Meme Oshino

Meme Oshino
Character Information
Age	Middle Aged
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Yellow
Personal Status
Classification	Human
Occupation	Oddity Specialist
Relatives	Shinobu Oshino (Shared Family Name) Ougi Oshino (Supposed Niece)
Production
Voice Actor	Takahiro Sakurai

Meme Oshino (忍野 メメ, Oshino Meme) is a middle-aged man who lives with the mysterious Shinobu Oshino in an abandoned cram school building in the town Koyomi Araragi resides in Bakemonogatari. An expert in the supernatural, he is the reason why Koyomi was able to return back to normal after being bitten by a vampire, and he becomes Koyomi's informant when it comes to oddities for some time.

Appearance

Meme is a man with a lanky physique, short hair dyed blond and blue eyes. He keeps his hair in an unruly fashion (although he sweeps it back when he performs Shinto ceremonies) and has a pair of sideburns and a goatee. His outfit consists of a pink aloha shirt left unbuttoned, a pair of dark-colored cargo shorts and black sandals that resemble the Japanese geta. Meme's notable accessories include an earring on his right ear and a necklace, both having an inverted cross on them.

Meme's overall looks give off an eccentric feel to people he interacts with, and even Koyomi calls him a "psychedelic aloha guy" because of this.

Personality

Meme's personality is quite laid-back and can be somewhat eccentric. Along with his unusual fashion sense, his current residence gives off the feeling that he is not a normal guy like most people.

As someone who is involved with the paranormal, he prefers to keep himself from directly meddling with affairs involving oddities. He prefers to help out, but only if the person itself is willing to exert effort towards returning to normal. However, putting aside his financial priorities, he can be well-trusted in supernatural affairs, with his knowledge that is useful in handling cases related to oddities.

Background

Oshino is a graduate of Shinto studies in college, although he never pursued the career of being a Shinto priest. During his time in college, he was part of the Occult Research Club together with Yozuru Kagenui, Deishuu Kaiki and Izuko Gaen. At some point after his college years, he moved to the town where Koyomi lives and stayed in an abandoned cram school building.

His first encounter with Araragi happened when the latter was attacked by a vampire. At the immense cost of 5,000,000 yen, Meme agreed to help Koyomi with his condition, and Araragi was soon turned to normal with Meme's intervention, although a small portion of vampire blood remained in Koyomi's system. At the Golden Week that followed, Meme also helped out with Tsubasa Hanekawa's first encounter with a bakeneko that manifested into Black Hanekawa. In this case, Meme only required her to pay 100,000 yen for his services.

Being an expert in the apparitions field, he solves Koyomi's and others' problems, although requiring compensation.

Plot

Hitagi Crab

Meme receives a visit from Koyomi, one of his most successful clients, and he listens as Hitagi Senjougahara, who came alongside Koyomi, asks for his help regarding her condition and her encounter with a "heavy stone crab". Although reluctant at first to accept the task, Meme decides to help out Hitagi, at the cost of 100,000 yen. After Hitagi prepared the necessary amount, Meme asks Hitagi to prepare her body for the ritual to be performed. Hitagi promptly followed his instructions, and at that night, puts on a change of clothes and heads to Meme's place, where Meme had prepared a room for the ritual to take place there.

He applied his knowledge of Shinto to try and communicate with the crab that took away Hitagi's weight and memories, with the intent of politely requesting the crab's cooperation through a special ceremony. The ceremony started smoothly as Hitagi quickly calmed herself as part of the ceremony, but it almost turned for the worst when the god that was involved with Hitagi's case becomes unpredictable, and Meme is forced to subdue the crab himself with a judo throw. Meme planned to use force on the oddity, but Hitagi herself requested to let her try to pray to the crab personally. The crab soon released its grasp on Hitagi.

Mayoi Snail

Araragi meets a young girl named Mayoi Hachikuji and decides to help her get to her home. However, he and Hitagi (who joined him earlier) discover that they become lost trying to follow the address where Mayoi's home is.

After returning to the park, Hitagi decides to ask Meme about Mayoi. According to him, they encountered a lost cow, which causes people who have no intentions of going back to their house to become lost in their journey home. With some assertion from Hitagi, Meme devises a way to counter the lost cow's influence over Araragi, which involves using new roads to confuse the lost cow, and he manages to lead Mayoi to where her house stood years ago.

Suruga Monkey

Following the attack that almost killed him, Koyomi and Hitagi's middle school friend Suruga Kanbaru visit Meme to consult about her condition.

On their visit, Meme reveals that they are actually tackling a case about the Rainy Devil, a creature that attacks people in fulfillment of a certain person's wish, and the "monkey's paw" on Suruga's left arm is actually the Rainy Devil's arm. He also points out that Suruga is partly responsible for the attacks, as the devil's arm was acting upon her deepest emotions (e.g. jealousy towards Araragi for talking with Hitagi).

Meme considers lopping off her arm to stop the devil's arm from claiming her soul upon fulfilling her wishes, but Araragi chose to challenge one of Kanbaru's wishes — for Araragi to die — and Meme helps Araragi to prepare for the ordeal, including letting Shinobu share her blood with him. While Araragi endures being ripped apart by the Rainy Devil, Meme decides to inform Hitagi regarding Koyomi's decision, and Hitagi's presence was able to interrupt the fight between Kanbaru and Araragi. The Rainy Devil's contract with Suruga is dissolved by newly formed conflicts with Suruga's wishes, but her arm remains the same as before.

Nadeko Snake

Meme assists Araragi again with another supernatural issue, this time warning Araragi that he can't always rely on him forever.

Tsubasa Cat

After warning Araragi that he could leave anytime soon without a proper goodbye, Meme leaves town without much warning. His whereabouts since have been unknown.

Trivia

• Meme's last name means "hidden plains".
• His catch phase is "You are really energetic, did something good happen?".
• Kagenui says he has been wearing aloha shirts since his days in college.