Review of Candy Boy: Nonchalant Talk of the Certain Twin Sisters in Daily Life
It's strange to see such a fanservicey premise of lesbian, incestuous twin sisters develop so tamely, without either fanservice or a dramatic analysis of incestuous love in modern day Japan. Candy Boy is the light-hearted, gentle paced, almost-YA romantic yuri anime you've yearned for...but with an abnormally short runtime, a stretched budget and a little bit of incest. - Now, I want to make something clear before we go any further. I'm maybe a little bit grossed out by incest. Thinking about it rationally, I shouldn't be - what you do in your own time is your own business and I shouldn't judge. But it feelsinnate and I can't much help it. However, Candy Boy succeeded in never making me feel disgust; if anything, I was rooting for their relationship more than I ever expected. I can't guarantee you will feel the same, but I wouldn't put this show to bed because of that little caveat. -
Candy Boy follows the art-college-life of twin sisters Kana and Yuki as they struggle with college costs and, more importantly, finding the time to be with each other. It's a rare thing, seeing a romantic story choose to develop post-honeymoon stage romance, but Candy Boy takes that challenge and is very much successful. Since they've always been together and their relationship has probably never had a honeymoon stage, it's bizarre yet enticing watching them try and inject the fun, the romance back into their... love life?
Believe me, some of the scenarios are a little cliche for the genre, but I never found myself rolling my eyes. Some of the short episodes focus on walking home in the rain under a shared umbrella, shopping for Valentine's presents for each other independently and going on a surprising date. However, the core of what makes Candy Boy so charming is the light tempo, the episodic pacing which ties together to form something bigger and the depth to which it discusses it's small cast of characters and their feelings and ambitions.
Kana is the younger, but in many ways more mature and practical twin. Somewhat of a protagonist, her feelings are the ones we see most of and we realise how much she cares for her lover/sister and wants to spend time with her, but is trying to balance that on top of college work and struggling to cope.
Yuki, the older twin, can surprise with moments of maturity but is generally impulsive and more emotional. We generally follow around Kana, but tend to realise that Yuki is feeling the same way at the end of the episodes. It appears the Yuki has less workload, but we realise how dependent Kana is on her, even if Kana doesn't want to admit it.
Sakuya is somewhat the friend's twin, and tends to function as a comic relief character. Seemingly infinitely wealthy, Sakuya harbours strong romantic feelings for Kana but is never in competition with Yuki - she knows she has already lost that battle. Sakuya is surprisingly helpful to our characters when she's not being creepy.
The fourth character is introduced in the midseries arc, where the sisters go home to see their family. Unfortunately, their parents can't make it so it is just their younger sister at home waiting for them. Despite her incredible maturity that exceeds her age (and probably the main characters!), she is struggling to understand what a correct sisterly bond is, compounded by how extreme her older sister's shared bond is. This is the only time that the taboo topic of incest is actually covered, and it's sweet and gentle to see the twin's caring deeply for their sister, and learning to care more.
The most important part of the series comes at the end, where Kana must make the decision of going to Summer School to prepare for a fancy prep school - thus leaving Yuki behind - or choosing a less prestigious art school and staying with Yuki. Across the last episodes, Yuki gets a part-time job to help pay for Kana's Summer School and Kana feels guilty. It feels like all of the work done to get their love-life back on track disappears.
However, Yuki makes it clear that no matter what, they will always be together. Even if they don't spend as much time together or see each other every day, they will be together no matter what. They admit they love each other - romantically speaking - in a few quiet, but ordinary moments with a slow, gentle kiss in a small shelter on a snowy day. While their love may not be spread across multiple universes and timelines like a couple of the more epic yuiri romances, it is something eternal. And yet, it's beautifully human.