Candy - candy

Candy Candy is primarily a love story. Candy's first love was a character named Anthony Brown, but the series is remembered by the majority of fans as a result of her heartbreaking separation from her true love and soulmate, Terruce "Terry" Grantchester (side note: Lord Grantchester - there is current a member of the British House of Lords, with the title). A recurrent story arc in the series is the "Prince of the Hill", a mysterious boy Candy encountered once as a child. His identity is revealed in the last pages of the manga and in the last chapters of the anime.

The early years

Candy is a six year old orphan who lives in an orphanage near Lake Michigan with Ms. Pony and Sister Lynne ("Lane-sensei" in Japanese). In some countries, her name is Sister Maria or Sister Mary). Candy was found by them when she was a baby, the same day that Annie--Candy's best friend--was also found during a cold winter day. She frequently causes mischief with her young friends, especially with Annie. She has a raccoon named Clynn that will accompany her in most of her future adventures. One day, Annie consents to be adopted by rich parents, the Brightons (Britter in some countries). This takes place after Candy refuses to be adopted by this same family when she realizes she will be separated from Annie after the proposed adoption. After Annie's adoption, she writes letters to Candy but soon she tells her that her parents prefer that she forget about her past. Heartbroken, Candy goes to her favorite place, Pony's Hill, to cry. Here, she hears the voice of a boy, telling her: "Little girl, you are prettier when you smile than when you cry". The boy is dressed in a full Scottish outfit and carries a bagpipe. Candy is awed by his outfit but soon they become friends and he plays the bagpipe for her. When she turns around to pick up Annie's letter, the boy mysteriously disappears. The only suggestion that it was not a dream is a brooch in the shape of an eagle with the letter "A" on it. Candy nicknames him "The Prince of the Hill" and she will daydream about this encounter all her life.

The Ardlay Family

At age 12, Candy is "adopted" by the Leagan family to be a companion to Eliza and later ends up as a maid. The children, Eliza and Neal, often play cruel pranks on her and delight in tormenting her. Mrs. Leagan, whose name is Ruth, does not like her, but Mr. Leagan is kinder to Candy, though he frequently is away on business and therefore cannot be a reliable ally. One day, she meets three cousins: the brothers Archibald (Archie) and Alistair (Stear) Cornwell, and their cousin, Anthony Brown. They are also Eliza and Neal's cousins, and they all belong to the Ardlay family (Andrew family in some countries). It is soon apparent that the boys all have a crush on Candy, but she clearly prefers Anthony because of his striking resemblance to the Prince of the Hill. While Candy is a maid at the Leagan house, Annie and her parents pay a visit to the Leagans. When Annie is introduced to Candy, she acts as if she had never seen her before in order to conceal the "embarrassing" fact that she was an orphan from Pony's Home--following Annie's adoption, the Brightons had told friends and family that Annie was the orphaned daughter of a relative of theirs, rather than a child from an orphanage. Candy is sad that she cannot talk to her best friend, but has a chance to interact with her when she Annie and the Leagans are preparing to go out for a horse ride and Annie's horse takes off with Annie screaming for help (she calls Candy's name, rather than her parents'). Candy gives chase with another horse, and manages to rescue Annie from her hellish horse ride. Before Annie and her parents leave the Leagan's residence, she leaves a ribbon tied to a post so Candy can find it. Candy does find it and is later accused by Eliza and Neal of stealing it from their guests. These two manage to persuade their parents that Candy cannot be trusted to stay living inside the house, and she is sent to live in the horse stable. When Archie, Stear and Anthony discover Candy's mistreatments (and after many adventures), they have the head of the Ardlay house adopt Candy. This mysterious and very wealthy gentleman (referred to as Great Uncle William or Grandfather William in some translations) is never seen. Candy also befriends Albert, a bearded vagabond that lives in a hunter's lodge with lots of animals.

Now Candy has a new social situation and while some of the Ardlay relatives still dislike her (namely Eliza, Neal, their mother and the "apparent" head of the family, Great Aunt Elroy), the three boys make her feel welcome and help her become "a real lady". Her romance with Anthony develops tenderly, and he grows a new breed of white roses that he names "Sweet Candy" in her honor. This romance, however, is brutally cut short when, on the day Candy is officially introduced as an Ardlay, he falls from his horse during a fox hunt and dies--interestingly, seconds before his death, he was going to tell Candy about a boy who looked very much like him and who was always around his mother when he was a baby. Aunt Elroy and Eliza blame Candy for Anthony's death. Candy is heartbroken and returns to Pony's Home to overcome her grief. She does not stay long, for Great Uncle William has other plans for her: he is sending her to the Saint Paul Academy, a boarding school in London. While on the ship to London, Candy wanders out into the deck and she sees a young man who resembles Anthony in the shadows. She tries to approach him because he is crying, but he mockingly brushes her off while denying he was upset. She has met Terry Grantchester.

Saint Paul Academy

This boarding school is co-ed, but contact between girls and boys is very limited and severely punished. The Ardley cousins--Candy, Stear, Archie, Eliza and Neal--are all students there. Because Archie and Stear are her adoptive cousins, Candy is allowed to see them, but not as much as she would like. She quickly starts to sneak into the boys residence at night to chat with them. She does this by crossing the park that separates the boys and girls quarters while swinging from tree to tree until she lands on the balcony to their room. Soon after the school year begins, Annie is enrolled in this same school and Candy hopes to finally be able to resume her friendship with her former best friend. Annie, however, pretends not to know her at first. One day, when Annie--who is in love with Archie--witness Archie trying to confess his love to Candy, she runs crying and Candy goes after her to try to calm her down. When Candy finally catches up with Annie, the later speaks of the subconscious resentment and jealousy she had felt since they were children at Pony's Home. Annie compares the perceived favoritism that Ms. Pony and Sister Maria showed Candy, to Archie's love for Candy (which at the time was stronger than the feelings he also had for Annie). While Annie is bitterly crying in this way, Eliza and her friend overhear this exchange. Annie's secret comes to light, and this allows Annie to become Candy's friend again. Candy also makes a friend of her neighbor, Patricia (Patty) O'Brian who ends up being Stear's love interest. The school days are full of mischief as Candy tries to avoid Eliza's evil schemes, and the harsh discipline of the Academy nuns. Also in London, she finds her old friend Albert working at a local zoo. He has shaved his beard and looks like a young adult in his twenties.

Terry, the boy she met on the ship, is also attending the same boarding school. He is a rebel and always causes trouble with the nuns who can't really punish him since his father, the Duke of Grantchester, supports the school financially. Terry teases Candy every time they meet, seemingly because he's in love with her but is afraid to admit it. Most of their meetings end up in a fight. He mostly teases her about her freckles, a fact that makes Candy furious, and her tree-swinging habits. This leads Terry to give candy the nickname "Freckled Tarzan." Candy in the beginning is still grieving the memory of Anthony, and cannot understand Terry's role in her life. She's troubled by this rebellious boy, particularly because she has seen him cry before, and she suspects there is tragedy in his life. One night, instead of entering Archie's room, she accidentally enters Terry's room and finds out he is the son of Eleanor Baker, a famous American actress. Terry is an illegitimate son, and feels torn between a father who has married for duty to his name and social status, and a mother who loves him dearly but thinks it is best not to see each other.

One day Candy talks to Terry about him & Anthony, jealous of the feelings she has about another boy, tells her in a cruel manner that she cannot have romantic feelings for somebody that is dead. The school's May Festival dance arrives but Candy cannot attend because she's punished with detention by sister Grey. Great Uncle William sends her two costumes for the ball: one of Romeo and one of Juliet. Candy initially disguises herself as Romeo, and manages to escape the detention tower to go to the ball where she dances with Annie. Then she runs to the woods where she has hidden the Juliet outfit and changes into Juliet. Terry finds her and dances with her. Then Terry throws a jealous fit when Candy foolishly brings up Anthony while they are dancing. He knows that since the accident, Candy has been frightened of horses and he decides to cure her once and for all. He takes her to the stables and shoves her brutally on his horse. Candy cries but slowly overcomes her fear of horses, and begins to understand that life after Anthony must go on.

Candy and her friends go to Scotland during the summer. Terry is also there and eventually reconciles with his mother thanks to Candy's intervention. He admits to Candy that he likes acting too and would like to pursue a career in theatre. Over the summer Terry and Candy really bond; she is more comfortable around him, and he is no longer rude to her. One day, while they are sitting alone under a tree, Terry asks Candy to dance with him so she will have nice memories of her summer in Scotland. Candy accepts the invitation and they begin dancing. But soon after they begin their dance, Terry abruptly stops and kisses Candy. Candy, feeling embarrassed, slaps him and tells him that nobody has ever disrespected her in that way. She still cannot admit her feelings for Terry.

When they go back to school in September, Eliza is jealous of Candy's relationship with Terry, which came to her attention during the summer. Eliza had developed a crush on Terry during the summer in Scotland, and vows to separate them. She sets up a rendezvous in the stable for them, fooling them into thinking one needed to talk to the other. She brings the nuns to the stable and they are caught "in scandal." Sister Grey, the head nun at Saint Paul Academy, decides that Candy is to be expelled from the school, but that nothing will happen to Terry because his father financially supports the school. Terry is opposed to the discrepancy in punishments, and decides to solve the problem: he will leave the school instead of Candy, and will go to the United States to pursue his dream of acting on Broadway. Before he leaves the school, Terry plays the harmonica all night for Candy while she is locked in a punishment cell. This was Terry's farewell to his beloved Candy. However, Candy is unaware of his decision and when she finds out, she finally understands how much she loves him and she runs to the port to tell him she's in love with him. However, she arrives too late, and can only watch as Terry's ship leaves across the Atlantic. As Candy cries and calls his name, she decides to return to America too.

Nurse years

After a dreadful journey as a stowaway in a cargo ship from England to America, Candy goes back to Pony's Home and finds that Terry was there only minutes before she arrived. Encouraged by Ms. Pony, she decides to study to be a nurse and takes classes in a school in Chicago, where she excels because of her interpersonal skills. She is reunited with her friends from school when they come back from Europe because of rumors of war. Terry's theatre company comes on tour to Chicago, and they meet very briefly after chasing each other in the city (their meeting being sabotaged by Terry's partner, Susanna Marlowe, who has an unrequited crush on Terry). They start writing letters to each other and maintain a long distance relationship. World War I begins and there are some thoughts of sending young nurses to the war, but Candy is not selected.

One day, a mysterious patient arrives at the hospital: he was injured in a train explosion in Italy and has amnesia; he was brought to Chicago because it is the only name he says in his delirium. Candy is shocked to recognize her good old friend Mr. Albert, and personally monitors his needs. Because he has no family or relatives, Albert must leave the hospital and Candy suggests that they get an apartment together so she can continue to take care of him. The thought of her Mr. Albert who has shown her so much kindness in the past going out alone without his memory greatly distresses her. Albert agrees reluctantly at first, but soon they become excellent friends and are very happy living together.

In the meantime, Terry has landed the lead role of Romeo Montague in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Terry invites Candy to New York to the premiere. His intentions seem matrimonial: he's been saving money and has sent Candy a one way ticket. Candy daydreams about being his wife and having breakfast with him. However, a terrible accident happens during one of the rehearsals: a lamp detaches from the ceiling right above Terry, but Susanna (who still has an unrequited crush on him, despite him telling her that he loves Candy and should leave her alone) lunges and pushes him away. Her injuries are so severe that her leg must be amputated. Feeling horribly guilty for what happened, and even more so because he knows of her unrequited feelings for him, Terry does not know what to do, as there is increasing pressure that he should marry Susanna from both Susanna and Susanna's mother. It is in this tense atmosphere that Candy comes to New York. Terry tries to keep the incident from her until a better time, but unfortunately Candy finds out during the premiere. She is stunned, and knows that Terry is probably suffering a great deal because of this moral dilemma, yet she is angered that Susanna is blackmailing him into marriage. When she goes to confront Susanna about this, she arrives just in time to save Susanna from committing suicide. The situation is untenable as to what to do, and Candy hastily decides to end her relationship with Terry at once. She believes that by removing herself from the situation, the problem will be solved. In what is probably the most remembered scene of both the manga and the anime for the full emotional impact it carried for both characters, they break up on the hospital stairs. They both promise to be happy, as if hoping that the sacrifice of the relationship for someone else's wish would not be in vain. Heartbroken, Candy returns to Chicago under the haze of a high fever and tormented with knowing that her dream of marrying Terry has been shattered. She returns to the loving care and support of her Mr. Albert who is very concerned about her well being, and he provides a shoulder for her to cry on.

The months pass and Candy tries heals from her grief, by devoting herself to her work and to Albert's recovery of his memory. Unfortunately, people begin to whisper about her living with a man she is not married to. Also around this time, Stear, who had joined the army, dies in combat. Soon after Stear's death Patty leaves Chicago. Albert recovers his memory abruptly and remembers who Candy really is and more importantly, who he really is. He hides this from her at the beginning, but once the rumours become unbearable and Candy is fired from the hospital, he decides to leave to avoid causing her more problems. Candy misses him a lot and is worried about his health, as she is unaware he's recuperated his memory in full. One day he sends a package to her and hoping to see him to ensure he's fine, she goes to Rockston, Illinois only to find that Terry is now acting in a low class theatre, drunk. Candy realizes he has arrived to that state because of the pain he feels over their breakup. Since Susanna is still dependent on Terry, Candy knows that the only way she can help him come out of this is to remind him of his dream. By sheer willpower, she manages to reach the actor, who snaps back into action. He sees Candy from the stage in his drunken stupor and delivers a performance worthy of his talents. Afterwards, despite acknowledging that he cannot forget Candy, he finds the strength to go back to his life in New York, and in some way perhaps honoring their mutual wish when they broke up: to be happy despite the circumstances of their separation. This is the last time they see each other, each seeming to go in their separate ways. Before leaving Rockston, however, Candy runs into Terry's mother, who tells her that only one person was capable of saving her son.

Back in Chicago, the days go by peacefully until Neal starts wooing Candy. He is unsuccessful because she remembers how cruel he was to her as a child. He arranges a forced marriage telling her it's Great Uncle William's will and that she has to obey. By Neal's side there are Mrs Leagan, Eliza and the Great Aunt Elroy all trying to talk Candy into this commitment. Astonished, Candy decides to seek the mysterious Great Uncle William to forbid the union. George, his faithful lawyer and consigliere, drives her to the mansion where he is staying. There Candy discovers shockingly that the Great Uncle William is none other than her old friend Mr. Albert. He was the brother of Anthony's mother Rosemary, to whom he had been greatly attached to. This also explains the resemblance between the two men (uncle/nephew). His identity was hidden from all partly because of his young age and because he did not wish to be the head of the family and run the business. He makes a dramatic appearance in front of the Chicago society to prevent Candy's arranged marriage to Neal.

The end

Still shocked by her discovery that Albert is the Great Uncle William, Candy goes back to Pony's Home to reflect on the events in her life. On Pony's Hill, she remembers her friends Anthony and Stear who have died. A tear falls from her eyes and a familiar voice says; "Little girl, you are much prettier when you smile..." As she looks up, she has a new surprise: Albert is standing there. Candy realizes he has been the Prince of the Hill all these years. "Albert, Great Uncle William... and then my Prince!" she exclaims as she runs to him. The anime ends with a gathering at Pony's Home front yard, besides Albert there are Annie, Archie, Ms. Pony, Sister Maria, the children of Pony's Home, Clynn (Candy's racoon) and Mina a dog that was given to Candy by one of her patients. Candy makes a toast to her friends that helped her overcome troubles in life. There is hope that her life is going to be better!