Bakemono, literally &;altered thing,&; which translates as &;monster.&; Monogatari, literally &;thing narrated,&; which translates as &;tale.&; Combined into a neologism by he of the reversible nom de plume, they yield BAKEMONOGATARI, the monster tale that kicked off a series whose anime adaptations have enjoyed international popularity and critical acclaim.

A self-described loser, Koyomi Araragi is struggling at a prep school that he should never have gotten into. He has all but quit caring, but as a senior, he faces the chilling scenario of not being able to graduate. It&;s time to cram, but the supernatural aberrations that keep on popping up in his provincial town won&;t let him be.

Previously, our hero turned into a vampire and back, gained an acid-tongued girlfriend, and couldn&;t find his way home thanks to a lost child. In this second of three parts, which introduces Suruga Kanbaru and Nadeko Sengoku, he becomes embroiled in a case that riffs on a classic English story from 1902.