrifice their own happiness as a couple for the sake of a third person. With the revelation of the identity of her guardian, Candy also discovers who her childhood Prince of the Hill is.

Candy Candy: The Novel
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 of Japan for some years. This novel was only available in Japan and published in Japanese.

Of particular interest is the 3rd volume, which covers the period after the events chronicled in the manga and anime. There is some work being done by Western fans to translate parts of the novel, but what little has been translated has confirmed that true to her artistic form, Kyoko Mizuki does not provide concrete closure to the story. Yet, in the last letter that closes out the novel, Candy is still an optimistic, life-loving and cheerful heroine.

Manga and anime
The manga was published in 9 releases, the anime in 115 episodes of 25 minutes. There are a few plot and character differences between them: Candy's age differs for several events when she first grows up at Pony's Home and the character of the pet raccoon Klint belongs solely to the anime story.

Manga serialization in Nakayoshi
Announcement of a new series 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.

Anime cast

 * Minori Matsushima as Candice "Candy" White Ardlay
 * Makio Inoue as William Albert Ardlay
 * Kei Tomiyama as Terrence "Terry" Graham Grandchester
 * Kazuhiko Inoue as Anthony Brown
 * Ryou Horikawa as Anthony Brown (1992 film)
 * Kaneta Kimotsuki as Alistair "Stear" Cornwell
 * Yūji Mitsuya as Archibald "Archie" Cornwell
 * Mami Koyama as Annie Brighton
 * Yumi Touma as Annie Brighton (1992 film)
 * Chiyoko Kawashima as Patricia "Patty" O'Brien
 * Yumi Nakatani as Eliza Leagan
 * Eiko Hisamura as Eliza Leagan (1992 film)
 * Kiyoshi Komiyama as Neil Leagan
 * Ryuusei Nakao as Neil Leagan (1992 film)
 * Taeko Nakanishi as Annie Girard, Narrator
 * Nana Yamaguchi as Ms. Reine
 * Miyoko Aso as Mary Jane Headmistress
 * Sachiko Chijimatsu as Jimmy
 * Eken Mine as Garcia
 * Koko Kagawa as Susanna Marlowe

Popularity
Candy Candy reached great heights of popularity for several years in a row, with different types of Candy Candy toys for sale in the Japanese market. These toys included dolls, girls' watches, and other items. In 1976 after the manga had become so popular among Japanese girls, a Japanese anime series was produced for NET (now known as TV Asahi). In 1978, one animated feature film about Candy Candy and her friends was released in Japanese cinemas. Another one would be released in 1992.

Candy Candy reached international fame throughout the early- and mid-1980s among children in places such as Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Candy Candy toys were also sold in these areas.. Although Candy Candy was an animated program, it contained soap opera elements, and it had a continuous story (like many anime series), so every chapter began where the last chapter had left off.

During 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.

Modern Candy Candy
In 2005, the Candy Candy franchise began to try to re-establish itself in the United States. Due to all the court cases that unfolded after Candy Candy became a television program, however, it is very unlikely that it will be shown on television again, as Nagita/Mizuki communicated on January 16, 2006 in an open letter to fans that the very thought of Candy Candy made her head hurt.

In 2005 and 2006, illegal/unlicensed Candy Candy Box Sets began to appear. The first being from France, included the French and Japanese dialogue. Two Korean box sets are now in print, they include the Japanese and Korean dialogue, and Korean subtitles. 20 discs altogether were divided evenly 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.

On January 10, 2007, Chilean newspaper Las Últimas Noticias began issuing illegal/unlicensed DVDs of Candy Candy with its issues every Wednesday, with plans to continue to do so until all 115 episodes were released.

The 2007 French animation short film Candy Boy by director Pascal-Alex Vincent was inspired by Candy Candy.

In 2008, an illegal/unlicensed 115-episode DVD set was released in Taiwan. The illegal/unlicensed DVD set is issued in both Mandarin and Japanese with Chinese, English and Korean subtitles.