Series premieres Sunday

Media distribution service Crunchyroll announced on Wednesday that will stream the new Gintama anime series as it airs in Japan. The first episode will debut on Sunday, January 8 at 2:35 p.m. EST, and the stream will be available worldwide outside of Asia.

In Japan, the new series will switch to a late night timeslot, and will premiere on TV Tokyo, TV Hokkaido, TV Aichi, TV Setouchi, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting on January 9 at 1:35 a.m., and then will premiere on TV Osaka on January 10 at 1:05 a.m. The previous Gintama anime series aired on TV Tokyo and its affiliate stations at 6:00 p.m.

Chizuru Miyawaki returns from the fourth Gintama television anime to direct the new series, and Shinji Takeuchi returns to design the characters, but also serves as the chief animation director. Yumi Nakamura is credited for design. Nami Maniwa and Takayoshi Fukushima return as art directors, and Ritsuko Utagawa returns for color design. Yuki Teramoto is once again director of photography, and Tomomi Suzuki is the CGI director. Takeshi Seyama is in charge of editing. Audio Highs returns for the music, while Katsuyoshi Kobayashi returns for sound supervision. Shinji Takematsu is the sound director. Yoichi Fujita (first three Gintama anime, Gintama: The Movie ) is supervising the anime as he did for the fourth anime.

The four-member all-girls band ЯeaL will perform the opening theme song "Kagerō." RIZE (Shion no Oh) will perform the ending theme song "Silver."

Hideaki Sorachi began the original manga in 2004 and it continues to be ranked among the top-selling manga in Japan. Viz Media published the first 23 volumes in English. Shueisha published the manga's 66th volume in Japan on November 4, and the manga entered its final arc in July.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in 2006 and continued (with several extended hiatuses) until 2013. The latest Gintama television anime series premiered in April 2015, and ended in March. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. The manga also inspired two anime films, including the "final" Gekijōban Gintama Kanketsu-hen: Yorozuya yo Eien Nare film that opened in 2013, and various OVAs and event anime.