Candy

Candy owes its creation to Kyōko Mizuki: in 1975 she wrote the story of the freckled little girl Candy Candy for the monthly magazine Nakayoshi: “I lost my mother at the age of twenty-one, and I was then alone in the world. Writing this story eased my pain.” The final episode was written in France, at the Domaine de Beauvois, a château-hotel in Touraine: “I wanted to say goodbye to Candice in a beautiful place. If possible, I would have liked to go to the United Kingdom. When I entered the drawing room, tears sprang to my eyes, because there was a painting of a fox hunt hanging on the wall. The fox hunt took Anthony’s life. When I remember Candice, the autumn days at that beautiful hotel come to mind. The hotel resembled the André family’s villa.”

The story was adapted into images with Yumiko Igarashi, the manga artist who was among the earliest to help develop the shōjo (girls’ comics) style in Japan. It is her major work, one that greatly influenced the genre. With Candy Candy, Mizuki and Igarashi received the renowned Manga Prize in Japan in 1977, the highest honor of its kind. The story of Candice White Ardley was published until 1979 and totals nine volumes. The whole was adapted by Toei Animation into a television animated series, broadcast between 1976 and 1979, comprising 115 episodes.

Offered here is an original pencil drawing, produced under the direction of Yumiko Igarashi.

Candy owes its fame in France, and no doubt fond memories for many, to its broadcast beginning September 18, 1978 on Antenne 2 in the program Récré A2. In print form, the original manga began publication in installments in 1978 by Éditions Télé-guide, in hardcover, though not all episodes were completed. The full series was not published until March 1993, by Presses de la Cité.

Accompanied by no. 1, in the hardcover printing, published in September 1978 at the launch of the series.