Yuri Manga: Candy, Volume 2 (キャンディ)

October 28th, 2012

The course of young love rarely runs smoothly, as Kanan and Chiaki learn in Candy, Volume 2 (キャンデ).

It’s true that, after events of Volume 1, they are happy together and confident in each other’s feelings enough to not waver under pressure from schoolmates and jealous underclassmen, but it’s still not easy going for these two.

Kanan’s grades have slumped, necessitating extra hours at study, which in turn affects her club activities. Concerned that she will become a burden to Chiaki, Kanan’s self-confidence take a hit, which affects her performance in Kyuudo. Taken off the roster of regulars, Kanan starts to doubt herself in every possible way.

But…this is not all. Chiaki hears Kanan’s plaintive words, begging for reassurance of her feelings and she realizes something else is going on. What it is, she doesn’t know, so she head over to Kanan’s friend Ichinomiya to find out. Ichinomiya scoffs at any accusation that she’s the influence. But, she admits, she thinks she knows who the culprit is. Kanan’s been visiting the school doctor for advice….

…and it turns out that Chiaki and Eri-sensei have a history. And not a good one. Eri-sensei is planting all sorts of doubts in Kanan’s mind.

Chiaki and Kanan get up from under her thumb, but graduation looms. They say goodbye, only to immediately turn around and reunite. From there on, they and we leave high school behind them, and the final chapters are a pleasant portrait of “after happily-ever-after.”

With the exception of the Eri-senei arc, which I found to be forced and irritating, I really like this series. After the on-hiatus Prism by Higashiyama Show, Candy was closest to something like real life for two young women who are “together”, from Tsubomi magazine.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 8, with the exception of Eri-sensei who simply made no sense
Yuri – 10
Service – 1

Overall – 8

Frankly, I still can’t get enough of realistic women living happily ever after. ^_^

 

6 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    You didn’t like the Eri-sensei arc? Well, I admit Eri herself was pretty contrived, but I rather liked the interplay where Chiaki realizes how codependent / self-destructive Kanan is becoming and cuts her off.

    And hey, speaking of Prism, do you know what’s happening there? Like, is there any chance it might actually come off hiatus?

  2. I didn’t think that was handled all that well, actually. Chiaki doesn’t seem like she’d not even bother having a conversation about it.

    No word on Prism as of yet.

  3. Arkadi says:

    This manga had lots of things to like, from the good art to the happy ending in which they’re adults and still together… but the best thing for me was to see Ran Asakawa from Strawberry Shake Sweet in a great role again! ^^ I just hope she doesn’t become typecast as the “tall, handsome baka” after this.

  4. Jelgi says:

    Erica, pardon this oddish question. Since you are familiar with the anime industry, do the Japanese anime companies make any money as well, when you purchase things like the soundtracks, ..etc, outside of anime DVDs?

    In this context, I’d referring to the R2 DVDs and not the licensed R1 versions.

  5. @Jelgi – That is a very complicated question, because quite often the soundtrack/music is unrelated to the anime company, but is instead produced by a music company. The licensing between Japanese companies is not something I know that much about. But, it stands to reason that sales of legit soundtracks benefit everyone involved. ^_^

  6. @Arkadi – Heheh. ^_^

Leave a Reply to Anonymous