Despera (Yoshitoshi ABe, Chiaki J. Konaka, Ryutaro Nakamura's latest project)

[Weils]

I decided to create a new thread based on this upcoming anime. From the creators that brought you Serial Experiments Lain.

Originally Posted by NeoSam

A new original anime project titled Despera has been announced.

ですぺら
DESPERA

Original Character Concept: Abe Yoshitoshi
Director & Technical Director: Nakamura Ryuutarou
Script: Konaka Chiaki

A manga series will also start serialization in Animage magazine.

Source: MoonPhase Diary

Genre: Sci-fi alternative period drama

Animation studio: ???

Broadcast date: ???

Official Despera column (Animage): http://animage.jp/des/index.html

Taken from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despera):

The story centers around a 14 year old girl named Ain, who often builds devices despite the lack of scientific background for them. The sci-fi alternative period story is set in Tokyo during the Taishō era in 1922, one year before the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake.

Animage July 2009 - Chpt. 0 "Prologue" + introduction


Animage August 2009 - Chpt. 1 "The Girl Below the Twelve Storeys" + story concept + omake


Animage September 2009 - Chpt. 2 "The Russian Lady of the Mansion" + story concept + omake


Animage October 2009 - Chpt. 3 "Asakusa Tales" + story concept + omake


Animage November 2009 - Chpt. 4 "Electric Girl Versus Tank Corps" + story concept + omake


Animage December 2009 - Chpt. 5 "From Beyond the Screen" + story concept + omake


Animage January 2010 - Chpt. 6 "In the Corner of the Triangular Second Floor" + story concept + omake


Animage February 2010 - Chpt. 7 "The Black Cat of the Twelve-Floor Pagoda" + story concept + omake

Yoshitoshi ABe X Chiaki Konaka X Norihiko Nezu interview

[PNGO]

Originally Posted by Weils

From the creators that brought you Serial Experiments Lain.

That's all I need to hear, can't wait for this!!!

[qmeister]

Oh my god, this will be epic!

I like Ain's hairstyle in the first pic.

[SaraFilipa]

Whoha, this looks epic already. I love that second picture.

[Fevvers]

What could be more squee-laden than an Abe-involved anime? Why, one with Nakamura and Konaka at the helm as well! The news has been out for a while, but still, suffice to say, I am thrilled.

[arahij]

Source: Mata-Web Forum

[Weils]

I bought Animage's latest issue just to read Despera. It contains the introduction and a short description of the three creators, plus a prologue of the story on the next page. My Japanese is novice at beat, anyone can translate more clearly what it says?

Prologue goes something like this:

• The story introduces the main character, Ain, and an unnamed man residing in the basement of the Ryōunkaku, a famous 12-storey landmark in Asakusa district of Tokyo (this landmark is damaged during the 1923 Kanto earthquake and subsequently demolished soon after).
• Ain spends her time building all kinds of weird devices, including a number of cathode ray tube displays (in 1922, cathodes have only just became a commercial product).
• The unnamed man, who's sort of a friend to Ain, claims to be able to see the future by looking into the cathode ray tubes.
• Einstein's relativity theory is briefly discussed between the two.

[TadloS]

Originally Posted by SaraFilipa

Whoha, this looks epic already. I love that second picture.

Yeah, fully agree with you.

[Weils]

Animage August 2009 issue


Sorry about the scans, I couldn't bear to tear those pages out from the magazine, so the middle edges aren't able to be scanned and quite blurred.

PS: Chibi Ain and omake!

[bmkharuhiism]

Originally Posted by Weils

Animage August 2008 issue

I just love the look and style of those scans. Just judging from the looks of it, I really think I'm going to enjoy this anime.

[Yukiizm]

Hello Weils,
thanks for your scans, I used them on my blog http://lucas-g.nuxit.net/abe/2009/07...age-aout-2009/

Is there anyone or any team who's planning to translate this ?

[CeDeR]

Finally an interesting anime!!

[velderia]

Originally Posted by Weils

From the creators that brought you Serial Experiments Lain.

YESSSS!!!! Thank you! *__*

[Weils]

Oops, just resized the scans to a more larger resolution. Had to delete the last post for editing.

Animage September 2009 issue

[Irenicus]

ABe is a master designer and creative mind, and Nakamura Ryutaro directed the amazing Kino's Journey, among other things.

I am simply. Absolutely. Hyped.

[Fevvers]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

ABe is a master designer and creative mind, and Nakamura Ryutaro directed the amazing Kino's Journey, among other things.

I am simply. Absolutely. Hyped.

And, not to forget, the psychedelic Serial Experiments Lain, which those three stooges were also involved in. Just curious, but is Ueda involve in this as well?

[Weils]

Originally Posted by Fevvers

And, not to forget, the psychedelic Serial Experiments Lain, which those three stooges were also involved in. Just curious, but is Ueda involve in this as well?

I'm not sure. If Ueda was involved they would have at least mentioned him. But that doesn't rule out the possibility he won't appear working on the anime later on.

Btw, there's a official Despera column set up by Animage editors. Link: http://animage.jp/new/col_news_des.html

[Weils]

September 1st 2009: Yoshitoshi ABe's interview about Despera Part 1 (in Japanese): http://web2movie.moura.jp/?p=1128

Really hope someone can translate what he's talking about!

[sirn]

I think I'll translate all of it when I'm free. I found what he said really interesting.
(If you don't mind my bad translation and bad grammar.)

—Why did you decided to start the series with a novel serialization?
Of course at first we want to do this as an anime project, but while everyone has the image of the show in their own head, it's quite hard to explain what's good about it. Main protagonist—the "man", for example, will never have his face shown or even have his name mentioned in the series, how we will do it as an anime is quite hard to imagine. That's why we decided to start a novel serialization in Animage magazine, because we're not risking as much, and by doing so, how the show will look like can be built up from the illustration in the serialization.

—The "man" is a main protagonist, but he won't make any appearance in the series?
Basically the "man" is someone who stay behind in shade of history, but nobody knows who he is so he will never have his face shown. But because we have his character design done, we may make have him make his appearance when the series becomes an anime. Although you can say "Ain" is another protagonist, but because we won't know what she's thinking, so we decided to built up the series from the "man" viewpoint. That's my understanding.

[Weils]

Originally Posted by sirn

I think I'll translate all of it when I'm free. I found what he said really interesting.
(If you don't mind my bad translation and bad grammar.)

Thanks for these initial translations, sirn. I'm intrigued at how they named the unknown man the main character instead of Ain. If you have read Animage and looked at the omake in Chapter 2, the man was asked by Ain why his face cannot be seen (both in the graphic novel and the omake itself). If I understand correctly, he answers that he is "an observer in the shadows of history".

So I guess ABe has already have his face drawn but that will probably be used in the anime (can't have a faceless character moving about right?).