List of Monogatari characters
The Monogatari series, comprising the light novels written by Nisio Isin and its anime and manga adaptations, has an extensive fictional cast. The series focuses on Koyomi Araragi, a former vampire who has since regained his humanity and now lives as a partial human with vampiric traits, as he meets various girls who contend with other supernatural threats, collectively known as "Oddities". He is initially assisted by Meme Oshino, an eccentric specialist in the area of combatting and exorcising Oddities, and later by Shinobu Oshino, the weakened form of the vampire who attacked and turned Koyomi, who now depends exclusively on his blood for sustenance. Koyomi is also commonly accompanied by the various girls he has helped in the past. He is sometimes opposed or aided by other specialists seeking to exterminate or manipulate Oddities for their own reasons.
Main characters
Koyomi Araragi
Koyomi Araragi is the overall main protagonist of the Monogatari series. He is a third-year high school student who fails every subject except math. After being attacked by a vampire during spring break and becoming a vampire himself, specialist Meme Oshino helps him become human again, though Koyomi retains several lingering side effects and vampiric powers such as enhanced regenerative abilities. As a result, he has concerns regarding his lifespan. These side effects are later revealed to be due to the bond that Shinobu and he share. He started dating Hitagi at the end of Mayoi Mai Mai and later becomes her husband.After he graduated from Naoetsu high school, he majored in Mathematics in Manase University along with Senjougahara and Oikura. He was frequently absent during lectures to help solve oddity related events throughout Monster Season. He later moved out of the Araragi residence to live next to Oikura. However, he soon returned back to the Araragi residence during the Coronavirus pandemic to take care of his sisters. He would continue his university studies online through zoom until his graduation.
After graduating from university, Koyomi follows his parents' footsteps and becomes a police officer in the rumour squad, helping solve oddity related issues for the general public.
Although he is shown to be attracted to the other girls, he turns down their advances due to his loyalty to Hitagi. Other characters, particularly Mayoi and Hitagi, seem to speculate that Koyomi is a lolicon.
Hitagi Senjōgahara
Hitagi Senjōgahara is the main character of Hitagi Crab. She is a weak-looking girl with an "incurable disease". She is in the same class as Koyomi, but she rarely speaks. During the period between both schools, she encountered a giant crab who stole her weight. Ever since, she avoids contact with everyone else, and threatens anyone who discovers her secret. She became anti-social and was very different from her personality from when she was in middle school. She calls herself a tsundere and often speaks in an abusive style. At the end of Mayoi Mai Mai, she admits that she loves Koyomi, and they start dating.After the events in Tsukihi Phoenix, she overcame all of her trauma and finally became a completely normal and cheerful girl. She starts referring to Araragi by a cute nickname, chuckling at small things, and sending e-mails full of Emojis, although her sharp tongue is still present, only toned down. She seems also to have a father complex, getting excited when she uses her father's blanket, so much so that she can't fall asleep. Koyomi says that he loves Hitagi the most. She seems to not be on very good terms with Karen and Tsukihi.
In Hitagi End after the events of Nadeko Medusa, Koyomi gets into trouble, swallowing her pride and feelings again to ask Kaiki - the one person whom she truly despises and hates - for help.
In University, she studied finance and lived in the women's dorm. In Ougi light, during a shrine visit with Koyomi to celebrate a new year, she decided to break up with him as she realized that their relationship began with her physically abusing Koyomi by stapling his mouth. However, Koyomi soon realized that this break up was due to a curse created by a Naoetsu high schooler. He soon swiftly resolved the curse and their relationship was mended.
After graduating, she became a successful financial trader following her father's footstep, working overseas in her father's competitor. However, the long-distance relationship causes strain in her relationship with Koyomi, resulting in her moving back and starting a new branch in Japan after their third breakup.
In Hitagi Honeymoon, 2 years after her university graduation, Hitagi Senjougahara changed her name to Hitagi Araragi following her marriage ceremony at the North Shirahebi Shrine. She and Koyomi headed to Senjougahara along with Kanbaru and Shinobu for their Honeymoon. During the Honeymoon, she conversed with Shinobu for the first time, and ultimately suggested to adopt her as their legal child.
Mayoi Hachikuji
Mayoi Hachikuji is the main character of Mayoi Mai Mai. She 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 be seen only by people who do not want to reach their destinations. Mayoi is often seen wearing an oversized pink backpack with her name on it. She claims that the backpack is just her overnight bag as she planned on spending the night at her mother's home when the accident occurred. 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 She later graduates to become a "Wandering Spirit," after Koyomi and Hitagi help her reach her destination.In Mayoi Jiangshi, Koyomi and Shinobu accidentally travel back in time 11 years, the day before Mayoi's death. Koyomi, wanting to prevent Mayoi from turning into a wandering spirit, helps her travel to her mother's house. After they return to the present, they find out the whole town is infested with zombies. In this history, Koyomi did not meet Mayoi, so during the events of Tsubasa Cat, he did not get the information regarding Shinobu, or go near Mister Donuts, so Black Hanekawa killed him, causing this timeline's Shinobu to vow to destroy the world and fill it with zombie vampires, or 'Jiangshi'. While searching for a power spot, Koyomi and Shinobu attract the zombies but are saved by a grown Hachikuji. It seems that Mayoi was not happy that she became a spirit, but was happy that as a spirit, she was able to meet Koyomi.
Later on, Mayoi's existence is threatened by the "darkness", a manifestation of the natural order, which destroys things that are lying about their nature, in this case being Mayoi forsaking the role of the Lost Snail. With the advice of Izuko Gaen, Mayoi chooses to pass on to the afterlife without a good-bye exchanged between her and Araragi, something the latter admits to regretting at a later time.
Mayoi later become a God after being resurrected by Arargi during his trip to hell.
Koyomi also stated that he is the happiest when talking to Mayoi.
Suruga Kanbaru
Suruga Kanbaru is the main character of Suruga Monkey. She is Koyomi's underclassman, star player of the school's basketball team and one of Hitagi's acquaintances from junior high school. Immediately after she entered senior high school, she became aware of Hitagi's secret and was threatened by her, just as Koyomi was. She is an admitted lesbian, fujoshi, lolicon, and masochist. In elementary school, she inherited what she thought was a Monkey's Paw. When she made her third wish on it, a monkey-like paw began growing in her left arm. She starts stalking Koyomi after she discovers he is dating Hitagi. She becomes friends with Koyomi and Hitagi after Koyomi rids her of the Rainy Devil curse. She also begins growing her hair longer.In Suruga Devil, a rumor circulates about a devil solving other people's problems. Fearing that she might be the rumored 'Devil', Suruga decides to investigate and finds out that the rumored Devil is actually an old basketball rival of hers named, Rōka Numachi. Kanbaru is still worried about the effects of the Rainy Devil, even though it has been dispersed, to the point that, whenever she goes to sleep, she binds her devil's arm to a pillar so that she cannot commit crimes while sleepwalking. She checks the newspaper everyday so that she can make sure she didn't make any bad news unconsciously. She has dreams of her mother once in a while which give her weird life lessons.
She is called Suruga Kanbaru now but she was previously named Suruga Gaen. Suruga's mother had some kind of connection to oddities as she had inherited the devil's left arm from her mother. Her mother and father were revealed to have eloped as the Kanbaru family did not approve of their relationship. Kanbaru is also the only person that Kaiki will ever treat well.
After high school, she wanted to became a physician. She studied in university while working part time in a hospital to gain relevant industry experience.
Nadeko Sengoku
Nadeko Sengoku is the main character of Nadeko Snake. She is Tsukihi's friend from elementary school. She has a shy personality, always wears a waist pouch, always casts her eyes downward, keeps her bangs covering her eyes, and can be easily amused. Koyomi played with her a lot whenever she visited his house after being invited by his sisters. She is put under a curse by a classmate, causing an invisible snake to strangle her, until Koyomi finds out and offers his help. It is revealed that there were two snakes strangling Nadeko. One was placed by the boy Nadeko rejected, and the other was placed by the girl who was in love with the boy Nadeko rejected. Koyomi managed to get rid of the first one but was unable to remove the second one. The snake then returned to the boy who cursed her, cursing him instead. She refers to Koyomi as Koyomi-onii-chan. She's quite protective of her hair thinking that it's her place to guard more than her panties. When she finally combs her forelocks aside in Nisemonogatari, Koyomi comments that she has a glare just like a serpent.In Nadeko Medusa, during Halloween, Nadeko meets a girl named Ōgi, after which she is able to see a white snake who claims to be one of the snakes she killed during the events in "Nadeko Snake". This snake pressures her to atone for what she did by finding the remains of the snake when it was alive. However, it was actually a trap laid down by Ōgi, resulting in Nadeko finding a talisman in Araragi's room and becoming a God.
During Nadeko Draw, Nadeko created 4 shikigami to help her practice drawing. Her parents threatened to kick her out of the house if she doesn't graduate from middle school, so she thought she needed to master drawing before then to become a manga artist. However, the shikigamis escaped as they didn't want to become present Nadeko's slaves. Nadeko proceeded to work with Ononoki to capture them all. Nadeko managed to capture two shikigamis with the help of Ougi. She found Ononoki's body broken up as she was on her way to capture the remaining two shikigami. She helped assemble her broken body, and teamed up with her to defeat the God Nadeko shikigami.
After graduating from middle school, Nadeko became a mangaka. She moved out on her own with the help of Gaen in exchange for working as a specialist. She later wrote 3 niche publications under the pen name "Sengoku Nadeshiko". Her works are described as "cute but dark" as they often take inspiration from her working as a specialist.