Anohito in CCFS
Myth # 9: Animec Article "Proves" Candy-Albert Ending
What Igarashi Really Said about Candy and Albert
Below is a special guest article by Lady Gato, in which she gives a super take-down and analysis to debunk the myth that an interview article with Yumiko Igarashi in the Japanese magazine Animec in 1982 had given proof that Candy and Albert ended up together. The translation of this article is on our website if you want to read it for yourself.
Thank you to LadyGato. To visit LadyGato’s page on Facebook, go to Lady Gato at Candy Candy Nation.
Discovering Igarashi
Over the years in the Candy world (almost 20 for me, Lady Gato) we have seen and heard a lot of miscited, erroneous and made up information from certain fans in order to favour or try to favour their non-canon ship, Candy and Albert.
There is a long held urban legend in the CC world about how an article in Animec (Japan, 1982) proves that Albert is supposed to end with Candy in the manga. For years this article has been cited/ has been trotted out to Terryfans as “irrefutable proof” that Candy and Albert were always shipped by Mizuki/Nagita and that CCFS does nothing to change that.
Of course when it comes from certain fans, there is always information, but never proof. If you go trying to find this article you likely won’t find it.
Today, (belatedly celebrating Bert’s “given by his fans” b-day) I am happy to announce that not only I will provide you free of charge (as opposed to charging you 26 Euros for a crappily researched, full of errors, copy pasted without permission and copyright infringing waste of paper) access to not only the “unicorn” Animec article, but I will also provide another one from about 14 years later (Views, Japan November 1996).
These two articles give a better insight into Igarashi’s role in Candy Candy. You can now read them here as well as in the partner page Forever Terry. As I read these, there are a few things that stood out to me:
1 👉 Igarashi had a marriage wish versus being an independent professional - life took her down a different path.
When she was a child, Igarashi’s aspirations to be a manga artist were not as strong as her dream to get married.
Much like Nagita, Igarashi was precocious in her art (Igarashi as a graphic artist, Nagita as poet/writer). However, in the interviews, despite enjoying her work as a manga artist, she says and we quote:
“If I’m being completely honest, even when I moved to Tokyo to become a manga artist, I didn’t think that it would be my occupation for the rest of my life. I thought that I would eventually marry an established manga artist and support his work. That was my dream. And so there was no reason for me to continue being a manga artist.”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Views Interview, Page 91, November 1996
Of course, her success as a manga artist charted her life path; with Candy Candy being her biggest hit. One could see how she was greedily driven to continue the CC merchandising machine once the golden age of the series had passed in Japan, profiting behind Mizuki’s back.
2 👉 Candy was “older” than the typical Nakayoshi heroine. World War I was not part of the original story. Igarashi in her interview says, and we quote:
“For instance, the first World War was something that was added after we had advanced in the story. In the end, if you put a date on something, it will show the ages of the characters. And so in ‘Candy,’ the dates of birth were exposed part way in. But it is something that the readers really wanted to know. And so once World War 1 is finished, Candy is 20. And then you wonder, what story about a 20-year-old would fit ‘Nakayoshi’ magazine?(laughs).”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Animec Magazine Interview, Page 98, 1982
3 👉 The Anime is really separate from the manga! Again Igarashi says and we quote:
“I don’t think that readers or anime fans necessarily tied the two together. They are different… They enjoy anime for what it is, and manga for what it is.”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Animec Magazine Interview, Page 99, 1982
4 👉 Igarashi’s influence on the graphic representation of characters is confirmed.
In the Animec interview, she talks about how Candy Candy the manga plot was a collaborative process. This is cross-referenced to the Mizuki essay “When I was with Candy”. Igarashi in her interviews talks about the creative process where Nagita, Igarashi and the Nakayoshi editor are discussing the character design. It is apparent in Mizuki’s essay as well in Igarashi’s interviews, that she was the one who came up with the Ardlay character background and dress, and Mizuki went along at the time.
Surprisingly, Igarashi also names Candy!
And who came up with the title? Igarashi answers:
“Me. Why? Because I loved Candice Bergen.”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Animec Magazine Interview, Page 98, 1982.
And finally, this is what certain fans love to cite as the “proof” Candy ends up with Albert. I believe that if you read this carefully, you will truly know who was behind this scene:
Interviewer’s question: “Are there any tidbits about ‘Candy’ that you can share with us?”
Igarashi:“You know how in the last chapter, there is a two-page spread drawn in the pointillist style? This scene was decided on from the moment we started. I would finish the series with this. It would all be a lie if I didn’t. But it ended up taking me three days to make all those dots. Still, it really does feel like a final chapter now, doesn’t it?”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Animec Magazine Interview, Page 99, 1982.
We crossed checked with the translator if it is understood this was Igarashi’s idea to end the manga this way, and they said: “Given how she talked about having freedom in that regard earlier [ see point 5 below], I would assume that it was her decision.”
As I mention later here, one can see why Mizuki/Nagita says what she says in the CCFS postface regarding why she wrote CCFS, and several things she does in the narrative to separate her Albert from Igarishi’s Albert, as the final page of the manga was Igarashi’s vision that she wanted to fulfill; harking back to the 6-year-old child meeting the 17-year-old boy with a kilt who reveals himself to be Albert/Prince of the HIll, therefore resolving that open question Candy had (and supposedly the manga reader had) as to whom the prince of the hill was. It does not necessarily mean Candy ends up with Albert. It only closes out by resolving the “mystery” of who the “prince of the hill” is.
This statement supports Nagita’s statement about why she wrote CCFS – the manga was a derivative work from Mizuki/Nagita original that came to be produced through a collaboration with the mangaka Igarashi and the Nakayoshi editor (Shimizu san).
5 👉 And who is Igarashi’s favorite male character from Candy Candy?
Igarashi replies and we cite:
“Well, it’s Albert. Of course, it is Albert! (laughs).”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Animec Magazine Interview, Page 99, 1982
6 👉 Igarashi/Nagita - A relationship that ended in “divorce”:
In both interviews, Igarashi highlights how both she and Mizuki had been inspired by the same books (Anne of green gables, Little women, Daddy long legs) and they were approached to create something that would be in the vein of Heidi.
Igarashi says:
“It would be nice to make something like that…’ We were of the same mind and shared our opinions like that.”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Views Magazine Interview, Page 90, November 1986.
It was important that the two get along, so they had an introductory meeting:
Interviewer: “Ahh. A marriage interview?”
Igarashi: “Yes. If there isn’t something that fits when it comes to our sensibilities, then it just won’t work out at all.”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Animec Magazine Interview, page 98 1982.
Interviewer: “So it’s like you iron out every single detail together.”
Igarashi: “Yes, we had to do that often. If I change something for the manga, I would have to talk to her about it so we knew how to continue from there. Because it’s not possible to keep everything the same when turning words into pictures. So we were constantly in contact.”
— Yumiko Igarashi, Animec Magazine Interview, page 98, 1982.
Knowing what Mizuki/Nagita said later on the bulletin board of the official fansite “Fairy Village” when she was asked about the changes between the Nakayoshi serialized manga and the book when the old novel version was republished (2003), how scenes in the Magnolia apartment, etc. were put in the manga without her permission, as well as the implication that Candy was falling in love with Albert so soon after her forced breakup with Terry (recall Mizuki/Nagita said “cheap [story]”, “do not turn Candy into a fickle girl”), it is interesting that Igarashi says she talked to Mizuki/Nagita about changes.
We all know those scenes were retracted once Mizuki/Nagita found out.
Close to the end of the manga, Nagita travelled due to working on a serialized travel essay in the magazine “Tabi ni Deyoyo” by the Mainichi Shimbun. Nagita has mentioned several times she regarded Candy’s story as a “girl’s growth drama”, but the mangaka Igarashi and the second editor in charge who took over from the original editor in charge interpreted it as a “sweet love story”, while trying at the same time to modify Nagita’s manuscript to pull it towards the direction they wanted.
So the cracks in the relationship/misalignment on the story were already in place in the last couple of years of the manga production, where MIzuki wanted to take the story one way, Igarashi trying to take it the other way.
Sadly, as we know, this “marriage” ended in “divorce” when Igarashi tried to profit from Candy Candy without telling Mizuki/Nagita and was taken to court by Nagita. And as we also know, Nagita won the court case and the split between the two was now legal. However, one can see how Nagita finalizes that “divorce” and reclaims her intellectual property by writing Candy Candy Final Story. Those details will be the source of another essay we will share with you shortly.
Hope you enjoy the articles!
(With Love and Gratitude to Eleanna Sakka for confirming the Nagita Essay sources 
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