Shizuka Marikawa

Shizuka Marikawa (鞠川静香, Marikawa Shizuka) is one of the main characters in Highschool of the Dead and is the only adult in the group. Shizuka's main contributions to the group are her medical skills and extensive medical knowledge. She also serves as the adult figure and takes care of Alice Maresato and the others whenever she is needed to do so.

About
The school nurse at Fujimi High School, she is rather ditzy as compared to the rest of the girls in the group, being oblivious to the situation even when the zombies were coming in. Her large bust size is often used as a comical element in the story. A 27 year old bachelorette, she lives with Rika Minami, a top sniper of Japan's Special Assault Team. Her friend's home was used as a safe haven for the group once they escaped from the high school. As a nurse, she is responsible for the health and care of everyone in the group and is efficient at doing so. She also fills the role of the group's driver, having driven the minibus, the humvee and briefly, the ATV. Despite being the only adult in the group, she is emotionally fragile and doesn't know what will become of her life since the outbreak started. Like the rest of the main characters, Shizuka worries that she will never see her family or friends again. Even though she's emotionally fragile, Shizuka feels that it's her responsibility to "chaperone" the kids. As a nurse, she is responsible for the health of everyone in the group. Although she is still studying to be a full-fledged doctor, Shizuka has shown incredible medical knowledge. She was even able to bring Kohta Hirano to his senses after he was forced to kill Asami Nakaoka.

Appearance
Shizuka is a very tall buxom woman, with ridiculous curves. Her physique is most pronounced by her humongous breasts. She has long blond hair that extends down pass her waist, and hazel eyes. Several bangs of her hair comes down into her face, with two bangs come down at the sides running all the way down while also framing her face. She usually appears to be sleepy whenever she makes an appearance, but under special situations, she has a serious face that she puts on. At the beginning of the series, she is shown dressed in a white dress shirt with a brown skirt (which was later ripped on the sides by Saeko). At her friend's house, Shizuka wasn't shown wearing any clothing and is shown to be only wrapped in a bath towel. After they manage to cross the river, she changes into a checkered brown hot pants along with her white shirt. When they reach Saya's house, Shizuka wears a blue turtleneck sweater and white capris.

History
Shizuka is known to be great friends with Rika. Prior to the zombie apocalypse, she was studying to become a doctor at a college hospital.

Personality
Being the adult in the group, Shizuka feels it is her responsibility to take care of the kids. Although she is rather ditzy at times and is prone to panicking, she can be very serious when called for. Shizuka is also shown to be very caring towards the members of the group as she sees it as her responsibility as the only grown up among them, and acts as even more of a mother to Alice. She has a very sexually-oriented mind when she is drunk (as seen when she flirted with both Kohta and Takashi) or whenever she misinterprets someone's comments into something sexual in turn causing her to blush.

Fujimi Academy
Shizuka was first seen sleeping on her nursery's room and wakes up upon hearing annoucer being attacked by Them. As the outbreak began, Shizuka is seen to be with a Kazu Ishii in the nurse's office, fighting off Okaka who became one of "them" while she grabs some medicine. Also, Shizuka analyzes that if anyone is bitten, then it is over for them. Just when she was about to finish, a wave of "them" charge in, killing Kazu. After what seems to be her impending doom, Saeko Busujima comes to her rescue and subdues all of "them". As they leave the office, Shizuka decides that they should go the faculty room, to get her car keys so they can escape the school. Along the way, she trips and cries " Oh Jeez, what is this?!". Saeko simply responds that her clothing isn't suitable for running, therefore Saeko rips her the side of her skirt to make an opening. Shizuka gets mad and says that it is Prada, but Saeko replies "what is more important, your life or a brand". Shizuka only manages to say both, before they hear a Saya screaming.

Shizuka and Saeko go check it out to find Saya using a drill to kill one of "them" as well as Kohta, Rei Miyamoto, and Takashi Komuro. After Saya Takagi successfully slays the zombie, Shizuka goes to check up on Saya to see if shes alright. Later, they regroup at the faculty room, and discuss their method of escape. Just when Shizuka says they can drive in her car, she is cut short by Saeko who mentions that her car is probably not big enough and that they should take the school bus instead. After they find the keys to the bus, they head towards the bus. On their way escaping, they encounter another group of survivors, who accept Takashi's offer of escape after being rescued from Them. After fighting their way to the parking lot, Takuzo gets caught by a group of Them, and is repeatedly bitten. His girlfriend, Naomi, struck with grief tries to go to him ignoring Saya's precautions. Saya, shocked by what Naomi has done and wonders why she did it despite the result. Saya is told by Shizuka that at times like this, she'd be happier to die with the person she loves than continue living on.

Once they reach the bus, Shizuka checks the break, clutch, and accel, despite her panicking that it is not the same as her car. Once Shizuka starts the engine, she tells Takashi that they can go, but is told to wait for Koichi Shido and his students to arrive. After everyone arrives, Shizuka hits the accelerator and they dash out of the school's gates, running over a lot of Them that was in her way as she convinces herself that They weren't Humans, People, or even alive anymore.

Tokonosu City Streets
As soon as they escape the school, an argument breaks out inside the bus. Shizuka, clearly annoyed, tells everyone to shut up otherwise she can't focus on driving.

After Rei and Takashi leave the bus, Shizuka tries to go to their rendezvous point, but is stuck in heavy traffic. While they are waiting, Shizuka, Saeko, Saya, and Kohta discuss about leaving Shido and his students. After they tell Shido that they're leaving, Shido says that Shizuka has to stay behind as the students will need her medical expertise. Luckily, Kohta steps in and covers for the group while they leave the bus.

En route to Onbetsu bridge, Saeko, Shizuka, Saya, and Kohta get surrounded by a group of "them". During the fight, Shizuka gets scared and grabs Saya, causing both of them to fall over and lie on the ground. Out of nowhere, Takashi and Rei appear on a motorcycle and rescues the group. After all of "them" are subdued, Shizuka suggests that they all go to her friend's house to rest for the night. Once everyone agress, Takashi takes Shizuka to go check it out. While riding Takashi's motorcycle, Shizuka holds on to Takashi tightly, leading him to say "you don't have to hold on so tightly", but Shizuka only constantly says "I can't hear you".

Rika's House
After the rest of the group are at her friend's house, the girls get undressed and go take a bath together. During the bath, Shizuka gets complimented by Rei who says that Shizuka's breasts are enormous, leading Shizuka to say "Yup, I get that a lot!". Jealous and angry at Shizuka's reply, Rei proceeds to grab and squeeze Shizuka's breasts. After a while, Shizuka uses her breasts to squirt water at Rei to get back at her. Once Shizuka finishes her bath, the next time she is seen is when she comes up to Takashi. Obviously drunk, she tries to kiss Takashi and then tries to grab his penis, but is pushed away by Takashi who accidentally gropes her breasts in the process. After Takashi apologizes, Shizuka pauses, and notices Kohta standing beside Takashi, and says "Kohta-chan", much to Kohta's delight, and she leans in to seductively kiss him on the cheek. This causes a torrent of blood to come squirting out from Kohta's nose. Kohta, seemingly in shock, gets ordered by Takashi to stay on watch while he takes Shizuka downstairs to let her sleep. Just before Shizuka falls asleep on Takashi, she tells Takashi that she doesn't want to go downstairs and that she wants to stay where she is now, but Takashi tells her that she is being too loud, which Shizuka only replies that is the reason why she doesn't want to go downstairs because it is too quiet. Suddenly, Shizuka dozes off and Takashi decides to piggyback her. While being piggybacked, Shizuka yawns, and almost falls off, until Takashi catches her by accidentally groping her butt, leading Shizuka to flirtatiously call Takashi a naughty boy and that he's perverted. After that, Shizuka falls asleep again. Once Takashi puts her on the ground and covers her up with a blanket, Shizuka is peacefully seen at sleep.

The next time Shizuka is seen is when Saya wakes her up, informing Shizuka that they are leaving to go get Takashi. Shizuka then accompanies Saya to tell Kohta the news, but Kohta is only awestruck that Shizuka is appearing fully nude. Just before they enter the Humvee, Saya tells Shizuka to at least wear something, which leads to Shizuka saying "So that's why it's so cold!". After getting changed, Shizuka enters the Humvee to find that the driver's seat is in the opposite chair and the controls are slightly different. After working out the kinks and the group finishes loading, Shizuka drives into a group of "them", waiting for Takashi to come onto the Humvee.

After they safely travel away from the group of "them", the next time Shizuka is seen is when she is driving the Humvee across the river while announcing that everyone should wake up as they are arriving. Once they reach the opposite side of the river, Shizuka and the rest of the girls decide to get changed. Shizuka reveals that brought along a bag of her friend's clothing which was handy as the girls had nothing to change into. After they finished getting changed, Shizuka drives the Humvee up a slope to reach the main road, where the group decides where their next destination is. Once the decision has been made to go to Saya's house first, Shizuka drives toward her house. En route, she encounters many of "them" on the road, therefore Saya steps in and helps Shizuka navigate.

Suddenly, Saeko and Rei notices a wire fence in the middle of the road. Stopping just in time, Shizuka turns the car sideways to avoid the car being flipped. After turning sideways, Shizuka accidentally locks the brakes, and is told by Kohta to release the brakes and accelerate a bit. Instead of only accelerating minimally, Shizuka puts the pedal to the floor, but almost hits a wall and again, uses the brakes just in time. Although she has successfully braked, Shizuka's emergency stop caused Rei to fall off the roof of the car and the car engine to stall. After various retries, the group is forced to go outside and fight a wave of "them" approaching.

Weapons
During the whole course of the outbreak Shizuka did not acquire any weapon, apart from later on in the story ... She drove the Humvee M1025 for the whole of the group...however, she acquires a net launcher, which she stores inside of her cleavage.

And thus the manga continued.

Killed Victims

 * Numerous counts of them

Trivia

 * According to Imamura, Shizuka is the sexiest adult female in the school.
 * Random Trivia: The kanji for Marikawa mean "ball river". The second kanji of "Shizuka" means "fragrance".
 * Shizuka is arguably the key to the group's survival, without her they would have never been able to drive the bus out of the academy, never would have found Rika's apartment to find a place to sleep for the night never would have gotten the humvee. And most importantly they never would have found Rika's stash of guns without Shizuka.