TV-Series
Description
Hisashi Igou is a seventeen-year-old second-year student at Fujimi Academy, standing approximately 176 to 178 centimeters tall and weighing around 64 kilograms. He has gray hair and brown eyes, and is typically seen in the standard male uniform of his school. Hisashi is an academically gifted and athletically talented individual, described by his friend Takashi Komuro as being skilled in both literary and martial arts. He holds a black belt in karate, which grants him considerable physical prowess and combat ability. His demeanor is notably calm and collected, allowing him to maintain a clear mind and make accurate judgments in situations where others might panic. This rational nature makes him seem reliable and capable.
Hisashi has a significant personal history with the two other main characters. He was Takashi Komuro's best friend since middle school, and he was also the boyfriend of Rei Miyamoto. This relationship created a deep rift, as Hisashi began dating Rei despite knowing about Takashi’s feelings for her, which caused the friendship between the two boys to end. This unresolved tension lingers in the background of their interactions when the story begins.
When a lethal outbreak turns people into aggressive, mindless beings, Hisashi’s role in the narrative, though brief, is crucial. While trying to escape the collapsing school with Takashi and Rei, he uses his karate skills to defend them. During a fight against a turned teacher named Wakisaka, Hisashi is bitten on the arm. This moment serves as the first concrete proof that a bite from these creatures is a death sentence with no cure. Shortly after the group reaches the school’s rooftop, the infection ravages his body, causing him to cough up blood and deteriorate rapidly.
Accepting his inescapable fate, Hisashi expresses his profound fear and sadness by stating he does not want to become one of them. It is during this crisis that he first coins the term Them to refer to the infected, reasoning that in this real-life nightmare, it feels wrong to call them zombies. This name is later noted by another student, Saya Takagi, as a way for the survivors to psychologically distance themselves from the fact they must fight creatures that were once human. As Hisashi lies dying, he asks Takashi to kill him before he turns. While Rei initially tries to stop Takashi, Hisashi succumbs to the infection, dies, and immediately reanimates as one of Them. Takashi, overcoming his hesitation, then destroys Hisashi’s reanimated corpse with a baseball bat, putting his former friend to a permanent rest.
Hisashi’s development is cut short by his early death, which happens at the climax of the first episode. His primary motivation in his final moments is to retain his human identity and avoid becoming a monster. His death has a profound and lasting psychological impact on both Takashi and Rei, serving as a major source of guilt and sorrow for them throughout the rest of the story. His actions and his tragic end are the direct catalyst for Takashi’s resolve to survive in the brutal new world. While the general outline of his story is consistent, there are minor differences in his personality between the manga and the anime adaptation. In the original manga, he displays a more possessive side, while the anime emphasizes his guilt over taking Rei from Takashi, presenting him as more kind-hearted.
Hisashi has a significant personal history with the two other main characters. He was Takashi Komuro's best friend since middle school, and he was also the boyfriend of Rei Miyamoto. This relationship created a deep rift, as Hisashi began dating Rei despite knowing about Takashi’s feelings for her, which caused the friendship between the two boys to end. This unresolved tension lingers in the background of their interactions when the story begins.
When a lethal outbreak turns people into aggressive, mindless beings, Hisashi’s role in the narrative, though brief, is crucial. While trying to escape the collapsing school with Takashi and Rei, he uses his karate skills to defend them. During a fight against a turned teacher named Wakisaka, Hisashi is bitten on the arm. This moment serves as the first concrete proof that a bite from these creatures is a death sentence with no cure. Shortly after the group reaches the school’s rooftop, the infection ravages his body, causing him to cough up blood and deteriorate rapidly.
Accepting his inescapable fate, Hisashi expresses his profound fear and sadness by stating he does not want to become one of them. It is during this crisis that he first coins the term Them to refer to the infected, reasoning that in this real-life nightmare, it feels wrong to call them zombies. This name is later noted by another student, Saya Takagi, as a way for the survivors to psychologically distance themselves from the fact they must fight creatures that were once human. As Hisashi lies dying, he asks Takashi to kill him before he turns. While Rei initially tries to stop Takashi, Hisashi succumbs to the infection, dies, and immediately reanimates as one of Them. Takashi, overcoming his hesitation, then destroys Hisashi’s reanimated corpse with a baseball bat, putting his former friend to a permanent rest.
Hisashi’s development is cut short by his early death, which happens at the climax of the first episode. His primary motivation in his final moments is to retain his human identity and avoid becoming a monster. His death has a profound and lasting psychological impact on both Takashi and Rei, serving as a major source of guilt and sorrow for them throughout the rest of the story. His actions and his tragic end are the direct catalyst for Takashi’s resolve to survive in the brutal new world. While the general outline of his story is consistent, there are minor differences in his personality between the manga and the anime adaptation. In the original manga, he displays a more possessive side, while the anime emphasizes his guilt over taking Rei from Takashi, presenting him as more kind-hearted.