Bakemonogatari

Bakemonogatari (化物語, "ghostory," a portmanteau of bakemono (化物, ghost or monster) and monogatari (物語, story)) is a Japanese light novel series written by Japanese novelist Nisio Isin and illustrated by Taiwanese illustrator Vofan; the series is published by Kodansha under the Kodansha Box imprint. The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has recently survived a vampire attack, and finds himself mixed up with all kinds of apparitions; gods, ghosts, mythological beasts, and spirits. An anime adaptation by Shaft started airing on July 3, 2009 and went through a total of 15 episodes. The prequel novel, Kizumonogatari was recently announced as being green-lit for anime production.

Bakemonogatari centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire. One day, a classmate named Hitagi Senjōgahara, who never talks to anyone, falls down the stairs into Koyomi's arms. He discovers that Hitagi weighs next to nothing, in defiance of physics. Despite being threatened by her to keep away, Koyomi offers his help, and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned building, who cured him of being a vampire.
The series tends to introduce only one new heroine per chapter, each involved with a different "apparition". Most of them have an item which symbolises their spectres, such as Hitagi's stapler - the claw of a crab, Mayoi's back pack - the shell of a snail, Suruga's leggings - SARUMATA (猿股, the Japanese traditional underclothing. 'SARU' means monkey), and Nadeko's big hat and baggy jacket - the head and skin of a snake. The events of the previous chapters play an important role in the subsequent ones. The series primarily focuses on conversations between characters; it contains a fair number of parodies of other series, as well as Nisio Isin's trademark word play and metahumor.

Koyomi Araragi (阿良々木 暦, Araragi Koyomi)

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya

Koyomi, the main character of the story, is a third year high school student who is close to failing every class except math. Shortly before the first novel begins, he was attacked by a vampire during spring break, and became a vampire himself. Although Meme Oshino helped him become human again, there are several lingering side effects; he can see in the dark, his eyes turn red when he gets angry, and he heals much faster than the average human. He remains scared of morning sunlight despite the fact that it no longer has any negative effects on him. He started dating Hitagi at the end of Mayoi Snail.

Hitagi Senjōgahara (戦場ヶ原 ひたぎ, Senjōgahara Hitagi)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō

Hitagi, the main character of Hitagi Crab, is a weak-looking girl with an "incurable disease". She is in the same class as Koyomi, but he has almost never heard her speak. When she was in the first year of high school, she encountered a mysterious crab, after which she became weightless. Ever since, she has avoided contact with everyone else, threatening everyone who discovers her secret. She called herself a tsundere and always speaks in an abusive style. At the end of Mayoi Snail, she admits that she loves Koyomi, and subsequently enters into a relationship with him. In the original, she overcame all of her trauma, and finally became a completely common cheerful girl. She starts calling Araragi with a cute nickname, chuckling at small things and sending e-mails full of Emojis.

Mayoi Hachikuji (八九寺 真宵, Hachikuji Mayoi)

Voiced by: Emiri Katō

Mayoi, the main character of Mayoi Snail, is the ghost of a fifth-grade elementary school girl. She was killed in a traffic accident while trying to reach her mother's home, and has since unsuccessfully attempted to do so. She can only be seen by people who do not want to reach their destination. Koyomi met her in a park on Mother's Day and offered to help her find her mother's home. She makes a lot of spelling mistakes and has a habit of mispronouncing Koyomi's family name. Her family name before her parents got divorced was Tsunade (綱手) She graduates to become a "Wandering Spirit" after Araragi and Senjōgahara help her reach her destination.

Suruga Kanbaru (神原 駿河, Kanbaru Suruga)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

Suruga, the main character of Suruga Monkey, is Koyomi's underclassman, ace of the school's basketball team and one of Hitagi's acquaintances from back in junior high school. Immediately after she entered senior high school, she became aware of Hitagi's secret and was threatened by her, just like Koyomi was. She's an admitted lesbian, fujoshi, lolicon and masochist. Back in elementary school, she inherited what she thought was a Monkey's Paw but was actually a Rainy Devil from her mother. She started stalking Koyomi after she discovered he was dating Hitagi. She became friends with Koyomi and Hitagi after Koyomi rids her of the Rainy Devil.

Nadeko Sengoku (千石 撫子, Sengoku Nadeko)

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa

Nadeko, the main character of Nadeko Snake, is Tsukihi’s friend back in elementary school. She always wears a waist pouch, always casts her eyes downward, has her bangs covering her eyes, has a shy personality, and can be easily amused. Koyomi played with her a lot whenever she visited his house after being invited by his sisters. She was put under a curse and was going to die until Koyomi found out and offered her his help. She refers to Koyomi as Koyomi-onii-chan.

Tsubasa Hanekawa (羽川 翼, Hanekawa Tsubasa)

Voiced by: Yui Horie

Tsubasa, the main character of Tsubasa Cat, is Koyomi's classmate and the class president. Koyomi describes her as "the class president of all class presidents." Prior to the novel's beginning, she was possessed by a bakeneko during Golden Week due to stress over her family. Although it has since been resolved with the help of Shinobu and at a cost of her own memories, the problems emerge again right before the school festival because of different stress. It was revealed by the bakeneko at the end of episode 14 of the anime that the source of the aforementioned stress was her feelings for Araragi.

Meme Oshino (忍野 メメ, Oshino Meme)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai^[

Meme is a middle-aged man who lives in an abandoned building. Koyomi calls him "psychedelic aloha guy". Being an expert in the apparitions field, he solves Koyomi and others' problems, although with compensation.

Shinobu Oshino (忍野 忍, Oshino Shinobu)

Voiced by: Aya Hirano

Shinobu is a girl who lives with Meme in the abandoned building. She appears to be an eight year old girl, but she was originally a beautiful vampire who had lived for more than 500 years. After the events at the end of Koyomi Vamp, she was left in a weakened condition with no powers or traces of her original personality, and therefore had to abandon her "Kiss-shot Acerola-orion Heart-under-blade" (キスショット・アセロラオリオン・ハートアンダーブレード) name. She was named Shinobu by Meme at the beginning of Hitagi Crab, suggesting her kanji name Shinobu (忍), having "heart" (心) under "blade" (刃), matches with her original personality.

Karen Araragi (阿良々木 火憐, Araragi Karen)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura

Karen, the main character of Karen Bee, is one of Koyomi's sisters. She's older than Tsukihi and always doing outdoor activities. In Karen Bee, her hot-headed personality and her habit of acting before thinking lead her to be stung by a bee which leads to being poisoned with a terrible fever that lasted for 3 days. Like Hitagi, she refused any help from anyone which eventually leads to her and Koyomi fighting each other. Later it was revealed that it was set up by Kaiki. Karen and Tsukihi are nicknamed Tsuga no Ki Nichū no Fire Sisters (栂の木二中のファイヤーシスターズ^?, lit. Fire Sisters of Tsuga no Ki 2nd Junior High).

Tsukihi Araragi (阿良々木 月火, Araragi Tsukihi)

Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi

Tsukihi, the main character of Tsukihi Phoenix, is one of Koyomi's sisters. She's the youngest of Araragi family. Unlike her sister, Karen, she is always doing indoor activities. Contrary to her personality, she constantly changes her hair style and is short-tempered to the point that Koyomi describes her as having hysteria. She is actually the reincarnation of a phoenix and has been since before she was even born. The phoenix entered the baby's body when it was still in the womb and by now both beings' minds have become one. She is immortal and the only thing that end her life is a natural death from old age. It was hinted that Kaiki was the one who sent Kagenui and Ononoki to go after Tsukihi. Tsukihi and Karen are nicknamed Tsuga no Ki Nichū no Fire Sisters (栂の木二中のファイヤーシスターズ).

Deishū Kaiki (貝木 泥舟, Kaiki Deishū)

Deishū was first introduced in Karen Bee.

Yozuru Kagenui (影縫 余弦, Kagenui Yozuru)

Yozuru was first introduced in Tsukihi Phoenix. She is an onmyōji and one of Meme's acquaintances.

Yotsugi Ononoki (斧乃木 余接, Ononoki Yotsugi)

Yotsugi was first introduced in Tsukihi Phoenix. She always address herself with the masculine first-person pronoun boku and thinks of Yozuru as her sister.