There are many great Highschool of the Dead characters who got what they deserved, but some deserved better. I’m talking about characters like Koichi Shido, whose evil days as a villain was disappointing at best, and Rika Minami, who barely showed up to begin with. However, it’s not to say that every character who deserved better is bad. Take Kouta Hirano, a well-written otaku with bloodlust, who has many great moments – he still deserved better. In other words, his true potential was never discovered or met. Thus, he falls into this top list, among others. With that being said, here are the 5 HOTD characters who deserved better!
5. Saya Takagi
This pink-haired pretzel of emotions has a lot of pent up frustration, who takes it out on other people without remorse. It’s what makes her so darn annoying, yet so damn entertaining! But I only wish that her interesting parents, her twisted lust for her mother and her hatred towards the world got explored more. It wasn’t enough. What we ended up with was a quirky and funny character, who’s entertaining to watch and very fun to follow. But a character who deserved a bit more focus, so that she could fully flourish!
4. Kouta Hirano
This gun-loving otaku, with a thing for Saya Takagi, could’ve used more screen time in order to flesh out his character and give him more personal incentive to do things. While I’m not saying that he’s a bad character, because he’s not, it would’ve been good if he didn’t ALWAYS play off of other characters. What happens is that he’s rarely the focal point, and often leans on others to be interesting. And so, he doesn’t get his personal side-plot or anything. We don’t know who he truly is, what he wants to do, and what happened to his parents. Sure, mystery is important, but you could’ve given us something!
3. Yuriko Takagi
What a bombshell of a mother, one that should have stolen some screentime from her husband (Souichiro Takagi), and give us something worthwhile to sink our teeth into! Instead of getting to know Yuriko, we only get a glimpse into her lavish and badass lifestyle, with a crazy katana-wielding husband. If onyl we would’ve gotten more than just a handful scenes with her. Maybe then, we could be able to truly appreciate her! Therefore, she’s definitely one of the characters in Highschool of the Dead who deserved better.
2. Rika Minami
Oh, how I wanted to know more about Rika Minami! The badass who came and went, didn’t do much of anything, and yet episode after episode I was waiting to see more of her. As you might have guessed already, we don’t get to see her much at all. Rika Minami is the badass that didn’t show up enough, only to leave us disappointed.
What bothers me the most is the wasted potential. Considering that we are introduced to Rika Minami in episode 5, and that she’s the friend of Shizuka Marikawa, I was expecting her to be more involved in the main story. It goes without saying, but I was completely wrong! This well-designed baddass is barely a part of the anime, doing very little of interest. In all honesty, you could cut her from the show entirely, and nothing would change. It’s THAT bad.
1. Koichi Shido
Highschool of the Dead is an anime that needed a proper “bad guy”, a villain that we could hate together, and conclusively see them suffer at the hands of one of the many badass characters in the show. It’s what I thought Koichi Shido would be – a villain. It was set up well, as he was a rat and a sleazy guy, who was thirsting over his students. With a backstory involving Rei, the stage was set for something truly menacing to come from Koichi Shido’s inclusion in the story. After all, Rei herself says that Takashi Komuro will “regret” letting Koichi Shido live. Sadly, nothing came of this. The last we see of the sleazeball, he’s crashing his bus full of students, and that’s that. Nothing more. Completely wasted potential.
Koichi Shido is the Highschool of the Dead characer who obviously deserved better, as he was painted as the “villain” of the story. It didn’t lead to anything, and it felt like a waste of time to include him in the story, which I covered in an article about the problems in Highschool of the Dead. Give it a read if you have the time! Anyways, I’m giving Koichi Shido the number 1 spot on this list!