Ritsuko Kunihiro

Ritsuko Kunihiro is a supporting protagonist of the anime and manga series, Shiki. She was a nurse that worked at the Ozaki Clnic.

Personality

Nurse at Ozaki Clinic. She has a dog named Taro. Tohru has a crush on her. She used to have a boyfriend, who disliked the isolated Sotoba village, and offered to marry her and bring her to the city. Ritsuko refused, as she couldn't leave the place where she grew up and her family.

Ritsuko is very kind and caring, and is desperate to help anyone who has been affected by the shiki and support families who have lost someone. She is always prepared to help the doctor and his patients. She is friendly to everyone and has never been aggressive or mean. She loves her dog, Taro and takes him on walks often, and that is how she got bitten. She has worked as a Nurse for years and loves saving lives, and this is why she refuses to kill someone for their blood, as she still considered herself to be a nurse and to continue preserving lives.

Death

Later, she also gets bitten by two Shiki and dies, then she is revived. Waking up in the same cell everybody else did.However, she refuses to drink human's blood to live. For that, she slowly starts dying, while Tatsumi puts her in a cell with her co-worker whom she refuses to kill. She becomes mentally unstable as she yearn for blood, but still cares and lets her friend leave. She begins to hurt herself and cry constantly, because she would much rather die a saint than live as a monster.

She is staked in the heart like all the other Shiki, and Tohru stayed with her till the very end. He is seen in the last episode, to be laying on a wooden board with Ritsuko almost holding hands.