This week our column on cartoons of the 80s is dedicated to a very intense and certainly tragic story, which last year turned 40 years old: that of candy Candy. Taken from manga di Kyoko Mizuki e Yumiko Igarashi, tells the turbulent and fraught life of an orphan girl adopted by a noble English family who then finds herself alone having to discover her origins. After facing the adventures of Ninja Turtles, of Daitarn 3,Tiger man o le sfide di Mila and Shiro e Holly and Benji, the torments of love of Lady Oscar and the troubles of the mini-goddess Pollon, let's delve into the touching story of this little girl.
Cady Candy: the plot
Childhood and adoption
We are at the end of the nineteenth century in Scotland. Candy and Annie they are two little girls who are abandoned at the Casa di Pony orphanage, run by Miss Pony and Sister Maria. Unlike what happens in the manga, in the anime Candy is flanked by a pet, a raccoon. However, the two girls are soon separated: Annie is adopted by an English aristocratic family, i Brighton, leaving Candy alone at the orphanage. The little girl is very sad and often takes refuge on a hill to be alone with her thoughts. It is here that she meets a blond-haired boy dressed in a Scottish kilt who, noticing her sadness, tries to console her by playing the bagpipes for her. The relic of this meeting will be for Candy an "A" -shaped brooch, lost by the young man, whom she nicknamed "the prince of the hill“, While dancing.
As well as Annie, eventually too Candy is adopted from an aristocratic family, i Legan, too bad things don't go as the girl hoped. The new, aristocratic and formal environment is very distant from the spontaneous one of the protagonist who is therefore in great discomfort, also due to the hostility of the two spoiled children of the Legan, Iriza e Neal. Eventually Candy will be forced to be a waitress for the family that adopted her and sleep in the stables.
The meeting with the Andrews and the relationship with Anthony
However, it is thanks to the stay in the Legan family that Candy comes into contact with Andrew family, of which he recognizes the coat of arms with the "A", the same as the brooch fallen to the "prince of the hill". The young woman then starts dating them and discovers that the head of the family is the mysterious uncle William, who is always absent. Making the decisions when he's not around is grim, elderly Aunt Elroy. Candy befriends the woman's grandchildren, three little boys: Archie, a real fop, his brother Stear, a bungler and inventor, and especially their cousin Anthony. The latter immediately strikes Candy because he is very similar to that young man met on the hill, her "prince".
Between Candy and Anthony a friendship is born which then becomes a strong feeling. It is precisely by virtue of this affection that, when the Legan decide to send Candy to Mexico, Anthony, with the help of his cousins, undertakes to prevent the girl's departure, getting her to be adopted by his family. Candy thus becomes an Andrew. Everything is going smoothly and in this period the young protagonist makes the acquaintance of Albert, a young wanderer who lives in a shelter in the forest surrounded by animals. However, the period of serenity for Candy is very short and is in fact interrupted by a great one tragedy: during a fox hunt, Anthony falls off his horse and dies. Destroyed by grief, Candy returns to Pony's House to find her lost serenity.
The college in London and the meeting with Terence Granchester
Just as she is at Pony's House, another twist comes for Candy. An uncle William's emissary joins her for send her to London to study in an exclusive religious college, the Royal St. Paul School. During the sea voyage that will take her to her destination, the protagonist meets a boy who reminds her of her Anthony in an exceptional way. The boy, however, teases her without revealing his name. Arriving at her destination, Candy finds her friend from the orphanage Annie (who later falls in love with Archie), and will also make friends with another girl, Penny (who will later become Stear's girlfriend). Despite these friendships, the stay in boarding school is made hostile by the schoolmates 'captained' by Iriza Legan.
In the boarding school, however, Candy finds that mysterious boy she met during the crossing at sea. His name is Terence Granchester, is a fearless and nonconformist Anglo-American aristocrat, and the protagonist falls madly in love with it. He reciprocates Candy's feelings and between them a very troubled love story is born as opposed by various characters, primarily by Iriza Legan. This in fact tries in every way to get Candy kicked out of boarding school and, in the end, she succeeds. Now expelled, Candy then takes the same decision as Terence: leave London.
The return to America, the war and the 'mission' of a nurse
Candy then returns to the United States in a very difficult period. War is looming and, faced with these scenarios, the protagonist realizes that she wants to lend a hand. So she decides to become a nurse and, helped by Miss Pony, she enrolls at the Nursing School run by Miss Mary Jane. As Europe enters the Great War, Candy moves to Chicago. Here he begins to work at the main hospital of the city, the Santa Johanna, but among the war wounded he meets his friend Albert who now suffers from amnesia. To heal him and be close to him, Candy decides to move in with him.
Things finally seem to be going well for the young protagonist who in the meantime also receives an invitation from her Terence. The boy left college to pursue his passion for acting and started working as an actor in New York. In this way he invites Candy to the premiere of Romeo and Juliet of which he will be the protagonist. She leaves but once she arrives there is another terrible news waiting for her: Susanna Marlowe, a young colleague of Terence's madly in love with him, lost a leg to save him from falling from a spotlight while rehearsing for the show, thus putting an end to his career. Feeling guilty, he accepted the girl's mother's imposition to remain by his side forever. Susanna, however, knows of the love that binds Terence to Candy and, moved by desperation, she decides to take their own life. It will be the protagonist to make her change her mind and save her. Candy, broken with pain, decides to leave Terence and New York, and then returns to Chicago. Meantime Stear he leaves as a volunteer pilot to go to fight in the skies of Europe, but it will be precisely in a plane crash that will die tragically.
The finale and the big revelation
The difficulties for sweet Candy are not over yet. Back in Chicago, our protagonist receives the advances of Neal, now in love with her. Once again it will make life impossible Iriza who, after having discovered the thing, asks for the help of his mother so that, with his influence, have Candy kicked out of every hospital in the country. The girl then decides to help an elderly doctor manage a small suburban clinic. His life therefore restarts but is upset by the disappearance of Albert who, after having secretly found his memory, leaves without a trace.
Meanwhile Neal Legan and his family begin to organize the marriage with Candy at the behest of Uncle William. Upon learning of this, the girl goes on a rampage and looks for the mysterious uncle to have a confrontation with him. When he finds it he discovers a shocking truth: Uncle William is actually Albert, William Albert Andrew, the good friend who always helped her and who was missing. Candy manages to clarify her feelings and, therefore, the misunderstanding and the marriage is canceled.
The finale finds Candy and her friends celebrating where it all began, at Pony's House. Annie, reading a magazine, discovers that Terence, Candy's beloved, left Susanna and tells her friend that perhaps there is still hope for their love. The girl, immediately after, walks up her beloved hill and hears the sound of a bagpipe in the distance. Playing it is precisely that "prince of the hill" that she has never forgotten and who is none other than Albert / uncle William.
Candy Candy: differences between anime and manga
Also in this case, as for many other manga that later became anime, there are many differences between the two transpositions. Some, however, are more striking than others and are very important to the story.
- One of the most important differences between manga and anime concerns Stear's death. In the first, in fact, Patty (who is his girlfriend) attempts suicide, held back by Candy. In the anime, however, the scene is softened, made less dramatic.
- Another difference, if in the comic Candy is represented as a substantially serious girl, in the anime Candy is instead lively and often makes faces. A technique that in addition to making it more cheerful also makes it more suitable for an audience of children and adolescents.
- Another element inserted specifically in the anime (and not existing in the manga) born to soften the most dramatic moments of the story, making it more suitable for children, is the Klin raccoon.
- However, the most important difference is at the end. In the original story, told by the manga, Terence stays with his new girlfriend Susanna. In the anime, however, the boy leaves her and it is understood that he is ready to return to Candy because she has always been his great love. Albert, on the other hand, remains forever a close friend of the protagonist. So if there is still a happy ending here, in the manga no.
Candy Candy: episodes, programming and theme song
It was the 1976st October XNUMX when the Japanese channel Asahi Tv aired the first episode of Candy Candy. The cartoon would then land in Italy 4 years later, becoming one of the most loved and followed by an entire generation of children and adolescents. It was broadcast in 115 episodes starting from 1980 by various local networks and television circuits, to pass in 1982 on Channel 5. Initially the cartoon aired with the original title, then in 1989 Mediaset decided to change it to Dolce Candy.
In the first programming on the various local networks, the anime is introduced by the initials candy Candy. The music is by Mike Fraser and Bruno Tibaldi, arranged by Douglas Meakin and text by Lucio Machiarella. It is sung by Rocking Horse. In Mediaset programming since 1989, the theme song is Dolce Candy, with music and arrangement by Carmelo Carucci, text by Alessandra Valeri Manera, and sung by Cristina D'Avena.
The characters of Candy Candy
CANDY CANDY - Protagonist of the story.
ANNIE BRIGHTON - Best friend of the protagonist, "found" the same day and grown up with her for ten years.
PRINCE OF THE HILL - He is the mysterious boy, dressed in Scottish clothes and bagpipes, known on Pony Hill.
ANTHONY BROWN ANDREW - Boy of noble origins, cousin of Archie and Stear and very similar to the "prince of the hill".
ARCHIBALD CORNWELL e ALISTEAR (Stearn) CORNWELL: Candy's brothers and great friends, Anthony's cousins
TERENCE GRANCHESTER - Impetuous but kind boy; passionate about theater and in love with Candy. He'll be her boyfriend from boarding school.
ZIA ELROY - The eldest of the Andrew family
WILLIAM ALBERT ANDREW - Candy's friend, he is actually the one who will watch over her always. He is the much-named "uncle" William, as well as the mysterious "prince of the hill."
IRIZA e NEAL LEGAN - Siblings and initially half-brothers of the protagonist, will try to hinder her on various occasions (especially Iriza).
SIG.RA LEGAN - Mother of Iriza and Neal and accomplice of her daughter's perfidy
MISS PONY - Big-hearted woman, runs the orphanage where Candy grows up
PATTY - Friend of the protagonist, met in the College
Candy Candy + Candy Candy e Terence (box collection)
- Kyoko Mizuki (Author)
