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Yoshitoshi ABe's Despera Project is Moving Forward With New Director

Manga creator and character designer Yoshitoshi ABe (Serial Experiments Lain, Haibane Renmei) mentioned at a live drawing session at Auckland, New Zealand's Overload Comic Convention in October that his Despera anime project is continuing with a new director. The project was put on hold after director Ryutaro Nakamura passed away in 2013.

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.

Thanks to John Titor for the news tip.