A high school senior who, despite being the class vice representative, doesn't really care about studying at all. After an incident just before the school term began where he temporarily became a vampire, he works with Meme to help those plagued by "oddities" — supernatural creatures that possess or otherwise meddle with the lives of humans. Remnants of his vampirism — mainly superhuman senses and a healing factor — help him with these situations.
Badass: Well, defeating three professional vampire hunters in Kizumonogatari definitely counts in badass points for him.
Berserk Button: Harming his family members, especially his sisters.
Big Brother Bully: Really likes to tease Karen and Tsukihi. He generally seems to mean it in good fun, but sometimes takes things a little bit far.
Bishōnen: Though his general antics make it hard to see. It's there though and you'd be surprised at the amount of fanart he has (for a Harem lead anyway).
Chained by Fashion: In Nisemonogatari, where he breaks the chain holding together the handcuffs Hitagi put on him but leaves the cuffs on.
Chick Magnet: At least three girls are confirmed to be in love with him: Hitagi, Nadeko and Tsubasa. Suruga would go straight for him and Shinobu is implied to also love him, but there's no concrete evidence for now. Hanekawa blames his remaining vampire powers. Of course, that can't be true for Nadeko, who has had a crush on him long before he became a vampire, and Hanekawa's oddity later rejects this as well, saying vampiric charisma is more akin to making someone an absolute slave.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: At the end of Episode 5, Hitagi notes that he has developed this in regards to people hounded by the supernatural. She has no problems with this facet of him at all.
The Nadeko Snake arc deconstructs this. Meme remarks that had Koyomi became a priest like him he would be able to deal with the oddities himself, but his refusal to abandon Shinobu makes that impossible. Then, at the climax, he tries in vain to fight the snakes so they don't attack the people who cursed Nadeko, but Suruga yells him into coming to his senses
Suruga: "Remember who you're supposed to save!"
This also comes heavily into play in Kizumonogatari. This is the reason why he gets involved in the nasty incident with Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade, namely, saving her from dying and getting turned into a vampire in the process.
Expressive Hair: His Idiot Hair tends to straighten up when he's surprised/aroused, curve into a question mark when he's confused, et cetera. Gets really ridiculous in Nisemonogatari, where it twists into the kanji for "love" (愛).
Fell Down The Stairs: When Hitagi finds him lying on the train tracks bleeding after being beaten within an inch of his life by a possessed Suruga, he tells her that he ran into a telephone pole.
Heroic BSOD: He gets a minor one when he realized that Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade eats humans.
Good Thing You Can Heal: The best example of this is when he survives Suruga kicking a hole through his abdominal cavity and swinging him around by his intestines.
Healing Hands: As a vampire, his blood can heal the injuries of others.
Ironic Hell: Spends a lot of time in Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari sexually harassing Mayoi, then eventually gets a taste of his own medicine via Suruga when her reputation as the series' biggest pervert is impugned. This is enough to convince him to cool it for a while.
Neat Freak: Enough to clean Kanbaru's room whenever he goes over to her house.
Oblivious to Love: It took Hitagi's confession to make him realize she loves him.Lampshadedby the cat that possessed Tsubasa. Later he doesn't understand what Nadeko's trying to tell him when she mentions that she avoided learning how to swim so he could teach her.
In Kizumonogatari, he even fondles her breasts in the PE shed. Not only does she give permission, but she takes off her bra for it. When he stops, she calls him a chicken and makes him apologize for stopping. This is after she puts her phone number into his phone without being asked, then secretly does it again after he deletes it.
Our Vampires Are Different: Played with. Koyomi's an ex-vampire, although remnants of his powers still exist. This includes a healing factor, superhuman senses and — according to Tsubasa — possibly the seductive charm, albeit unconsciously. Also, his powers are apparently strengthened by toeing the line of becoming a vampire again by letting Shinobu drink his blood. Unfortunately he apparently has kept the vampire's inability to swim.
Theme Naming: The Araragi siblings' names are references to the calendar (Koyomi (暦) literally means "calendar").
Weirdness Magnet: He's grown so used to this fact that Suruga's revelation that she has a demon monkey arm grafted onto her arm doesn't faze him, but her admission that she's a lesbian still leaves his jaw on the floor.
Oshino does warn him in Kizumonogatari that after encountering an oddity, someone is more likely to attract more of them.
He Cleans Up Nicely: He looks quite good in the priest's robes he wore to help Hitagi.
Impossible Thief: He claims to have stolen Kissshot's heart from her, while she was at full power no less, without her noticing. Koyomi only doubts this for a moment before realizing it's the truth
Hitagi Senjogahara
"My harsh remarks are made by transmuting 40g of copper, 25g of zinc, 15g of nickel, and 5g of hiding my embarrassment along with 97kg of spite."
The focus of "Hitagi Crab" and a standoffish bombshell who's been Koyomi's classmate ever since they were freshmen. Despite this, their first real contact is in senior year when Koyomi is running up the stairs one day, late, and catches her as she falls from above due to slipping on a Banana Peel. Her ailment is weightlessness (more accurately, she weighs one-ninth of what she should) due to contact with a "heavy crab" before she entered high school. Anyone else who had discovered her secret faced death threats, but Koyomi ignores them and takes her to Oshino to be cured. At the end of "Mayoi Snail" she confesses her love for Koyomi and they go steady shortly afterward.
Adaptation Dye Job: In the light novels and Vofan's corresponding illustrations, Hitagi had brown hair. In the anime it's purple.
Animal Motifs: Her trusty stapler is meant to invoke a crab's claw.
Anti-Hero: Identifies herself in Nisemonogatari as not a "good guy"—just an enemy of evil. She also doesn't care about helping the middle schoolers who had been fooled by Kaiki ("It's their own faults").
Attempted Rapeas Backstory: By one of the fake-cult scammers attached to her mother. Even though she escaped by attacking her assailant, it still traumatized her. Partly because her mother allowed it to happen.
Meaningful Name: "Senjogahara" literally means "battlefield," alluding to the character's standoffish personality.
No Sense of Personal Space: She spends a lot of her conversations with Koyomi invading his personal space bubble in spectacular ways. And feels him up while they're in the car with her father.
No Social Skills: She has absolutely no idea of how to go about romance. At least Koyomi finds it ridiculously cute.
Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Despite being quite an open jerkass and troll, Senjogahara was very popular in middle school. It's implied she was less hostile back then, though.
Tin Man: A good 90% percent of her lines are delivered in complete deadpan with a total lack of expression, even when it's possible to tell from context that she's quite obviously feeling very emotional.
Tsundere: Hitagi is a self-proclaimed one. Koyomi thinks she's more of a "Tundra". Tsubasa seconds her self-description in Episode 9.
Leaning way towards the "tsun" side, she's terrifyingly direct, even when she starts trying to be less so. In fact, she's so tsun she's way in the middle of Kuudere territory.
The focus of "Mayoi Snail" and an elementary school kid. Koyomi encounters her at a playground when he decides to ditch his family on Mother's Day. She is looking for the house of one "Ms. Tsunade", but can't find her way. A call to Meme shows an oddity called a "lost cow" is involved (if you're wondering why the arc is called "Snail", it's because "katatsumuri", one word for "snail," contains the kanji for "cow").
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: She vanishes when she finds the vacant lot where her mother used to live, leading one to make the conclusion that she passed on... then ultimately subverted when she appears to Koyomi the next day and tells him that she simply changed from one type of ghost to another. She eventually accepted her fate and disappears at the end of Shinobu Time.
Animal Motifs: wears a giant backpack resembling a snail's shell.
Her headband also has those spiral designs seen in a snail's shell.
Big Damn Heroes: The adult version of her in Mayoi Jiangshi, saved Koyomi and Shinobu from being trapped by the Jiangshis (Chinese Zombie/Vampires)
Jerkass Façade: Tells anyone who talks to her that she hates people like them and wants them to go away so they don't follow her. She knows she won't reach her destination and that anyone who sees her will want to help her get there.
Meaningful Name: "Mayoi" means "lost"; "Tsunade" is a reference to the character in Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (the same one that Tsunade is a reference to) who is strongly aligned with slugs.
Shipper on Deck: Thinks Tsubasa would be a better match for Koyomi.
Spirit Advisor: Until Araragi helped her finish her business, only people who don't want to go home can see her. It is uncertain whether other people can see her or not afterwards, since she has only been seen interacting with the ex-vampire Araragi.
Tomato Surprise: The afflicted party in "Mayoi Snail" is Koyomi, not Mayoi. Mayoi is the aforementioned lost cow.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Koyomi. He even said that he enjoys talking to Mayoi the most.
Suruga Kanbaru
"The only things that can make me run anywhere are Araragi-senpai, Senjogahara-senpai, and a BL novel release."
The focus of "Suruga Monkey" and the star of the girls' basketball team. Suruga is possessed by a monkey's paw (yes, like the short story), but for some reason, it's become her left arm. Eventually Meme reveals that her oddity is a "rainy devil", which controls Suruga's body to fulfill three of her wishes, but will act upon their inherent malevolence whether Suruga words it in a nice way or not.
Animal Motifs: Her biking shorts are a weird pun on the word monkey ("undershorts" being sarumata, saru being "monkey").
Big Ol' Eyebrows: Not huge, but certainly bigger than everyone else's.
Bi the Way: Despite declaring herself a lesbian, she seems to have a number of lewd ideas involving Koyomi.
Deal with the Devil: Subverted. Suruga has a devil's arm that will grant her three wishes by the spirit of the wish, not the letter — the reason it turns out the way it does is because Suruga's true intents are considerably darker than the way she voices them.
Lolicon: Suruga gets awfully excited upon seeing Shinobu and Nadeko.
Lovable Sex Maniac: The first thing she does when she enters Koyomi's room? Why, search for his Porn Stash, of course! Not to mention how she loves to screw with his head with naught but innuendos.
Koyomi notes that she's a very touchy-feely person.
And later in the series, Hitagi also seems to view her in a way that fits with this trope.
Late in the series she answers a phone call from Araragi with "This is Kanbaru, currently employed as Araragi's love slave." This despite the fact that she had no idea who was calling her. Several minutes later after Araragi explains that he has a problem she interprets it to mean that she should strip.
In episode two of Nisemonogatari she actually panics when Araragi suggests that she isn't as perverted as she thought she was.
It is best left to your imagination what she does to Araragi at the end of episode 2 of Nisemonogatari.
Suruga is very attached to her reputation as the biggest pervert in the show and will go to very extreme lengths to defend said reputation.
Modesty Shorts: Her signature style in conjunction with her school uniform.
Psycho Lesbian: Suruga is dangerously in love with Hitagi.
Double subversion. She's actually a perfectly pleasant person even to Koyomi, her crush's boyfriend. But she unconsciously wishes that he would disappear, and when the sun goes down her demonic hand takes control over her and tries to grant her wish.
Schoolgirl Lesbian: For Hitagi, based on testimony from Tsubasa, Hitagi and even herself. There's also the fact that Suruga starts stalking Koyomi after he hooks up with Hitagi and tries beating him to death one night.
Sensual Spandex: Wears biking shorts under her skirt. She may or may not be wearing panties underneath, so what may or may not technically be her underwear is on constant display.
Strange Girl: Suruga is... quite weird. OK, very weird.
Superpowered Evil Side: When the Rainy Devil takes possession of Suruga — and she unconsciously embraces it — she becomes hellishly fast, strong and savage and acts out all her subconscious malevolent desires. At least, the ones that can be invoked with extreme violence.
Yaoi Fangirl: If it puts it into perspective, those millions of books in her room were all issues of Barazoku (which has been out of print since 2004, meaning she either started out young or she's been putting considerable effort into obtaining them...).
The focus of "Nadeko Snake", and a middle schooler who was friends with Koyomi's younger sister Tsukihi ever since elementary school; she used to come over to their house often, which is how she met Koyomi. Her oddity is a "snake constrictor," and there are imprints all over her body suggesting that she is being constricted by an invisible snake. And although everybody assumes it's one, there are actually two.
The Cutie: Her Image Song is basically 90 seconds of pastel pinks and purples and her rapping about trying to be as cute as possible for her beloved "onii-chan".
Expository Hairstyle Change: She spends Bakemonogatari with her hair in her face and is painfully shy around Koyomi. The first time we see her in Nisemonogatari she's got her hair out of her eyes thanks to a hairband and actually attempts veiled sexual passes at Koyomi.
Love Triangle: Nadeko has a crush on Koyomi, causing her to reject the confession of a boy her age. Another girl that has a crush on him grows to resent her. They both give her death curses.
The knowledgeable Class Representative of Koyomi's class and focus of "Tsubasa Cat", which encompasses flashbacks during the Golden Week before "Hitagi Crab" and present-time action after "Nadeko Snake". She has a strained relationship with her aloof stepfather which leads to a "meddlesome cat" possessing her; she is able to see Mayoi during "Mayoi Snail", meaning these problems have not been resolved. They even cause a second meddlesome cat incident. They also continue to trouble her in the novels.
Animal Motifs: Like Suruga's, hers is of the more punny variety. Meganekko=Mega neko. There's also her hair ribbons, which have little cat faces on them.
Beware the Nice Ones: Senjougahara of all people appears to be terrified of her in Nisemonogatari, though this probably has more to do with the possibility of her becoming a rival for Araragi's love than the alleged bullying.
May be considered a Deconstruction as it shows how much stress built up over seeing Koyomi in a happy relationship with another girl and not being able to confess, until it leads to her Super Powered Evil Side.
Catch Phrase: "I don't know everything; just the things I know (Nandemo shiranai wa yo, shitteru koto dake)."
Cat Girl: When possessed, a damn hot (if somewhat creepy) one! Also gender bent in a sense because the cat uses the "ore" pronoun to reveal that the spirit is male.
Expository Hairstyle Change: The bob she sports in Nisemonogatari is eventually stated to be an example of Important Haircut in an attempt to move on from the hardship in her life.
If She Can't Have You...: The cat points out to Koyomi the only other way to get rid of it (besides choosing Tsubasa over Hitagi) is for Koyomi to die and attempts just that.
School Uniforms are the New Black: You can't blame a ghost like Mayoi for constantly wearing the same outfit, but Koyomi finds it pretty frustrating that he's yet to see Tsubasa in anything but her school uniform and pajamas.
Ship Tease: Occasionally with Koyomi. He's even gone record saying he really does like her, just not as much as Hitagi.
A young vampire girl who lives with Oshino. She is the vampire who originally bit Koyomi during the upcoming "Koyomi Vamp" and was originally named Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade. After the events of that arc she was left weakened, reverting to a childlike form.
Big Damn Hero: During Tsubasa's first meddlesome cat incident. Tsubasa has Koyomi cornered, but Shinobu shows up out of nowhere and vampirizes her into submission.
Dynamic Entry: In episode 15, when she appears to save Koyomi from Tsubasa by performing a string of lightning fast flips and handsprings before kicking Hanekawa across the area and into a large light post.
The middle Araragi sibling, and the focus of "Karen Bee". She and Tsukihi are known as "The Fire Sisters of Tsuganoki 2nd Junior High" for their habit of using their own brand of justice on others. A black-belt martial artist who enjoys being outdoors. Her rash actions cause her to be stung by a "wreathe-fire bee", its poison afflicting her with a terrible and potentially fatal fever that lasts for three days. This incident was a plot by Deishuu Kaiki.
Action Girl: A sports prodigy and very gifted in combat.
Animal Motifs: Her yellow and black outfit resembles a bee.
Driven to Suicide: She discusses having been suicidally depressed at one point due to Koyomi always picking on her; she also claims that recovering from this incident is why she can't tolerate injustice of any kind.
Foot Focus: Loves being barefoot, and her feet are often given immaculate attention whenever she is- in maximum detail.
Incest Subtext: She and Tsukihi got boyfriends similar to Koyomi to try and make him jealous. Kanbaru notes that it can take a turn for the worse in the near future.
As of episode 7 of Nisemonogatari, also with her sister. Araragi even calls the two "yuri sisters" after catching them sleeping naked in each other's arms.
Episode 8 has Koyomi pushing Karen onto his bed while brushing her teeth, while she lets him and tells him it's ok.
Theme Naming: "Fire Sisters" is a reference to how the two of them have the character for "fire" (火) in their names (Karen's name is written 火憐). Also, the siblings' names are references to the calendar (Karen = calendar = ka-re-n-daa).
The youngest Araragi sibling, and the focus of "Tsukihi Phoenix". She and Karen are known as "The Fire Sisters of Tsuganoki 2nd Junior High" for their habit of using their own brand of justice on others. She enjoys indoor activities, constantly changes her hair style and is very short-tempered. She is actually the reincarnation of a phoenix, which entered her body as a fetus. Both beings' minds have become one, making Tsukihi nearly immortal. The only thing that can end Tsukihi's life is a natural death from old age.
Animal Motifs: She always wear colourful yukatas, which are supposed to represent the Phoenix's feathers. She also tends change hairstyle very often, which is supposed to represent a Phoenix 'rebirth'.
Tsukihi is also referred to as a cuckoo or cuckoo's child, because the Phoenix's pattern of merging into human children and turning them into supernatural beings is similar to a cuckoo's laying its egg in the nest of another bird. In real-life nature, this behavior kills all the other baby cuckoo's foster siblings and sometimes even its foster parents, which helps to explain why Yodzuru considers the Phoenix to be an evil being.
Blood Knight: Doesn't really understand the concept of justice, and just uses Karen's moral compass as her guide to make sure she's beating the right people up. She just likes running wild in general.
Hidden in Plain Sight: The Phoenix is in hiding due to the Phoenix being constantly hunted, thus the Phoenix hides in plain sight by merging with a human fetus. Since the Phoenix is immortal, if the Phoenix's host dies of old age, the Phoenix just moves on, hides and merges in another baby human.
Incest Subtext: She and Karen got boyfriends similar to Koyomi to try and make him jealous.
As of episode 7 of Nisemonogatari, also with her sister. Araragi even calls the two "yuri sisters" after catching them sleeping naked in each other's arms.
Kimono Fanservice: Though Tsukihi wears a yukata near-constantly, it often falls open and doesn't restrict her movements in the least, making her a subverted example.
Left Hanging: In Mayoi Jiangshi, in an alternate timeline, Shinobu (or rather, Kiss-shot) despairing about the death of that world's Araragi, turned everyone in the town into Jiangshis. Koyomi asked Shinobu on what happened to Tsukihi (since she's a phoenix and all) but she never gave any direct answer.
Mood Swinger: To the point her brother claims she has hysteria.
Resurrective Immortality/From a Single Cell: While she won't live forever, she cannot be killed by any means other than old age. This is powerful enough to restore her within a few minutes of having her entire body from the waist up obliterated by Yotsugi.
Theme Naming: "Fire Sisters" is a reference to how the two of them have the character for "fire" (火) in their names (Tsukihi's name is written 月火). Also, the siblings' names are references to the calendar (Tsukihi = "moon/month", and "fire", which can be alternately read as 日, "day").
A mysterious man who apparently has some connection to Senjogahara. He was the first of five con men to approach her about her condition; he instigated the events of Bakemonogatari's "Nadeko Snake" by spreading information about the snake constrictor curse and also sets off Nisemonogatari's "Karen Bee" by setting a wreathe-fire bee to attack Karen. He first appears in "Karen Bee", seeking out Suruga for reasons unknown.
Animal Motifs: Black crows tend to gather to him outdoors. Sometimes it looks like he's talking with their mouths instead of his own.
Establishing Character Moment: He gives Karen a Hannibal Lecture about how much he loves money. Okay. What really drives it home is that he actually takes the time to pull out her wallet and pocket all the cash she's carrying.
Lack of Empathy: Money is the only thing that matters to him. He does not give a damn about how many schoolkids fall victim to the curses he sells, as long as he gets some dough out of them.
Obviously Evil: Along with his hairdo and manner of dress, he speaks in a sinister drawl and shows up surrounded by dead trees against a blood-red sky.
I Have the High Ground: Wears very steep platform high heels and perches in high places. She even perches atop Koyomi's head and Yotsugi's finger.
Knight Templar: When asked by Koyomi the reason why she targets Tsukihi, she responds by replying that she does it just because she can't let oddities "pretend" to be human, as she is an ally of justice, and oddities that are "pretending" to be human are evil.
A girl who follows Yodzuru around. Tacks her catchphrase "so I said photogenically" onto things. In later installments, she abandons this catchphrase and starts making sideways peace signs instead.
