KiraKira☆PreCure A La Mode

A poster featuring Cure Whip, Custard, Gelato, Chocolat, Macaron, Parfait, and Pekorin

### Premiered

TV Asahi

**KiraKira☆PreCure A La Mode** (Lit. "Shining☆Pretty Cure A La Mode"), is the fourteenth anime

series of the *Pretty Cure* franchise.

Directed by Kureta Kohei and Kaizawa Yukio and produced by Toei Animation, the series premiered on TV Asahi on February 5th, 2017, succeeding *Mahou Tsukai PreCure!* in its time slot.

The series' themes are sweets, animals and creativity. The Cures manage a patisserie.

## Synopsis

*A cute pa­tis­si­è­re from the "KIRAKIRA Patisserie" transforms into a "Pretty Cure"!?*

*The story about Cure Whip and the others protecting sweets filled with thoughts is about to begin!*

I'm Ichika Usami! I'm a second grade middle school student who just loves, loves, loves sweets!

When my mother comes back from working abroad, I challenged myself to make a shortcake♪ ... However it was...

"I'm so hungry peko~~~~!"

...interrupted by a fairy named "Pekorin" who fell from the sky!! My gosh~~ it was so surprising!! Hang on, this can't be right! Cake thieves have been making cream explosions... there have been a lot of mysterious incidents in town.......! And the culprit is another strange monster!? They're looking for the energy that resides in sweets called "Kirakiraru", and to do that, they change all of the sweets to a disgusting black color!!

Of course, I won't let this happen to my shortcake. Because, it'll be so important for me to hear my mother say "I love it".... So here's Usami Ichika special! But when I complete my rabbit shortcake-

"I become a legendary Pretty Cure pa­tis­si­è­re~~~ !?"

Well, if that is the case! Usami Ichika is now "Cure Whip" who will protect the sweets... filled with all of those thoughts!!!

## Characters

**Ichika Usami** is a cheerful second year middle school student who loves sweets. When she gets excited or happy, she’s cheerful and bouncy like a "rabbit". Despite failing all the time, Ichika still has confidence in sweet decorating. She has a skill for being able to make animal sweets. As **Cure Whip**, she is based off shortcakes and rabbits.

**Himari Arisugawa** is a hard-working second year middle school student. She is known to be as fast and light as a "squirrel". Despite being shy, no one can stop her when she talks about her favorite sweets. As the Sweets Doctor, Himari knows everything about sweets and how they affect your body. As **Cure Custard**, she is based off pudding and squirrels.

**Aoi Tategami** is an enthusiastic second year middle school student who loves freedom. She is as brave and free like a "lion". Due to her love for singing, she is the vocalist of the rock band Wild Azur. When it comes to making sweets, Aoi is in charge of parts that make use of her muscular strength and support one's shape. As **Cure Gelato**, she is based off ice cream and lions.

**Yukari Kotozume** is a beautiful and noble second year high school student. She is rather selfish and above everyone else like a "cat". When she is bored, she'll use her skills to perform tasks but after meeting Ichika, she starts to enjoy everyday a lot more. As **Cure Macaron**, she is based off macarons and cats.

**Akira Kenjou** is a gentle boyish second year high school student. She'll always be by your side and has a strong sense of justice like a "dog". She knows her way around places which makes her a good person to rely on. Akira has a sickly younger sister who she tends to give chocolate to as a way of cheering her up. As **Cure Chocolat**, she is based off chocolate and dogs.

**Ciel Kirahoshi** is a genius patisserie who came from France, and is also a fairy named **Kirarin** who resided in Ichigo Mountain. Following her dream of becoming a Pretty Cure, she likes making everyone happy with her sweets, appearing in a flap like a "pegasus". As **Cure Parfait**, she is based off parfaits and pegasi.

### Fairies

* **Pekorin** is a chubby fairy who loves sweets. She is rather spoiled and always seems to be hungry. Depending on her moods, her ears change color and she can feel the scent of energy called "Kirakiraru" which resides in sweets. She has long aspired to meet the legendary Patisserie Pretty Cure, so she often tries to face off with the enemy, only to get either blown away or hurt. She is good at imitating cats and dogs and ends her sentences with "~peko". On special occasions, she becomes Cure Pekorin.
* **Chourou** is a wise old fairy who lives on Ichigo Mountain. In order to please everyone, he practices making sweets with his disciples. However, after being caught in a cream explosion, his body takes the appearance of a ghost. He often asks the Cures to protect the sweets from those who aim to steal the Kirakiraru.

### Villains

* The **Kirakiraru Thieves** are a group of evil and mischievous fairies. Their main goal is to steal the Kirakiraru found in the world's sweets to become powerful. They wear a red belt with a buckle that has a black star on it. Using said belt's dark energy, they can drain the Kirakiraru from sweets or desserts, which turn the sweets black.

* **Julio** is a mysterious masked villain. He was the one who brainwashed the Kirakiraru Thieves using red belts. He possessed a staff that he used to steal people's Kirakiraru for his experiments. He is revealed to actually be Kirarin's twin brother Pikario, and he sacrifices himself so Ciel could complete the parfait that eventually became her Animal Sweet.

* The haughty **Bibury** is another villain, dressed in a gothic lolita style. She is able to brainwash people into believing and spreading rumours about others. She received a doll named **Iru** from Noir, which is her treasured item. She is able to put stolen Kirakiraru into Iru and turn her into a monster to fight the Cures.

* **Elisio** appears together with Grave after Julio and Bibury have been defeated. He uses cards to attack or turn objects into monsters.

* **Grave** appears at the same time as Elisio. He rides a big showy car and commands a group of clay puppets to help him.

* **Diable** is a dog/wolf-like monster who served Noir in the past, but was severely wounded in the battle against Lumière. He asks Noir to let him help once more against the new generation of Cures.

* **Noir** is the main antagonist of the series and corrupted all the other villains over the course of the last hundred years.

## Trivia

* The mechanics that are present in *KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode* are different from the ones present in most previous seasons.
	+ In *KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode* the main Cures:
		- Announce what they represent before the actual transformation as opposed to during their introductory speech after transforming.
		- Each Cure has a different transformation soundtrack until the incantation phrase is shouted completely.
		- None of the Cures that debut at the start of the season have individual attacks, instead, they can only finish the villains together. Also, the words "Pretty Cure" are absent from most attacks in the season.
		- Similar to its predecessor, the Pretty Cure in this season are known as legendary patissieres instead of legendary warriors.
		- They also avoid using physical combat. They only attack with their weapons.
		- The reason that all *KiraKira☆A La Mode* Cures have a lot of volume to their designs, namely their outfits and hair, is to make them have more presence in a 16:9 landscape environment.
	+ *KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode* is the first series to not feature a specific "monster of the day" that the Cures have to battle. Instead they fight Noir's different servants.
		- It should be noted that Grave and Elisio would summon their own monsters, "Nendo Monsters" and "Card Monsters" respectively.
	+ Most episodes end with a segment showing viewers how to make the sweet featured in the episode. The ones for the Cures' Animal Sweets last for one minute, while the others are usually shown in a quick montage with Add The Berry To My Big Love playing in the background.
	+ From episode 7 onward, each episode begins with Ichika introducing herself to the audience and explaining how she and her friends became Pretty Cure.
		- This trend is also carried onto many of the franchise's subsequent seasons.
	+ This is the first season to get a simuldub, a dub that airs along with the series' first run in Japan.
	+ During this season, an official Instagram account was created, which posted pictures and videos of the sweets made throughout the season as well as preview pictures of the then-upcoming episodes.
* *KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode* marks the tenth anniversary of *Yes! PreCure 5* who also has Miyamoto Kanako as its ending theme singer. The French language is also a common element in the series.
* The *KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode* universe appears to be located in the same universe as No Magic World and Magic World from *Mahou Tsukai PreCure!*, which is confirmed by its predecessor's last episode and its movie.
* *KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode* was the last season where the Cures switch to summer clothes until *Delicious Party♡PreCure*.
	+ It's also the last season where the Cures get two standard image songs.