Ichika Usami

Ichika Usami (宇佐美いちか Usami Ichika) is one of the six main Cures and the lead Cure in KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode. She is a second-year student at Ichigozaka Middle School. When she gets excited, she jumps around like a "rabbit".

Ichika's alter ego is Cure Whip (キュアホイップ Kyua Hoippu?), the Pretty Cure of liveliness and smiles, and she is based off shortcakes and rabbits.

Her catchphrases are "Whip, Step, Jump!" (「ホイップ・ステップ・ジャーンプ！」 "Hoippu・Suteppu・Jānpu!") and "I have a bright idea!" (「キラっとひらめいた！」 "Kiratto Hirameita!").

Appearance
Ichika has magenta eyes and long curled orange hair worn in twin-tails held by large strawberries. She wears a white top with a short pink dress, white sneakers with pink detail, and strawberry socks. For summer, she swaps this with a pink blouse and a short layered white skirt with white shoes featuring a strawberry design. During winter, she wears a pink sweater with a dark pink skirt, strawberry boots with white socks, and at times pink gloves, white earmuffs, and beige jacket. When working at KiraPati, her twin-tails are lowered.

In the movie she wears a pale pink blouse with a light blue skirt and black shoes with cream socks. At the party, her hair was tied with hot pink ribbon. She wore a bright pink dress with white gloves and pink heels.

As Cure Whip, her now knee-length hair turns bright pink and she gains curled forelocks. She wears a strawberry shortcake on a magenta headband, fluffy white earrings, and a magenta choker. She gains white rabbit ears and a tail. Her pearl pink mini-dress has a pink buttoned corset and chest bow, which is adorned by a strawberry. Her Sweets Pact is worn on a magenta bow. Her secondary skirt layer resembles shortcake with a frilly petticoat. She also gains pink boots with a white rabbit-like toe and a pom-pom on the ankle to accent that on her gloves.

As Super Cure Whip, her top, waist bow, boots, and gloves are light pink. Her sleeves are rounded and the strawberry on her chest is larger, while her skirt has changed in shape. A white piece of fabric hangs from the back. Her boots and gloves are angular cut. She gains a large white pair of wings.

In A La Mode Style, her headband has been replaced by a fluffy white hat and light pink bow. Her choker is light pink with a pom-pom. Her boots grow in length and the pom-pom is gone, while that on her glove was replaced by a fluffy cuff. Her white dress resembles a ballgown with a red heart on the chest and she has fluffy sleeves. Large strawberry slices circle the waist and the remainder of skirt is pearl pink with bunched, light pink fabric and big pink spheres around the bottom.

Personality
Cheery and upbeat, Ichika loves all kind of sweets and she loves to brainstorm new ideas. She's very creative and excels at decorating and making animal sweets, but her cooking skills and schooling could use some work. She has a way of making others smile through her pure and genuine feelings and heart she puts into everything she does, and she is usually very perky. When really excited, she hops around much like a rabbit. She can be clumsy now and then and is fairly emotional.

Relationships

 * Satomi Usami: Satomi liked to bake strawberry shortcakes for Ichika when she was younger. When Ichika wondered why her cakes are so delicious, Satomi stated that she puts all her love for Ichika into it. Even though Satomi is working away from home as a doctor, she and Ichika are always thinking of each other.
 * Genichirou Usami: In the past Ichika adored her father, but at the start of the series she is shown to be a little distant as he enjoys teasing her. But they still maintain a close relationship.
 * Pekorin: From the moment they encountered each other, Ichika and Pekorin form a close bond. They care deeply about each other.
 * Ciel Kirahoshi: Originally, Ichika idolized Ciel. However, Ciel actually admires Ichika and wants to learn from her. Although both have different approaches when it comes to making desserts, they are close friends and learn from each other.

Etymology
Usami (宇佐美): U (宇) means 'eaves', but is also often used as an affix for anything space (宇宙 uchuu) related. Sa (佐) means 'to help', and Mi (美) is a common name suffix that means 'beautiful'.

Usami is meant to sound similar to Usagi (うさぎ), which means 'rabbit' or 'bunny'.

Ichika (いちか) is only given in Hiragana and can have several meanings. It sounds similar to strawberry (いちご ichigo).

Whip is short for whipped cream which goes on desserts like strawberry shortcake.