Chiaki J. Konaka
On June 29, 2013, director Ryūtarō Nakamura died due to pancreatic cancer. At Overload 2014, Yoshitoshi ABe announced that a new director had been found to continue working on "Despera". In 2018, Yoshitoshi ABe and Chiaki J. Konaka said the reason "Despera" is in development hell is not primarily due to a lack of funds, but because of the current state of the anime industry. On March 23, 2021, Chiaki J. Konaka said that the anime was 80% funded and that the core staff had done a considerable amount of work done on it already.