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Writer Chiaki J. Konaka Updates on Despera Project by Serial Experiments Lain's Yoshitoshi ABe
posted on by Alex Mateo
Chiaki J. Konaka (series script supervisor of Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, and Hellsing) posted an update on Yoshitoshi ABe's (creator and character designer for Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei) Despera anime project on Twitter on Wednesday. Due to the pandemic, the project was suspended for a year and a few months. Konaka added that the production funding scheme was 80% completed, and that the core staff had done a lot of work up until last year. He stated that with the project restart, he does not expect to make a new announcement until 2022. He confirmed that staff is still working hard on the project, and asked fans to be patient.
In a separate announcement, Amsterdam-based Studio [notes.] revealed that Konaka and ABe will work on additional content for its Kowloon's Curse horror role-playing game. The company launched a Kickstarter campaign for the game. Konaka will write a side story, and ABe will provide two character designs as stretch goals for the campaign.
The Despera anime project was put on hold after director Ryutaro 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). 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 is 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, press release
