The manga and anime series Highschool of the Dead features a diverse range of characters designed by Shōji Satō with their storyline written by Daisuke Satō. The series revolves around a pandemic that turns humans into zombies, euphemistically referred to by the main characters as , and the story follows a group of students at Fujimi High School: Takashi Komuro, Rei Miyamoto, Saeko Busujima, Saya Takagi, and Kohta Hirano. Shizuka Marikawa, the high school's nurse, and Alice Maresato, a young girl, join the students as they fight their way to safety through the deadly streets of Japan during a worldwide catastrophic event known as the "Outbreak".

Creation and conception Daisuke Sato, who has previously worked on various military genre games and manga, which include Imperial Guards, wrote the story which uses the perspective of Japanese high school students and refers to classic zombie apocalypse movies such as Dawn of the Dead. Character design was done by manga artist Shōji Satō whose previous work was mostly self-published titles in the adult genre, and this was his first major non-hentai title.

Masayoshi Tanaka, who also did Ano Hana, Toradora and later Waiting in the Summer, served as the Chief Animation Director and Character Designer for the anime adaptation. Series Director Tetsurō Araki, who previously directed Death Note and Black Lagoon, mentioned in a 2010 Dragon Age interview, that he wanted to fill in the anime with many jiggling breast scenes, and that he was aiming for something he would have bought himself in middle school. Zac Bertschy of Anime News Network agrees with the intent: "turns out this show has decided that the one thing the zombie genre was missing were anime boobs." The anime also had a character break the fourth wall: when asked why she is so ditzy, she responds that she was designed that way. Director Steven Foster, in his English dub adaptation, changed Takashi Komuro's character to use more profanity, as well as adding modern references to people such as Sarah Palin.

Main characters

Takashi Komuro

is a 17-year-old second-year student of Fujimi High School and the male protagonist and viewpoint character of the series. He and Rei are childhood friends and also in the same class. When they were children, Rei and Takashi made a promise to get married someday, but because of his indecisiveness, Rei started dating his friend, Hisashi. At the beginning of the series, when he notices the zombies attack the teachers at the front gate he rushes to Rei's side. When Hisashi turns into a zombie, Takashi kills Hisashi with a blow to the head, causing Rei to accuse Takashi of jealousy. Takashi proceeds to leave, admitting to her accusation in his thoughts, but Rei holds him back and apologizes; he responds with a hug.

Although he is not a model student and had to repeat a grade, Takashi shows his resolve to protect his friends and is appointed the leader of the group by his peers. After fighting their way out of school with a baseball bat, Takashi recovers a Smith & Wesson Model 37 pistol from a dead cop, and later uses an Ithaca M37 riot shotgun. When the group visits a police station, he upgrades to a Benelli M4 Super 90 combat shotgun. Although he does not officially have a license, Takashi rides a motorcycle and also drives an Argo ATV.

Rei Miyamoto

is Takashi Komuro's classmate with orange-brown hair and reddish brown eyes. Before the events of the series, As of the school's sōjutsu club. Rei made a pinky promise to marry Takashi, but because of his indecisiveness, Rei started dating Hisashi. Rei is upset that Takashi kills Hisashi after he becomes a zombie, but when Takashi proceeds to leave her, she quickly retracts her words and pulls him back. In chapter 12, Rei tells Takashi that girls like guys that are cute and caring. When Takashi replies that he is not either of those she says that's why she likes him and does not want him to be with any other girls. Rei despises Mr. Shido, mainly because Shido held her back a year at school and caused trouble for her father.

At the start of the series, Rei fights with a sharpened broomstick. After visiting Rika's apartment, she upgrades to a Springfield M1A1 Super Match rifle with a bayonet attached.

Character designer Shōji Satō featured Rei and Saeko in cross-over illustrations for his other manga Triage X and the video game Lollipop Chainsaw, where their high school uniforms are available as downloadable content costumes for main character Juliet Starling.

Saeko Busujima

is a third-year student at Fujimi High School with dark violet hair and bright blue eyes. As the president of the school's kendo club Saeko carries a bokken (wooden sword). Saeko is introduced as a calm and collected girl with pride in her skills; she kills an infected student out of mercy. Her father is abroad somewhere for a martial arts tournament.

Saeko confides in Takashi that she was once almost sexually assaulted, but was able to fight back with her bokken and ended up breaking several of the attacker's bones before the police came. Although Takashi says it was self-defense, Saeko counters saying that it is her "raw nature" to take pleasure in inflicting pain and, in that way, she is no different than one of the zombies. She struggles with this part of her character and even considers giving up to "them", until Takashi helps restore her confidence.

Saeko initially uses her bokken to fight, but upgrades to a katana when they stop at a shinto temple and then again at the Takagi estate. After the group visit a police station, Saeko starts carrying a Beretta 92 Vertec handgun on her thigh as a secondary weapon.

Saeko was featured along with Rei in some cross-over illustrations for Triage X and Lollipop Chainsaw, the latter of which features her purple high school uniform as a downloadable content costume.

Saya Takagi

is a second-year student at Fujimi High School with pink hair styled in twin tails. She is the daughter of an influential uyoku dantai (right-wing) politician. A self-proclaimed genius, Saya uses her knowledge and deductive capabilities to help the group escape from harm, being among the first to conclude that "they" were attracted to only sound. Saya confronts her other self and joins the group. Despite coming from a prestigious family, she despised her parents, who she thought had given up on finding her, but reconciles with them during the raid on the family estate.

She detests that her family servants and related people only call her by her last name and never look her in the eyes when speaking to her. The exceptions to this are Kohta, whom she has a strange friendship with, and Takashi, who is her childhood friend. Saya watches over Alice like a guardian and insists Alice say her name using the "-sama" honorific. She scolds anyone who would attempt to tarnish Alice's innocence to any degree.

She uses an electric drill in early chapters of the series, then acquires a Luger P08 pistol. In Chapter 28, Kohta gives her an MP5 in exchange for her Luger.

Kohta Hirano

is a 16-year-old second-year student at Fujimi High School who appears to be just a wimpy overweight guy with glasses, but is actually a gun enthusiast. He credits this to a visit to America, where he trained with a former Delta Force member for a month. In the beginning of the story, Saya finds Kohta cringing in the hallway as students run about in a panic. They hide in a classroom where Hirano is able to put together a nail gun rifle powered by gas cartridges. Kohta has an unrequited crush on Saya. Kohta provides long-range cover when Takashi rescues Alice Maresato from approaching zombies after Alice's father is killed. At Saya's mansion, Kohta is confronted by some of Takagi's followers who demand that he surrender his weapons, but Kohta refuses saying this is the one thing he was good at and that he wants to protect Saya. The rest of the group, including Saya, support him.

At the shopping mall, Kohta develops feelings for the police officer trainee, Asami Nakaoka, after helping her subdue an angry mall survivor. He spends some quality time with her, and convinces her to join the group. Unfortunately, the friendship is short-lived when Asami becomes trapped while attempting to save a boy in the parking lot. She shouts for Kohta to make it so that she will not become a zombie and cause pain to others around her. Kohta kills her and later finds himself in shock, but he is set straight by Shizuka, who uses a psychology trick of ordering him around like a sergeant.

Kohta uses a variety of firearms; he favors the AR-10 (illegally modified to resemble an SR-25), which he uses to take out targets from a distance. During the raid on the police station, Kohta finds a Suppressed MP5 SFK, but gives it to Saya in exchange for her mom's Luger P08 pistol.

He is based on Kouta Hirano, creator of the Hellsing manga. Hirano himself is aware of the related character, writing in one afterword of Hellsing that "Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go kill zombies at my high school."

Shizuka Marikawa

is a nurse at Fujimi High School. At the beginning of the story, Marikawa is nearly killed by a student-turned-zombie but is saved by Saeko Busujima. She has a rather ditsy personality, and her large boobs and butt size is often used as a comical element in the story. She is close friends with Rika Minami, who works as a sniper on the prefectural police Special Assault Team, and she even house-sits for her. The group uses Rika's apartment to rest after they escape the high school. Although she is the oldest of the group at age 27, she is emotionally fragile and does not know what will become of her life. She reveals to Takashi Komuro that she is just a temporary school nurse, and that she is still taking classes and training. Despite this, Marikawa has put her knowledge to good use, and even brings Kohta Hirano to his senses after he had mercy-killed Asami Nakaoka. As the only adult in the group, she drives the bus out of the school, and then Rika's military-grade Humvee.

Alice Maresato

is a seven-year-old girl whom Kohta and Takashi rescue from the zombie horde after her father-(a newspaper reporter) is killed by members of a household who would not allow them shelter. She has a generally positive attitude, as Takashi and Saeko comment how she has "done well" in coping with the loss. In some of the chapters, she and Zeke scout the area for the group. In the English dub of the anime, she goes by the name Arisu. According to a bonus chapter, she is the next door neighbor of Takashi's friend, Imamuru.

Other characters

Hisashi Igo

is a second year Fujimi High School student and Rei Miyamoto's classmate and boyfriend; he and Takashi are friends. He refers to the zombies as "them" since they are not quite like the ones seen in movies, and that becomes the name for any zombies the main group encounters in the series. On the way out of class, he is bitten by an infected teacher. After rising as one of "them", Takashi delivers a fatal blow to his head.

Koichi Shido

is the teacher of Class 3A. Rei Miyamoto is disgusted by him and Saeko Busujima says his name with a scowl, which hints of his villainous character, which is affirmed when he leaves behind a student who sprained his ankle and even kicks him back towards a group of pursuing zombies, and says there is no point in keeping weaklings alive. Kohta Hirano affirms that Shido used to allow bullies to beat Kohta up as he watched with glee.