Hitagi Senjōgahara, a third-year Naoetsu Private High School student, initially appears frail and reclusive due to an "incurable disease." She possesses long purple hair (rendered dark brown in light novel art), blue eyes, and a glamorous figure, typically wearing the school uniform with black thigh-high stockings. She later modifies her uniform by rolling up and pinning the sleeves, creating a sleeveless blouse. A significant physical transformation occurs when she cuts her hair short, symbolizing a break from her past. Born into privilege, her wealthy family included a father holding a prominent position in a foreign corporation. In middle school, she excelled academically and athletically as a track star, maintaining a humble demeanor that earned admiration. She formed the close "Valhalla Combo" friendship with Suruga Kanbaru. This period ended abruptly when a life-threatening illness required major surgery. Seeking solace, her mother joined a cult, leading to familial collapse. Following a cult member's assault attempt, Hitagi defended herself with a spiked shoe, injuring him. Her mother sided with the attacker, abandoned the family, and depleted their wealth, leaving substantial debt. Shortly after, Hitagi encountered the Heavy Stone Crab, a supernatural entity that took her emotional and physical weight, reducing her body mass to five kilograms. This condition isolated her, as she threatened anyone who discovered it. Her personality features sharp, blunt communication and a stoic demeanor, making interactions difficult. She self-identifies as a tsundere but often displays kuudere traits, using verbal aggression defensively. Early on, she carries stationery like staplers and pens as weapons, frequently threatening Koyomi Araragi. This hostility stems from trauma and distrust, though her statements remain sincere. After resolving her supernatural affliction and confronting past regrets, her demeanor softens into a more cheerful and expressive disposition, while her directness persists in a tempered form. She demonstrates rationality, high intelligence, and later achieves professional success in business. Her emotional growth includes reconciling with Kanbaru and developing a complex, caring relationship with Tsubasa Hanekawa, whom she initially called "master" but later supports during personal crises. Her story begins when an accidental fall into Araragi’s arms reveals her weightless condition. Despite her threats, he introduces her to Meme Oshino, who identifies the Heavy Stone Crab as the cause. During the ensuing ritual, Hitagi confronts her suppressed memories, prompting the Crab to restore her weight. This ordeal resolves her physical anomaly but leaves her to shoulder the emotional burdens, culminating in tearful catharsis. Grateful to Araragi, she befriends him and later confesses romantic feelings, initiating a relationship. Their interactions evolve from aggressive to vulnerably affectionate, marked by a stargazing date and their first kiss. Across subsequent events, she aids Araragi in supernatural incidents. She assists the lost spirit Mayoi Hachikuji, deduces Mayoi’s true nature as an oddity, and helps her move on. She intervenes in Suruga Kanbaru’s conflict with the Rainy Devil, reconciling their fractured friendship. During Tsubasa Hanekawa’s affliction with cat-like traits, Hitagi oversees school festival preparations to support her. Her involvement in Araragi’s life includes managing his interactions with other girls, such as permitting Kanbaru to discipline him if necessary, which Hanekawa views as potentially problematic. Her development intensifies during confrontations with Deishū Kaiki, the swindler who exacerbated her family’s ruin. Though resentful, she pragmatically enlists his help to save Araragi from Nadeko Sengoku. During this encounter, she acknowledges Kaiki’s past actions—destroying the cult and separating her from her mother—while refusing to forgive him. This resolution, coupled with overcoming lingering regrets in "Tsukihi Phoenix," solidifies her emotional stability. She abandons stationery weapons entirely and adopts a livelier, more openly expressive demeanor. In later life, she pursues a successful business career and maintains her relationship with Araragi. In the "Madogatari" crossover event within *Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record*, an alternate Hitagi appears as a magical girl. Her wish—"Please give me memories" (*omoi*)—thematically ties to her canonical weight loss, as the Japanese word *omoi* connotes both emotional "memories" and physical "weight." Her magical ability allows her to steal an object’s mass upon contact, augmenting her hammer’s strength, and includes psychometry to extract information from objects. Her Doppel form, the Weight Crab, weaponizes stationery by increasing its mass, reflecting unresolved emotional defenses. This iteration reinforces her core narrative motifs.