Despera was announced at Sakura-Con 2009, though its designer, Yoshitoshi ABe, initially misspoke and referred to it as Desperanto.
During Sakura-Con 2009 held on April at Seattle, Washington, famed character designer Yoshitoshi ABe revealed that he will be developing a new anime titled Desperant (). In his official blog the very next day, ABe clarified that the title of the anime is called Despera and not the one he stated earlier, due to a speaking error during the convention announcement. 
