Candy Candy is a anime cartoon that was produced in Japan. The main character, Candy Candy, was a blond girl with long, curly hair. Candy Candy was first written on April of 1975 by famed Japanese writer Kyoko Mizuki . When Mizuki joined comics artist Yumiko Igarashi , a Japanese magazine named "Nakayoshi" became interested in Candy Candy. For four years, Candy Candy and her comic friends and enemies starred in a comic strip published by the magazine.

Candy Candy's first love was a character named Anthony.

Popularity

Candy Candy reached great heights of popularity during the era, with different types of toys about her selling at the Japanese market. These toys included dolls, girl watches, and other items. Seeing that the comic had become so popular among Japanese girls, in 1979, a Japanese television network began to show the Candy Candy cartoon. By then, one feature film about Candy Candy and her friends had been released on Japanese cinemas. Another one would be released in 1992.

Candy Candy reached international fame during the early 1980s, becoming popular in Europe, Latin America and the United States, among other places. Candy Candy toys were also sold in large quantities in these areas. In Puerto Rico, where the show was known as just Candy, Candy Candy actually made a cross-over of sorts, because, even though the show was supposedly geared towards girls, a large number of Puerto Rican boys also became fans of the show, probably attracted by the main character's looks and the action portrayed in it. Although Candy Candy was a cartoon show, it contained soap opera elements: the television version of Candy Candy had a continuous story, so every chapter began where the last chapter had left off.

During the 2000s, Candy Candy episodes began to be sold on DVD format.

Controversy

Iragashi allegedly tried to take complete ownership of Candy Candy to collect all royalties related to the cartoon character and its products. She began to produce Candy Candy material without the consent of her former friend and partner Mizuki, as well as Toei, the film making company in charge of Candy Candy's recorded productions. This infuriated both Mizuki and the Toei company.

In 1998, Mizuki, one of the better known female comic and cartoon writers in Japan, filed a suit on a Tokyo district court. Mizuki did not ask for full copyright ownership of the character; she just asked the court to recognize that she and Iragashi have the same rights of ownership over the copyrights of Candy Candy for future Candy Candy cartoon, film and toy sales.

In 1999, the court ruled in favor of Mizuki. The ruling made history, because it is believed that it was the first time in Japanese justice that two people were given the same amount of copyright percentage over a Japanese product.

The ruling was supported by Tokyo's High Court in 2000 and the Supreme Court in 2001.

Iragashi then sued Toei, the filming company. Toei immediately stopped showing the series on Japanese national television, but the case fell through.

On May 31, Mizuki was awarded 29,500,000 yen by a court. That money was given as compensation for the emotional stress she allegedly went through while all these cases were dissolved in the Japanese courts.

In 2003, a company in Saitama Prefecture that had been producing Candy Candy toys for a large number of years won a case against two Tokyo companies that had been illegally producing Candy Candy jigsaw puzzles. The Saitama Prefecture-based company earned 7.8 million yen and a ban on the publication of further jigsaw puzzles with Candy Candy as a central character.

Modern Candy Candy

In 2005, the Candy Candy franchise began to try to re-establish itself in the United States. Due to all the court cases that unfolded after Candy Candy became a television program, however, it is unlikely that it will be shown on television again.

External links

• nichiebeianime.com's take on Candy Candy, with images