Rei Miyamoto is sometimes described as the spear-wielding girl from Highschool of the Dead, but that barely covers what makes her interesting.
She is one of the group’s most capable fighters, yet much of her story is driven by grief, anger and decisions she never gets enough time to process.
She is also regularly confused with Saeko Busujima.
Rei does not practise kendo, and the rifle she carries is not her excuse to become a gunfighter. Her training is in sojutsu, the Japanese art of spear fighting, and she uses the bayonet-equipped rifle like the long weapon she already understands.
That practical detail is what first made me look at her differently. Rei can be emotional and difficult, but she is not useless or poorly trained. She survives because she adapts what she knows to a world where proper weapons are hard to find.
Who Is Rei Miyamoto?
Rei Miyamoto is a second-year student at Fujimi Academy and one of the central survivors in Highschool of the Dead. She has known Takashi Komuro since childhood and begins the series dating his close friend Hisashi Igou.
When the outbreak reaches the school, Rei escapes with Takashi and Hisashi. Hisashi is bitten while protecting them and soon turns into one of the undead. Takashi kills him before he can attack Rei, leaving the two childhood friends to continue together with grief, jealousy and years of unresolved feelings between them.
- School year: Second-year student at Fujimi Academy
- Martial art: Sojutsu, or Japanese spear fighting
- Family: Daughter of police detective Tadashi Miyamoto and police officer Kiriko Miyamoto
- Japanese voice: Marina Inoue
- English voice: Jessica Boone
Does Rei Miyamoto Use Kendo or Sojutsu?
Rei practises sojutsu, not kendo. Sojutsu is the traditional Japanese art of fighting with a spear. Saeko Busujima is the kendo expert and former club captain, which is where the common mix-up comes from.
The difference matters whenever the group fights. Saeko’s style is built around a sword or wooden practice sword. Rei works with a longer weapon and relies more heavily on thrusting attacks. That extra reach lets her strike before an enemy gets close enough to grab her.
Rei also has experience with bayonet technique through her father. That background explains why she can take a rifle fitted with a bayonet and use it comfortably as a polearm. She is not improvising from nothing. She is adapting two related forms of training.
- Rei’s discipline: Sojutsu and bayonet fighting
- Saeko’s discipline: Kendo and swordsmanship
- Rei’s advantage: Greater reach and strong thrusting attacks
- Saeko’s advantage: Faster close-range movement and more refined sword technique
What Weapon Does Rei Miyamoto Use?
Rei uses several weapons as the group moves through the city, but almost all of them are chosen because they can imitate a spear.
Her first weapon is a damaged broom handle that she sharpens into a makeshift point. It is crude, but it gives her the distance she needs to fight with familiar movements. She later uses a police baton before finding a much more effective replacement at Rika Minami’s apartment.
That final weapon is a customized Springfield Armory M1A Super Match rifle fitted with a bayonet. The series sometimes calls it an “M1A1,” but the actual firearm is an M1A. The similarly named M1A1 Carbine is a different weapon.
- First weapon: A broken broom handle turned into a makeshift spear
- Temporary weapon: A police baton
- Main later weapon: A Springfield M1A Super Match with an attached bayonet
- Where she finds it: Rika Minami’s apartment
What I like about the progression is that Rei never suddenly becomes a different kind of fighter. Better equipment changes what she carries, but not how she moves. Even after obtaining a semi-automatic rifle, she keeps using the part that matches her training.
Why Was Rei Miyamoto Held Back a Year?
Rei is in Takashi’s year because Koichi Shido deliberately failed her and forced her to repeat a grade.
Her father, Tadashi Miyamoto, was investigating corruption connected to Shido’s father, a politician. Shido retaliated against the detective by abusing his position as Rei’s teacher. He could not easily punish Tadashi, so he targeted his daughter instead.
This backstory explains why Rei reacts so strongly when Shido joins the survivors on the bus. The others initially see a teacher who may help organize frightened students. Rei sees the adult who stole a year of her life to protect a corrupt family.
- Rei was supposed to be in the year above Takashi.
- Her father was investigating Shido’s politically connected father.
- Shido failed Rei as an act of retaliation.
- The manga provides more context for the dispute than the anime does.
Rei Miyamoto and Takashi Komuro’s Relationship
Rei and Takashi have known each other since kindergarten. As children, they made a promise that they would marry when they grew up. The promise matters to both of them, but Takashi never turns those feelings into a stable relationship.
Rei eventually begins dating Hisashi Igou, one of Takashi’s closest friends. Takashi is jealous, while Rei is frustrated that he waited too long to act. The outbreak then forces all three of them together at the worst possible moment.
Hisashi is bitten while helping them escape. Once he turns, Takashi kills him with a blow to the head. Rei knows it had to be done, but grief makes the situation ugly. She accuses Takashi of wanting Hisashi out of the way, and Takashi cannot completely deny that he had resented their relationship.
I do not think the story expects viewers to treat Rei’s return to Takashi as a clean romantic decision. She is frightened, grieving and clinging to the person who has been part of her life the longest. Whether that makes their relationship sympathetic or frustrating depends heavily on the viewer.
- Rei and Takashi were childhood friends.
- They promised to marry when they were young.
- Rei later dated Hisashi because Takashi remained indecisive.
- Hisashi’s death brings Rei and Takashi together under deeply painful circumstances.
Rei Miyamoto vs. Saeko Busujima
Rei and Saeko are often treated as rivals because they are the two strongest female fighters in the group and both become emotionally connected to Takashi.
Saeko is older, calmer and more accomplished. The official anime material describes her as a national-level kendo champion, and the group quickly trusts her in close combat. Rei is more openly emotional and has less experience controlling herself under pressure.
That does not make Rei a weaker character or a useless fighter. Their skills serve different purposes. Saeko is better when she can move through enemies and strike quickly. Rei is useful when the survivors need to keep danger at a distance or defend a fixed position.
The romantic tension is there, especially as Takashi and Saeko grow closer. Still, I think reducing the relationship to a simple fight over him undersells both women. Rei also sees in Saeko the confidence, seniority and control she is struggling to maintain herself.
- Saeko: More experienced, controlled and dangerous at close range
- Rei: Better reach and strong defensive value with a spear or bayonet
- Shared strength: Both can fight without depending on Kohta’s firearms
- Main tension: Different personalities, fighting styles and feelings toward Takashi
What Does Rei Miyamoto Look Like?
Rei has long orange-brown hair and reddish-brown eyes. Her hair reaches past her waist and includes a small tied section at the back, along with two strands that stand above the rest.
She spends most of the series in her Fujimi Academy uniform because the story unfolds over such a short period. The orange-brown colour helps separate her visually from Saeko, whose hair is purple.
- Hair: Long orange-brown hair
- Eyes: Reddish-brown
- Usual clothing: Fujimi Academy school uniform
- Distinctive detail: Two raised strands of hair above her head
Her eye colour is also why she sometimes appears in lists of anime characters with red eyes, although reddish-brown is more precise than bright red.
How Old Is Rei Miyamoto?
Rei is generally listed as 17 years old and is a second-year high-school student. The more important detail in the story is that she should have been one year ahead. Shido’s deliberate decision to fail her placed her back in Takashi’s class.
That unusual school history is also why age and grade descriptions sometimes look inconsistent across character pages. Her repeated year is part of the plot, not a simple continuity mistake.
Is Rei Miyamoto’s Story Finished?
Rei’s story has no completed ending. The Highschool of the Dead manga reached seven collected volumes, and no eighth volume followed. Yen Press still lists seven volumes in the English series catalogue.
The manga returned briefly with new material in 2013 after a long hiatus, but it did not continue into a completed final arc. Writer Daisuke Sato died in March 2017. Artist Shouji Sato later explained that continuing the series without him was not something he could approach casually.
That leaves several major parts of Rei’s story unresolved:
- Whether she finds her father and mother
- How the conflict with Shido would have ended
- Whether she and Takashi would become a stable couple
- How the growing connection between Takashi and Saeko would affect her
- Whether the survivors would ever escape the city
Why Rei Miyamoto Deserves a Better Look
Rei is not always easy to like. She lashes out, contradicts herself and lets grief turn into accusations. That is also why she feels more human than the cleaner version of the character found in many summaries.
She is a trained spear fighter carrying a rifle she does not shoot. She is a student who lost a year because an adult wanted revenge on her father. She begins the apocalypse by watching her childhood friend kill her boyfriend after he turns into one of the undead.
None of those experiences produce a calm, perfectly reasonable person. Rei survives while still being angry, frightened and emotionally confused. I think that messiness is the point, even when the series does not always handle it gracefully.
Do you think Rei or Saeko was the better match for Takashi?
Let me know in the comments.