October brings with it a new TV season, which of course means that a slew of new animated series are due to start. Here's a quick look at a few promising shows.

Based on the the shoujo (girls comics) series of the same name, Paradise Kiss follows the misadventures of Yukari, a high-schooler who gets mixed up with a group of fashion design students. The show's theme song, "Lonely in Gorgeous," is by Tommy february6. It will air Thursdays at 24:35 on Fuji TV from October 13.

Cluster Edge, adapted from a manga by Wan Komatsuda, follows a group of young pilots at a flight school called Cluster E.A. The images from the official site do come off as a bit too cute, but it might still make for a decent actioner. It debuts October 4, and will air Tuesdays at 25:00 on TV Tokyo.

Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl) has the potential to become the sleeper hit (in the critical sense) of the season, if the deliciously eerie trailer (found on the official site) is anything to go by. In a genre we haven't seen much of in recent times - horror - the show revolves around internet-related occult incidents in which the cursing of a person through a message board invokes the "hell girl" of the series' title. It begins October 4 on Kids Station (at 24:00), and will also air on Animax from October 7 (at 18:30).

Another series that touches on the occult is Mushishi, which is adapted from a popular manga by Yuki Urushibara. Ginko travels the world, coming to the aid of people in need of "supernatural" assistance. The image found on the placeholder site (there is only one page) suggests an atmospheric dark tone that could prove to be quite interesting. Although there is still no official launch date, it's set to start in October, airing Saturdays at 27:50 on Fuji TV.

Production I.G.'s Immortal Grand Prix, a sci-fi racing series, distinguishes itself mostly by being the first co-production between an American cable channel (Cartoon Network) and a Japanese animated studio. It begins airing October 5 at 26:40 on TV Asahi (and for American readers, it debuts in the US in November).

Gonzo's Solty Rei, which we've mentioned here before, will begin airing October 6 at 26:40 on TV Asahi.

There is still no official launch date for the Angel Heart animated series (adapted from the Tsukasa Hojo manga), but a new site (well, not a site really, since it's limited to one page) claims a fall release (October), and that it will air on NTV. It also includes the first look at our heroine in animated form.

Some more Blood+ news, this time on the musical side of things. Expect a movie-like score, as the producers have announced that Hans Zimmer has signed on to the show. Having written music for films such as Gladiator, The Last Samurai, and The Thin Red Line, this should add a nice new dimension to what can sometimes be a series' weak point (Speed Grapher being a case in point). Also, a start date and airtime have finally been made public: it will air Saturdays (with the premiere on October 8) at 18:00 on TBS.

This month's Ghibli news (we here at Tokyo Q aim to please): this fall will see the release of a new DVD by the studio that will compile some of the shorts they've created in recent (and not so recent) years. Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short will include the following: the music video for Chage & Aska's "On Your Mark" (1995), The Sky-Colored Seed (Sora Iro no Tane) (1992), the Capsule music videos for the "Portable Airport" (2004) and "Space Station No. 9" (2005) singles, as well as a collection of commercial work.

And a fun bit of Ghibli-related trivia: During the recent Discovery mission, the crew received a wake-up call from NASA in the form of crew member Soichi Noguchi's two daughters and their classmates singing the song "Sampo" (Stroll) from My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro). See the data section for a link to an MP3 recording of the performance.

The all-CG OVA (direct to video) film based on the classic PlayStation Final Fantasy VII game, Advent Children, is finally seeing a release this month in Japan (September 13). Those who were looking to pick up the North American (English) version, which was scheduled to launch simultaneously with the Japanese edition, are going to be disappointed as the release has been pushed back to December.

The film, to come out on DVD and in the Sony PSP's UMD format, continues the storyline from the game, and looks absolutely gorgeous. Let's just hope that the eye candy is accompanied with a decent storyline, and that we do not get a repeat of the beautiful but boring Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within box office disaster from a few years back.

Gonzo has launched an official site for their upcoming film, Brave Story, to be released in the summer of 2006. Based on the best selling fantasy novel by Miyuki Miyabe, it tells the story of a 10-year-old boy, Wataru, who finds himself overcoming family tragedy by stepping through a portal that takes him to a magical land called Vision. The site features a teaser trailer (see data section for link - at the main page of the site, click on the middle link under the intro image).

Images:

1) Paradise Kiss. Copyright (c) Ai Yazawa.
2) Custer Edge. Copyright (c) Sunrise.
3) Jigoku Shoujo. Copyright (c) Jigoku Shoujo Project.
4) Mushishi. Copyright (c) Yuki Urushibara.
5) Solty Rei. Copyright (c) Gonzo.
6) Angel Heart. Copyright (c) Tsukasa Hojo.
7) Blood+. Copyright (c) Production I.G.
8-9) On Your Mark and The Sky-Colored Seed. Copyright (c) Studio Ghibli.
10-12) Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Copyright (c) Square Enix Co., Ltd.
13) Brave Story. Copyright (c) Gonzo.

Data:

Paradise Kiss
http://parakiss.tv

Cluster Edge
http://www.cluster-edge.net

Jigoku Shoujo
http://www.jigokushoujo.com/

Mushishi
http://www.mushishi.jp

Immortal Grand Prix
http://www.igpx.jp

Solty Rei
http://www.solty.net

Angel Heart
http://www.ytv.co.jp/angelheart/

Blood+
http://www.blood.tv

Studio Ghibli
http://www.ntv.co.jp/ghibli/

"Sampo" (from My Neighbor Totoro)
http://spaceflight1.nasa.gov/ gallery/audio/shuttle/ sts-114/mp3/fd5.mp3

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
http://www.square-enix.co.jp/dvd/ff7ac/

Brave Story
http://www.bravestory.net