Love grew into romance
There’s a book called “My Heart Can’t Tell You No” by M.K. Heffner, in which it talks about a boy who used to love a girl like a little sister. When she grew into a teen beauty, their love grew into romance. I haven’t read the book myself, but I suppose the word “love” refers to the broader sense of love, like the one for family members or close friends. Sounds like this story is about how this kind of love between childhood friends grew into romance.
Do you think it’s plausible for best friends to fall in love with each other? I believe so, and for your interest, please read 20 Confessions About Falling In Love With Your Best Friend. You may be surprised how easily it happens to people.
Now, remember that I mentioned the interview with the author of Candy Candy, Mizuki, in Invisible Threads? Here I show her words again:
«けれど、テリイと別れることは初めから決っていたのだ。キャンディには三つの愛を考えていた。アンソニーとの淡いはかない初恋、テリイとの激しい恋、そしてアルバートさんとの運命的な穏やかな愛。»
Undoubtedly, Mizuki planned to give Candy three different relationships:
- Her first puppy love with Anthony (which was abruptly cut short after his sudden death)
- Her ardent love with Terry (again it didn’t last because he had left her in a rush, leaving her devastated in London, and when they finally reunited more than a year later, it was their farewell)
- Her destined, gentle love with Albert (also known as her Prince on the Hill)
Interestingly, Mizuki used two different words (kanjis) to refer to Candy’s love for three men. The word Koi (恋) was used for both Anthony and Terry, and the word Ai (愛) for Albert. Note that Koi is better translated as romance, the love between a man and a woman, whereas Ai is broader and deeper. It’s the kind of love that is long-lasting, which often involves decision, determination, and even sacrifice.
Then, later in the same interview, Mizuki stressed that she had planned to separate Terry and Candy right from the beginning, and soon after saying that, Mizuki added the following comment regarding the pair, Candy and Albert:
«＜好き、恋、愛＞。アルバートさんへの深い愛が＜恋＞にいつ育つのか…»
Mizuki said “<Affection, Romance, Love> When will Candy’s deep love for Albert grow into romance…”
The author then added “what are Albert’s feelings” but said it would be another story. First, note that Mizuki said ‘Candy’s deep love towards Albert‘, and she essentially said Candy’s feelings for Albert would develop into romance. As one reader said to me, normally it was the other way, which means it’s more common for romance to turn into love, but for Albert and Candy, it was different. What Mizuki had in mind was that Albert and Candy would fall in love; their profound love and care for each other would evolve into romance one day.
As we can see from the manga, Candy had always liked Albert ever since their first encounter by the waterfall. Not only she trusted him, she even admitted that she treated Albert as though he was her big brother. That explains why she couldn’t let him wander around without memory of his past. She wanted to take care of him until he recovered. Hence, they started off as good friends with Candy regarding Albert as her brother.
Yet, after Albert had vanished in her life many months later, Candy’s strong feelings for him seemed way more than fraternal. She missed him so miserably and yearned to see his face again. We have never seen Candy missing Terry like that, crying in bed and shedding tears of longing again and again. I have talked about this many times, so I won’t repeat myself here. Search my posts about Rockstown if you have missed them.
As I explained in my earlier post, Albert couldn’t help falling in love with the kind nurse who cared about his well-being. I believe the same thing happen to Candy. I gather it’s only natural for the nurse to fall in love with her handsome patient/roommate. She might not have realized it yet, but her strong desire to find him during his absence was otherwise inexplicable.
In Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), Candy expressed more than once that Albert looked boyish or younger than his age. Recently, I watched the movie “The Giver”, in which a sixteen-year-old boy was played by an Australian actor, Brenton Thwaites. 
Though he’s 25 and 1.87m tall, he looked so boyish that he could play the main character convincingly. He’s got brown wavy hair, kind eyes (not blue though) and charming smile just like Albert in Candy Candy as well. I don’t know why many Candy Candy fans think of some male models/actors in their late 30s or even 40s as Albert, who was only in his twenties (as he told Candy in London). If you haven’t yet read this, please click Age difference between Candy and Albert to see why I think Albert was around 25 or so.
Now, imagine yourself as the beautiful nurse Candy, living with a sweet guy with an athletic build like this actor for over a year, seeing him on a daily basis and sharing a bunk bed with him at nights. Honestly, I find it odd if there was absolutely no attraction between them. Not to mention that Candy had always found solace in Albert’s protective embrace; he was caring and very tender to her, giving her a strong shoulder to cry on whenever she needed him. So how many times had they hugged each other? I’ve lost count already. 😀
Well, I am happy with this post. 🙂
Why would ones deny what the author herself say? And IF, Mizuki after years/decades eventually regretted her decision on Manga ending, she simply wrote a sequel. She didn’t need to create this complicated puzzle novel & anohito character. It’s obvious that Prince of The Hill is her favourite character, beside Candy of course.
As you said, Love grew into Romance, you know Ms Puddle that I somewhat think Albert had been changing his feeling toward Candy before he got amnesia ( I know we have different opinions about this matter ^_* ). He might not think of her with passion and desire though, but I guess he had already seen her attractive as a young lady even before living together with her. Since in London, perhaps. Igarashi made subtle change on Candy drawing on Manga volume 3 and then volume 4, she looked more mature, taller, and slimmer compared to her on Volume 2.
Recently I’ve connected this assumption to the way Mizuki changed the story of Albert changing Candy’s clothes when she’d drown. Like you explained above, it’s odd that a very attractive & handsome man and a beautiful young woman living together for more than a year without feeling any attraction. I think it’s a bit weird as well for Albert not feeling anything to see Candy undressed. He acted as a gentleman for sure! But, he’s a young man after all. Candy was around 13 at that time, her body had been changing I believe. I assume Albert was not very often to see a naked girl/woman, so that image had to haunt him 🙂 LOL.
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Brenton is indeed very good looking, but I’m not sure of him being Albert as a man. Albert as POTH, yes I do agree. He’s too boyish. Albert was an imposing tall-attractive-handsome man, especially after he resuming his life as WAA. He also possessed an authoritative aura.
Btw, yes, the way Candy was thinking Albert was looking more boyish that day of Prince revelation – is a proof of she had already attracted to him. And why Albert looked boyish? — He was in love! 🙂
Right on… dear Reeka! CC fans have always known that Mizuki had given Albert to her Candy, but Terry fans argued that Mizuki had changed her mind so she didn’t give Candy’s husband a name. Anyway, enough of that.
In London Albert did say that Candy had become a pretty lady, but that was still a friendly remark to me. After all, he knew who she was, at least legally. 🙂
Yup… How could A and C have no attraction at all after living together for so long… almost implausible. Lol… About changing Candy, I still think Albert could just do it mechanically without really looking. She was just a young girl…
I used Brenton Thwaites as an example to show how a 25-yr-old could look very boyish still… I wonder why people imagine Albert as a man in his 40s or late 30s while in fact he was only twenty something lol… at most 11 years older than Candy in CCFS. Sigh.
Also, sometimes when a man or woman is dressed formally he or she will look more mature or older. I think that’s the case for Albert wearing a dark business suit.
Why did he look boyish? Yes I agree… He was in love, and Candy saw him differently as well because she was also in love 😉
No no … I never thought Albert as a man in late 30s. He’s around 25-28 at the end of manga.
Not quite have Albert’s physical attributes, but I like to imagine Zac Efron as how Albert would look like. Manly looking young man. He has sharp yet tender gaze and perfect jaw 😀 as Albert.
Zac Efron is another good example to me, and he’s 26 right? But he’s not tall enough you know. 😉
This guy ( Travis Fimmel ) isn’t that bad ~
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/321658_197304043676118_760707125_n.jpg?oh=ae5ada255900b5f7a2a19712b96ca2da&oe=54C45456&__gda__=1418106088_dd3a21e34d83764386398c3488f37f01
The CK model? He’s a bit too old now, but used to look very handsome with a sexy (perfect) body 🙂
Oh, he’s only teenager? My bad. Ok I take it back. He’s fit to the role as POTH. 🙂
I said he played a teenager in a movie, but in real life he’s 25.
Maybe I should be honored. As of this morning, a couple of Terryfans had attacked Marcela’s new fanart in my page. One comment was very out of the line and the second fan asked me to remove it ’cause it never happened and it pained her. I will never understand why they keep bothering my page when there are Terry pages that even have explicit bed scenes in them. Thanks to the person who invented a ban button… I really dislike to ban them, but they were too much. I don’t know why they act as if they don’t want ‘Albert’ pages established in FB except Terry. They’re so mean. : (
Anyway, back to this topic… I really like this guy to play as Albert. I wish the directors would grant our dreams to have Albert-Candy movie and give us a CLEAR ending if Mizuki isn’t courage enough to do it herself. If you remember the Indonesian version in TV drama series… Albert ends up with Candy ( Sorry for the spoiler ).
Really? Again, I’m not sure why they visit your page if they don’t want to see A and C together. Just ignore their mean comments if I were you.
Anyway, this actor is not only sweet, tender, and charming, he’s athletic and tall too, just like what I have imagined Albert to be, except that he has brown hair and eyes. Can’t seem to find a perfect cast for Albert yet. Oh well… 😛 In the movie the teenager is supposed have a pair of amazing blue eyes according to the book, but it turned out that this actor is handsome enough so I forgive whoever did the casting LOL.
But looking at Albert in the manga while wiping off unconscious Candy’s tears does have an athletic built. 😉
So in real life this actor has brown eyes and hair? He still looks tender and handsome to me, and I can’t wait to watch him in the movies. Still they should cast him as Albert in case they plan to make a CC movie, and they can dye his hair blonde and use blue contact lens for his eyes lol^^
Even when Candy was bandaging Albert after the lion’s attack we can tell he had an athletic build lol…
I’m not saying this actor had to be Albert. I was using him as an example to let people imagine what it was like to live with a sweet and tender guy like him or Albert for a year or so 😉
Hey there 🙂
are you Indonesian or Malaysian? 🙂 I wonder how you could watch the drama series as I don’t think they had dubbed it to English or any other languages.
I know the series, but I didn’t watch it. I’m not really into drama series, and the ones from my country, they tend to ruin the original story when it comes to adaptation. Hahahaha I may be to cynical, but really, it’s very rare to find a good series there.
Hi Reeka,
The series were Indonesian dubbed and so were the subtitles. I found the series in Youtube. They were over 50+ videos. In that story, Albert and Anthony were twin brothers. Anthony and Stear never died. I didn’t watch the whole thing, I just skipped into the last episode to check who Candy ended up with. I found out Candy chose Albert over Anthony. Terry and Susana were there, too. Like in the Manga and the Anime, Terry stayed with Susana. And the grandfather that never existed in the Manga and the Anime? He was in the story, too. Elisa was so over Albert.
So, I’m thankful to the writer of the series that Albert and Candy were together at the end. When Terryfans saw the post about this video, they were apparently indignant lol. 🙂
Oh yeah… Albert in the series was orphan lover, not an animal / nature lover lol. He was always with children. I wonder if Mizuki was offended over that?
Ms Puddle
Oui je sais c’est encore moi ! J’ai eu le temps de réfléchir pendant mes vacances concernant l’amour de Candy pour Albert. Si j’ai bien traduit elle dit dans sa lettre que quand Albert est venue à la Maison de Pony, ce n’était pas l’oncle William qui était entré mais un garçon , qu’elle se trouvait dans un état second et qu’elle ne devrait pas le regarder de cette façon, il est clair qu’elle est amoureuse à ce moment là déjà. Elle ne le, considère plus comme étant l’oncle William. Cela se passe juste avant qu’Albert lui révèle qu’il est le Prince de la Colline. Mizuki voulait-elle nous faire comprendre que Candy était déjà amoureuse d’Albert à ce moment là, plutôt qu’après qu’Albert lui est avoué qu’il était son prince. Ce serait logique même si son prince était son premier amour. Le fait qu’il soit son prince n’a fait que renforcer cette amour. Il était son premier et son dernier amour. Qu’en pensez-vous ? Plus tard Albert lui parle de la relation entre sa soeur Rosemary et son mari Vincent. Peu importe s’il n’est pas du même rang social, elle épousera quitte à renoncer à son nom. Mizuki veut nous faire passer un message. Peu importe que Candy ne soit pas du même rang qu’Albert, il fera comme sa soeur, il semble que sa soeur Rosemary avait beaucoup d’influence sur lui. Mais je me trompe peut être je ne sais pas si c’est dans l’ancien roman ou
dans CCFS.
Promis j’arrête d’écrire pour aujourd’hui.
ANTLAY
So true, Antlay!! In CCFS just before Albert revealed himself as her prince, Candy was in love with him already I believe. She looked at him and was dazed because he appeared somewhat different that day, like a boy Candy said.
Likewise, in the manga, Candy already had strong feelings for Albert at the end when he disclosed his final secret to her. As you said, Antlay, the fact that he was her prince only reinforced her love for him. Their relationship was actually beautiful, don’t you think?