Did Candy find her happiness? (Part 6)

As promised, I’m going to compare Candy’s letter to Anthony in Old CC novel to the equivalent one in Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS). Before I go on, I’d like to answer Christine’s questions about the letters to Anthony and Albert in CCFS epilogue. Though the one to Anthony is the last letter shown in the epilogue, the letter to Albert is highly likely the last letter chronologically, which is consistent with the Old novel. For your interest, I’ve explained why this is the case in the post More than words (Part 1). Before I go on, I’d like to share some good news with you. My dear friend Yue Chan has just posted the letter from Candy to Mizuki in the old novel! It’s cute. 🙂 In addition, she started to translate this series Did Candy find her happiness? to Spanish: “¿Candy encontró su felicidad? (Parte 1)” 💓💓

Those who are familiar with the letters in CCFS should already know the letter to Anthony in CCFS is quite different from the one I published in part 4 and part 5. Here I’ll highlight the important differences, referring to the letter in the old novel as letter O and the one in CCFS letter C.

First, thanks to Anneth White for leaving her comment which quite precisely depicted what kind of busy life Albert had such that he couldn’t visit Candy on her birthday, etc. Yes, it’s true Candy said Albert visited her at Pony’s Home very occasionally in letter O, which implied he could barely make time to come to the orphanage to pay a visit. Yet, note that it doesn’t sound like a complaint from Candy; after all, she was fully aware he was the president of the Ardlay’s business enterprise. Remember I said earlier that in the old novel there wasn’t much description about a time when these two young people spent time alone?

No wonder Candy sincerely wished in her last letter to Albert in the Old CC novel that she wanted him to come to Pony’s Home to surprise her. 💕💓 As though Mizuki (real name Keiko Nagita) had pity on her favorite heroine, things have much improved in CCFS. 😁 While in the old novel there wasn’t any detail about any of Albert’s visits (except the time when he came to Pony’s Home the day Candy left Chicago as displayed in the end of the manga), the young entrepreneur did come to Pony’s Home at least twice in CCFS.

One time, he came to reveal that the badge belonged to him (he implied he was Candy’s Prince on the Hill 😍), and Candy wrote with many details too (even though he didn’t stay long). The second time he came after his long business trip to Brazil, spending his holiday with Candy alone by taking her to Lakewood and back to Pony’s Home. Both visits were pleasant surprises, as Candy had clearly written in her letters.

Despite his frantic business schedule, Albert dedicated an entire day to Candy. Come to think of it, he finally fulfilled her birthday wish of him taking a holiday just for her, to spend time with her and talk to her a lot. I bet he had missed her too. 💓 In addition, as I already explained in Part 1 of this series, he liberated her from the guilt of causing Anthony’s death. This is why Candy could finally write to Anthony (albeit mentally), and she sounded excited asking Anthony to guess with whom she had just gone to Lakewood. 😊 This part is unique in CCFS. We don’t see such melancholy in letter O at all, as some of you have already noticed. Candy could talk about Anthony and Heaven in a light tone. She still missed him, but she sounded upbeat otherwise.

On the other hand, Candy sounded somewhat angry concerning Albert’s multiple identities. A friend of mine reminded me of my old post He’s driving me crazy? Candy rarely expressed such ‘frustration’ when talking about Albert-san in her present in CCFS, but in letter O we can tell she was annoyed (that she had been a fool? 🤔), and it’s almost like she could readily scream “argh… he’s driving me crazy!” any moment. 😉 Note that her anger lasted much longer in CCFS, so much so that Albert had asked her for forgiveness again and again. Laughing out loud… 😆😉 Do you honestly think he was a father figure to her? If so, why was she so angry? 🤔 Shouldn’t she be grateful?

Also thanks to dear Candy Bert for her insights when comparing letter O to letter C. Indeed, Candy didn’t mention anything about Rosemary’s love story with Mr. Brown to Anthony. Why? We can read that story from Albert’s letter to Candy in the old novel, telling her that Georges had helped them elope. The elopement was never brought up in CCFS by the way. 😅

On the other hand, as Candy Bert pointed out, in CCFS Albert personally informed Candy of his late sister’s struggles with her family for a man in a lower rank. Albert even praised her as a strong woman. Please bear in mind that Albert related all that to Candy in the solemn memorial hall. It was as though he vowed he would do the same for Candy if necessary, having his ancestors as his witnesses. I bet our beloved Candy got the hints, because she wrote in letter C that she believed Anthony would be just as strong if he could grow to be an adult. In other words, she was alluding to Anthony’s young uncle. 😘

Furthermore, I’m in agreement with Candy Bert, that Candy described what Albert looked like in a poetic way in letter C. She actually wrote quite a bit about his appearance, including his hair color and eye color, whereas in letter O, Candy simply told Anthony to ask Stear. What intrigued me most is what exactly Candy meant by “the clear blue color like the newborn (brand new) morning sky”?

生まれたての朝の空のように澄んだ青い色。

When Candy first met vagabond Albert near the waterfall, the moment he took off his dark sunglasses, she described his eyes as “clear blue eyes like morning lake”.

澄んだ青い目が朝の湖のよう

Here, “clear blue” doesn’t necessarily mean “pale blue”. Can it be a darker shade of blue, not that light blue color as shown in the anime? Because the sun hasn’t fully emerged at dawn. What do you think? 😎🌞

Anyway, the point is, Candy introduced Albert to Anthony with lots of details. What a stark contrast to the way she talked about Terry in letter C, not even mentioning his name. She gathered Anthony knew about him already (yet she wrote a lot about his young uncle), and she briefly talked about how she had been strongly attracted to a guy that looked like Anthony in London (see the highlighted text extracted from CCFS Volume 2, p. 327). Note that she did specify London and used the verb 惹かれる, which means “be attracted, be drawn to, be charmed, etc.”. It is a verb commonly used to describe infatuation and has nothing to do with attachment (I was told about this incorrect translation in the Italian version of CCFS). Not only that, near the end of the highlighted text, the verb form てしまいました means that the action has been unintended (note that I didn’t make this up… click the link above to see the grammar guide). Could it be, that in hindsight Candy realized that this attraction had occurred unintentionally? Remember, around that period of time, she had been mourning Anthony’s death.

I honestly found it bizarre why Anneth White believed that Candy still loved Terry when writing this mental letter to Anthony (in CCFS). Remember in letter O Candy didn’t mention a thing about Terry at all? Not to mention that Candy plainly wrote in letter C that she had learned from this guy from London (again, a guy without a name here, and literally she wrote そのひと, which means ‘this person’) that sometimes people would never meet again even when both were alive (as Candy Bert mentioned, Candy undoubtedly meant not to meet with Terry ever). I must add that Candy’s tone was very calm and matter-of-fact in the entire passage about this guy from London. My interpretation is that her passion for him had long faded.

How about the timeline? In the Old CC novel, Candy wrote this letter to Anthony some time after she learned that Albert was Prince on the Hill. Therefore, her trip to Lakewood should be the one we read near the end of the manga. That is, she had gone there to find her legal guardian, Granduncle William, about Neal. In other words, while she went to the fox hunting forest she didn’t yet know Albert was actually her prince. There’s nothing about Candy’s crying over Anthony’s death and taking the blame upon herself as described in CCFS epilogue. Mizuki had changed this significantly, and Prince on the Hill pulled Candy towards his loving arms and let her sob on his chest as much as she needed to. He was sharing her sorrows, as promised in his sandwich proposal. Again, like many of you, I just love this newly added scene in CCFS, which is both poignant and romantic. 💕💓

Next, like Yue Chan and Candy Bert, I agree that roses in Candy’s present home in CCFS might be related to Albert too. Roses are undeniably associated with Anthony and Rosemary. Albert loved them both as well. Although the roses in Candy’s home have no names, it’s written that Candy took care of the roses herself. It didn’t say that she also cared for daffodils however. In short, roses are more important to her. 🌹🥀

If a character can only be associated with one or two things or people, as Anneth White has claimed, then I’m afraid she doesn’t really understand the story of Candy Candy. Even Terry is associated with many things or figures, like Hamlet, theatre, Broadway, alcohol and cigarettes, Susanna, Eleanor Baker, illegitimate son, rebel, etc. Likewise, the most complex character William Albert Ardlay can be associated with a long list, one of which must be Rosemary. She loved roses too. In letter O it was clearly written Albert planted wild roses to commemorate Anthony. I didn’t make that up. 🌹

Just as Candy Bert pointed out, Albert played many roles in Candy’s life, and other than the main heroine, he is the only character that is always present. Last but not the least, I have to disagree with the claim that Albert was too busy for Candy. Please read carefully what I said above; I believe Albert visited Candy at Pony’s Home more than twice in CCFS. Why? Because he should have come to Pony’s Home to negotiate the purchase of the land from Mr. Cartwright. He also kindly proposed to Miss Pony and Sister Lane about building a new orphanage, which had been turned down. Thus, Albert was physically there at Pony’s Home.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I’ve read so far the reconstruction is something new in CCFS. In fact, my gut feeling tells me Albert would probably come at least one more time to watch the progress of the reconstruction. What about when the reconstruction was completed? He should be there to approve the work and sign the cheque, right? 😁 You think for an important project like this he would pass it all to Georges his loyal assistant? I don’t think so, especially we all know that he did it for Candy, a generous present. 😊

Not to mention that Candy in CCFS thanked him twice about this reconstruction project, once in her letter to Archie and once in her present time. I have reason to believe Albert didn’t just pay for the project but he might be involved in the design and the process somehow. Interestingly, in CCFS prologue Anohito could recognize at a glance a painting of the orphanage prior to the reconstruction. Which male character in CC came to Pony’s Home the most? Don’t tell me it’s Terry. 😉😆 He only came once in winter (very briefly too) before the reconstruction. Those who know how heavy snow can completely change the scenery and landscape will understand what I’m saying here. 😊 In Part 7, I’m going to share Candy’s letter to Vincent Brown in the old novel. This letter was a new addition to the latest edition of the old novel, after the lawsuit with the illustrator Igarashi. Therefore, in this edition there was no illustration, just like CCFS. Please stay tuned. 🙂

You can find the Spanish translation of this post in ¿Candy encontró su felicidad? (Parte 6)” por Ms Puddle. Muchas gracias Yue Chan mi querida amiga!! 💓💓