Nagaru Tanigawa

Nagaru Tanigawa (谷川 流, Tanigawa Nagaru), born December 19, 1970, is the inventor and main writer of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya series. As a native of Hyōgo, Tanigawa speaks the Kansai-ben dialect, but the series is written in the Tokyo dialect instead.

He grew up in Nishinomiya, between Kobe and Osaka, and is part of the Hyōgo Prefecture, in the Kansai region (関西地方 Kansai-chihō) of Japan. Numerous landmarks in Nishinomiya, including the high school, feature in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya anime. The light novel series has also mentioned the Hanshin Tigers (based in real life Nishinomiya).

Tanigawa is a graduate of the law school at Kwansei Gakuin University. He won the grand prize at eighth annual Sneaker Awards for the Haruhi Suzumiya series. Though all of Tanigawa's light novel series had been on hiatus for several years, he started working on a manga series titled Kagerou Meikyū; the first bound volume was released in August 2009.

Light Novels and Short Stories

 * Round-Trip (short story)

Published in Dengeki Bunko and Dengeki Moeoh
This series focused on teenage psychics escaping from the EMP Academy.
 * Let's Leave the School (学校を出よう! Gakkō o Deyō!) series (hiatus)
 * Escape from The School
 * I-My-Me
 * The Laughing Bootleg
 * Final Destination
 * Not Dead or Not Alive
 * Vampire Syndrome
 * Dengeki Aegis 5 (電撃!! イージス5) (two volumes, complete)
 * The Closed Universe (hiatus)
 * The Despairing Ones (絶望系 閉じられた世界 Zetsubōkei Tojirareta Sekai)
 * The Guardian of my World; Boku no Sekai o Mamoru Hito (僕のセカイをまもるヒト) (three volumes, complete)

Manga

 * Amnesia Labyrinth (Kagerō Meikyū) (蜻蛉迷宮) (complete, 2 volumes)
 * Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan Desu (Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan) (in collaboration, complete)

Trivia

 * Tanigawa grew up in Nishinomiya, between Kōbe and Ōsaka. The series has mentioned the Hanshin Tigers (based on real life Nishinomiya). Numerous landmarks in Nishinomiya, including the high school and areas of nearby Kōbe and Ōsaka, feature in the anime. Lists of examples can be found at: Location Hunt - Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱舞台の検証 (Verification of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), 夙川駅特急停車の準備が着々と進んでいる (Preparation for Sugawawa station express stops), and 聖地巡礼の旅　涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱　通学路編 (Travel of the Holy Land Pilgrimage &mdash; The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya School Route).