Translations of CCFS

Disclaimer: These are unofficial English translations of Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS). I will keep updating this page whenever there are new updates. Please bookmark this page for your convenience.

For those who want locksleyu to translate more CCFS to English, please cast your vote on his post “What should I translate?”

So far, he has done an excellent job translating directly from Japanese

prologue
Chapter 1 (part 1)
Chapter 1 (part 2)

This is Fay’s unofficial translations of CCFS. She was doing her best to translate from the Spanish fan-translations done by Foro Andrew before. Since she later bought the French version, she began translating from the beginning again based on the official translation. So far she has completed the Prologue and parts of Section 1 based on this version. She will gradually update the chapters, so feel free to come back to check the link(s). Please be patient, as this is her hobby. 

Since she has also purchased the official Spanish version, she would eventually translate from that version too. Please stay tuned. Don’t forget to write a few words to give her your support and encouragement. 🙂 

Fay has also translated Keiko Nagita’s letters to Judy for the Spanish edition of Daddy Long Legs published by Arechi Manga in February 2022.  

For those who are interested in reading the old CC novel, please also check out Fay’s English version of Candy Candy Old Novel, which is composed of her translations of the materials she has collected from various sources and other Candy Candy fans.

Volume 1

Prologue
Section 1
Section 2

Below are based on the French official translation:

Prologue
Section 1
Section 2

Volume 2

Section 2
Section 3
Epilogue

Below are based on the French official translation:

Section 2

Section 3

Table of Contents at a glance

Volume 1

Section 1

Chapters 1 to 20
Conclusion

Section 2

Introduction
Chapters 1 to 8

Volume 2

Section 2

Chapters 9 to 17

Section 3

Narrative 1
Letter from Susie
Letter to Mr Carson
Letter to Carson’s children
Letter to Mr. Juskin
Letter to Miss Candice White Ardlay (from George Villers)
Letter to Captain Niven
Letter to Miss Candice White Ardlay (from Cookie)
Letter 2 to Carson’s children
Letter to Terry
Letter from Archie
Letter from Stear
Letter to Sister Gray
Letter to Mary Jane
Letter from Annie
Narrative 2
Letter to Frannie
Letter from Patty
Letter to Dr. Frank Campbell
Narrative 3
Letter to Mrs. Sara Leagan
Letter to Mr. Stewart
Letter to Mary
Letter to Mr. Whitman
Letter to George
Narrative 4
Letter 2 from Archie
Letter to Candice White Ardlay (from Rolf Baughmann)
Letter 2 from Patty
Letter 2 from Annie
Narrative 5
Letter 3 from Archie
Narrative 6
Letter 1 to Dr. Martin
Letter 2 to Dr. Martin
Letter to Vincent Brown
Letter to Gloria Bandog
Letter to Great Aunt Elroy
Letter to Archie
Letter 2 to Great Aunt Elroy
Letter to Stear
Narrative 7
Letter to Miss Eleanor Baker
Letter to Terry
Narrative 8
Letter to Candice White Ardlay (from Susanna Marlowe)
Letter to Candy (from T.G.)

Epilogue

I have written a series with detailed discussions of the original Japanese text of the following letters. Please check Lost in translation for your interest.

Letter to Great Uncle William
Letter to Miss Candice White Ardlay
Letter to Prince on the Hill
Letter to Candy, Miss Sorceress
Letter to Albert
Letter 2 to Albert
A quick greeting to Candy (from Albert)
Letter to maybe beautiful Candy (from Bert)
Letter 3 to Albert
Letter to William Albert Ardlay aka Little Bert
Letter to Anthony Brown
Conclusion

For your interest, this is my friend Yue Chan‘s excellent post that summarizes Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS) in Spanish, Candy Candy Final Story ~ Estructura de la novela, which Fay has kindly translated to English. There is another marvelous post from Yue Chan, discussing the differences between the Old Candy Candy and CCFS, Candy Candy Final Story ~ Primera edición de la Antigua Novela de Candy Candy, which Fay has also translated to English for Candy Candy Fans here.

 

170 Responses

  1. an amateur ) says:

    watching episodes in chicago, i question why they portray nature of colorado with high snowy mountains and arizona with red rocks and trees more natural to arizona…
    chicago is very flat and different nature … i am very confused on that part…

  2. Candy Gr says:

    Dear Ms Puddle,
    I am grateful for your blog and excited that we can share opinions .
    I just noticed something yesterday and i’d like to share it with you.
    It is in the ep.31.
    Candy proposes to visit grandfather William,
    whom neither has ever seen, at the Savoy Hotel. But inside, they only find the insolent Terry
    who gives “Freckles” a letter from Grandfather Uncle William.
    It is well known that Terry will become her next imminent love .
    But in that episode Terry is presented the same way Albelt
    did it in ep.115.He is hiding behind the chair and he reveals himself.
    So is it a metaphor for Albert being her final love,
    when she found out who he really is in the same way?
    I finally conclude that Nagita was using metaphors during anime and manga
    not only in her Candy Candy Final Story.We can find too many!!!

    Warm Regards xxx

    • Ms Puddle says:

      Hi @Candy Gr, nice to meet you. Thank you for your positive words about my blog. 🤗

      I remember that episode in the anime version where Terry was the one behind the chair and the last episode as well.

      I’m not sure though how much influence or control Nagita sensei could have over the anime version however. TOEI paid for the copyright and did add new scenes or make some changes that are not in the manga nor CCFS.

      Now that you mentioned these two scenes, yes they do share some similarities. Interesting ideas! ☺️

      • Candy Gr says:

        The ending theme song tells us who Ano hito is .WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLp46cCH3t0
        Dear Ms Puddle i don’t know if you knew it , but i am so excited ! I couldn’t share my hapiness with you!
        Have a good night and a Wonderful New Year!

        • Ms Puddle says:

          Hi Candy Gr, yes the ending song lyrics referred to Prince on the Hill as ano hito, because Candy did not know his name.

          So anohito is just a pronoun. It is gender neutral and literally means “that person”, like “he” or “she” in English. For example, in the manga Susanna liked to use “ano hito” whenever she referred to Candy without directly mentioning her name.

          Thus, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the same guy in CCFS. That being said, it’s quite obvious who Anohito is, based on the novel itself. 😉

  3. Story Teller says:

    Dear Ms Puddle,

    A few weeks ago I startet watching Candy the anime, after nearly 30 years. I wanted to dive into childhood memories and remember my beloved grandmother, who used to send me the tapes from Greece to Germany, she missed not one episode. I’m still overwhelmed by her love, her effort to give me strenght and a the right view for life. By having Candy as an example, everything was possible.
    But deep inside, after so many years, there still had to be a solution. Why did Candy have to seperate from Terry? And what was going on with Albert? Why did the anime end like this?
    I sensed that there was something in this story but as a child I couldn’t grap it.
    And as I watched it , after so many years, except of that incredibly beautiful drawings, which could make visible every emotion, I recognized for the first time Keiko Nagitas magnitude of storytelling.

    It has to be very deeply understood, what incredible storyteller Keiko Nagita is and she has to be treated as a very serious writer. Having recognized this , the key to understand what she wants to say to us is to understand her and her writing itself, to break down her storytelling. At first this sounds like taking magic away but I think it will reveal it instead.
    So, how does Keiko Nagita write?

    In my opinion, to answer this question, someone has to use the anime an not the novel, CCFS. Because in CCFS she doesn‘t use all her skill, for the most part. She uses it a little when Candy sits in the room alone with her thougts and her memories. In the time between, in the narration, she rushes through the pages without taking a breath. I think she did that because she knew that we would have all the pictures in our mind, that we would fill in the plot holes.It would be an exhausting work to reproduct the whole story with the same inensity as in the anime, it’s impossible. And she loves the story that arlready exists in the anime, exactly as it is, except of some crucial parts, that is what I believe. But she needed, as a writer, to write it again, the keyparts , just to remind her all the emotions, all the tragedy so she could finally reach the epilogue.
    After that rushing she slows down to the letters. Here she fills out some plot holes, the necessary ones, but it is not the only reason she writes the letters. I have the feeling that she wants to remember every beloved character. She, the writer, is saying good bye to her beloved friends by remembering them, every single one, for a last time. And then comes the epiloge, were she releases all her skill, there she nearly crushes us with her magic, whith all its force.

    So, who is Keiko Nagita, what are the her methods , her tools? I will show a few examples:

    1.) She loves every caracter, every single one from the bottom of her heart. So she treats them as they should be treated, with respect. It will appear later why this is so important.

    2.) One of the strongest methods she uses to hold tension alive, to make it real, is foreshadowing.

    – When Anthony died we already knew that it was possible, we prayed it wouldn’t happen but it happend. But how did we know? The cards oft he fortune teller had told us. We sruggeled like Candy not to accept this possibility, but it happened.
    – In Scotland in Summer, Stair revealed his passionate love for aeroplanes for the first time. It was the most beatiful day, where they, all together, achieved something marvellous by making the aeroplane fly. But Stair crushed with the aeroplane, and that happend later a second time with Candy after her graduation. So at war, this fatal day, at sunset, when the aeroplanes in France flew into the sky and the enemy appeared in the sky , outnumbering Stairs party, a crush suddenly seemed so possible it made your heart burst from agony.
    And something else happened too, that summer in Scotland. While building the aeroplane Terry saved Archie from the large Pulley thet fell off the roof, the same thing Susanna did for him later. Even at the sunniest summerday there ist he prominition of tragedy, like a slight thin layer that is there, we feel it, but we are not counciously aware of it. This is great storytelling.

    3.) The other method, so strong that it speaks for itself is symbolism. Nagita uses that in an extrordynary way.

    – Anthony ist he white rose, the platonic love of a pure heart
    – Terrys roses, the ones he is covered with when his fans throw them towards him, when he enters his horse drawn carriage with Susanna after King Lear are red. He is the passionate love ,he is eros.

    4.) Every single character has his carakter arc. This applies only to the good ones, the ones who wanted to evolve to a better person, who chose the path of sacrifice. The bad ones, like Neil and Eliza never changed, because they always believed that only there where right, they insisted on their point of view, never tried to understand themselves and the others, and so they had no journey, no life, just emptyness.

    This is Nagitas motive, her intention , to show the path to real love, to show the path to paradise, it is the journey towards light. It will become clear what I mean, but it is important to know the core, the heart of the story and this is always the writer itself and what is driving them.

    So these are the most important tools. But it mostly happens visually, not through words but through action and symbolism. And so
    5.) this ist another tool: Show , don’t tell. The reader hast o understand by action and not through words.

    For me, this is Nagita, the way she thinks. And that is why I believe that it is not that important , which political situation exists while Candy is sitting in the room, the name oft he River, the fact that lakewood was sold. I think she just wanted to blur the lines so we would be forced to follow another path.

    BREAKING THE MAGIC

    So now I start breaking the magic with this tools , (like Stair who broke and fixed things constantly 😉

    Anthony:
    Anthony was the platonic gentle love that could have been pure joy, but we know he is not the Prince oft he Hill. This is a stain, a silent pain in the heart but is there, but still we just want to ignore it, as Candy does, as Antony himself does. That is foreshadowing, that they won’t be together. Nagita loves every single caracter and this wouldnt be fair for Antony, to be loved because he looked like someone beloved. Candy says that it’s him that she likes and it’s true, but the Prince oft he Hill will always be a shadow between them. And this becomes clear, a few seconds before Anthony died. He was deeply hurt when he asked Candy and she told him that he looked like the Prince and one day she wanted to meet him. His eyes lost their sparkle. A few moments later the accident occured and Anthony died.
    But why did he die? Nagita is not a sloppy and lazy writer who kills a caracter just to cause heartbreak or because the caracter doesn’t fit in the plot anymore. She loves every single one of them. So, why did Anthony die?
    In my opinion Anthony had completed his journey towards light. He was the boy of a rich family, who could have everything with just a glimpse of his eye. But instead of that, he wanted to earn everything he got, he wanted to become a real man. And the one who gave him the oppotunity to achive this was Tom. Anthony fought with Tom, chopped wood, tamed horses, won the Rodeo and for the first time he spent the money he earned himself, sharing his achievement with someone he loved. In this young age Anthony already had reached the peak of his journey. His loving gentle heart had become brave and strong, flying high like an eagle. Sister Lane said once to the boy who constructed crosses for everyone in the orphanage „only God decides when it’s time for us to die“. That is why Anthony died.

    Stair:
    Almost the same applies to Stair, too. He wanted to defend his country and the people he loved through fighting. He wanted to stand up as a man, like Anthony did, but Stair did it in an older age. But Stair did go one step further. It was only when he realised that the enemy is his brother, is someones best friend, only when he decided not to kill and sacrifying himself, when his journey came to the end, when he reached light. Thats why his officer , Rolf Baughman said: „I have been informed that his plane rather than rushing was as if it had immersed itself into the sun“. Thast is not poetic, it’s symbolic and it’s meant litteraly for his soul, that had become light (in both meanings) through sacrifice.

    Terry:
    Oh Terry. I will never overcome the scene on the stairway…
    Candy was the one to reach his heart, the only one who could enter. But still, he remained self – involved, in his own thoughts , in his own world, still not paying attention to the people around him.. If he had payed attention he would have recognised the pain he was causing Susanna. It wasn’t his fault but if he had payed attention, if he had been more sensitive, maybe he could have prevented the tragedy, had at least somehow reliefed her pain. But he didn’t. Only through heartbreak, only when his heart was scattered in thousand pieces , only when he had reached the bottom of his existence, he bacame humble and took over his resposibility. He didn’t do it by himself like Anthony. Only then he understood the deep pain of others, when he expererienced it himself. That is how live is, everything we learn we learn through pain. But we have to go through it and dont’t remain there. That is what Terry did, at the end. He collected his scattered heart and stood on his feet. That is something that demands more than courage. Deep inside there always had been this kindness, but well hidden under a thin layer of arrogance and hurted selfishness , but this layer had to be scattered to make light shine through. He needed Candy to love her and than he needed Candy to get his heart broken.
    For Candy Terry was passionate love, he was eros. It was a very physical relationship from the beginning, he teased her bacause of her freckels, he watched( or didn’t watch as he claimed) her undress, kissed her and afterwards they hurt eachother by slapping their faces. We always think that this is how real love is, but this kind of love is like the wild sea , high waves that can drown you. It’s not impossible but very hard to reach the harbour with such a storm to go through. Both could have endured all this pain that comes with passion but it would have been a long and exhausting journey.

    And here comes Candy. How much more should she fight , how much more sacrifice, how much more pain should she endure to reach the peaceful harbour?

    Candy:
    Candy’s journey is towards the light, too. But Candy fought and sacrificed herself from the beginning , she was light and hope and happyness for everyone around her. So what is her journey?
    When Candy met Anthony she also met Albert at the waterfall, after he had saved her. But his face was covered under his beard. Someone could say, that this was a trick for the anime to hide his face, because the similarity to Anthony would have been too obvious . I think it served this pourpouse too. But it’s also, and more important, symbolic. She wasn’t ready to see his face because she wouldn’t have recognized him, who he really is. In a deep and undenyable way, who he is.Having known Terry and having become older she meets Albert without beard but with sunglasses covering his eyes, the doors of the soul. Symbolically she still wasn’t able to recognize him. It’s only at the time she is about to lose Terry, through heartbreak, through tragedy, when his face is revealed to her, when she starts to know him. And I don’t mean by that neither the Prince oft he Hill , nor Uncle William , not even Albert himself.

    Who is Albert?
    This ist he most crucial question, I believe. And the key to this question is the most symbolic scene in the whole anime. All storys , little or big, had a reason, a beginning and an ending, an actual reason why they existed. The most huge scene, but with no further explanation, was the scene with the lion.
    With one gesture, one picture, the true identity of Albert is revealed. Risking his own life, ready to sacrifice it, to protect a wild animal from beeing harmed, he has the power to tame it. And I’m asking, how many wild animals did Candy tame, risking her life?
    There was Garcia , the alkoholic, mexican coward who , through her love and courage, changed so much that he was ready to sacrifice his life for her. There was Mr. Carson , and there was Charlie, the prisoner with the paperflowers. There was Mr McGregor, her first patient, and there was Terry. All wild animals, but with the magesty of a lion in their hearts, who changed through her love and sacrifice. So who is Albert?
    Albert is her equal. In every dimension .
    But not only her equal. The symbolism is huge. He is the master of the world, not because of his wealth (another symbolism) but because of his love for every creature under the sky, like Adam in Eden, like Daniel in the lions den. This ist he kind of love he has to offer. He understands her and she understands him because they have the same „spiritual frequency“ , they live in the same world, they speak the same language. When Albert revealed himself to Candy at Lakewood, there is no tension , no anxiety , but tranquility, noone is trying to conquer one another, they know that there is something that connects them, the invisible thread.
    Nagita did the same thing in her epilogue, too, but in a more subltle way. This time Albert does’t tame a lion but reunites two animals, Ceasar and Cleopatra (another epical love) who he knows suffered from seperation, exactly as Candy always made everyone come closer to eachother.

    This is who he is. But which is his caracter? How does he express himself? He is doing it by action. At the House of Magnolia he cookes for her, he cares for her. He always speaks by aktion. He acts symbolic. When they sat at the grass and he offers her the half oft his sandwich he says:“ Lets give a promise to each other, to share the good and tha bad times“ . It’s a symbolic gesture accompanied with words that are said at a wedding. Candy realizes the huge impact of these words, but she can‘t totally understand it. Because what does Albert do? He is wearing his sunglasses, hiding his eyes behind them, because it is not time to reveal his true feelings, he can’t be shure how Candy feels about him.

    Nearly the same thing happened when, after having found Terry drunk, he leads him to Candy at Dr Martins Happy Clinic. He asks Terry : Don’t you want to see Candy?
    This huge gesture, after nearly 30 years, hit me like a lightning. He stepped back to leave the way free for Terry , even if that meant loosing, just in a glance, the love of his life. But this is the magnitude of his spiritual greatness. But at the moment he offers that to Terry, he is wearing his glasses, hiding, holding himself back. That is how he acts.

    EPILOGUE

    Having said all this, analized how Nagita thinks and writes, I’ll show you the only way I can read the epilogue. We have to follow the invisible thread, the meanings behind the words of Alberts and Candys correspondence. This is the point where Nagita reveals all her skills.

    Albert and Candy love eachother but they have to be very careful aproaching one another. They are standing at the same place but what place is that? They have the same secret longing but they don’t shout it out loud because they don’t want to destroy their bond by hurting one another. They have to unfold gently one anothers heart and they will stop wherever the other wants to . And they are doing it by pulling gently the invisible thread to see what melody the strings of their souls will play. The epilogue is music to my ears.

    In the first letter Candy uses all his names, Prince oft he Hill, Albert, Great Uncle William. She is confused and intimidated. But she uses all his names by purpose. Letter by letter one name after the other is disappearing. Albert rejects Grat Unkle William and Prince of the Hill. The one is unbaerable and the other gives him the shivers. And Candy accepts that by saying she will never let him bear anything. And then, gently but certain, with emphasis,she challanges him to chose between beautiful and adopted daughter.
    „Your beautiful adopted daughter“ is pure disharmony. It sounds like a scratch. She pushes him gently to restore harmony again. But what kind of harmony will it be? He defenitely chooses beautiful but is again hiding himself by teasing her with a maybe. Because there is another hidden fear of him. The adoptive father is a fact but he takes it with humor, like it‘s not a real obstacle. So the melody is still playing…
    And then Albert does something that must have cost him a lot. He offers her the name Bert. It is his greatest fear, the name of a brother. It’s short, it sounds not well, it reduces him to something he doesn’t want to be. It’s weak, like a last breath, that is how it sounds.
    And what does Candy? After she feels honored she never uses this name again. It’s in her last letter that she rejects it, after they have met at the Lakehouse at the meantime. Because now, Candy knows about Albert feelings:

    (… ) “And later we went to that room…the same room where I realized who you really were. On the writing desk was my diary. You…you wanted to return it to me…‘Because this…is something valuable toyou.’You murmured those words looking out of the window. Your voice was so quiet…My diary speaks almost entirely about Terry, and I have even often meditated on what I would have donewith it. That diary is here at this moment, close to me, but I have never opened it again and I intend to give it back to you, just as you gave me back the badge which I once returned to you.” (…)

    With this gesture Albert revelas his love to her. He returns her diary to her. She gave it to him but not to Albert but to Great Uncle William, so it shouldn’t be in his possession. And what does Candy? She intends to give it back to him, without having opened it again. This a symbolic aktion from Candy, it is her heart, that belongs totally to him, with all the scars but with definite closure tot he past.
    The same thing applies to the Badge. It is Alberts heart. Once lost without beeing aware of it to a little girl and is now returned back to her conciously . Candy knows now what he meant by that gesture and does the same with her diary , her heart, because she knows the language that Albert is speaking.

    In his last letter to her, Albert said, that in the future he wants to make sure that Candy finds happiness. But Candy, now, knows for shure , after this day in Lakewood that Albert loves her and what was her reply?

    (…) “Yes, Albert: this is my happiness, now. ” (…)

    My happiness doesn’t lie in the past nor in the future but now, with you. She is saying
    „I love you“. And this „Yes“ is so strong, so out oft he blue, like the answer to an unspoken proposal, that lies between lines and gestures. That is why there is no other correspondence between them , because from that moment on they never parted.

    Because that is what Candy experienced that day at Lakewood: Anthony was the white rose, Terry the red, but Albert is:

    (…) “The drive to Lakewood has been wonderful!The lupines, or rather the bluebonnets, the black-eyed-susans, the lace flowers and the wild chervil…The road was flanked by a lot of flowers and you were so astonished while I was murmuring the name of each one of them. Thank you for admiring me so much.
    The wind that was coming through the open window was so pleasant and while you were driving, you were singing that popular Scottish song, and I was completely ecstatic listening to it”. (…)

    Albert ist the whole garden. She is there, where life and eternity meet, she sees the light. She has come to the end of her journey, with Albert in the Garden of eternity.

    (…)The meadow, surrounded by multiflora roses, was full of bluebells and the bright and twinkling afternoon light seemed almost to draw a border between this life and eternity.(…)

    Nagita is totally aware of this kind of love, this is her heart, the core of her story, her deep understanding of the soul. I can’t help but think about this, from Dostojevsky’s Brothers Karamazov:

    (…)The more you succeed in loving, the more you’ll be convinced of the existence of God and the immortality of your soul.(…)

    That is what Candy is all about.

    KEIKO NAGITA

    Nagita loves her caracters from the bottom of her heart. And she treats them with deep respect. Could a character like Albert just vanish? Could there be any doubt any shadow between him and Candy? Could he ever be the second choice for a woman and would he ever accept that? Would Candy ever be that dishonest to move forward with someone without a closure to the past? In the anime the decision for closure is given to Terry, when he decides not to meet her at the Clinik of Dr. Martin. But the closure had to be fulfilled from Candy, and so did Nagita in the novel. When no obstacle was there anymore she still chose him. Even Shakespear wasn’t a threat anymore. Shakespare is a friend who holds a secret, like Dostojevski:

    Juliet:
    O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
    Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
    Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
    And I’ll no longer be a Capulet

    Romeo:
    [Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

    Juliet:
    ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
    Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
    What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
    Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
    Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
    What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
    By any other name would smell as sweet;
    So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
    Retain that dear perfection which he owes
    Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
    And for that name which is no part of thee
    Take all myself.

    Romeo:
    I take thee at thy word:
    Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized;
    Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

    Nagita intentionally blurred the lines. But not to cheat with the ending. She left it to us to unfold the story to the extend we could bear , she left it to us to discover the unvisible thread, to reach the heart oft he story.

    • Myra says:

      Thank you for sharing your narrative and analysis of the novel with us. This is most appreciated.

      Kind Regards

      • Anonymous says:

        Thank you Myra for reading it, I’m glad I can share these thoughts with you, thanks to Ms Puddle’s heaven

      • Story Teller says:

        Thank you for reading it Myra. Thanks to Ms Puddle’s heaven I can share this with you.

        • Story Teller says:

          Sorry, I just don’t get it, how postig works . I thought it didn’t work the first time

          • Ms Puddle says:

            Hi Story Teller, please provide your name and email address to make sure it gets approved automatically. Otherwise, your comment will be waiting for me to manually approve.

            Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. I’ll respond to your long comment later 😊

    • Aurora says:

      Hello @Story teller,

      Interesting insight into Keiko Nagita’s 2010 novel. I agree that the Shakespearean references do not focus on or identify with a single character. Instead, these references constitute a theme within and throughout the story for all the main characters involved. Each and every significant character in this novel has some form of Shakespearean allusion ascribed to him or her.

      Thank you for providing your interpretation of this novel.

      • Story Teller says:

        Thanks to you too, Aurora for reading, It is such a rich story and it is so nice to see that it is so much appreciated.

    • Ms Puddle says:

      Hi Story Teller, first, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and interpretation with us. I’m very impressed by your deep knowledge of the anime version. 👏

      As much as you like the anime version, Nagita sensei did not have complete control over it. Therefore, if you compare that to the Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), you will see that many elements in the anime are not found in CCFS. For example, the scene where Terry was drunk in Chicago but later brought to see Candy, who was oblivious to his presence, was not mentioned in the novel at all.

      On the other hand, the manga version is a lot closer to her manuscripts, so if you haven’t had a chance to read the manga, I highly recommend it because it will most likely help you understand the novel even more. The episode where Terry was drunk was quite different from the anime version. It was Candy who saw him drunk but walked away. Terry thought it was an illusion and wasn’t sure if Candy had indeed seen him.

      Overall, I like what you said about Albert showing his love through his actions, especially with his proposal to Candy about sharing half of the sandwich. I agree it was like promises made at a wedding ceremony.

      I also like your analysis of the Epilogue, but I’m not sure I understand what you said about the nickname “Bert”.

      Nevertheless, your analogy of flowers is interesting: Anthony is the white rose, Terry the red rose but Albert the whole garden. 🙂 Maybe Albert is more like the wild flowers which grow in abundance, despite the adversities?

      About the invisible thread, it’s clear it was Candy who had this idea initially and later even Albert mentioned it again in his letter and agreed with her.

      Once again, thank you Story Teller. Your love for the story and the author is very touching❣️ 🤗

      • Story Teller says:

        What you said about Albert and the wild flowers is just wonderful! Thank you so much!
        I heaven’t read the manga, I have lots of missing knowledge and miss too many details to be able to see the whole picture. But there is a feeling I have, a sence between the lines.

        The epilogue is music to my ears and I mean it literally. The same as for „Your beautiful adopted daughter“ applies to Alberts signature in the „Letter to maybe beautiful Candy“

        The signature of a letter is always the „epilogue“. It is the last but crucial layer of colour for a letter, even for a simple message. It’s always a struggle to find the right one. Is it friendly enough or to cold? Maybe too formal or does it give the wrong impression, does it mislead?

        So in the „Letter to maybe beautiful Candy“ there is this stunning melody of a heart, that has opened up and talks about separation and fear, about mistakes, about guilt and sorrow, about gratitude and all that with pure honesty. And than, after all this strings and violins , there comes „Bert“. Short, without melody, unable to hold inside all this hidden longing of his words. Like a last breath, the last syllable of a name. This was my first impression.

        So when I first read it I thought : What is he doing! You know instantly that it’s a nickname but it doesn’t fit. I thought, why? Why is he offering her that name, most likely that of a brother? He doesn’t want to be called like that! But I think he want’s her now to restore harmony again. And Candy then replys:

        „But, did they actually call you ‘Bert’? What a nice nickname!“

        „Little Bert…I’m really very happy you confided to me this nickname! That is how your sister Rosemary, Anthony’s mother, called you. She was the only one who used that expression, but now I have the honor myself to be able to call you that way!“

        This sounds very formal to me. I read it again carefully, after you said you don’t know for shure what I mean with „ Bert“ and I realised that Candy uses the name after that again. But when she uses „little Bert“ it sounds like she is teasing him, like she is saying „Do you really want me to call you that?“ Although there is so much tenderness in it, too. Maybe it’s both at the same time.

        I totally understand that the translation may add or remove crucial things, that is always the danger and for shure it is more likely that I’m sensing things that are not there.

        But there is something going on with the names, :

        Great Uncle William – intimidating respect
        William Albert Ardley – gratitude
        Prince on the Hill – idealised beloved memory
        Albert – friend
        Bert – brother

        The shorter the names get, the closer Albert and Candy get. That is what I mean, that they unfold gently their hearts . And so I wonder, what name is left for love? Maybe it’s he, the person itself, that is what is left and all that matters.

        (…) That moment, suddenly, the light turns on in the room.
        „ Candy, what are you doing here in the darkness?”I hear that gentle voice, which is always capable of making my heart beating hard. He is here, at the door, looking at me with that smile I love so much. I can’t believe I didn’t hear the sound of the car that brought him back home.“Welcome back!” I exclaim in a faltering voice.I get up savoring the joy of being able to pronounce those words, and I throw myself into his open arms.“(…)

        It is him, the love that is light, the end of Candy’s journey towards happyness.

        But I don’t know 🙂

        • Story Teller says:

          I forgot to ask, how is it possible that Candy has letters in her posession , she sent to others? I can understand why she has Albert’s letters but the others? Why should they be sent back to her? Is there an explanation, did they make written copies at that time or did I miss something? Or is it just a narrative with letters? I have to re-read it again more carefully. I looked for the manga but I couldn’t find it , is it somehow available in english?
          Thank you so much Ms Puddle

          • Ms Puddle says:

            Hi Story Teller, I don’t know the answer to your question about the letters. As you have pointed out earlier, Section 3 is mostly written in epistolary style. It’s a known fact that Nagita sensei was inspired by “Daddy-Long-Legs”, a 1912 epistolary novel by Jean Webster. In that novel, the readers read Judy’s letters to her Daddy.

            About the manga, unfortunately the English online version is not that great. Do you know other languages like French or Spanish? Those are much better quality I heard. Please check this page
            http://mspuddleshaven.com/about/albert-and-candy-facebook-pages/

        • Ms Puddle says:

          Hi Story Teller, I think you have misunderstood why Albert told Candy his nickname “Bert”, and in spite of the fact that the letters have been translated, there’s no doubt Candy was extremely happy having the privilege to call him “Little Bert”.

          For your interest, please read my post http://mspuddleshaven.com/2015/03/20/endearing-nickname/

  4. Story Teller says:

    Dear Ms Puddle,
    Thank you for the opportunity to read CCFS! That we are all here shows how important role models are for children, how much they affect them and how carefull we have to be with childrens hearts, especially at times of such decay.
    I would like to share with you all, what I think Keiko Nagita (I prefer to call her by her real name) wanted to tell us. It it possible to post it here? Its about 4000 words

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