Thursday, 24 August 2017

Anohito analyses recap and Candy Candy end theme

Update 25 Jan 2025

Five of my blog posts in this blog have been moved to "draft" because I used unlicensed manga images with English translations. Well, to make these posts appear again, I have to delete those manga images. Sorry guys, I don't have time to look for images right now, so I have five pages with no manga images... but at leat you can still read the post again now.

-xxx-


I’ve recapped the summary of a Japanese blog about Anohito last weekend (I nicknamed the author as "Nee-chan"). It’s a rather long post, so I better make a more simplified recap of Anohito facts and analyses. I will also present an interesting epiphany I obtained from listening to Candy Candy end theme (“Ashita ga suki”), the lyrics of which were written by Mizuki Kyoko (a.k.a Nagita Keiko) herself.

In recapping the analyses of Anohito, I use Nee-chan’s blog posts and also Scottie’s post. To be fair(er) to pro-Albert fans, I’ll refrain from talking about two main events in the Candy Candy the Final Story, i.e. Susanna Marlowe’s death and Terry’s letter to Candy afterwards. I will not analyse Candy’s unsent email to Terry, because, assuming that Candy later fell in love with Albert, that letter, and Terry’s letter to Candy post-Susanna’s death, became a moot point. However, if Candy later fell in love with Albert, I don’t think that Candy would not reply to Terry’s letter, as Bequi claimed. I think Candy would still write to Terry, but she would inform the poor man that her heart now belonged to someone else…

I will also exclude the last few letters between Albert and Candy in the Epilogue of CCFS, because as I said in my previous post, the nature of those letters is such that those letters had to be exchanged immediately after Candy learned that Albert also the Prince of the Hill. Thus, those letters cannot be the chronological epilogue, as Scottie rightly argued. Those letters should be placed way earlier in the chronology. Regarding a letter from Candy to Albert where she was thinking of returning her own diary back to Albert for safe keep, I still think that the letter is also not part of the chronological epilogue. The tone of her letter (p. 322 Japanese ver.) makes me think that her heartbreak (because of the separation with Terry) wasn't truly healed yet, hence she wanted Albert to keep her diary once more. She did say that she was happy, but the tone denies that ("At this time, the diary that you have returned to me is with me. But I have not opened it."). You can read the translation at CT Forum, but you need to register first (contact Nila for registration).

Candy Candy the Final Story: summary of a Japanese blog on Anohito

Update 25 Jan 2025

Five of my blog posts in this blog have been moved to "draft" because I used unlicensed manga images with English translations. Well, to make these posts appear again, I have to delete those manga images. Sorry guys, I don't have time to look for images right now, so I have five pages with no manga images... but at leat you can still read the post again now.

-xxx-

This post contains my summary of some blog posts of a Japanese Candy-Terry fan. Notable findings (to me) are the original Japanese scripts for the complete collections of Shakespeare leather-bound books, the two references to daffodils, the "Uncle William" reference in Candy's very important monologue, and my realising that the letters between Candy and Albert should indeed be placed way earlier in the chronology, instead of placed in the Epilogue.


I've finished re-reading the Candy Candy manga. I’m glad to report that I still think Candy should end up with Terry, although Albert is truly a magnificent person. Truly, Albert was indeed an admirable person, and had CCFS not been published, I’d still consider him as Candy’s eventual husband, although not by choice (because Candy would still be with Terry had the New York incident not happened).

During my re-reading, I also cried several times, particularly when Anthony, Archie and Mr McGregor died. Unexpectedly, I didn't cry when Terry and Candy broke up, but it's mostly I think because I know Nagita Keiko has mercifully killed Susannah Marlowe hence freeing Terry to pursue Candy again. I was still gutted, though, seeing Terry chasing Candy down the stairs and hugging her, sobbing helplessly, didn’t want to let her go. Then, arriving at Chapter 9, I burst into tears as I read the Rockstown section, where Candy saw the despair Terry had post break up... and I cried again when he rose from his drunken stupor and embraced his true acting talent once more. I was once again sad when Candy, sitting by the fire with William Albert Ardlay next to her, reminiscing of another hearth in Scotland, in front of which she sat with Terry. 

Candy Candy the Final Story: the Real Happy Ending

Terence G. Granchester and Candy White Ardlay (art by Yumiko Igarashi)

Created by Kyoko Mizuki and drawn by Yumiko Igarashi, Candy Candy was my first anime, if not the second, after Lulu the Flower Princess. That was way back in the mid 1980s when I was about 9-10 years old, when all mangas and animes were innocent and non-exploitative…

I love Candy for her exuberant character, despite all the hardship she had to endure as an orphan in Indiana USA. I thought that Candy would be forever with Anthony Brown, the sweetheart she met during her trying days at the Lagan House. Yet, I never finished her story, for somehow my VHS/Beta rental store stopped supplying her stories. Then when I was already in college, this was already 1992 onwards, I started reading Candy Candy manga from cover-to-cover, all the nine volumes. I remember the days when I went to Gramedia just to buy the next CC instalment. I returned to her early days in Pony Home, her beautiful days with Anthony Brown, Alistair Cornwell and Archibald Cornwell, her broken heart when [SPOILERS] Anthony died… and then my heart beat when she met Terence Granchester. Terry, the naughty yet broken boy who made her laugh again (but not before forcing her to face her nightmares about Anthony).

Then, as I reached for Volume 7, I cried my heart out when she and Terry broke up. Not because they grew out of love… but because Candy chose to leave Terry to Susanna Marlowe, a girl who rescued Terry during an accident. My heart broke when Candy left Susanna’s hospital in a snow blizzard, as Terry tried to stop her from leaving…