Labo Asai is a Japanese writer and original creator, born on July 12, 1974, in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. He is best known as the author of the long-running dark fantasy light novel series Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryū to Odoru, which was adapted into the anime television series Dances with the Dragons.

Asai began publishing Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryū to Odoru through Kadokawa Shoten’s Sneaker Bunko imprint in 2003, with the initial run concluding after eight volumes in 2006. The series then moved to Shogakukan’s Gagaga Bunko imprint in 2008, where publication has continued, reaching twenty-four volumes as of February 2023. The light novel was originally illustrated by Miyagi, who was replaced by an illustrator named Zain starting with the fourteenth volume.

The world of Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryū to Odoru has been adapted into other media. A manga version illustrated by Yaku Haibara was serialized in Kadokawa’s Beans Ace magazine and later compiled into a single tankōbon volume. An anime television adaptation produced by Seven Arcs Pictures aired from April 5 to June 21, 2018. For this series, Asai is credited as the original creator, and he also wrote an exclusive short story titled Dances with the Dragons 0.8 Souhi Successors, which was released as a bonus with the anime’s first Blu-ray volume.

In a brief self-introduction included in a Chinese edition of his light novel series, Asai described his tendency to fix broken machines or injuries with tape and expressed a passion for the aspects of himself he finds untrustworthy, despite not believing in spiritual or supernatural phenomena. The consistent expansion of his light novel series into manga and anime formats demonstrates his significance as a creator whose work has achieved recognition across multiple platforms within the industry.