Stalled Despera Anime Project Gets Manga – News

Chiaki J. Konaka (series script supervisor of Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, and Hellsing) announced at the Japan Weekend Madrid event in Spain last weekend that Yoshitoshi ABe‘s (creator and character designer for Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei) Despera anime project is getting a manga in 2027. He posted a visual on X/Twitter on Monday:

Konaka added that the manga’s setting and era will differ from those of the original project announcement. He clarified that this project is not related to Serial Experiments Lain.

Konaka last provided an update for the project in 2021. According to him, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was suspended for a year and a few months. Konaka added that the production funding scheme was 80% completed at the time, and that the core staff had done a lot of work up until 2020. He confirmed that staff was still working hard on the project, and asked fans to be patient.

The Despera anime project was put on hold after director Ryūtarō Nakamura passed away in 2013. ABe mentioned in October 2014 that the project was continuing with a new director.

ABe unveiled the project at Seattle’s Sakura-Con in 2009. ABe was heading the project and designing the characters and Chiaki J. Konaka, the series script supervisor of Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, and Hellsing, was writing the script.

The title is derived from a poem from the Dadaist poet Jun Tsuji (1884-1944). It is also derived from the shortened version of the term “desperado.” The story centers around Ain, a 14-year-old girl who builds devices despite the lack of the scientific background required for them. The science-fiction story was originally set in Japan’s Taishō era in 1922 — one year before the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake in the Tokyo area.

Sources: Chiaki J. Konaka‘s Twitter account