Crunchyroll announced on Friday that it is simulcasting this year's new anime of Mikio Igarashi's four-panel gag comedy manga Bono Bono . The site added the first nine episodes on Friday, and it will add new episodes on Fridays at 5 p.m. (the site did not specify what time zone). Crunchyroll is streaming the anime globally outside of Asia.

The series of eight-minute shorts premiered on April 2 in Japan. The show stars:

Fukuko Yukimiyama as Bono Bono

Aya Ogata as Chipmunk (Shimarisu)

Shinpei Takano as Raccoon (Araiguma)

Yūki Kurofuji as Fishing Cat (Sunadori Neko)

Hidenori Yamaguchi (episode director for Machine Hayabusa, Sazae-san) is directing the anime at Eiken (Sazae-san, Musashi no Ken) in collaboration with TYO Animations. Mitsutaka Hirota (The Prince of Tennis II, Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation) is handling the series composition, and Takatsugu Wakabayashi (Majin Bone, Dragonar Academy) is composing the music. Rock band Monobright (Gintama) performs the theme song "bonobono Suru."

The manga depicts the absurd gag humor of Bono Bono the otter, Shimarisu the chipmunk, Araiguma the raccoon, and other animals.

Igarashi serialized the original manga in Manga Life, Manga Club and other Takeshobo magazines from 1986 onward, and the series' first 40 volumes have 9 million copies in print. The first television anime of the manga ran from April 1995 to March 1996, and the new series is celebrating the manga's 30th anniversary.

Crunchyroll also announced on Thursday that it has added the first 12 episodes of the Miss Machiko (Maicching Machiko-sensei) anime series to its catalog. Crunchyroll is streaming the series for users in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, and the U.K. Discotek Media had announced last month that it licensed the 95-episode series for streaming only.

Discotek describes the series:

The mischievous students of Arama Academy meet their match in a beautiful and clever new teacher, Miss Machiko! But they're determined to find a prank that will really embarrass her. No matter what they devise she still manages to laugh it off and help them with their school work and problems.

The series is based on Takeshi Ebihara's manga of the same name. The series ran on TV Tokyo from 1981 to 1983. The manga also inspired a series of eight live-action film adaptations from 2003 to 2009.