In the dead of night, under a lonely street lamp in a provincial town in Japan, lies a white woman, a blonde, alone, robbed of all four limbs, yet undead.

Indeed, a rumor has been circulating among the local girls that a vampire has arrived in their backwater town. Koyomi Araragi, who prefers to avoid having friends because they'd lower his “intensity as a human,” is naturally skeptical. Yet it is to him that the bloodsucking demon, a concept “dated twice over,” beckons on the first day of spring break as he makes his way home with a fresh loot of morally compromising periodicals.

Always disarmingly candid, often hilariously playful, and sometimes devastatingly moving, KIZUMONOGATARI: Wound Tale is the perfect gateway into the world of author NISIOISIN, the bestselling young novelist in Japan today.

This is the prequel to BAKEMONOGATARI (“Monster Tale”), where the legendary MONOGATARI series, whose anime adaptations have enjoyed international popularity and critical acclaim, begins.