Candy, my first soap opera

I cannot remember how old I was but I remember being a little girl hooked on the afternoon cartoons on tv. But there was only one programme that interested me, one that I followed despite anything: Candy.

Candy was a Manga character created by Kyoko Mizuki who later joined forces with Yumiko Igarashi and created the anime series. In 1977 Candy won the Manga Prize. The original series had 115 episodes each of 26 minutes. It was first shown in Japan in 1976 and it lasted until 1979.

Candy was what could be classified as the typical American soap opera: glamour, beautiful characters, love and drama. All orientated to make us little girls spill our tears along with Candy and sigh every time Anthony or Terry appeared.

It had everything a soap has; friendship, love, drama, traitors, tragic deaths, villains, mysterious characters, all kinds of adventures, unexpected calamities, disrupted weddings, and of course luxurious “scenery”.

The characters were attractive, seductive and glamorous. Candy was georgeous with her long blond hair and emerald eyes, her male counterparts were so handsome that even me and my little friends were in love with them unable to choose between Anthony or Terry. We grew up thinking that love was like that, dramatic but always with a happy ending for the good characters.

The first episode starts at Pony house, an orphanage where Candy and her future best friend Annie are left.  The girls have a happy childhood in the orphanage until, aged 6, Candy is adopted by a rich family.  This is the start of all kinds of adventures and misfortunes for Candy which includes the tragic death of her first love Anthony.  Her second big love Terry has to leave her in order to save her from expulsion and Candy becomes a nurse during the first world war while Terry becomes an actor.  Later, despite their love Candy sacrifices her feelings and gives up Terry to a fellow actress who is in love with him and who, during an accident had saved Terry’s life. 

 The video on the right shows the day of Candy and Terry's  first kiss.

While they are sitting alone under a tree, Terry asks Candy to dance with him so she will have nice memories of her summer in Scotland. Candy accepts the invitation and they begin dancing. But soon after they begin their dance, Terry abruptly stops and kisses Candy. Candy, feeling embarrassed, slaps him and tells him that nobody has ever disrespected her in that way. She still cannot admit her feelings for Terry.

After 1998 Candy was banned from broadcasting worldwide because of a law suit between the artist Yumiko Igarashi and the writer Kyoko Mizuki.  More than 10 years later the process is not yet resolved and that is why Candy is still not shown or TV and is not available on DVD with the exception of very early versions in Spanish and French.