Koichi Shido

Kōichi Shidōu (紫藤浩一, Shidōu Kōichi) is the teacher of class 3-A at Fujimi High School and a major antagonist in Highschool of the Dead. He can be classified as a tragic villain.

About
He is Class 3A's teacher. Rei Miyamoto is afraid of and disgusted by him. Saeko Busujima says his name with a scowl, showing that he apparently is a villainous character. Both girls have good reasons to do so as we see him leaving behind a student who has sprained his ankle and even kicking him back towards a group of zombies chasing them. He then makes a speech about how weaklings do not deserve to exist.

Appearance
Shido is very handsome depicted wearing a black pinstripe suit. Inside the suit, he wears a white dress shirt along with a yellow tie. He also wears black-framed glasses. Shido's body frame is very thin and he has various expressions seen throughout the series. This includes switching from a peaceful expression to one with intense hate and scorn.

History
Shido is the son of a prominent politician. It can assumed that his father was a right-wing politician, due to the fact that Saya Takagi's father, Souichiro, seems to be an old friend of his. Shido has a strained relationship with his father, resenting him for having an affair with another woman while still married to Shido's mother which ultimately led to his mother's death. Though Shido hated his father, he still did whatever he asked. For this reason, when Rei Miyamoto's father was going to reveal evidence that could have Shido's father put away for corruption, Shido followed his father's instructions to fail Rei and keep her back a year. Shido had nothing against Rei. Shido believed that he would become his father's political successor. Unfortunately for him, his half-brother, whom he knew nothing about for a long time, was chosen to be his successor.

Personality
Shido is a psychopath. He appeared to be a kind and caring teacher, in reality he was sadistic and allowed the students he had deemed "weak" to be bullied. There were even instances where he himself would engage in bullying. When the zombie apocalypse occurred, Shido used his charm and charisma to convince the majority of the surviving students to join him. After having brainwashed them Shido reveals his true intentions by having his followers engaging in sexual intercourse. He does this because he wants them to repopulate the planet, this way, he will rule and be served by mindless followers.

Shido has shown in several instances that he is quite ruthless, being willing to do underhanded things, such as lying and manipulating, in order to get ahead. He has also shown that he is quite arrogant, believing himself and the students that follow him to be superior to everyone else.

It should be noted that Shido is a coward. He is terrified of "Them" and immediately flees whenever he sees them. He also cowers in fear when Hirano points a gun at him.

Plot
It was implied by Hirano that Shido allowed bullies to beat him up as he watched with glee. It is assumed that the former's story is true because he pointed the nail gun at Shido without blinking or hesitating to punch a nail wound to his face. He has a desire to be a leader and some of the characters have theorized that he is trying to build a new religion with him on top as leader. Shido is an apparent coward in the face of extreme danger, as seen when being threatened by a grazing head shot with a nail gun on Hirano's part, but nonetheless, proves to be a manipulative, villainous and sadistic character. He is last seen by the main group when they abandon him on the bus, leaving him with only those willing to follow him.

He reappears once more and is seen watching over an orgy between his followers on the bus at the end of Chapter 11, in a sort of Charles Manson-ish brainwashing (he allows his followers to do as they will, calling it "free time"). He seems to have a spy inside the base of humans set up at the mansion, who, as of Chapter 12, is relaying vital information about the morale of the people there. He is seen to keep his followers in line through intimidation, forcing them to follow him lest they incur his wrath or be left to fend for themselves. He sees the people that follow him as angels that will help usher in a new age, since they are youthful teenagers.

Shido then accuses one of the teens on board the bus of showing weakness, the boy who was showing concern for the welfare of his family. He convinces the rest of the group to eject the 'weak link' for the sake of the New World. Highlighting how far Shido has turned the minds of his followers, they callously throw the teen off the bus, going so far as to bid him farewell as he attempts to get back on the bus, only to fail and be subsequently attacked by a zombie. The teen is later seen in his undead form in chapter 15 when the dead break into the estate.

Later on, his history and background with Rei was shown when his father was involved in Japanese politics and had Rei retained as a favor of getting back at his stepbrother. When threatened with a rifle mounted bayonet by Rei he seems scared witless until he realizes that no one would come to his aid before daring her to kill him. When she turns away and says that he is not even worth killing his fury is shown. He is seen being ordered to leave the estate with the students he brought but ends up crashing into the forklift when the EMP Blast temporarily stopped the bus, removing the concrete blocks which served as the barrier against the undead. He recovers consciousness in time to see the undead horde advancing through the gap in the barrier.undefined

Shido manage to escape the bus wreckage, and he is later seen with Yuuki Miku and Tsunoda standing near the entrance of the evacuation camp at Shintoko Third Elementary School. He opens his arms wide, smiles, and asks his followers if they are ready.