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jolyneswife-anime-reviews · 2 years

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Why Candy is an icon

Major spoilers for Candy Candy and tw for verbal harassment not explicitly discussed in this post) and death

This anime was one of my favourites as a kid and to this day, it still holds a special place in my heart. While it definitely has quite a few noteworthy characters, none stood out to me like Candy herself, and this is a list of reasons why

She enjoyed more stereotypically "masculine," things and threw the "delicate girl," stereotypes down the toilet- in early 20th century America, when the anime is set, girls were not expected to have hobbies like climbing trees or playing at cowboys, but this is exactly what Candy did, regardless of all the skepticism she faced and the negative comments from those around her about how it was "dangerous,". She dominated too, being skilled enough at tree climbing to beat a professional and win a bet against him in the process. She also had a bit of a temper and a rough side, which also lines up with this - she was often shown getting into scrapes with the boys when they provoked her, and later on with the Leagan children. It's definitely clear that Candy wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and fight against what she deemed unfair, talking back to adults and breaking school rules she deemed unjust, like when she his her pet racoon in the forest so she could keep him.

She never threw in the towel - Candy's life was a very difficult one as shown by the anime. First, the best friend she has known for her entire life leaves her and the children's home they both grew up in, then she's adopted by a family who uses her as a servant and is forced to deal with constant verbal abuse at the hands of their children, who stop at nothing to try to sabotage her, even causing her to get sent to work in Mexico for a period of time, and when it seems like things are finally taking a turn for the better as her relationship with Anthony starts to take off, he dies in a horse riding accident, leaving Candy devastated. A few years later, Candy goes to study in London and meets her next love, Terry Grantchester. The two develop deep feelings for each other but, after they get in trouble with the school directors, Terry is forced to leave so she won't have to. After a while, Candy also leaves to pursue a path in life that is completely her own - she starts to train to become a nurse, after experiencing first hand what it feels like to help the sick. In all this, no matter how difficult life got, how alone she felt or how scared she was, Candy still kept going, even when she was hesitant, in order to reach her goals and find happiness. The fact that she managed to persevere through so much, all the while keeping her smile and staying cheerful throughout the anime, shows a huge amount of mental strength and determination, which are two of Candy's most admirable qualities.

Candy was selfless - her own ambition is proof of this- wanting to become a nurse to help people get better. This is even more clear when she starts working for Dr Martin, despite the fact he can't pay her. Another point in the series when this selflessness is evident is when she was willing to give up everything she had with Terry after realising Susanna, a young actress who was in a terrible accident, needed him by her side to carry on living. Candy realised his importance in her life and left, trying her best to move on.

Candy showed a lot of loyalty to her friends - From the start of the series, Candy is always shown helping and protecting those she considered friends. From helping Pattie hide her pet from the teachers, to pretending she doesn't know Annie so her past at the children's home can remain a secret, just as her parents wished, to nursing Albert back to health when he got amnesia and even staying with him until he regained his memory, Candy definitely did a lot for those close to her and was the type to stick by her friends, no matter how painful or uncomfortable things got.

Candy was stubborn and opinionated - she had her beliefs and principles, and didn't shift from them, even when she was pressured to or when they caused her pain. Throughout the show, she continued to stand up for them and make decisions based on them, even when others were unhappy with these decisions.

She was a style icon - the dresses she wore throughout the series (when she did wear dresses) were instrumental in influencing today's soft, cutesy and fairy tale Lolita style, which means the impact of her stunning princess dresses is still felt today.

If you want to know my thoughts on Candy candy as a whole, click here

Masterlist

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silviagalassophotos · 3 years

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Eliza and Neal Legan by SilviaGalasso

Eliza and Neal - The wicked Legan' siblings.

Manga-anime-novel: Candy Candy.

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ultraericthered · 5 years

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Underrated Bad Guy Blurbs - The Regans

This time, I’m talking Eliza and Neil Regan (or Legan). AKA, two of the characters that make Candy Candy worth watching whenever they’re in an episode.

- The writing for these two in the anime...is not the best. The first arc that features them as frequent antagonists early in the series is based on the first of the three original Candy Candy novels, where they’re at first depicted as devil children because that’s exactly what they come off as to Candy’s perspective, only for them to devolve into just being bratty spoiled rich kids who barely have lives beyond cruel pranks ‘cause that’s what they really were all along. Their portrayal is fairly two dimensional in a way similar to Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series prior to Book 6, it’s kind of just what you’d expect of kids from a rich elitist family. Then they reappear in the St. Paul’s Boarding School arc, where they evolve into the main antagonists, particularly Eliza, who turns into an extra cruel, spiteful, Machiavellian bitch. But after that, the anime forgets about them until they start shoving them into anime-original story arcs that weren’t lifted from the source material. This in theory should give the writers a lot of freedom and room to do interesting things with them and maybe add more depth and dimension to their characters..BUT they didn’t do that. If anything, they made the characters even flatter and more cartoonishly evil, using them for some cheap, easy conflict whenever life wasn’t beating poor Candy down hard enough. By the time the show finally got the final arc where the Regan family took their final stand against Candy and Neil in particular was acting as an insufferable Nice Guy stalker towards her, there was no chance they’d come out of this story as characters who mattered to anything other than drama. And this turns out to be true to the point where there is literally no on-screen resolution for their part in the story. No closure, no comeuppance, no burying the hatchet, no nothing. So yeah, they’re just nothing by the end.

- So while watching Eliza and Neil is usually a strictly “So Bad, They’re Good” affair, there are some glimmers of actual competent writing and humanizing characterization for them here and there, mainly in the first 50 episodes that cover the first two novels. Never are they ever portrayed as good people, but they are portrayed as at least semi-believable people. Well, when they’re not being written as one note cartoon villains that is, which is frequent, but fun.

- Eliza in particular has notable fleeting moments of showcasing humanizing qualities. Aside from her friendship with Anthony and the crush on Terry she develops, she’s friends with Beta Bitch Louise, to the point of having practice dances with her, she’s a BAMF when put under pressure, she’s averse to the idea of murder, she perceives things differently as to not place blame on herself for anything that blows up in her face, the horrors of war unsettle even her, and can even sometimes do the right thing even if for the wrong reasons. And she and Candy even seem to have an unspoken sort of twisted affinity towards each other due to their many encounters and shared experiences with each other. This might be a carryover from the third novel, where Eliza actually ceased to be an active tormentor of Candy following St Paul and became just this bitchy side character whose few interactions with Candy call to mind how Harry and Draco interact post-Book 7. I wish the anime had gone all out with that instead of resorting to always writing and using her as a one dimensional bully but alas, it didn’t.

- Neil is as campy and cartoonishly villainous as his sister, and also super irritating right down to his voice, but what’s interesting about him is that not only is he as awful human being as his mother and sister, but when he acts of his own accord, he is consistently a lot worse than his sister despite being the Beta Sibling between the two of them. He’s a spineless coward and a louse, but when emboldened or pushed to it, he goes to lengths that make Eliza looks soft in comparison. The worst thing Eliza ever did on her own was the whole business with the hospital that led to Neil playing loan shark. All of her other solo acts of evil were really just stuff that mean kids tend to do and those tended to be less awful than her acts shared with her brother and/or their mother. Neil, however, is a nightmare when left to his own devices.

- If Candy Candy was ever rebooted (slim to none chance of that happening since the creators resent the series now), I’d love if it went the full Voltron: Legendary Defender route in modernizing the storytelling and characterizations. Eliza and Neil could be two halves of a full Prince Lotor - Eliza being the scheming strategist with a charming facade (making her more like Rosemary, really) and Neil being the one with the romantic attraction to Candy, which like VLD Allura and Lotor in contrast to their original incarnations, Candy would actually start to return the attraction only for him to end up betraying her trust and feelings. There’d be more depth and development of both their characters and their family background, we’d have some redemption for Eliza by the end, and a semi-redemption for Neil too. I even have an image for how their designs might look in the Studio Mir art style:

#underrated #villains #underrated characters #Candy Candy #anime #eliza regan #neil regan #opinion #analysis #they wasted a perfectly good character

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jolyneswife-anime-reviews · 2 years

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Candy Candy anime review + a little character analysis

Spoilers for Candy Candy and tw for bullying, alcoholism, and family issues

Genre: Romance, drama/tragedy, historical

Where I watched it: http://www.stb.dircon.co.uk/CandyGranchester/ (they’re in Italian though)

Characterisation: 8.5/10 (One of the strongest points of the series is the characters. There are a wide variety of them, all with distinct and developed personalities. As Candy goes through life, she meets many different people, and some become more important than others- we get to know these people through her eyes, and watch them grow as she does. The cast is colourful and they all add something to the story which makes it more compelling. Without a doubt, the character designed with the most care was Candy- she’s bold and cheerful, rejecting the “delicate” ideas of femininity imposed by 20th century American society, and enjoying more masculine things, like climbing trees. Most of all, Candy’s tough and determined- she always stands up for what’s right and stubbornly does things her way, even when there are risks involved- throughout the anime, it becomes clear that she doesn’t fear scrapes or confrontation if it means brining justice or helping a friend. Despite her having wilful side, Candy is also very caring and selfless- she regularly puts those she loves before herself, even when it hurts, and she conceals the pain with a smile. Kindness and giving a helping hand are such central parts to her character that her entire ambition of being a nurse is based off of them, as is the way she puts it into practice. After losing her job, Candy starts working at the Happy Clinic, despite knowing that the doctor there is poor and can’t pay her a salary, and, in doing so, she provides poor children with healthcare. Alongside this, Candy is also given the princess treatment, and presented as vulnerable and hesitant. She’s such a nuanced character, because all these elements fit together to create someone who is messy, yet bright and full of hope, someone who every viewer will like and whose story they’ll become invested in. Two other instances where characterisation is used particularly well are the development of Candy’s best friend, Annie Brighton, and her second love interest, Terry Grandchester. Annie starts off as a timid girl. After being adopted by a rich couple, she’s told to forget about her past at Pony’s home and her life as an orphan, and she obeys, cutting off contact with Candy and refusing to speak to her when they are reunited at boarding school years later. However, Annie then learns that her past isn’t something she needs to hide or be ashamed of, and her life at Pony’s home, as well as her friendship with Candy, isn’t something she can just erase, so she starts being herself and gradually becomes stronger, learning to stick up for herself when she’s bullied and not run away from difficult situations. Even though Annie wasn’t my favourite character, it was nice seeing her grow stronger and learn to accept herself despite the judgement she might have received. On the other hand, Terry is presented as the stereotypical bad boy when we first encounter him- he talks back to nuns, breaks school rules, gets into fights, smokes, and most of the girls have a crush on him. However, as he and Candy grow closer and he opens up, it becomes clear that he is a caring and loyal person who values those close to him, despite struggling to show it. The ultimate proof of this is him leaving the school so Candy wouldn’t be forced to. As he grows closer to Candy, he also relaxes a bit- he stops getting drunk and picking fights as he has someone who can help him now. Terry is also portrayed as vulnerable on occasion, which is a nice change from the usual tough and emotionless men in some anime. This is seen several times when it comes to his family issues, particularly his mother, who never truly cared about him, and when he’s forced to leave Candy, so he falls into despair. Overall, he’s a complex character with a well developed backstory and many nuances.)

Setting: 8.5/10 (As Candy moves around a lot, there is no “fixed,” setting, but rather a series of settings depending on the period of her life, all of which work well for that period and cater to it flawlessly. From the humble, yet comforting design of Pony’s home which perfectly illustrated the life Candy led there, to the grand mansions of the wealthy families she encounters later and the prestigious design of the boarding school she is sent to, the setting always perfectly matched and catered to that period in her life, with different times being associated to different settings. Some settings also present challenges, like the mansion Candy lives in when she’s finally adopted by Anthony Brown’s family. Because of her newly elevated status, she is expected to adapt and behave “like a lady” (which she still refuses to do, causing great friction between her and the mistress of the house))

Art style: 7.5/10 (The art style is a very typical one for older anime- I definitely like it, and most settings and characters are drawn with suitable pallets and a good level of detail to their character design. One thing that is definitely worth mentioning about the character design is the women’s clothes, which were a factor in spreading and popularising Lolita fashions- that type of dress is still very much appreciated today. There are some episodes where the quality of the animations isn’t great, and some side characters do not have much effort put in their design.)

Plot: 8/10 (Candy Candy has a very engaging plot- it’s dramatic and combines tragedy and romance with fighting to find your place in the world. The plot incorporates all these different elements by telling the story of Candy’s life from childhood to when she’s a young woman, with all her most significant experiences included, along with some relevant historical events in the background, like the outbreak of the first world war. The plot often has twists and is unpredictable, but it’s also full of filler arcs which have little to do with the main story and take away from the pace. I hated the ending, as it did not tie up all lose ends and felt unsatisfactory compared to the earlier build ups.)

Addictiveness: 7.5/10 (As aforementioned, the plot is engaging, unique and full of twists, and the changes in setting add a dynamic and adventurous thrill. The characters are also well developed and distinct, which makes the show reasonably addictive. However, the filler arcs sometimes take away from this by lasting a long time and contributing nothing to the main storyline, which means that, at certain points, it becomes easy to lose interest.)

Originality: 9/10 (The plot of the anime is a very unique one in my opinion- I haven’t seen anything like it. It combines several different genres and aspects of this girl’s life into one anime, and some of the subplots also add to that, such as when Candy is forced to travel away to work in Mexico, leaving her love behind. Candy herself is also quite distinct - she’s tough, determined and stubborn, but she also has a softer side to her, and longs to be treated like a princess.)

Comfort: 5/10 (Because this anime is synonymous with my late childhood and something I used to watch with my mother, it always brings me comfort. However, the tragedy element of the anime should not be taken lightly. Candy leads, all in all, a very difficult life full of misfortunes. As a baby, she’s left by her parents at an orphanage, and, when she’s older, she’s forced to part from her best friend, Annie, and later, the only family she ever knew when she’s adopted by a rich family. There, she has to endure constant alienation and bullying from every member of the family, and her love life is similarly full of highs and drastic lows. I hate to admit it, but the staircase scene with Terry Grandchester after the two realized they would have to part was the only anime scene to ever make me cry (I was properly sobbing too). However, there are also incredible highs after the lows, coming in the form of heartwarming romance scenes, wholesome family reunions, relaxed and funny scenes with Candy and her friends, or simply self discovery and improvement.)

Consistency: 6.5/10 ( The quality stays pretty consistent throughout the anime- there are some less enjoyable filler arcs, which don’t add much to the plot, but the only place the quality of the story really dips is at the end.)

Philosophy: 5/10 (As an anime, it’s not very deep or thought provoking, and there aren’t many lessons to learn from it, but there are some important ideas about trying to persevere in the face of grief and rebuilding your life, even when it feels like you’ve lost everything.)

The plot

Candy and Annie were left on the doorstep of an orphanage on a snowy day as babies, and found at the same time by the benevolent women who ran it. Ever since then, the two have been best friends and sisters, playing together every day, and deliberately putting people off of adopting them so that they could stay at the orphanage together. However, Annie is starting to really want parents, so when a rich couple offers to take her in (after Candy made a total spectacle of herself so they'd be put off) she accepts. Candy feels betrayed at first, but gradually comes to accept her friend's decision, and the two start writing letters to each other. However, one day, Candy receives one of these letters from Annie, and it says that they will be no longer able to communicate because her parents believe that, for her protection and to truly become their daughter, she needs to put her humble past behind her. Shortly after this happens, there's an offer from another wealthy family to adopt Candy, who accepts because their house is near Annie's. Right off the bat, the children of the family, Neal and Eliza, begin to pick on her and humiliate her. The mother makes it clear that she wasn't adopted as a daughter, but as a companion for Eliza. While Candy clashes heavily with the family, she soon makes friends with all the servants, who teach her a variety of things, and she makes an interesting discovery. Not too far from her new home is a mansion where 3 friendly guys live, and one of these, Anthony Brown, looks exactly like the "prince" she met one night when crying and alone. She soon becomes very good friends with all three, but what she feels for Anthony, with his soft, chivalrous ways and roses, evolves beyond simple friendship and puppy love. However, there are many obstacles to the two being happy together, and life can often bring about unfortunate tragedies when we least expect them. When that happens, Candy has no choice but to try to move on and rebuild her life.

Masterlist

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