YMMV / My Candy Love

• Adorkable: Some fans find Kentin's easily flustered personality and genuine adoration of Candy endearing. Many others jive with Armin's love of video games and pop culture. Still more like Hyun for his enthusiastic and sometimes silly nature.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Is Nathaniel truly a nice, studious boy or is he simply putting on a show for his strict parents? When he was a child, he used to be a horrible little menace but has he really matured past all of his negative traits from back then? There are very strong hints that point to "no".
  • Is Amber just an Alpha Bitch who picks on Candy out of shallow jealousy or is it possible that Nathaniel isn't the only one being abused? Do her worst traits stem from some outside force that destroyed her self-esteem and she just has a really poor way of handling it?
  • Is Dakota really a Chivalrous Pervert Surfer Dude who is so arrogant that he can't even comprehend a girl not falling in love with him or is he a decent guy who genuinely cares for Candy, and is just putting on a masculine front to hide his insecurities? His nicer actions combined with his general behavior make it hard for many fans to really come up with a common conclusion.
• Alas, Poor Scrappy:
  • Most fans felt sorry for Amber after she learned that her father was an abusive jerk and her mother stood by and let it happen. Then she's separated from Nathaniel because he moves out for good.
  • The ending of "First Date" shows Rosalya at the hospital after having a miscarriage. She was clearly overjoyed with the pregnancy and had already decorated the room. Even those who had gotten sick of her pushy behavior felt some sympathy for her.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Kentin's initial appearance and personality split the fandom between those who despised him for his clingy personality, geeky looks, or both; those who adored him and viewed him as an affectionate boy who stood out amongst the more stereotypical designs of Nathaniel and Castiel; and those who saw him more as a friend than a love interest. His post-boot camp appearance and personality split the base further between the fans who saw them as an improvement and those that vastly preferred his original look.
  • Nina's personality and backstory has divided the fanbase two-fold. For one thing, she's a middle school student who has an obsessive crush on Lysander, which usually leads her to insult Candy and her relationship with him constantly. This by itself soured parts of the fandom against her while others either didn't care or still liked her for her cute design. Then we find out that her mother is depressed and was recently hospitalized to treat her depression, handily explaining why she developed an unhealthy crush on Lysander: he was one of the few people who actually paid attention to her. Some fans found it hard to resent her after learning about this while others pointed out that- though her situation is certainly tragic- it doesn't suddenly justify her actions and behavior. Subverted in UL where, her background role DOESN'T involve insulting Candy's relationship and in LL where, she's a super supportive, little-sister-like, super employee.
• Broken Base:
  • As with any Choose-Your-Own-Adventure game, the player doesn't have 100% control over Candy's story, the script does. As a result, there are decisions that Candy makes on her own that players either disagree with on principle or feel that it doesn't match their Candy's personality. For example, in "The Love of Art", Candy wants to keep her relationship with her new beau a secret. Some players were frustrated that they couldn't choose for themselves and felt that she was purposefully hurting him. Others argued that her line of reasoning was sound, considering she was just grounded and her father was already angry at the boy.^* It's at this point that some felt that the game was no longer My Candy Love, but Candy's Love.
  • Nathaniel's abusive backstory and how Candy handled the situation when she found out. Some praised it for its more realistic portrayal of handling a child abuse case, and for how Candy did her best to get Nathaniel out of a dangerous situation. Others believe that after Nathaniel told her to stay out of it, she should've listened; regardless of how good her intentions were, these fans think she way overstepped boundaries.
  • In "Exam Results", Armin will make out with Amber at the school dance if you're not on his route. This led to a huge outcry between people who were outraged and even disgusted by Armin showing any interest in Amber, and those who stated that Candy choosing a certain boy means the rest of the bachelors are free to pursue their own relationships with other people, Amber included.
  • "University Life" and its implementation caused a massive split among the fanbase. Of the modifications, the most contentious was the removal of Kentin, Lysander, and Armin as romance options. Players who were on one or more of their routes were distraught to see their love interest replaced. Other fans pointed out that this allowed space for other interesting dates, including a Gay Option.
• Commitment Anxiety: Including the tutorials, there are almost 100 episodes all told. The exact AP cost for each one varies depending on which season you're playing and individual dialogue choices, but they generally consume anywhere between 500 to 1,500 AP. While each season can played in any order, episodes must be played in chronological order; none of the episodes can be skipped. And since the amount of AP you get each day is very low compared to how much an episode costs, the bank accounts of pay-to-players will take a huge hit and the patience of free-to-players will be tested thanks to the sheer amount of waiting they'll need to do in order collect enough AP to finish even one episode, never mind an entire season's worth.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Illustrations can be incredibly hard to unlock and the cost of failing to unlock them is expensive. As such, fans tend to only pick the answers that will lead towards their desired illustration, potentially missing out on unique character interactions.
• Creepy Cute: Black is a creepy looking bat, but his friendly attitude towards Candy and caring nature for Dimitry has warmed more than one fan towards him.
• Diagnosed by the Audience:
  • Although you can control almost all of Candy's responses to people and some of the actions she takes, the one thing you can't control is her thoughts. Candy's constant worrying, jumping to negative conclusions, fearing negative outcomes, low self-esteem, and going through some pretty emotionally stressful situations all point to the idea that she may have an anxiety disorder. Signs appear throughout "High School Life" with "University Life" continuing the trend.
  • Violette's painfully shy, nervous, and has very low-self confidence. It's possible she suffers social anxiety and/or depression.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Violette garnered a lot fans thanks to her gentle personality and quiet demeanor.
  • There are many fans who wish Mr. Faraize was a possible love interest due to his awkwardly sincere personality.
  • Many fans find Chani's gothic-witch aesthetic and fun personality a breath of fresh air. And for those who disliked being forced to be best friends with Rosalya, she provides some variety.
• Epileptic Trees: An official relationship chart that neglected to show a "family" arrow between Armin and Alexy spawned many theories that ranged from a simple printing error to government conspiracy. The fact that a then recent interview also confirmed that the boys are adopted didn't help matters.
• Foe Yay Shipping: Despite their mutual animosity in HL and UL, Nathaniel and Castiel have moments where each one shows concern for one another: in "SOS Rabbit", instead of letting Castiel be expelled and thus not having to put up with him anymore, Nathaniel practically encourages Candy to convince Castiel to come back to school. Some of the banter between them also has a spattering of homoerotic subtext (Castiel teasing Nathaniel about his "measurements", for instance).
• Friendly Fandoms: Many MCL fans are also Sweet Elite fans. Both games are coming of age stories that focus on a customizable main character, they both offer a selection of love interests that you can romance, and both share similiar game mechanics.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Kentin really, really wants to get back at Deborah and Castiel for hurting Candy, even when his affinity isn't that high. This could be because he's a nice guy, however one thing that made him upset in the early episodes was that he could not stand up for Candy when Amber bullied her. Now that he's gotten stronger both mentally and physically, it's possible he saw giving Deborah her just desserts as a chance to make up for what he couldn't do before; protect Candy from a bully.
  • In "Cupid on Strike", you find out Violette carries a stuffed animal around with her for comfort. When you meet everyone's parents, you find out that her mother died a few months ago. This, coupled with her natural shyness and social anxiety, is probably why she needs something comforting and secure to carry around.
  • In "Introduction to the High School Clubs", Nathaniel and Castiel get into a physical fight over something relatively minor. When more major conflicts happen between them later on, it never escalates this far, so one wonders what was different this time. Then you realize Lysander isn't introduced until a couple episodes later. He probably makes an effort to stop Castiel from doing anything too hotheaded or impulsive, but since he wasn't around this time there was no reason for Castiel to calm down.
• Fridge Horror: Nathaniel spent a lot of late nights at the high school. Initially, this can be easily brushed off as him being studious to a fault. Then it's confirmed that his father beats him and his mother turns a blind eye to the abuse. It's likely that he spends so much time at school because he wants to put off going home as long as he possibly can.
• Growing the Beard: Early episodes of HSL tended to be pretty silly and run-of-the-mill with the worst conflicts being Candy dealing with Amber's bullying or worrying about passing exams. "A Jump Back in Time" would kick start the game's first major story arc which included Candy having to deal with being the victim Deborah, a particularly nasty bully who manages to turn almost all of Candy's classmates against her. This arc would begin a trend of character based story arcs that would also tackle mature and heavy subject matter such as domestic abuse, cyberbullying, and sex.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • If you choose to have Candy tell Kentin that she liked the old him better upon his return, he looks crestfallen and tells Candy that she's the only person that did. In the context of "The Weight of the Past", this becomes a lot more upsetting.
  • Through most of the game, Lysander's poor memory is Played for Laughs. Then comes "State of Emergency", where he develops amnesia as a result of his head trauma after being hit by a car. This manifests in him forgetting who Candy is and that his father is sick and in the hospital.
• Ho Yay: By the time of "Love Life", Nathaniel and Castiel's mutual hatred is something of the past. Castiel calls Nathaniel by his Affectionate Nickname and Nathaniel willingly and- at a slight risk to himself- decides to do an unofficial investigation on the person harassing Crowstrom with plagiarism accusations. The icing on the cake was in "Bad Buzz" where, if you're on Nathaniel's route, Castiel jokingly asks for a hug and Nathaniel teases that Candy might get jealous.
• I Knew It!:
  • Most fans correctly guessed that Nathaniel was being abused long before Episode 23 confirmed it as true.
  • Alexy's crush on Kentin was confirmed in Episode 39, but was predicted as soon as he stated "I like muscles" back in Episode 12.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Capucine is very rude to Candy and most everyone else. Later episodes imply that she has some kind of anxiety disorder and serious issues making friends, which is why she looks up to Amber so much. In "Happy Life, Double Life", Amber tells the whole class about Capucine's relationship with a nerdy underclassmen and bullies her to the point of tears. This incident made a few fans feel more sympathetic towards Capucine.
  • Evan's behavior often crosses the line and his influence on Kentin is mainly negative, but not only did he lose his parents at when he was only ten and got separated from his baby brothers, he also grew up in a toxic military school environment where he was bullied as badly as Kentin (and possibly raped). To cope with the trauma, he developed a tough-as-nails exterior in order to keep people from picking on him. He believes he's protecting Kentin and doesn't seem to realize how poorly thought out some of his actions are.
  • From the get go, Yeleen comes off as snide and argumentative for no real reason. Even after coming to a truce, she still tends to be thoroughly dismissive of Candy. Then we learn her mother is oppressive, putting a lot of pressure on her daughter to succed in the same way she has. After this, even those who dislike Yeleen understand why she acts the way she does.
• Les Yay: Even before UL made Candy's bisexuality canon there was plenty of lesbian subtext between one or more characters:
  • Candy has a tendency to talk about how gorgeous she finds Rosalya.
  • Capucine's utterly devoted to Amber and doesn't seem interested in making friends with any of her other classmates. Capucine's original creator^* (Capucine was one of the winning entries in a character creation contest) planned for her to have a crush on Jade back when it seemed like he would be a major character, but this detail wasn't included.
  • Priya's interactions and comments with Candy noticeably take on a far more sincere and serious tone than with most of her other classmates.
  • In HSL's "Serendipity", Priya and Iris kiss on a dare. Iris is uncomfortable with the dare, but Priya doesn't have any major objections to it.
  • After Priya confirms that she is bisexual and has dated girls in the past, her behavior towards Candy very well could be beyond friendship (and Candy can seem to return these feelings, though at this point she's already in a relationship).
  • Candy's protectiveness of Iris (specifically when she is being talked and harassed) can be read as romantic as easily as strongly platonic. At one point in her internal monologue, Candy even refers to her as "my sweet Iris".
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Ninja Nathanial^Explanation Since the locations of characters are generated randomly, it's entirely possible to waste a lot of AP looking around for specific characters. This is especially true with Nathaniel, hence the nickname.
  • The facepalm of doooom!^Explanation Nathanial's "upset" sprite has him facepalming. It's not hard to say the wrong thing, so it comes up pretty often.
  • Lysandeer^Explanation In "Dynamic Duo", if you're on Lysander's path, Candy and him will encounter a deer and the illustration shows him holding out a hand to the animal. This spawned the "Lysandeer" nickname as well as jokes that Lysander's true love is a deer.
  • Castiel is on his period. Always.^Explanation Castiel is the moodiest of the guys.
• Moral Event Horizon: Before "Searching for Truth", Charlotte was never given much attention. She was part of Amber's clique, but she never went out of her way to bully Candy or anyone else. During that episode, however, it's revealed that she's the one who's been blackmailing and cyberbullying Iris. And all because she thought that Iris was trying to steal her boyfriend when that couldn't be farther from the truth: Iris had no idea the guy was already in a relationship and, before she could find out, Iris broke up with him pretty quickly. Once the whole fiasco is dealt with, Charlotte is quickly shuffled out of the narrative via her transferring to a new school.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • For the better part of HSL, Nathaniel is stuck in an abusive home life, being on the recieving end of his father's verbal and sometimes physical abuse. His mother does nothing to stop it and his sister is oblivious, something that Nathaniel doesn't want to change. It makes one wonder how long it would've gone on for if Candy hadn't stepped in when she did.
  • "Searching for Truth" centers around Iris being blackmailed by someone who has inappropriate pictures of her in increasingly bizarre ways, such as forcing her to purposefully get bad grades or sending her out in the middle of the night for no reason, all while she is unable to tell anyone what's going on. To make matters worse, it's one of her own classmates doing it, for very petty reasons. It doesn't help that this is a very real issue many adolescents go through.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • During HSL, Amber was hated by most of the fanbase for being a generic alpha bitch with little to no depth. "University Life" would reintroduce her as a surprisingly mature young adult who has a heart-to-heart with Candy about how she treated Candy in high school. Amber's focus now seems to be to right past wrongs, get Nathaniel on the right track, and maintain a modeling career without hurting anyone. These bits of characterization did a lot to get her into most fans's good graces, to the point where some were asking if she could be a love interest too.
  • Yeleen was despised in the beginning for being "High School Amber 2.0". Her pettiness and the fact that nearly everything Candy can say leads to a decrease in her affinity made plenty of fans apathetic at best towards her or hateful at worst. However, "Secrets and Confessions" would reveal that her mother was the one who would keep breaking promises to Yeleen as well as be extremely critical of her and her dreams. This explanation for Yeleen's behavior, in addition to her and Candy having a meaningful conversation about what's been bothering her this whole time, made most fans sympathetic towards Yeleen.
  • In "University Life", Rosalya's character became extremely pushy and judgmental, and her issues with Nathaniel really rubbed a lot of players the wrong way, especially those who were on Nathaniel's route. Starting with "Under Pressure", these negative traits were lessened significantly, and the heartbreaking conclusion of "First Date" garnered her a lot of sympathy.
• The Scrappy: The High School Life version of Amber is the least well like out of the rest of the characters for being a stereotypical Alpha Bitch with little to no personality outside of that archetype.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Since the game's inception, the action point system has been hated by pretty much every fan. The way it worked originally was you'd lose two points each time you moved from one location to the next. On average you got 12AP per day, so if you wanted to play through an episode in one go for free, you'd have to wait at least one or two months, perhaps even longer. Characters appeared randomly and some objectives are deliberately designed to eat up your AP. When UL was introduced, the mechanic was changed to detract two points each time you clicked on the dialogue. This made playing through an episode even more expensive, and it's universal to all seasons. While the amount of AP you get per day was bumped up to 20, this doesn't change the fact that you'll still be waiting a long time before you have enough AP to get through an entire episode.
• Seasonal Rot: Many fans dislike or outright hate "University Life" for a multitude of reasons; the removal and replacement of three romance options, higher AP cost to play an episode, inconsistent characterization of returning characters, an unsatisfying explanation for Candy breaking up with her high school love interest, and a different base for Candy are just a few of the numerous criticisms the season gets. There are some fans who even treat UL as more of an official alternative universe fic than a genuine continuation.
• Slash Fic: Same-sex couples are pretty popular within the fandom. Castiel/Nathaniel, Castiel/Lysander, and Kentin/Alexy are all pretty big, as is Kim/Violette. Pairing Priya up with Candy or Amber is also more common than shipping her with any of the boys.
• Values Dissonance: The game was made and takes place in France, so there are few cultural customs that don't gel well with an American audience.
  • The reason Candy had to move away from Sweet Amoris is because her parents moved away after she graduated, and they didn't feel that she was ready to live away from them yet. This comes across as an excuse to many American players, as in the USA it's common practice to move into student housing (sometimes hours away from your hometown) as soon as you enter college, and few would say a 17 or 18-year-old is too young. However, in many parts of Europe- France included- it's much more common for college students to attend a school close to home while living with their parents.
  • Smoking is comparatively more accepted in France than in North America, so the game never portrays Castiel's smoking habit as an overly bad thing; the fact that he hangs out in the basement to smoke is just supposed to symbolize his rebellious nature. Some American players, however, are slightly perturbed by this, and have expressed a desire for him to quit.
  • HSL's "Serendipity" involves underage drinking. While it's true that many American teens drink even though it's against the law, most American media would involve some kind of alcohol related catastrophe and An Aesop against it, both of which are missing here. Furthermore, Melody's discouragement of drinking is treated as uptight and meant to make her less sympathetic, while a lot of American shows would treat her as a concerned friend and the voice of reason. In France, the youngest when you can start drinking is 16, so long as you're in the presence of adults (presumably family members). Considering alcohol, wine more specifically, has long been entrenched in French culture, it makes sense that the game has a more laid back stance towards teen drinking.
• The Woobie:
  • In HL, Nathaniel is abused by his very strict father (who dotes on Amber by comparison) and while his mother sees it happening, she pretends it doesn't. Amber is completely unaware of what's going on but being a Spoiled Brat she will give him hell if she thinks he's crossed her. And even at school- implied to be his safe haven- things don't always go so well for him. Even after he moves out, his relationship with his mother is strained as she doesn't believe in the emotional trauma that the abuse left. UL and LL reveal that even years later he still has lingering trauma from it.
  • Kentin was apparently bullied mercilessly at his/Candy's old school. The sole reason he moved to Sweet Amoris in the first place is because the only person who was nice to him- that being Candy- moved there. At Sweet Amoris he is immediately bullied by Amber and her friends, and his dad ships him off to military school for being unable to fight back. Much later on, we learn that he faced much worse bullying there. Due to all of this, he has serious self-image issues.
  • Lysander's fate is a little sad. Both of his parents are dead (and if your Candy dated him, she only knew about about his father passing, not his mother). Since they're dead, Lysander, who in high school expressed aspirations to become a singer/songwriter and poet, had to give up any ambitions he had to go back home and run his parents' farm. Remember that this guy moved so far away in the first place because he didn't want anything to do with the farm. Rosalya says he's happy, but for the longest time we never saw Lysander himself, thus being unable to confirm if he truly is or if he's just putting on a brave front. Alternate Life gives a little more clarity on the situation.
  • Hyun's overarching arc in UL. He is a HUGE family man, adoring his sisters and believing that his parents' relationship is the prime example of true love. So when he finds out that his parents are divorcing he's devastated. He's so distraught that it takes him awhile to let Candy in to even support him. Although things do stabilize before UL ends, smaller family issues do continue to crop up in LL.
  • Castiel in the first arc of "Love Life" when Crowstorm gets hit with plagiarism accusations and he takes most of the heat. He actually falls into a very understandable depressive mood not only because he can't offically release music and his former fans are blasting him on social media, but also because he feels abandoned by his bandmates (especially Zach though Gabin does reach out to Castiel via phone) and record company when they should know he's innocent. You just want to give him a hug.
  • Rayan has a Darkand Troubled Past that already makes him a woobie in UL. But his arc in LL is incredibly harsh on him. He kindly rejects a student who has a crush on him. This same student later, in a moment of panic, agrees to start a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. He loses his dream career offer and his friends are divided on his innocence (and he IS completely innocent). It messes him up so bad that even if you are in a relationship with him, he will abruptly leave the city to stay with his uncle in the country for some time. Neither the writers (dialogue) NOR artists (haggard appearance) skimp on any detail of how badly this situation affects him.
• Woolseyism: There are plenty of linguistic differences between French and English. Here are just a couple examples of how the team translated them:
  • In the French version of "Cupid on Strike", Candy initially refers to Leigh as "vous" (the formal form of "you"). He tells Candy that she call him "tu" (the informal form) since he's not much older than her. Since the informal "you" (thou) is no longer used in English, this is translated as Candy talking to him very formally and him telling her that she doesn't have to speak like that.
  • In the French version, Nathaniel is a class representative, but in international versions he is the student council president; a different post but with similar connotations.
  • The disclaimer at the end of HSL's "Serendipity" about underage drinking was changed from under 18 years old (the French drinking age) to 21 in the American version.
  • The very slangy "si ça te dit" in "Influenced" is translated as the equally slangy "if you're down."

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