Yoshitoshi Abe & Lain Staff’s “Despera” Debuts as Manga
- Categories: Manga, News
- Date: Jun 8, 2009 04:14 JST
- Tags: Adaptations, Animage, Announcements, Despera, Lain, Yoshitoshi Abe
The debut of the upcoming anime project Despera, from the creators of famed psychological thriller Serial Experiments Lain, will be coming in the next issue of Animage as a “graphic novel”, with art by Yoshitoshi ABe and written by Chiaki J. Konaka.
The new project by ABe, Konaka and Ryutaro Nakamura (the three main creators of Lain) was revealed earlier this year during a panel at U.S. anime convention Sakuracon, but the release date of the anime is still set in the indeterminate future, making this manga serialization our first taste of the story.
Details on Despera are scant, but it has already been revealed that the setting will be Tokyo in 1922, set during the tail-end of the Taisho Era, and will feature a 14-year old girl named Ain who has a penchant for building odd mechanical devices, despite her lack of any scientific training.
Konaka writes on his blog that the manga (he refers to it as a グラフィック・ノヴェル / graphic novel) is planned for a one year run, and that a follow-up containing more information is likely planned on the Animage website.
Animage, which incidentally will be celebrating its 31st Anniversary next issue, is of course primarily an anime news magazine ala Newtype, and does not often house manga serializations, although it has serialized titles such as Miyazaki’s Nausicaa in the past.
Thus, its presence in Animage might suggest a more atypical form of serialization compared to most manga, with differences such as shorter page-counts, an unusual amount of colorized pages, or more infrequent publication dates all being things that lie in the realm of possibility, although we will likely need to wait for the next issue of Animage to find out for sure.
In any case, the project looks to be something to keep an eye on, as the trio’s 1998 Lain series is highly regarded as a psychological and philosophical “cyber-horror” story, and fans of ABe’s art, Lain, or darker anime are all likely to be most excited.
Via Moonphase. See also Chiaki J. Konaka’s Alice 6 blog.
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My favorite writer, and artist team up yet again. I can't wait!
Reminds me of Persona
ahhh Quen with the good news!
I am merely a messenger, save thanks for the creators. ^^
lol. i just started watching lain ^^, weird coincidence..
Awesome news.
why is it too long to conceive this project?It's been years...
Lain is my favorite anime... I`m really happy about this news :D
wb ABe to the world that needs you ┏|・o・|┓┗|｀Oｫ|┛ ┗|・o・|┛┗|⌒O⌒|┛
hmmmm this is a must see!!
When i watched Lain it really cought me up!!
I was really absorved by it!!
It's on my "Top One", i know it's weird but i really like other 2 animes as much as Lain!!
Maybe Despera will be on this "Top One", really looking forward to watch this anime!!
Oh and quite a coincidence that the caracters name is "Ain" no??
The main character of their third anime will obviously be named In.
Oh wow, this looks gorgeous
Abe is #1 in non common shows, so this should be.
so nice to see more from creators of Lain. (no, not that one creator)
now that everyone is connected, what's there to say? >:D
Oh joy.
Lain? Nah,... nevermind.
I find the idea of calling manga "graphic novel" more interesting than the news itself... I mean... visual novel, light novel, graphic novel.... genius!
Lain, texhnolyze, etc.
I am so happy that we have those weirdos back for another story !
One of the few manga artists who really stand out, can't wait.
very good news!, I really like this kind of works. and of course Lain is one of my favorites. I can't hardly wait.
Lain fans?? I am a Lain fan!!! This IS exiting!
Carrying an immense amount of expectations and hopes for, Despera is almost sure not to disappoint, let nothing unexpected occurs like in stories with a similar setting.
Yoshitoshi ABe's artworks is truly astounding.
agree
As a huge ABe fan, I absolutely agree too.
The story of this new graphic novel sounds intresting, and the graphics will be awesome, just like in Yoshitoshi's other works. I'll be waiting for it.
ABe is the only artist I respect in terms of just pure art!
Yup, big fan of ABe as well, even so far as to have a signed artbook from him (I know I'm gloating so suck it). But, I also like his stories as well, like Niea_7 and Haibane Renmei. Not as dark as Lain but they still rank among my favorite series.
Very excited for this new series, 10+ years has just been way way too long.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!
Next issue of Animage: Fund it!
lol "Ain"
OMG this made me cum twice after seeing just those two pics. This is gonna be quality. A breather from the current gropefest.
More Lain? Will be eagerly waiting for this one.
aaahhh! Abe returns!
this is indeed a must read!!
i never saw lain but i assume its a lot better than chaos head(in a psychological aspect)
I almost mentioned Key: The Metal Idol in the post as another series with a similar ambiance, for those who are totally unfamiliar...
I agree with this; anyone who appreciated Lain should also try and check out Key (though its so hard to find now.)
Even though ABe didn't have much of a hand in it, Ghost Hound was great as well, though the ending was a little predictable. Also a must watch.
Abe didn't have a hand in Ghost Hound, but it was a Chiaki Konaka/Ryutaro Nakamura collaboration.
Pretty sure the last official works ABe did were some character designs for Welcome to the N.H.K.
And here I was getting all worried he was drifting away from the anime scene... so glad to hear he's back again doing something! They always come back.
There was that Pharmacy manga released exclusively for the iPhone if we're talking about standalone works
Lain is so much better that speaking of the two series in the same breath borders on insulting.
"Borders" on insulting? If we're talking about the anime, there is no comparison.
Quite so.