Candy’s letter to Prince on the Hill (Part 1)
I sincerely hope all is well with you and your loved ones, my friends. In light of the devastating global health crisis, little did I expect to receive a gift from my friend Antlay, who lives in France. Merci beaucoup! 😍
Like what she did for Candy’s last letter to Albert this time she created beautiful collages inspired by Candy’s letter to Prince on the Hill. If I’m not mistaken, in Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), this is the only letter Candy addressed to Prince on the Hill (丘の上の王子さまへ) in the epilogue. Though Antlay has bought the French version of CCFS, she suggested I add the excerpts from the original novel.
あの日、突然大おじさまがポニーの家に現れたときから、わたし、不思議な胸騒ぎがしていたんです。先生たちがあわてふためいて、お茶だのクッキーだのって騒いでいてもわたし、ぼうっと立っていたでしょう？
Candy Candy Final Story
Il était apparu ce jour-là sans prévenir à la Maison de Pony. Déjà, cette apparition spontanée m’avait mise en condition : quelque chose de mystérieux semblait vouloir arriver. Souvenez-vous, Mlle Pony et Soeur Lane se sont immédiatement activées pour vous accueillir alors que, de mon côté, je suis restée debout comme un piquet, comme incapable de faire un geste, vous avez remarqué ?
Candy Candy Final Story (French)
That day, ever since the moment Granduncle suddenly appeared at Pony’s Home, I had been feeling mysteriously uneasy. When the teachers were in a panic, excitedly offering tea, cookies and the like, I was standing there in a daze, wasn’t I?
I also put my own translation taken from the post Lost in translation (Part 3), where you can find more details about this particular letter in the epilogue. If you have not read the post yet, I want to point out that in this letter alone Candy called Albert “prince” 17 times, no kidding!!
As you can see, this is Part 1. I’ll continue to post the rest, of course. If you like, please feel free to share the equivalent passages from your CCFS translations, either the official version (if available) or fan works. Let’s cheer one another up ❤️
Here is Part 2.
p.s. Before I go, I’d like to ask you all a quick question about CCFS. It seems to me that only Anthony and Albert’s eye colors (sky blue) are mentioned in the entire novel. Is this true? Or have I missed it without knowing it?
Hello M’s Puddles and Hello Antlay …. Very nice montage with the images of the manga… Antlay are you French?
Bonjour Louna97! Glad to hear you like Antlay’s works 😍 I’ll let her reply to your question 😊
Ms Puddles I am also very happy to read you again .. I can’t wait for you to resume service… And let us benefit again from your analyzes of Candy and Albert. 👍🤗.
Thank you Louna for your continued support and encouraging words 🙂 I will try my best!
Bonjour Louna,
Merci beaucoup pour les compliments et OUI je suis française 😃.
J’imagine que vous également 😉.
Yes I am also French enchanted … I think I have already seen your name on comments from CandyBert. I am wrong ?
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2832001616881980&id=100002165070474
Bonjour Louna,
Effectivement tu as raison, j’ai lu les fictions de mon amie CandyBert. 😀
Il me semblait également avoir vu ton nom sur son site. 😉
Ravie de faire ta connaissance.
Antlay I’m happy to find fans of our beautiful blonde couple Candy and Albert. I know a few now including 2 on my Facebook profile you and CandyBert it’s always a pleasure to chat with someone who speaks the same language as us .. Altay Do you have a Facebook profile?
https://www.facebook.com/1249799575053940/posts/3217953101571901/?substory_index=0
Keiko Nagita’s Posts
To all my Spanish-speaking readers, Looking at the map, I can’t help but wonder which city you live in. Although it does not matter, because Japan, Spain, all countries suffer from the same problem.
This is something that hurts me enormously. The whole world has never been as equal as it is now. In this situation, I feel that all the words are useless, but I also think that Candy could say something like this:
Come on, cheer up!
Let your eyes seek the light in the dark.
Let your beautiful nose rediscover the scent of a sweet rose.
Know that if you always smile, the light and the smell of roses will always surround you.
I was informed that the publication of Candy Candy: the final story had to be delayed. I pray that we can have it in our hands as soon as possible and that in doing so we will experience deep joy.
And, while waiting for that day, I look up to the sky, to the same sky you see, and I feel in relation to all my readers! Please take good care of yourself.
I hope you are well and that you can read Candy’s story soon.
KEIKO NAGITA P.D. I am enclosing a photo which awakens good memories in me.
Merci beaucoup, Louna97!! Thank you for sharing this message from Nagita sensei 🤗😘
Very kind and thoughtful of Keiko Nagita to send a message of hope and strength to the CC community. I hope she and her family are safe and in good health.
Hello M’s Puddles and Hello Antlay …. Very nice montage with the images of the manga. Antlay are you French ?
Thank you for your interesting post, Ms Puddle, and of-course many thanks to @Antlay31 for her contributions. Is this going to be a new series of posts just like your “Lost in Translation” ones? If so, looking forward to reading them.
In response to your query about the CCFS, there’s no mention about Terry’s eye color. His gaze was briefly referred to as “dark” but that’s it.
I’ll just add that I find it interesting how Candy swoons over Albert’s eyes. It’s also noteworthy that Albert is the one who is often associated with anything that has to do with vehicles and driving whereas Terry is never described as being a driver himself. Terry appears to drive a car in the manga and the anime but there’s no mention of him driving in the CCFS. I’m taking notice of this because in the end of the novel, Candy’s mysterious partner (or husband perhaps?) is driving back home and Candy is wondering why she didn’t hear him pulling over. Maybe the writer is giving us a hint here.
What do you think?
That’s right-Lynn. Keiko Nagita provides no description of Terry’s face or eye colour. We don’t even know what he looks like apart from a detail that he’s taller than Anthony. He would be taller since he’s older than him anyway. However, Nagita had mentioned in the preface of CCFS that she’s pleased with Yumiko Igarashi’s illustrations of all the characters, therefore, we should assume that they all look like the 1970s manga drawings.
As for your final point, I agree with you that the reference to the car in the final chapter of the book is revealing.
I think that the references to Slim’s painting, the jewelry box and the car give Albert a lot of leverage that he’s “anohito”.
Hi Myra, maybe I mixed up (I’d better double check Candy’s mental letter to Anthony)… Didn’t Candy say Terry looked like Anthony but later turned out his personality was the opposite of Anthony?
Yes I’ve always assumed the characters in CCFS look like those in the manga, perhaps except for hair colors? For example, Annie has blond hair in Igarashi’s artwork but in CCFS she has dark brown hair.
In addition to the hints you brought up, to me Candy’s letter to Vincent Brown is one of the strongest hints that Candy and Albert were very close, if not already together living under the same roof. 😁
Hi Ms Puddle, I didn’t know that Annie had blonde hair in the manga. Wasn’t the original manga in black&white? I think the Korean version displays Annie with blonde hair and Susanna as a brunette.
As for Candy’s first impression of Terry, she had mistaken him for an Anthony-look-alike on the ship sailing for the UK. It was a misty evening and she simply got a bit confused.
There seems to be a cycle regarding Candy’s detailed description of her “Prince”. When she was a child, she was smitten with the young Albert who had appeared on Pony’s Hill. She was then impressed with Anthony’s beauty because he bore a strong resemblance to her tall, blonde, blue-eyed “Prince”. Later on, she comments about Albert’s appearance and how better he looks without the beard and dyed hair. Candy seems to have had developed her own perception of ideal beauty in a sort of “Pygmalion” way and Albert fits that perception perfectly.
Not that she didn’t find Terry attractive-on the contrary, she was intensely attracted to him but that was more of a sexual drive during her adolescence. Her feelings for Albert were far more profound and intricate to the point which scared her because she was out of her comfort zone. She called the shots with Terry but with Albert she was way out of her league. Whilst she was able to figure out Terry, she was in absolutely no position to do the same with Albert due to his independent nature but also due to his secretive disposition. She was on uncharted territory when it came to Albert. I think that the distance they kept from each other for a while helped them clear the air a bit.
Hi Myra, brilliant comparison of how Candy interacted with Terry and Albert! The latter is far more complicated to Candy, which reminds me of a fanart which I shared long time ago in this post. Even in her 30s (in CCFS) she said with exasperation “he is driving me crazy!” (yes, she used the present tense)
To answer your question, the original Candy Candy manga was first serialized in the Nakayoshi Magazine, published in black and white. Yet it came with poster pages or something like leaflets that displayed Igarashi’s drawings with colors. For example, this post shows the poster page for the final episode of the manga in the magazine. As you can see in the picture, Prince on the Hill / Albert is undoubtedly the most important character in the story 😉
I agree with you about Candy’s mistaking Terry for Anthony in that misty evening. Perhaps she was drunk or confused? 😀
Yes, it’s so true Candy’s had her own perception of ideal beauty in a sort of “Pygmalion” way haha 🙂 Yet obviously she was fond of Albert and treasured his friendship not because of his appearance. That being said, it seems to me she paid more and more attention to his features every time he appeared out of the blue.
Hi Ms Puddle and thanks for your response.
I think that Candy was a bit tipsy during the aforesaid misty night on the ship sailing to the UK. I remember reading about it in the manga but I don’t recall any mention in the CCFS.
As for Igarashi’s drawing in the Nakayoshi magazine, it’s arguably one of the best drawings related to the Candy Candy series. All the characters look so beautiful in that illustration.
Resuming to the relationship between Candy and Albert, it’s obvious that their friendship had developed into a romance. The question remains whether they tied the knot or each of them went their own separate ways. Although I’m convinced that Albert is probably the man Candy loves in the CCFS, Nagita has decided to keep the name of this mystery man to herself so I’ll just say that there’s 1/3 of a chance that this man is Terry, 1/3 that it’s Albert and 1/3 that it’s someone else. Maybe Candy’s husband is a doctor she met during her work at Pony’s Home or at the Chicago Hospital. Some CC fans claim that he’s probably Neil but that’s too outlandish if not silly.
Like you, Myra, I also think that Igarashi’s drawing was one of her best for the Candy Candy series. All characters look beautiful, especially Candy the heroine.
I’m convinced Anohito is either Albert or Terry because otherwise the story does not make much sense… But Neil?? LOL this is ludicrous 😂
I wonder why some fans would come up with that. Perhaps one reason is that Candy mentioned the picture (family and staff) of Lagan’s luxurious resort grand opening was valuable?
The Japanese adjective is 貴重, which means precious or valuable.
Yet, why is it precious? To herself alone or also to the man who shared the study?
Interestingly, Candy stood with the household staff but the young patriarch was right in the center of the picture. 😉
Myra it beautiful comment is very well detailed. Indeed Candy confused Terry and Anthony from behind but she added that Terry was the exact opposite of Anthony, showing that this look was only physical because of the fog that day.
Between the resemblance to Albert, Candy also confused Anthony with Albert, but there too she immediately made the difference, saying that the brightness of Albert’s eyes shone more than Anthony’s and that his prince of the Hill’s hair was much brighter than Anthony’s. Candy found Anthony dull compare to Albert in other words Albert was more handsome than Anthony 🤩❤.
Myra : it beautiful comment is very well detailed. Indeed Candy confused Terry and Anthony from behind but she added that Terry was the exact opposite of Anthony, showing that this look was only physical because of the fog that day.
Between the resemblance to Albert, Candy also confused Anthony with Albert, but there too she immediately made the difference, saying that the brightness of Albert’s eyes shone more than Anthony’s and that his prince of the Hill’s hair was much brighter than Anthony’s. Candy found Anthony dull compare to Albert in other words Albert was more handsome than Anthony 🤩❤.
Louna 97: Thank you very much for your comment. Based on the novel itself, Candy appears to love all these three characters equivalently albeit in different ways. In brief, Anthony represents the pure and innocent first love which most people tend to never forget and always keep in their hearts for their entire lifetime; Terry represents the intense and passionate love which brought forth the sexual (albeit forced upon her) aspect for the first time in Candy’s life (her sexual awakening); Albert represents a far more complicated and mysterious love which is nuanced and as the author herself describes “ineffable”.
Wish you well during these difficult times with the global pandemic. Stay safe!
Bonjour Louna97! I totally agree with Myra. As she said, Candy loved all three men, perhaps differently, and I also think Candy’s love for Albert was ineffable and more profound and long-lasting 💕💖
About Candy’s first impression of Anthony, she mistook him for her Prince on the Hill, but she immediately sensed that Anthony’s smile and shiny blond hair were pale when compared to POTH. Maybe in French it was translated to “dull”? Anyway, the 13-year-old Candy might have exaggerated young Albert’s appearance, because near the end of CCFS epilogue, Candy compared the two men again and concluded they had the same eye and hair colours. 😍
Hello Lynn, yes it’s going to be a series but not as long as “Lost in translation”. Hope you will like it too. 😉
About eye colors, not only Terry but also other characters like Archie or Stear, etc.. When they made their first appearances the author described what they looked like, their hair colors or how they were dressed, etc. Thus I wonder if Nagita sensei did that deliberately… 🤔
About Albert and driving, that’s totally a valid point. At least a few times in the novel either Albert or Candy mentioned him driving, including his runaway incident, his sudden visits to Pony’s Home, their day trip to Lakewood, etc. One can argue that many male characters in the manga showed no problem driving, but it does seem driving is associated with Albert in CCFS. Interesting, eh?
Hello Lynn,
Glad you like it. 🙂
Hello @antlay31, and thanks again for sharing your contributions with us. Perhaps you and Ms Puddle could collaborate and form drawings for her fanfiction. Just a thought..
Bonjour Ms Puddle,
Je vous remercie de partager mes illustrations sur votre site avec les fans de Candy et ravie que cela vous plaise. 😉
Voici un extrait de la lettre de Candy dans la version française de CCFS.
“Il était apparu ce jour-là sans prévenir à la Maison de Pony. Déjà, cette apparition spontanée m’avait mise en condition : quelque chose de mystérieux semblait vouloir arriver. Souvenez-vous, Mlle Pony et Soeur Lane se sont immédiatement activées pour vous accueillir alors que, de mon côté, je suis restée debout comme un piquet, comme incapable de faire un geste, vous avez remarqué ?”
Prenez bien soin de vous Ms Puddle et fans de Candy. 🤗
Bonjour Antlay 😘
Thanks again for your contributions, and of course I like the collages! They are meticulously done with love of the characters, and when I post them all, the readers will have a chance to see why I said that.
Also, based on your comment I’ve updated the post with a longer passage from the novel. Please take good care of yourself too, my friend 🤗