I hadn’t heard of Hell’s Angels before, and so the trailer interested me greatly. The story is about a girl who's died and gone to hell, where it turns out you're not tortured for eternity -- instead you go to high school and if you graduate, you'll be re-incarnated. The art style is different from the polished look of Gunslinger Girl -- the art is heavily hand-drawn, and stands out as something really different.

As for the other new title to me, Red Line, it's also a graphically different title. It's an inter-stellar racing series, but the art style is very much as though it's been done in Adobe Illustrator or so. While there was no dialogue or anything shown in the trailer, it looks like a series to check out.

So, onto the questions:

Is Ninja Scroll 2 still coming, and will Kawajiri-san be involved?

They are working on Ninja Scroll 2. Kawajiri-san is still writing the script, trying to get it right. There's no word on when it’ll come out, but before Maruyama-san passes away.

What kind of tech used in producing Madhouse shows?

I'm not too familiar with the equipment and such -- I usually leave it to directors. Madhouse works not only in Japan, but it’s a process with Thai, France, Japan, etc. Each title has it’s own style, and so there’s no set bit of equipment or software.

How is the US anime downturn affecting Madhouse bringing titles to the US?

There's no real relationship between Madhouse and the US anime market. When we make anime, we focus more on making a good product that's entertaining than looking at a specific market.

In episode 4 of Kaiba, one person wrote, directed, and animated the episode – this has to be a first for Madhouse. Are artists going to have that sort of freedom on future projects?

I love to work with Iwasa. He’s got this unique style that no one else is able to copy or get close to. Since Kaiba is a fantasy show, you can do that because it's not a realistic world. When I told him to make a melodramatic series, I didn’t think Iwasa could do it – but he really came into the role. The next film he will make is going to be in a similar vein as Kaiba.

When he made Tokyo Godfathers, I told him he should do a robot show next, and after The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, I told him he should make a show about a 100-year-old grandma.

Maruyama-san, you've been in the industry since the 70s. How has the industry changed for you? Has it gotten easier?

Hmm. The total amount of effort hasn’t changed at all. The thing that’s different was there was a limited amount of films made, so we put all we could into those select projects. But as we’ve expanded, we really have a lot more projects to work on. But we still put in all the effort that we can.

Based on my instinct. The big driving force is that I'm a big anime/manga fan, and when I see a great work, I want to work with that guy. All the companies and big businesses are in Tokyo, so it’s easy to talk between companies. So, as a result, the reps from Bones and IG tell me that I'm rather greedy. Whenever someone comes to do a project at Madhouse, they usually don't want to leave. They just set up their desk and keep giving me projects. It can be a bit troublesome *laughs*

When is Black Lagoon season 3 coming out? Also, the Trigun movie – sequel or standalone

No idea about Black Lagoon. Because of the manga’s speed, once we’ve got enough material to work with, then we’ll start. Trigun will feature the same characters, same world, but a different story.

Second season of Kaiji?

Preparing for the second season of Kaiji. Same staff, same quality.

Couldn't find the question in my notes, but here's an interesting bit from an answer of his:

"The only consistent thing is that they’re all produced by Maruyama [the shows at Madhouse]. Each director has their own mindset, and it allows for a lot more variations in the company. For example, there’s not a director pigeonholed into doing just cute series, etc."