Despera: spiritual successor to Serial Experiments Lain

cj iwakura · July 2010

(This thread is mod-approved, and about a specific series; not anime in general.)

So Serial Experiments Lain is (obviously) one of my favorite shows ever, and Despera's basically the next best thing to a sequel.
Chiaki Konaka is writing it, and Yoshitoshi ABe is (of course) handling the art work.

I don't know much about it, suffice it to say that I'm hyped.

Here's what little Wikipedia has to say about the plot:

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.

And, the players:

(not very subtle on the protagonist's name)

Ain - A 14 year old girl who resides in her workshop inside the basement of the Ryōunkaku in Asakusa, Tokyo. A technical genius with no prior scientific knowledge, she is able to create electronic devices far beyond the capabilities of the current era. Some of the devices created include early versions of a modern computer, complete with typewriter keyboards and cathode ray tube display monitors.

Unknown Man - A man in his 30s who is an associate of Ain's. In the prologue chapter of the novel, he claims to be able to see the future through the displays on Ain's computer monitors. His face and identity has yet to be revealed.

Enoki - A military officer who works for the Japanese army's science institute. He holds the rank of 2nd lieutenant. Enoki is sent to Asakusa to investigate the unstable electrical discharge occurring in the vicinity of the Ryōunkaku.

Kimiyasu Fuenokōji - A Japanese nobleman with the title of viscount. It is unknown what relationship Kimiyasu has with Ain, but he is interested in her unorthodox inventions. He has a primary residence in Sanbanchō of Chiyoda-ku, and a second residence at the Kanda-Surugadai district.

Barbara Andrei - A Russian woman of aristocratic origins, Barbara is a refugee who escaped from Harbin during the disownment of the presence of Russians by the Chinese Republic. She lives in the Kanda-Surugadai residence owned by Kimiyasu who has taken her in. Ain is particularly uncomfortable of Barbara's presence as she is frightened of her pale white complexion, presumably having never seen a Russian before.

It has kind of a retro steampunk look to it.

Here's some concept art that's been floating around:

Spoiler:

No word on when the release of the show will be, but hopefully soon.

Also, discussion of Serial Experiments Lain is related, so feel free.

ABe and Konaka's first series, a classic cyberpunk story about the internet, reality, and what happens when the lines between the two blur.
Oh yeah: and it's coming to Blu-Ray soon.

Zek · July 2010

Lain was my first anime series and I thought it was awesome at the time, but looking back it was really badly animated and didn't make any fucking sense. It would be cool to see a "remake" though, I'll have to check this out.

Tiphareth · July 2010

Why is this the first I hear about this? I love Serial Experiment Lain so much, and I utterly adore Yoshitoshi ABes art style.

_J_ · July 2010

We need much, much more information on this.

Lain is my 2nd favorite anime. More is needed.

PolloDiablo · July 2010

This is interesting.

I really like Lain, I'm glad to see more similar stuff.

Falx · July 2010

There really isn't much more than "Despera - Coming Soon!" and the artwork above.

Mortal Sky · July 2010

I've had a Despera wallpaper on my PSP ever since it was first mentioned about a year ago. Gotta love /ABe/. I know I've seen cj post there a few times. I mostly just lurk. /abe/ is http://hr.deadgods.net/hr/index.html by the way
I really need to work on my collection of ABe merch when I'm in Japan. Right now I've only really got Gaisokyu and Omnipresence. Fortunately Funi resurrected the old Geneon DVDs, so I won't have to pay rape price for the old boxsets like I was going to. Unless the Geneon packaging is nicer, in which case I may have to (though hopefully the premium on those will fall as demand is lowered). I also REALLY need to hunt down a copy of the Haibane Renmei artbook. That would be my holy grail, but it's super rare these days.
I'm really hoping for a Haibane successor of some kind, if it's ever possible. That is my favorite series ever. Lain is good too, though.
Also, has anyone read any of Abe's other doujins? I haven't had the time to obtain any, but most of them (especially Ryotsuka) look adorable and/or awesome
[/fanwank]

But yeah, Despera looks really cool. Hopefully it gets around to coming around in a decent timeframe.

NargorothRiP · July 2010

Lain is the living enbodiment of a shit elemental made of anime. fucking hate that series.

PolloDiablo · July 2010

NargorothRiP wrote: »

Lain is the living enbodiment of a shit elemental made of anime. fucking hate that series.

Ya'll balls crazy.

Zilla360 · July 2010

Mortal Sky wrote: »

I also REALLY need to hunt down a copy of the Haibane Renmei artbook. That would be my holy grail, but it's super rare these days.

I have it. 8-)

Needless to say I'm hugely stoked about Despera.

cj iwakura · July 2010

I only have the Lain artbook: Omnipresence(the localized version).

It's my grail.

Also, word is that the Despera manga is finished; the anime is in production.

_J_ · July 2010

cj iwakura wrote: »

Also, word is that the Despera manga is finished; the anime is in production.

From where was this information obtained? There is a surprising lack of official news for this series.

cj iwakura · July 2010

_J_ wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Also, word is that the Despera manga is finished; the anime is in production.

From where was this information obtained? There is a surprising lack of official news for this series.

Read about it at the image board. There's very little official information.

Believe me, I've been looking.

_J_ · July 2010

cj iwakura wrote: »

_J_ wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Also, word is that the Despera manga is finished; the anime is in production.

From where was this information obtained? There is a surprising lack of official news for this series.

Read about it at the image board. There's very little official information.

Believe me, I've been looking.

What are the odds that this whole thing is fan-created?

cj iwakura · July 2010

_J_ wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

_J_ wrote: »

cj iwakura wrote: »

Also, word is that the Despera manga is finished; the anime is in production.

From where was this information obtained? There is a surprising lack of official news for this series.

Read about it at the image board. There's very little official information.

Believe me, I've been looking.

What are the odds that this whole thing is fan-created?

Uh, since it's been posted about on Chiaki Konaka and ABe's websites? Non-existent.

cj iwakura · August 2010

Confirmed for November 2010.

3A, 1D.

Spoiler:

Dammit, it's reportedly fake.

Well it better come out around that time.

Clevinger · August 2010

You son of a... I got so excited for a Vinland Saga anime and more Baccano.

Tertiee · August 2010

That image is such a tease

I've been looking forward to this series but there seems to have been no new information since it was announced over a year ago.

Casually Hardcore · August 2010

Can someone explain Lain to me?

All I got is "Lain is god. Lain rewrote the world. END'.

cj iwakura · August 2010

Casually Hardcore wrote: »

Can someone explain Lain to me?

All I got is "Lain is god. Lain rewrote the world. END'.

It's open to interpretation, but my opinion? She's a protocol designed to bridge the gap between the 'real' world and the wired, and she was 'raised' by false parents until she was ready to integrate into the wired.

Masami Eiri is a psychopath who thought he was in control of her, but he was just a hacker with delusions of grandeur. At the end, Lain realizes she was just causing everyone pain, so she erased herself, and reset everything. She's still out there, but not in the 'real' world.

As for Mika(Lain's sister), poor girl caught in the wrong place at the very, very wrong time.

The Knights and the MIB? Whole other story.

DarkPrimus · August 2010

Serial Experiments Lain on Blu-Ray? That's kind of funny to me, as it wouldn't even be on the list of "anime I'd like to own in high definition" that I would write out if someone asked me to produce such a list.

Now, Haibane Renmei...

EDIT: Wow, okay, I will admit, the animation actually does look better in HD. I guess they actually had access to cells and such?

cj iwakura · August 2010

Also, I don't know if anyone's aware, but Lain had a psuedo visual novel on the PS1.

Some of the animation clips from it are subbed.

It's... different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW1sxdZ21TU&feature=related

Take it as a sidestory, I guess.

Also, here's some more art, because I collect it.

Spoiler:

And I somehow left this out of the OP:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79MN_w0VMPE&feature=related

Entaru · August 2010

Years ago I walked into a Japanese import shop in Ann Arbor and picked the OST and I think a remix CD to Lain. Shortly after I was spending an insane amount of money to procure the series (Lain of course).

Then my step brother took them and now I have no Lain. The moral of the story is I used to re-watch it quite often and I loved that series so a spiritual successor sounds awesome.

PolloDiablo · August 2010

Damn that image. I don't normally care about anime, but there were a few of those I would watch. Is it just the release dates that are bull, or the existence of shows, too?

Mortal Sky · August 2010

I own Cyberia Mix. It's alright. Hanenone is one of my favorite albums ever, though, so yeah.

cj iwakura · August 2010

PolloDiablo wrote: »

Damn that image. I don't normally care about anime, but there were a few of those I would watch. Is it just the release dates that are bull, or the existence of shows, too?

It's all BS, supposedly. I found it at the ABe image board.

I own Cyberia Mix too. I really should get the official OST at some point, it's good stuff.

My favorite song from Cyberia mix:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBbHp6hPGBo

Speed's a close contender. The album is pretty weird. It goes from hard techno to creepy ambient electronica.

Mortal Sky · August 2010

I think I like the ambient more, honestly. Especially Antidepressant 044.

Entaru · August 2010

cj iwakura wrote: »

PolloDiablo wrote: »

Damn that image. I don't normally care about anime, but there were a few of those I would watch. Is it just the release dates that are bull, or the existence of shows, too?

It's all BS, supposedly. I found it at the ABe image board.

I own Cyberia Mix too. I really should get the official OST at some point, it's good stuff.

My favorite song from Cyberia mix:

Snip!

Speed's a close contender. The album is pretty weird. It goes from hard techno to creepy ambient electronica.

Cyberia Mix, I couldn't rmember the name of it, thanks. The OST is really good but the Mix grew on me quite a bit over time.

Synthesis · August 2010

Ah, did not see this coming. Curious that this show of any got a follow-up.

cj iwakura · August 2010

I think Lain is easily their most iconic show, so it's not that surprising.

Haibane Renmei might beat it for cult following. I wasn't that impressed by it, though I love the art.

I bought the whole series just for the pencil cards each volume came with.

DarkPrimus · August 2010

Haibane Renmei had some plot lines that didn't go very far due to the off-the-cuff scripting ABe used, but the main story line (Reki's past/future) is really strong. The final couple of episodes still hit me harder than almost anything else out there.

cj iwakura · August 2010

Renmei was the first series based on his writings, so it's a keeper just for that.

I like his Pochiyama at the Pharmacy stories.

cj iwakura · August 2010

http://lainos.genoce.org/

A group attempting to make an operating system out of Lain's Navi interface.

I don't know if that's insane or what.

Tiphareth · August 2010

I heard about some guys trying to make a Navi OS before, but that project died. Is this some new project or did someone resume that old project?

Edit: Actually reading that page seems like some guys who've resurrected the old project.

cj iwakura · August 2010

New ABe art from Comiket!

These will decimate H/V scroll. HIGH res.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/cjiwakura/1281280664380.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/cjiwakura/1281280497617.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/cjiwakura/1281280441879.jpg

No Despera, sadly.

Lenore03 · August 2010

cj iwakura wrote: »

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/cjiwakura/1281280664380.jpg

That reminds me of the weirdest scene from Lain which I can vaguely remember. Alice is in her bedroom and then Lain comes and peeks around her door. But Lain is like an alien or something.

I think I'd like ABe's stuff more if it wasnt just girls girls girls. I initially thought Haibane Renmei was the anime version of The Gilmore Girls. I'm glad I stuck it out and own it.

cj iwakura · August 2010

He does have some male character designs, they're just few and far between. Texhnolyze had a bunch.

Also here's one from an artbook:

Mortal Sky · August 2010

That was one of the things I loved about Haibane Renmei, really. It felt like a bigger world with a whole lot of mysteries and points to speculate about, since there were a few things ABe just couldn't wrap up in thirteen episodes. And the best part is that his word of god on the subject is "speculate on". And really, the last half of the series is some of the best stuff ever.

I need to get an IMCO 6700 Super like Reki's. That'd be cool. I also found a place in Japan to pick up all of the HR doujinshi and the art book for a much lower price than any western dealer.

SkannerJAT · August 2010

Never fall asleep with Texhnolyze on. Show will jack up your dreams.

cj iwakura · August 2010

Texhnolyze is infinitely more screwed up than Lain.

Except you can find some logic in Lain's madness.

Mortal Sky · August 2010

SkannerJAT wrote: »

Never fall asleep with Texhnolyze on. Show will jack up your dreams.

man now you are just begging me to try this

Penny Arcade

Despera: spiritual successor to Serial Experiments Lain

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