Ushiku Kana

(The following contains spoilers.)

Kana Ushiku (牛久 花和) is a prominent character in the Anima Yell! series.

Official Description
Kana once performed alongside Hizume in their old cheer team. Having joined the team after Hizume, Kana continues to call her sempai, despite being in the same grade.

Appearance
Kana typically wears short, red twintails, which might resemble cow ears from a certain angle. Kohane and the others marvel at the fact that she can fit into Uki's uniform, given that Kana's bust is slightly larger than hers.

Background
Kana is a high-school student and Hizume's former teammate during middle school. She attends the same school as the girls, although Hizume was not aware of her presence at first.

Initially, Kana is seen as being brash, condescending, and very hostile to most of the Cheer Association members. Being fairly skilled in cheerleading herself, and having witnessed the group perform at Akane's soccer game, Kana feels that Hizume's talent is being squandered by surrounding herself with beginners. But after a series of events that led her to temporarily replace Uki during the Basketball Club's prefectural game, Kana decides to join the Cheer Association for Hizume's sake. As the association's fifth member, Kana's membership had allowed the girls to finally form the Cheer Club. With the exception of Uki, everybody in the Cheer Club occasionally mistakes her as "Hanawa", based on a misreading of her first name. In time, Kana slowly begins to tolerate Hizume's new circle of friends.

Since their time together as teammates in their community cheer team, Kana had always admired Hizume from afar. But given Hizume's intense focus on cheer at the time—remembering her former teammates vaguely as all having "potato faces"—Kana was almost never acknowledged by her. After Hizume left the team, Kana followed suit, confessing that there was no reason to be there without Hizume around. Although both girls are in the same grade, Kana continues to fondly call Hizume "sempai". After Kana joins the Cheer Club, Hizume eventually feels regret for having been so distant from Kana, and attempts to remedy the situation by becoming her friend, much to Kana's surprise and excitement.

Because she looks up to Hizume and holds her in very high regard, Kana's dedication to her is seemingly quite intense. She is often very focused and attentive around Hizume, and easily becomes flustered every time Hizume compliments her, sometimes causing her to faint or to flush bright red. Kana is very quick to defend any opinion that was shared by Hizume, even if it borders on the absurd. She can also easily identify Hizume from a random body part in a photograph, and despite refusing to be called Hanawa, Kana is always willing to make an exception for Hizume.

During her childhood, Kana's parents indulged her with food, causing her to be extremely overweight. Her doctor recommended her to exercise more, eventually leading Kana to join the cheer team Hizume was a part of. After witnessing Hizume's stellar athletic and cheer abilities, Kana would vow to work hard and become just like her.

Kirara Fantasia
Kana was added as a playable character in Hobunsha's Kirara Fantasia mobile game on January 9, 2019.

Commentary
"'When voicing Kana, I usually play her character straight under normal circumstances. But she's a girl who also loves Hizume, and when a situation involves the two of them, Kana would get very nervous and a little tongue-tied. Even though she's a 'tsundere,' she gets teased on by the girls, and I think those moments when Kana gets angry are adorable! That's why I am working hard to make everyone feel the same way when they watch the anime. It would make me very happy if we can help make a show that can brighten a person's day. That's what 'cheer' is about.' -Haruka Shiraishi, the voice of Kana."

Trivia

 * As with the other cheerleaders, Kana's name contains a kanji character representing an animal. In this case, she has the character for cattle or cow (牛).
 * In the manga, Kana does not make an appearance until Chapter Nineteen, while in the anime, she appears sporadically from the first episode.